Updated 06/06/2022.
Good morning, lovely dreamers! and welcome to a new article filled with blogging tips and tricks here on Dreaming of Butterflies. Today we're going back to the beginning of our blogging journey and talking about one of the most important things you have to do right when you're thinking of sharing your thoughts with the world.
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Blogging can be everything you want it to be.
The fun, practical study, some form of therapy, a way to educate your audience about your services, or art, or shop, and even a fully successful business. It can be just some of those things or even all of them. It's what you make it.
Blogging is rewarding in so many ways, you will not find out until you start doing it. Besides the financial gain you can have if you're serious about it, blogging also helps you improve yourself and your lifestyle, while you help others.
It can be like a magic spell. What you put out there will return to you trifold.
But, blogging can also be a little scary, especially at the starting point. Anyone can get easily overwhelmed by the amount of information about blogging out there. This article is here to help you centre your thoughts and focus on what is really important for your future as a blogger.
But enough with the chit-chatting! Let's get to it!
10 Crucial blogging questions you need to answer before writing your first blog post:
1. What do you know a lot about?
It is very important for you to think clearly about what you know, so you can easily identify your niche and your market. Maybe you are a great photographer, an accountant, a stylist, an artist, or a designer. That is just perfect. Use that knowledge!
BUT
You don't necessarily need to have a degree in that field or any field for that matter. You just need to love what you do and be good at it. Share your passion with others.
I'll bet you will say: "But Maya, your blog is not set on one specific topic! Look how many you have! Why?" It's simple, really. We are not your typical blog. We're focused on helping young people like us - multi-passionate.
Me and my fiance Andy, we're both artists at heart, but we also have many other interests that we want to share with the world (that's why we started our second business, website pending). But our biggest passion is actually helping others grow. That's why our blog is a lifestyle, self-improvement blog, with a geeky twist.
But this just proves that you can do it too, and have success with a wider topic blog, not just a super niched one.
2. What do you like to do and learn a lot about?
Maybe you have a hobby or a skill that you are constantly improving. That's great! You can, and should use that to your advantage. Exactly like in the previous question.
If you love it and are good at it, share your knowledge with others. Don't think that if you share what you know, it's not going to be your secret weapon anymore. The fact that you want to share it will make it your way to hit success.
3. How can you add to that topic?
It's like in math. You have at least two solutions to any problem. Yours might be just the one your audience is looking for.
If you love to find the easy way out of a situation, that's one thing you can share. Or it can be a piece of new information on a topic. There must be something you know that no one else knows. Think about that!
4. Can you create a lot of content?
This is, again, one of the most important questions you should know the answer to, before starting a blog. You need to be sure you can write as much content as possible, so you can create an awesome blog that will attract more and more and more readers every day.
If you want to have a successful blog, you need to be able to come up with a lot of quality content related to your main niche. Tutorials, lists, Q&As, comparisons and everything else in between.
You can even create a series going into extra details about a specific area of your niche.
5. Who are your readers?
Age, sex, social status, financial status, location. Think about who will be your readers and possible future customers - if you decide to create your own products, or if your blog is your way of bringing attention to your services or main business.
How old are they? What do they look like? How much do they earn? Are they men or women? Where are they from/ where do they live?
You need to be able to create a complex portrait of your reader. Don't write for everyone, write for someone specific. And another thing: It's best to have in mind someone you can personally relate to.
For example, I am a young(ish) woman, in my early 30's, I am currently an entrepreneur, building two big businesses (but wanting to build 5 more), in search of financial stability, not married yet, but planning my wedding, looking to upgrade my overall lifestyle.
I have no idea what it is to be a rich 50-year-old man, for example. I will not be able to create content that someone like that might be interested in. But I can create content for someone like me.
6. How can you help them with your knowledge?
There will always be someone willing to listen if you have something good to say. Maybe you know something that you tried for yourself, and found out that no one else knows about it. Use that information to your advantage.
Or maybe you have another way of saying things, of putting the information that is scattered out there, together, in a simple, unique manner, easier to digest. Even if you don't think you can help in any way, trust me, you can! Just take some time and really think.
7. Why do you want to blog?
Answer yourself sincerely why do you want to do this. Are you doing this just for yourself? or just to help others? Maybe you want to travel or fund another business. Or maybe you already have the main business, let's say a web design & development one, but simply want to educate people about your portfolio, or work environment.
It can also be as simple as you want to make money because you've seen so many others doing so, so why not you?
Think about why would blogging be good for you, but don't forget, honesty is the most important thing here.
8. How much time are you going to invest in blogging?
This is very important, again, because you need to know exactly how many hours per day or week you will invest in this, especially if you want to turn it into a business. If you want to do it just for fun, okay, go for a few hours here and there.
But, if you want to actually make some money, to change your life, to help others, think of investing many hours into it. Just a couple of hours per week will not get you where you want to go.
Blogging is hard work.
It's like a job. You have a lot of daily tasks you need to do, from writing new articles, rewriting old ones, making and actually posting Pins, creating a social media schedule, and posting on groups, forums and everywhere else your audience is.
Because, in the beginning at least, you need to be the one chasing your audience. The "build it and they will come" thing does not work in this scenario, unfortunately. But it's worth it in the end.
9. How do you plan to monetise it?
This point is more for the ones among you that want to make money blogging, but it can be good to know even if you don't plan on doing that just yet.
When you have enough content published to keep people interested in your little corner of the interwebs, you can start thinking about monetisation. If you've read some of our other blogging articles, then you know that we are huge fans of finding new and exciting ways of making money through our blog.
Our favourites still are the big 5:
- Ads
- Affiliate marketing
- Products
- Services
- Sponsors
You can start by implementing some of these from day 1 of the launch, and the income potential from them is really influenced by which of them you use, how you combine them, and how well you spread the word about your blog.
10. How far do you see it going?
Is it just a way to pass the time now, while you're figuring out your next move? or is it a hobby, and you use it to clear your mind, as a digital mind dumping place?
Or do you see it growing into a big business, with a serious income, and so much workload that you need a bunch of tools and even a team of people working for you, maybe? Take a minute to dream about the potential of your blog, map out a growth journey, and start following it.
Last but not least... let's clear something out.
Starting a blog is not for everyone, and that's okay! You need to take care of a lot of issues beforehand, do a ton of research during and really think about what you are doing almost every step of the way. It may seem very confusing at first (we've been there) but you need to take it one step at a time.
Big things don't come easy. Start by answering these 10 questions, and then move to the next step. Are you ready to start your own blog? Join us here!
Aaaaand that's all for today, lovely dreamer! We hope these crucial blogging questions will help you organise your thoughts and guide you to your new blogging success. If you liked this, please don't forget to share it, pin it, tweet it! Our humble blog will thank you!
QOTD: What are some other questions you think are important to have an answer to, before starting a blog?