I get told all the time "I really want to start a blog, but I just don't know where to start and I don't know if I have time". So today's post is going to be all about starting your blog and finding the motivation to keep up with it.
NICHE/NAME
A lot of times people know they WANT to start a blog but they're not sure where to start or what they would even write about. Step 1 is to think about YOUR niche. What category of blogging are you going to belong to? Do you want to write about fashion? Life? Travel? Food? Photography? DIY? Relationships? When you pin point exactly what your blog is going to be about, start thinking about what you want to call your blog. I'm the type of person where I have to write down all of my ideas so I just started writing words down that described me and what my blog would be about to help me come up with a name. After a long time I finally came up with Dazzle-On. I felt like it described me and fit exactly what I wanted my "brand" to be. Because essentially you are creating a brand for yourself. Your name is one of the most important things to your blog, so don't rush it. Write down names, research, play on words, look up synonyms for certain words and take your time deciding. It's okay if it even takes you weeks to decide because I promise if you settle for a name and create your website and end up not loving it, then all your efforts were a waste.
CREATING YOUR SITE
Another common question is where do you even start your blog? I researched different blogging platforms and I decided on www.wix.com. If I could start over I probably would've gone with blogger. Here are some websites for you to check out. Pick one that will be easy to design, work with, and is affordable to your budget (Yes you do have to pay for a website if you want it to be entirely yours) For example I could've done a free website if i did www.dazzle-on.wix.com, but I knew I wanted my website to be more professional than that, and honestly, people won't go to those websites as much as they do to a normal "dazzle-on.com" website.
Website platforms to consider and check out their websites and what they can offer:
-Wix
DESIGNING YOUR SITE I would say that one of the toughest things about creating your website for the first time is the designing of it. If you are indecisive like me, it might be hard to stick to one color palette and font. I designed my website at first the way I wanted it and months later, I changed the entire thing completely. I changed all of the fonts, the sizes, the colors, the number of pages. It's all about trial and error and it's okay to change it as you go. At first, design something you like and start blogging. Start putting content on your site and if you don't like how it looks, it is EASILY changeable.
CONTENT AND CONSISTENCY
Another common thing I hear is "I don't have time for it, but I want to do it". Yes you do. You make time for the things you want to do and if you don't make time for it then it's not on the top of your priority list. If you have the idea of wanting to start a blog, that means you feel like you have something to say and share with the world. If you think you don't have time for it, SET GOALS. Start your goal with 1 blog post a week and see how that works. If you find you have more to say, set your goal with twice or three times a week. If you really are the busiest human on the planet and can only manage 2 times A YEAR, then still go for it. JUST DO IT. Create your site, write what you want to say and create content that will get people interested and wanting to visit your site. One of the main things I have learned through blogging is that people will NOT visit your site if you're writing stuff they don't care about. So what did I do? I created a new instagram account for my blog where I publish all of my fashion content and promoting my blog posts. I only follow fashion people and people interested in fashion follow me. The people visiting my sites are the people that WANT to read about affordable fashion and beauty and I've created that niche for myself. You have your own voice and you should use it and find people that want to read your stuff. Publish your content on ALL social medias (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest) to get the word out there.
THE UGLY TRUTH This is the hard part. You will not, off the bat have millions of subscribers to your site. You will probably not even have 10 people who consistently read your blog. AND THAT IS OKAY. For a long time, I would get sooooo excited if I even had 1 blog visitor on my site because it meant that SOMEONE was reading what I created. It's okay to not have tons of followers and readers at first and that's completely normal. The more you blog, the longer you have your website and the more you promote it, it will attract more people as time goes on. I went from 1 person visiting my blog, to 10, to 20, to 30 and now I have a few hundred a week. Granted, I've only had my blog for 7 months so that is a huge accomplishment to me, but I'm still hungry to grow. Even if you have 0 people reading your content, keep writing. Write for yourself and keep doing it and eventually people will come to it. I truly do blog because it makes ME happy to do this. It makes ME happy to write something I want to write about. It makes ME happy to work on my website and create something I'm proud of. So just remember to do this for YOU and don't put all of your worry on other people reading your site. Your time will come and everyone grows at different rates.
KEY POINTS Remember to stay consistent and always look for ways to better your blog and grow it. It's a process and it takes time to create the look you're going for and that time will come. Be proud of your blog even if no one is reading it yet. Be confident in what you're blogging about and keep going. I promise if you set goals and you are consistent with them, you will achieve them!
That's all for now. If you have any other advice leave a comment down below. Thank you for reading and stopping by! xoxo