5 Important Steps To Start A Blog - From a new blogger

Hello lovely new bloggers, I can't believe it has been 7 weeks today since i started my blog! I have gleaned so so much in these past weeks that i thought it would be great to put pen to paper & tell you about what i have learnt in the process of starting a blog in 5 simple steps.

Step 1: Choose a platform on which to blog

This was a no brainer for me as i had previously started a blogger blog back in 2013(We'll come to that later) Blogger is FREE & is easy to use if you spend the time finding your way around & using the online tutorials & videos to maximise it to its full potential. If you are even considering starting a blog, now or at any time in the future i would secure your Blogger blog name now before someone else takes it. Which leads me onto step 2.

Step 2: Choose a name for your blog

Now you may want to spend some time thinking about this. My previous name was "The Diary Of A Midlife Crisis Beauty Addict". Phew, what a mouthful! When i relaunched my blog 7 weeks ago i was desperate to think of a shorter snappier blog name but as mentioned above, all the good & obvious ones were taken. I took to twitter & asked my fellow bloggers what they thought & to be honest, most said they loved my name & that it described me well. I was advised by Phil at Pipdig(more about him in a minute) to make my blog name as short as possible so that if i wanted my blog advertising anywhere it would fit easily onto other websites sidebars. Also my very long blog name would be hard to fit into a banner. The final & most useful point was that some social media accounts limit how many letters you can have in your name.  So with all of that in mind, my blog name was shortened to "Midlife Crisis Beauty Addict". 

Step 3: Invest a small amount of money on a blog template 

As i mentioned in step 1, i previously started a blog in 2013. However, i didn't enjoy this experience at all. I didn't take the time to familiarise myself properly with all that Blogger could do. I hated the way my blog & blog layout looked. As a result of my rubbish looking blog i never got any readers & I found the whole thing not fulfilling at all. I wouldn't want anyone reading this to have the same experience which is partly why i am writing this now. So, the lovely guy Phil i mentioned above from Pipdig came to my rescue. I had seen Pipdig mentioned time & time again on Twitter. Not just by new bloggers but also by BIG BLOGGERS. I popped over to his website & was met with THE most beautiful themes, layouts & designs along with clever features which my non HTML self could only ever dream of. Being a very fussy person & always on the look out for a bargain i of course looked elsewhere. Etsy also have some lovely looking designs at really low prices. However at £29 including a free install & all the funky features Pipdig offer, it wasn't long before i caved & paid my £29 to Phil & had a shiny new blog :)

Step 4: Blog regularly & be yourself

Now that you are all set up it's time to write your first blog post. This was the most exciting thing for me! I only post once per week as i have a lot of other things going on on my life & it is important to me that blogging doesn't become a chore again. However, i put a lot of thought & work into that one post & it always goes up on a Wednesday every single week.  My audience will become accustomed to this & will know when to expect the next post. I think once a week is the minimum you should be blogging really, but feel free to blog as an when you feel the urge! Put your own personality into your blog & blog about things that interest you. There will be people out there with similar interests to you & they are the folks who will follow your blog & you'll get a true audience that appreciate what you are blogging about. It's amazing to me that in only 7 weeks i have had just short of 20,000 views on my blog!

 Step 5: Be as active as you can on social media

So you've signed up for a free Blogger account, chosen a fitting name, had help with designing the layout & features on your blog or paid a blog designer to make it look gorgeous for you & written your very first post. HOW EXCITING! Now don't you want to tell the whole world about it? The most important social media platform is Twitter in my opinion. You can do so much on twitter. You'll want to tweet about each new blog post you put up. There are numerous twitter chats throughout the week where you can interact with other bloggers & pick up great tips & ideas. You can interact with your favourite brands & let them know when you have included them in one of your blog posts which they will be thrilled to hear! You can learn about blogger events & opportunities in your area & so much more. In the 7 weeks since my relaunch i have been to a bloggers event with Crabtree & Evelyn, collaborated with Rodgers of York, been sent Raspberry Ketones for review by You. But Better & invited to #TheCityGirls bloggers event in Leeds. This is all thanks to Twitter interaction. 

So there you go! What are you waiting for? Get yourself over to blogger & get started. There is a whole audience out there waiting to read what you have to say & i am one of them. So have you found this little start up guide helpful? Has it inspired you to get started as a blogger? If so then let me know in the comments below & add me over on Twitter so that you can tweet me when your first post goes live. I'm SO excited for you already! xxx