How To Find Your Way As A Brand New Blogger

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Starting a blog is hard work. As you can tell by my journey, navigating the blogging trenches is very complex. It is not something that you can figure out overnight. There will be times when you feel discouraged and want to give up as a new blogger. I encourage you to keep going. You will see your efforts pay off in due time.

Blogging will take up a lot of your time in the beginning because there is so much information to absorb. Although I am just starting out, I want to share what I have learned so far that may help you find your way as a brand new blogger.

Being a brand new blogger is almost like the first day of high school in a new city where you don’t know anyone. The thing is, every other blogger started out the same way.

In the beginning, I felt so vulnerable when making my posts public. I didn’t know how people would react or if they would even care, but I posted anyway. Page views for my first 6 months were very low, but I promised myself that I would blog for a year. It has been nine months and I’m so glad that I stuck with it.

There have been late nights and early mornings, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I get so much joy when people comment on my posts and social media accounts.

The comments make every word that I have written have more meaning. I really feel like blogging is what I was meant to do. It has become something that I really enjoy so I want to share some tips that helped me find my way as a brand new blogger.

Know Your Ideal Reader

In order to find your way in the blogging world, you must know your ideal reader. This is very important. I started out without a reader in mind, and now I find myself going back to update my old posts to speak to my ideal reader.

Attempting to write to everyone is much harder than writing to a target audience. Writing to your ideal reader ensures that your post will stay focused and a focused post will attract more readers.

Think hard about what your ideal reader likes and what problems they may have. Write about these things and you’re on your way to becoming a successful blogger.

Find Your Niche

What problems does your ideal reader have? If they struggle with budgeting and saving money then your niche may be personal finance. Narrow your topics down to a few that you can write quality posts about for years to come.

Don’t talk about too many random topics, or you will only attract random readers. You want to build a community of readers that come back to see what you have to say again and again. 

You should be able to clearly articulate what your blog is about in 10 words or less. Your readers should generally know what to expect each time they visit your blog.

Find A Blog To Shadow

I suggest using your favorite “seasoned” blogger. If you don’t already have a blog in mind to shadow, search your topic on Google. You should be able to find a few top bloggers there. 

The idea here is to pay attention to all of the elements on their blog and take note of the things that make them successful. What do you like and dislike about their blog?

Use them as your inspiration. If you’re bold enough send them an email and let them know that you are inspired by them. Almost everyone in the blog world is really nice and they would be thrilled to hear from you.

I like to go to the big blogs in my niche and read their very first post. This does two things for me.

1. It reminds me that they are human.
2. It reminds me that they were once a brand new blogger.

You will see that they had to start from scratch as well and have now found their voice and gained confidence. Reading my favorite blog’s first posts ensured me that my writing voice would evolve as I continued to write.

Invest In Your Blog

Investing in your blog does not mean purchasing every theme and class that you see. I suggest purchasing a bundle package (because they are cheaper) or taking one or two classes on topics that you are really interested in.

I’m currently working on The Productivity Guide For Bloggers by Ruth Soukup. I was having trouble prioritizing my tasks, so this course was important to me.

A good place to start if you are looking to make money from your blog is the ebook How To Make Your First Affiliate Sale In 24 Hours. This book has step by step tutorials that are proven to help you make your first sale.

I also recommend tracking your income and expenses from the very beginning with the Blog Finance Spreadsheets. These spreadsheets calculate your expenses, income earned, income received, and provide a summary with graphs and tables. This is one of my best investments to date and they are very reasonably priced.

Whatever you choose to purchase, know that it is an investment into your blog. Use your resources to expand your knowledge of things that you don’t quite understand. You will see the return on your investment in the future.

Join Facebook Groups

In case you aren’t aware, there are thousands of Facebook groups available for bloggers. These groups are so supportive. The members love giving advice to new bloggers and even sharing their posts with a larger audience.

I see the groups as mini communities full of people eager to help new bloggers find their way. Most of the groups have specific days to share new posts. Some groups also have social media promotion days.

Take advantage of these opportunities any time you see them. This is a great way to promote your content and find new blogs to read. I have found Facebook groups to be essential to my growth as a blogger.

Use Pinterest To Your Advantage

You have probably heard this before but, I will say it again. You must use Pinterest as a new blogger. Pinterest will drive traffic to your site and put your post in front of millions of people.

For most bloggers, Pinterest is their number one source of traffic. Request to join group boards that you are interested in and pin your content to them. Don’t forget to share content from others as well.

Scheduling your posts to Pinterest can be time-consuming so you will need to automate your pins. Try both Boardbooster and Tailwind for free to decide which one is a better fit for you. I have seen a huge difference in my traffic since I’ve automated my pins.

Find Your Way

This is the best advice that I have received in my blogging journey so far. I can tell you from personal experience that you’re going to want to quit in the beginning.

Don’t give in to those feelings because it gets better. Blogging does not have a script to follow. Something that works for one blogger may not work for another. You will have to use trial and error to find what works for you and your audience.

You will have to use trial and error to find what works for you and your audience. Keep working at it and eventually, you will find your way. If you have any additional advice be sure to comment below!

Disclosure: I occasionally use affiliate links. Please view my full disclosure policy. Thank you.

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