How to Set Your Blog Up For Success

Last Updated on May 4, 2020 by ellduclos

Are you wondering how to set your blog up for success? Blogging is a lot of hard work, and there is a lot of steps that go into setting up your blog for success. Today I want to help you set your blog up success so you can turn into a thriving blog with an engaged audience.

Disclaimer: Affiliate links are used. Read my disclosure policy here

How to set your blog up for success

A FEW KEY FACTORS TO REMEMBER:

Patience: Blogging takes a lot of patience. Yes, you can bring your blog to success BUT sometimes it takes time. You need to have patience and accept the fact that your success may come at a slower pace than others.
Dedication: You need to be dedicated to your blog in order to bring it success. You have to work at it day and night. Sleep is a lost cause, you will spend hours awake at night. Even if you have a full time job, you need to make time for your blog.
Consistency: Keeping your blog consistent, especially when it comes to posting is important. Set a schedule for your blog and stick to it.

FIRST STEP: START YOUR BLOG ON THE RIGHT PLATFORM

Picking the right platform to use for your blog is important. In my hones and personal opinion, I think it’s best to invest in your blog. Self-hosting is by far one of the BEST decisions I made for my blog. I have a whole dedicated blog post as to why I found self hosting to be the best option.

To put it brief, self hosting gives you full control and ownership over your blog which is a big deal especially, if you ever want to monetize your blog. Self-hosting would give you wordpress.org which comes already installed with use of plugins (something you don’t get on free wordpress.com)

Plugins have helped transform my blog so much! I was able to get an email list builder and I grew my email list quickly. Self-hosting also helped my SEO.

The self-host I use is Site Ground and they are AMAZING. Their support team is quick responding and helpful. They transferred my site from wordpress.com to .org on their servers when I used their “grow big plan”. Their plans start at 3.95 a month/ $48 for a whole year. I went with them because I have heard others complain of server errors and slow server speed through other hosting companies. I haven’t had any issues with Siteground and it’s been almost 3 years with them. You can sign up with them here.

SECOND STEP: CREATE A BOSS ABOUT ME

When it comes to creating an about me, it is important to make sure that it has the right elements! You want an about me that will capture your audiences’ attention but will also explain who you are, what your about, and what you are offering. You should also make sure to have your email address present so that brands or others wanting to reach out to you know where to contact you. I’ve noticed that others tend to relate and connect more to a face. If you make an image of yourself present in your about me, it may help to create a more personal connection with your audience.

THIRD STEP: HAVE AN EMAIL LIST BUILDER – AND AN OPT-IN

It’s important to grow your email list. You want a place where you have all of your subscribers emails so that you can keep them updated on your blog, events, deals, news, new blog posts, whatever it is that you need to contact your subscribers about, this is a great way to be able to! The email list builder that I use is MailerLite. I love Mailerlite because it is so user friendly! It also allows you to have up to 1,000 free subscribers. They have an easy drag/drop setup and you can create opt-ins.

What’s an opt-in?

It’s essentially a “freebie” you give to your subscribers for signing up to your email list. For example – the opt-in that I offer is a free “Instagram crash course.” Once I offered an opt-in my email list grew and it grew quick! People are more likely to sign up for something if there’s something they get in return that will benefit them.

How to have a successful opt-it?

Make sure you think of your audience. Why are they visiting your site? What are they interested in? Do you offer fashion posts? Blog tip posts? Travel posts? Here are some ideas to get you thinking,

Fashion Niches:

Style tips
A Fashion Quiz (what’s your style)
How to Rock (specific) Trend
Top 10 Fashion Hacks

Beauty Niches:

Makeup Tutorials Top
10 Beauty Product must haves
Beauty quiz (what beauty routine fits you)
A list of Dupes (expensive products for less)
10 Beauty hacks

Blogging/Business Niches:

Blog challenge
How to grow ____
Blog Resources
Social Media Strategies
SEO tips
Free course
Free e-book

LifeStyle Niches:

Free printables
Journal pages (ideas)
10 ways to be happier
Motivational quotes list
Daily Mantras
30 day challenges

Food/Health Niches:

Recipes
10 vegan Recipes you NEED to try
10 ways to live a healthier lifestyle
Workout routines
Meal prep ideas
10 quick and healthy dinners

Travel Niches:

How to Travel on a budget
How to pack light (packing tips)
Travel Hacks
10 Must travel to places
Bucket List Travel Ideas
Travel guides

Parenting Niches:

10 parenting hacks
10 products EVERY parent needs
Printable color pages or worksheets for toddlers

MAKE SURE YOUR OPT-IN DOESN’T ANNOY YOUR AUDIENCE

What I mean by this is a lot of bloggers like to utilize a POP UP opt-in. It’s important that your opt-in doesn’t pop up right away. You want to give your reader the time to read a little about you first so they can get to know who you are. They will feel more connected to your blog and will be more likely to want to subscribe. If you don’t give them the chance to know who you are and what you are offering, then they will be more likely to pass up on subscribing.

FOURTH STEP: HAVE A PRESENTABLE WEBSITE

You want a theme that looks classy and professional. When I am on a site I want to make sure that it is organized and easy to find what you are looking for. Make sure to set up your website so that if you have categories, they are searchable. You should also make sure you have a search bar present too in case your readers want to search for something specific. I also find that if you don’t have your blog post settings set to (excerpts) on your homepage it can create an overwhelming appearance and makes it harder for your audience to search through your posts.

Keep in mind the less busy your theme is the better. You don’t want 5 ads popping up everywhere with an opt-in pop up, and a navigation bar all at the same time. Things like this can be distracting, overwhelming and can cause a hard bounce.

I also want to point out that having your social links present on your homepage is key. This will let your audience know what social media they can connect with you on.

FIFTH STEP: HAVE PROPER LEGAL POLICIES ON YOUR BLOG

It’s important to make sure your blog has proper legal policies. If you use affiliate links, have sponsored posts, collect emails or use ads on your blog then you need to have a disclosure and privacy policy. I use the templates from this legal bundle that a lawyer puts together for bloggers!

HOW TO GROW YOUR BLOG TRAFFIC

If you want to set your blog up for success then you need to learn how to market your content. A content marketing strategy is a must when it comes to growing your blog traffic.

Use Pinterest Marketing

Pinterest is my number one source of blog traffic on both of my blogs. When I tell others that they can use Pinterest to grow their blog traffic they think i’m lying. However, Pinterest brings my lifestyle blog over 100,000 monthly blog views and this blog up to 70,000 monthly blog views currently. I have an affordable e-course that goes over my exact strategy here.

Use Facebook Groups

I have had great success using facebook groups. I think it’s important to join facebook groups that focus on growing your blog, collaborating with others, succeeding with others, and any groups that allow you to promote your blog. I also found that creating my OWN facebook group has helped me grow my blog traffic immensely also. If you are interested in creating your own facebook group or want to learn how to grow your already made facebook group, check out this post here.

The facebook group I created is called Boss Girl Bloggers. It’s a group of like minded women who are pursuing their dream of blogging full time. If you want to join the 37,000 + inspiring members then Click here to join for free!

Use Instagram

I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram however, I still use it and have grown my lifestyle/beauty Instagram account to over 24,000. Instagram is very heavy on visual imagery so I find that it works best for those in fashion/travel/beauty niches. But, for any niche you can use Instagram to help promote your blog! Post and let your following know when you have a new blog post up on your blog. You can also leave your new blog post link in your bio. If you have enough followers to use the swipe up button in your Instagram stories then make use of it!

Use Twitter

A lot of bloggers forget about using twitter! Twitter is a great way to share with your following when you have a new blog post. It’s also a great way to interact and get the attention of brands you may want to collaborate with in the near future. If you don’t already have a twitter for your blog you should definitely create one! Not to mention, the blogging community on twitter is so supportive! Feel free to check out mine. If you want tips on how to grow an engaged twitter following then check out this post.

Create A Facebook Business Page

Creating a business page and growing this page can be a great way to drive blog traffic. I know it may seem difficult to grow your Facebook business page following but here are a few tips that have worked for me!

Promote in facebook groups that you are allowed to promote it in.
Make sure to link your facebook business page on your blog and at the end of blog posts. You can even use the facebook like plugin that will let your readers like your page right from your blog!
When sending updates to your email list let them know to show support over on your facebook business page
Invite others to like your page. they either will or won’t but this is pretty effective
If you have a facebook group of your own, connect your business page to your group. (It helps so much!)

What should you post on your facebook business page?

What you post on your Facebook business page depends on your niche. You can link your instagram page to your facebook page so that every time you post on Instagram, it’ll post to your page. You could share motivational quotes, your new blog posts, photos of places you travel to or new products you get. The suggestions are endless. As long as you’re posting about what makes you happy and what you enjoy talking about, you will attract others. Be YOURSELF.

MAKE SURE YOUR BLOG IS SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZED

This is pulled from a previous article that I wrote. SEO is Search Engine Optimization and it’s something that MANY struggle with!

I broke it all down for you:

Install an SEO plugin. I use the popular YOAST SEO Plugin. This is such a helpful tool that guides you through making sure your blog post is optimized for search engines.
You have to determine your keywords. Do Keyword research too if you have to. I use the Keysearch Tool to help me choose the right keywords. Using “long tail keywords” aren’t searched as often but they are usually more specific and less competitive. It’s a 3-4 word phrase that is specific to what you are blogging about.
Use Keywords throughout your post. Make sure throughout your post you are using your keywords and include keywords in your meta description.
Make sure you have subheadings. These subheadings let search engines know what your post is about. H2 heading is a go to. It also helps break up your content to make it easier for your readers to read your post.
Make sure you are giving your images a title and ALT text. This let’s search engines know what your picture is about which helps with optimization for ranking in search engines.
Interlink your content. Link back to previous posts that you have done if you can. Refer back to your old posts by linking them in your new posts.

HOW TO MONETIZE YOUR BLOG

MONEY ISN’T THE MOTIVE

It’s important that you go into blogging without money being your main focus. I say this because making money blogging takes a lot of hard work and time. It definitely won’t happen over night! If money is your main focus you will most likely give up. Your main focus should be creating quality content and creating connections with your audience! These two things will eventually lead you to the money.

When you are ready to try and create some income, here is what you can do to monetize your blog.

Affiliate Marketing: This is a great way to start off creating an income. Affiliate marketing is essentially using affiliate links to generate income. An affiliate link is a link that you use promoting a product. If someone purchases the product via your link, you will get a percentage of the sale (at no additional cost to the purchaser). I have a blog post dedicated to affiliate marketing that teaches you successful strategies for when it comes to succeeding in affiliate marketing here.
ADS: Another easy yet successful way to make an income off your blog is using ads. for example Google Adsense. Each time someone views, clicks, interacts with your ads you get some money. It’s not much, especially in the beginning but it adds up and if you have a large enough audience you can see great results. I personally didn’t enjoy using Google Adsense. I suggest waiting until you have 25k sessions in the last 30 days so you can apply to Mediavine. They pay a lot more than Google.
Working with Brands: A great way to make money blogging is scoring brand sponsorships. There are so many different ways to get noticed by brands. If you want to read a post on how to work with brands you can find that here.
Create a digital product: This is a great way to earn passive income from your blog. Create a digital product that offers value or a solution to a problem and your product will be successful for you! Here’s a dedicated post on how I created and sold a successful digital product.
Offer services: If you are an expert at growing and managing social media, offer your services. There are always busy bloggers looking for a helping hand.
Coaching: You can coach others on a topic that you are good at.
Create Your Own Shop: Create and sell your own products through shopify, etsy, or woocommerce.

I hope that some of these tips will help you to make the best out of your blog and blogging journey to success!

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

xx ELL