Get it right with blogging the first time.
To get it right the first time with blogging there are quite a few things to consider. Like hosting, domain name, site title and crucial plugins. In this post, we will cover a few blogging necessities I wish I knew about when getting started. But no, like many newbies I was in such a hurry to make money. Terrible how you realize once reality kicks back in, right?
When you start your first blog. Please do not think you are going to make substantial amounts of money within the first year. Getting it right the first time with blogging takes a lot of time. And you may very well be at it for a few years before it turns profitable. Depending on your niche or topic and the level of competition you will most certainly face!
Getting it right the first time with blogging requires research, planning, precision, and presentation. You will spend hours researching and preparing before even considering the right hosting platform. Which is why we are going to cover the steps precisely in this post, so you do not get lost. Because it is easy getting lost in an Ocean of information overload. Been there, done that.
That said, are you ready? Awesome, let us get started then. Keep reading to the end for awesome free blogging tools to get it right the first time with blogging. And leave a comment below the post if you need help with anything.
Establishing direction and Purpose.
The direction is so much more important than speed to get it right the first time with blogging. Because many newbie bloggers are going nowhere fast. And struggle to keep up with hundreds of posts. No need for that because the magic is in the quality, not quantity. So, let us start with the first and most important step.
Discovering your profitable niche and where many go wrong. The biggest challenge of my own online career was choosing a niche I knew nothing about. Lucky for me there is nothing that research, hard work, and time cannot remedy. And no, I did not get it right the first time with blogging. In fact, I launched several blogs before getting the hang of things.
Everything you need to make money online is right in front of you. The internet and your willingness to learn. And to get it right the first time with blogging. You want to choose a niche or topic on something you love doing most. And preferably something you have some knowledge on.
Forget about trending niches and best niches bla, bla, bla. The best niche for you is the one thing you love doing most. Whether it is popular or not is irrelevant. Because to get it right the first time with blogging is about the quality of your content. And the quality of your presentation to draw attention. The winning sequence is Research, Content, Target, and Presentation.
Keywords and LSI keywords the first time.
Once you have decided on your profitable niche. You want to think of the one word (or maybe 2 words) that best describes your niche or topic. Because strategic keyword placement is the first step to mastering SEO. Strategic keyword placement is really very important to get it right the first time with blogging.
Below are some of the best keyword research tools available on the internet. But for the purpose of this discussion, I am going to tell you where to place keywords. The research is up to you to get it right the first time with blogging.
>> Google Keyword Planner <<
>> Keywords Everywhere <<
>> Keyword Researcher <<
LSI keywords must also be added. But that is a topic on its own. Therefore, to get it right the first time with blogging. You may want to read a little more about LSI keywords in another post on this blog.
>> Read more about LSI Keywords <<
Importance of Strategic Keyword Placement.
So, to get it right the first time with blogging this is where you place your target keywords. In the domain name try to include one or if possible two target keywords. But the domain name must also be easy to remember. And keywords must be used within context to avoid confusion.
Also, include one or two target keywords in the site title to get it right the first time with blogging. But do not exceed 60 characters, also counting spaces. Although 55 is preferable on some search engines. But also count the site tag line as part of the title or H1 header.
Internet Marketing Money | Affiliate Marketing
Above is how the title and tagline for my blog displays in search engines. A total of 46 characters also counting spaces. Always take note of how your blog displays in search engines to get it right the first time with blogging.
First-time Domain Name and Site Title.
Get it right the first time with blogging by choosing the right domain name and site title. Because it is of paramount importance to choose carefully here. And because you always want to try to avoid using English Stop Words in the domain name and site title AKA H1 header. Using them in a page or post body content is fine. Just not as part of the domain name and site title.
>> Access a List of English Stop Words <<
Choose a domain name that both carries a message and is easy to remember. Make the domain name short and sweet, to the point. This is important to get it right the first time with blogging because it helps with returning visitors. All part of the bigger picture in the end, dominating SEO and search result pages.
With the site title, you may need to shuffle your options a little to get it right the first time with blogging. Because it is not always easy to include the target keyword or keywords. And come up with a title where keywords are used within the context of the phrase or sentence.
Same goes for the domain name to get it right the first time with blogging. You may find the domain name you choose may already be taken. So, we are back to shuffling our options as with the site title.
Take your time with choosing the domain name and site title. Do not rush this process. Rushing this process is how NOT to get it right the first time with blogging. Because blogging is a journey, not a contest. And the purpose is to share, learn and inspire.
The Bluehost and WordPress Option.
To get it right the first time with blogging. I strongly suggest using Bluehost for hosting. And then installing WordPress as the site builder. Really simple steps to follow and below is a training program to teach you how to do that. In fact, it is the exact same training program I used to launch my first professional blog.
Because I found the videos truly informative. To get it right the first time with blogging. This training program takes you from keyword research to installing and using plugins. And on to SEO and all the other technical mumbo jumbo with blogging. But the training option is entirely up to you.
>> Bluehost and WP Training Program <<
If you are familiar with hosting and installing WordPress. Or even if you are not. You can simply get Bluehost hosting and then install WordPress as the site builder from inside the hosting C-Panel. To get it right the first time with blogging you will need to explore the two C-Panels. Because you have one inside your hosting profile. And another inside your WordPress editor.
>> Get Bluehost Hosting <<
So now we have our profitable niche. We have the domain name and site title. And we have the hosting and installing WordPress as the site builder covered. And well on your way to get it right the first time with blogging. Now it is going to get a little more interesting.
Install the right plugins the First Time.
Next, to get it right the first time with blogging you will need to install a few plugins. Because this is easy to do and the video below will show you exactly how to do that.
There are two areas of SEO to concentrate on to get it right the first time with blogging. On-page SEO and Off-page SEO. Now plugins like Yoast SEO Premium is the most important part of your blog on-page SEO. And off-page SEO is things like Social Bookmarks, Social Posts, Backlinks, Web 2.0 Profiles, Web 2.0 Blogs, and Comment Backlinks.
Below follows is a list of 10 important WordPress plugins to get it right the first time with blogging. Because these will simplify important tasks like SEO, site load speed and anti-spam protection. You do not want spam on your blog.
>> Yoast SEO Premium <<
>> WordPress Rocket <<
>> Pretty Links Lite <<
>> Akismet Anti-Spam <<
>> Word Fence for WordPress <<
>> Lucky WP Table of Contents <<
>> Really Simple SSL <<
>> Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg <<
>> WP Auto Terms <<
>> Sassy Social Share <<
Because these ten plugins will make it a little easier for you to get it right the first time with blogging. Just follow the steps with each plugin and you will do simply fine. Although I do want to show you how to effectively use the Yoast SEO Premium plugin.
Get it Right with Simple Steps the first time.
To get it right the first time with blogging, you also want to focus on your site SEO score in search engines. By adding a favicon or site logo, usually done from inside the theme editor. But there are several factors playing a role with site SEO score. And you can use small SEO tools with over 70 different and needed SEO analyzing tools. Did I mention small SEO tools are 100% Free to use?
>> Small SEO Tools <<
You want to also add a theme to get it right the first time with blogging. Because you can access all the themes you need from inside your WordPress C-Panel. Or you can simply visit WordPress (dot) org and access hundreds of free themes and plugins. WordPress Rocket for site load speed however is not available on WordPress (dot) org.
Once you have your hosting with Bluehost. It comes with a free SSL certificate to get it right the first time with blogging. But you may have to contact support to register the SSL certificate. And I can tell you that Bluehost support is exceptionally effective and fast. Also ask support to ensure the http protocol redirects to the https protocol.
Get it right the first time with Content.
SEO friendly content is one of the key elements to get it right the first time with blogging. And to kick this off, notice how “get it right the first time with blogging” is bolded in this post? That is part of SEO friendly content because it highlights the topic more directly for both search engines and readers. But do not “bold” too much, it can influence readability.
Using sub-headings is important for both blog posts and pages. Because sub-headings are displayed as the table of contents at the start of your post. See why the plugins are important, Lucky WordPress Table of Contents will add this to your blog automatically.
While the content below each sub-heading must not exceed 250 – 300 words. With sentences not exceeding 20 words. Although fewer words are advised. To get it right the first time with blogging also subdivide the content into paragraphs of 80 – 120 words. Or 3 – 4 sentences per paragraph below the sub-heading.
Furthermore,Create your content and write as if you are standing right in front of your reader talking to them. Also, ending sentences with “right?”. And “wouldn’t you agree?” makes the read much more personal. Keep your reader entertained and offer value. Because the more your visitor takes from your blog the faster your blog will gain recognition.
Get it right with Featured Images and YouTube.
Unbelievable, this article just crossed 2017 words! Guess it is rather challenging to stop talking when you love the topic so much, wouldn’t you agree? But to get it right the first time with blogging is a time-consuming process. And the guidance offered cannot be just a few words. There are way too much to discuss, right?
Featured images and YouTube videos are excellent tools to drive traffic. Because featured images get indexed in search engines. And therefore, every image must be allocated to a certain URL of your blog. But to get it right the first time with blogging, all images must also have alt attributes. Kind of like a short but precise description to get it right the first time with blogging.
>> Join Canva Here Free <<
>> Blog Posts to Videos <<
You can use Canva to design just about any image for any application. Canva even provides you with the preferred image dimensions for like social networking images and book covers for instance. An image dimension of 1200 x 675 is advised to get it right the first time with blogging. Best for featured images on WordPress.
Turn Blog Posts into YouTube Videos.
And lastly, you can use Lumen5 above to effortlessly turn blog posts into high quality videos. Which is an excellent way to drive search engine traffic to your blog. And get it right the first time with blogging. But use only the key points in your blog article as part of the video.
Do not give it all away. The point is to create curiosity with your video, so your video viewer wants to know more. And then include a link to your blog post in the video description. That way you get it right the first time with blogging and even drive high-quality traffic! Which brings us to the end of how to get it right the first time with blogging.
And at 2370 words I must shut up now. Because this is going to change into an eBook. Trusting you have enjoyed the post and all the tools to play with. If you did, leave a comment below. Because I would love to hear your honest opinion on my work.
Thanks for that list Deon,
I certainly took a long time to actually make money from blogging. A good list of plugins there, most of which I also use! Information overload was my problem for years and I jumped from one idea to the next without generating any kind of meaningful habits with creating content. I was so unsure of how I was going to make money, that I didn’t choose a path at all! It was only when I started seeing some results which came from content years into my online journey, that I saw the bigger picture! Glad I stuck in there!
Hi Tim, thanks for your kind words and welcome to my blog. Blogging requires a lot of effort indeed. And I cannot agree more. It is well worth the sacrifice to hang in there. Have a lovely weekend and stay safe.