Hey everyone I am writing this post and actually going to be scheduling it for my blog launch next week so if you are reading this then YAY my blog has finally relaunched! It has been an exciting month and time has totally flown right on by. When I first started my blog I went in totally blind but I feel with this relaunch I’ve learned so so much and so I wanted to share with you the 10 things I wish I knew before I started blogging!

10 Things I wish I knew Before I started Blogging.

1. Start self hosted and on your own domain

Okay friends if I could give you one piece of advice and just one it would be to begin your blog on your own self hosted domain! My very first blog was made on wordpress.com instead of wordpress.org. Remember how I said I went in blind. Well I didn’t know that there was a difference between the two! Although WordPress.com offers some great free themes as well as paid themes, there is no option for you to upload a downloaded theme say from Pipdig.   WordPress.org offers more control and customization over your site. Also having a blog website named bethalylovebeauty.com vs bethalylovebeauty.wordpress.com looks way more professional. Which is what you want if you want to be taken seriously  as a blogger.

2. Do your research

Again I went in blind. I was such a noob and didn’t bother to do any research. I mean I knew that when i first started my blog I wanted it to be beauty focused and my niche was other beauty obsessed individuals like myself. However that’s as far as it went! Before relaunching this blog I did my research! I searched for what other bloggers in my niche were talking about, what posts and topics get the most engagement, what readers enjoy about my niche. Hopefully if I did my research well you are the exact reader I was hoping to attract! . Take a look at my How to start a successful blog from day 1 in just 9 steps if you want to learn more!

3. Your blog is actually not a Journal

Although there are some bloggers out there who have been successful with a memoir of their life and just their musings more often than not people want to read your blog posts because you solve a problem for them. If you think about it when you jump online and begin to Google something, more often than not you are Googling to find an answer to a question or a problem that you are having. Whether it’s figuring out what the best foundation is for your skin type, hunting down the latest fashion trends or learning how to start a successful blogging journey everyone is looking for answers! Having the mentality that your blog is nothing more than just a journal means that you are potentially loosing readers and future subscribers.

4. You can join Social Media Groups

Who knew that there are Facebook groups dedicated to bloggers! One of my favorite groups is Social Savvy Babes. This group is full of other blogger babes from every niche you could think of. I’ve joined a couple of facebook groups but this one in particular is the most responsive, supportive, friendly and engaged. I also love an Admin who takes her work and group seriously. A lot of the women I have met from this group I have made friends with. So join a group its a great way to get help from people who are on the same blogging journey as you.

5. Live, breathe, eat, SEO tips!

In short, if you want your posts to show up in google when someone searches for keywords or a key phrase then you need to optimize SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization. I had NO IDEA what this was until one month ago! Ensuring that your posts are SEO proofed will make it so that your posts are seen as relevant and will help your posts rank higher in googles search results. I talk more about this in my 7 top SEO tips. 

6. Pinterst, Pinterest, Pinterest

I NEVER pinned any of my blog posts onto pinterest before. What a BUMMER that is cause I totally missed out on blogging growth here. Personally I used pinterest to look for DIY projects, dinner recipes, beauty, fashion and lifestyle inspiration. I didn’t see it as a blogging strategy and my pinterest boards were a MESS. But again friends I did my research its like a light went on in my head. All the pins that I pin are articles from other bloggers so HELLO why wasn’t I promoting myself through my pinterest?! So I switched my account over from personal to business, revamped my boards and guess what happened? my monthly page views went from 25 to 3000. Now compared to big time bloggers this is nothing but this for me is a milestone in itself! That means that 3000 people are viewing my content and potentially getting on to my site and becoming subscribers! And that’s why it is so important to schedule your posts to be pinned on pinterest! I will of course be doing a WHOLE blog post on this in the near future so stay tuned!

7. Twitter, tweets and twitter

Another social media platform I’ve been taking for granted is TWITTER. For me twitter was dead and only used by Hollywood superstars.  Well I couldn’t be more wrong! Just like facebook groups there are amazing twitter accounts that help bloggers out just like us by retweeting your links, posts and promoting your account. There’s also a supportive blogging community on twitter as well that you can connect with. Twitter is also a great way to engage with your readers. You can do Q&A’s on twitter or use your tweets as prompts for your followers to begin chatting and engaging with you! Did you know that you can pin tweets?! This was new to me! Pin a tweet that drives traffic to your blog. You can even use the header space to promote your blog!

8. Branding is IMPORTANT

Honestly when I started my blog all I really gave any thought to was my name bethalylovebeauty. When it came to a logo, colors, or a theme I thought all of that was irrelevant. BUT ITS NOT. I’m going to use Starbucks as an example here. When we think of Starbucks what comes to mind color wise and logo wise? Dark green and white with a mermaid logo am I correct? So what were people thinking about my non directional themed blog? If you don’t have a distinguished theme then how will you be memorable? I’m so in love with the theme I decided to go with for this relaunch it’s me in every way! Nude, blacks, grays, and white are basically the only colors I own in my closet so it’s fitting to have on my site! My theme is simple with a dash of subtle color.

9. You’ve got to have a strategy

I did not treat my first blog as a business. As I said in step 3 it was more of a hey I like all of these stuff and I’m going to write about it so here read it please! But blogging takes time and effort and strategy. You have to discover your niche and what your passionate about. You have to know your target audience and design posts you feel will add value to their lives. I always say time is money. So why should someone trade their time to read your blog?

10. You must plan your content

I remember feeling stuck thinking what on earth should I write about now?  You guessed it I didn’t plan a single post. I didn’t have a schedule and I wrote whenever it suited me. So you can guess I had a whole lot of mediocre posts and not a whole lot of posts people actually wanted to read. I mean I think I was pretty good at my beauty reviews but there were a lot of aspects I could’ve improved on such as my image quality and the descriptions of my images. Planning your content really keep your from feeling overwhelmed. I like to write the title of my planned blog posts into my planner every Wednesday (since this is when my new blog posts are published). Now I have content planned up until the end of October!

So those are the 10 things I wish I knew before I started blogging. Like anything else blogging takes time and effort. Don’t get discouraged if you feel like you aren’t taking off right away. Be patient, be diligent, keep going and results will begin to happen!

Until next time

Beth

xo

Bethaly Miro

With this blog I strive to cultivate and foster a community that encourages and empowers women from all walks of life. I am a stay at home to my three beautiful daughters and I am married to my high school sweetheart and together we have built a life we love. You can usually find me with a book in one hand and a Starbucks coffee in the other. I hope that this blog brings you comfort in knowing that you aren’t alone in whatever it is you’re growing through as a mother, a wife, a woman.

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