When it comes to blogging, passing the six-month mark is a major milestone. It is the first of many successes in a long blogging journey that is both exciting and rewarding! The hard work, dedication, and long nights are well worth the celebration at this point. Not to mention that blogging consistently for that long is an achievement on its own. In this post, I’m going to share 10 amazing tips for your first six months blogging.
After six months of consistent blogging, determining your next move becomes more vivid. At this point, you will have learned many things about blogging, the niche you’re in, and probably dabbled in things like Search Engine Optimization.
Fortunately, you are in the right place if you want to learn about what you should do in the first six months of blogging.
Here, we’ll look at the dos and don’ts in your first six months of blogging. We’ll also cover some great ideas to help you blog smarter, not harder. If you are completely new to blogging read my article, What is blogging first to get your feet wet, and then head back here.
What to Do in Your First Six Months Blogging
Expand Your Niche
Refining your niche is one of the most important things that you can decide to do in your first six months of blogging. Usually, most people start blogs because they like sharing different ideas and opinions with others. This is completely understandable and commendable as well. Similarly, most of us also start blogs with a vision of earning money from our blogs at some point as well.
When starting your blog, it’s most likely that you have already chosen your niche that you want to get involved in. And if you are just a beginner, expanding more about the niche might be a bit difficult. Thus, most beginners find it hard to come up with more content from their niche due to a lack of ideas.
This is where refining your niche in the first six months of blogging becomes necessary. To do this, ensure that you think critically about the topic you chose to write about in your blog. Go into detail and unmask other unobvious topics within your niche. Generally, we are asking you to be different from what is already on the internet.
For instance, if you chose to write about the ‘Lifestyle’ niche, then you should know that there are more sub-niches and even micro-niches within the niche. Therefore, you should always try your best to learn and find out more about your niche of choice. This way, you will have more ideas to write about within the first six months of blogging.
Have a Solid Schedule
If you want to succeed in blogging, understand that you need to put in the work. In your first six months of blogging, you should have a well-structured schedule based on your goals and availability as well. Similarly, planning a schedule will also require you to consider the resources that are at your disposal.
One thing, though, a schedule is not worth anything if you don’t respect it and abide by what it dictates. It is important to note that one thing, however. No one will really push you to write more posts or allocate more time for your blog. Like any other entrepreneur, it would be best to understand that you are solely responsible for your blog’s failure or success. This is unless you are working with a partner on the blog.
Publishing on a consistent basis will bring your blog more benefits in the first six months of blogging. Remember, your blog is only new, and people don’t even know much about it, let alone search engines like Google. So, you should have a schedule to keep both your audience and the search engines up to date. However, this doesn’t mean you become overly ambitious and burn yourself out.
That’s because posting a lot doesn’t necessarily mean that your blog will perform well. It only means that it will have a higher chance of succeeding within the first six months. Moreover, you also need to consider your availability and because you might have a job that requires your time and energy as well as other obligations. If so, try a post every week for the next six months for your new blog. But if you plan on working full-time on your blog, then 2-3 posts every week might help your blog better than you think over the first six months.
A piece of advice, ensure that you focus more on quality over quantity when it comes to blogging. One thing is for sure. Once folks finally start to visit your site, they won’t stay long if your content is thin, lacks substance, is written poorly, or has a ton of grammar mistakes. A high-quality post that is well written and engaging will do much better and will help your site grow faster. Not only that, its long term potential will be that much better.
Seek Knowledge from Successful Bloggers
In the blogging world, people like to talk about different things. Some are even unheard of until you decide to take an interest. But one thing most bloggers like to talk about the most is their experience blogging. This includes how they started, why they started, and where they are. As a beginner, these are the stories that you should be looking for to broaden your thinking.
Seeking knowledge from successful bloggers might be your motivating factor within your first six months of blogging. That’s because there are many challenges that you will face as a new blogger in your first months of blogging. So, it would be better if you learn from successful bloggers. You know, people that have already been in your position at one point and managed to power through.
When learning from other successful bloggers, don’t try to be exactly like them. Instead, try to determine what they did to be successful and see if you can find any gems or tips that will help to improve your blog. When doing this, also understand that success doesn’t come overnight, and that is in any field of life. Learn more from your favorite blogger(s), try different strategies, but focus on creating your own brand to stand out. No one likes a copycat. The internet can be an unforgiving place so be mindful.
Find Your Audience
This is usually hard for the first six months of blogging, but it’s what makes blogging worth the experience. When it comes to finding and building an audience for your blog, the following are some of the things to consider:
- SEO
- Mailing Lists
- Social Media
- Networking
Those are some of the most important factors that you need to employ within your first six months of blogging if you want to build an audience around your blog. The first thing that you need to focus on mostly is your blog’s SEO.
With the right SEO practices for your blog, search engines like Google and Yahoo will boost your posts organically. Therefore, you should invest in good SEO practices for your blog to gain authority and build traffic.
On the other hand, social media has also become an essential part of the blogging world. Currently, many bloggers are using social media to bring traffic to their sites. Pinterest, in particular, is a platform that many bloggers love to engage in with the aim of driving traffic to their blogs. If you decide to social media to find and build an audience around your blog, focus on maximizing that practice on one platform before moving to another.
As you can see, there are many things that you should do in your first six months of blogging. Note that these specified numbers of months can either make or break your entire blogging motivation.
One thing you need to keep in mind, though, is that it won’t be easy, especially since you are a beginner. If you’ve done this before, then you may have adequate experience on how it’s like to start a blog. But as for the beginners, this won’t be a breeze, and you need to stay committed to reaching your destination. However, rest assure that your continued hard work and dedication will be worth it and you will eventually see the fruits of your labor. Patience here is key.
That said, we can now look at some of the don’ts in your first six months of blogging. These are the practices that you should avoid the most because they can lead your blog right in the tunnels.
Never Stop Learning
When you are building and growing your blog one of the things you should be doing on a consistent basis is devoting time to learning. When you first start a blog there are a ton of things that will seem to hit you all at once. There will be problems and challenges that arise that will set you back a bit or cause you to pause. One of the ways to ensure that you minimize mistakes along the way and arm yourself to better be able to handle challenges as they arise is to never stop learning.
There are many resources on the internet that are free that provide a ton of value. Take a bit of time to read blog posts from several different places on the web, watch videos, and if possible, reach out to other bloggers or experts in the field or niche you are in.
For instance, one of the things that I found challenging when I first started my first blog was how to sure that that the look and feel of my site was exactly the way I wanted. I knew that there were many options out there including learning how to code in HTML, hiring a webpage designer, finding free themes, etc.
But I knew that it was definitely possible for me to do it myself. There are tons of software tools out there these days that allow you to build and design your own sites quickly and easily. So I did a bit of research, connected with other bloggers, found tools that helped me figure out what plugins my favorite sites were using, etc. Finally, I discovered that I could easily achieve the results I wanted with Elementor. Elementor is a really high-quality page builder. Now I use it on all of my blogs including this one.
Another example is that I had no idea that my site should be “secured”. You know, that padlock next to the URL in websites that you visit. Once I found this out, I thought to myself, “Wow, I had no idea that I need to do this!”. I did quite a bit more research and figured out why it was so important and more importantly, how to make it active on my blogs.
Had I not be devoted to continuously learning about blogging and everything that comes along with it, I would have found myself extremely frustrated and defeated. Believe me, there will still be moments like that in your first six months of blogging, but you’ll better equipped to handle them if you stay up to date on things.
I know that these are small examples but essentially, being in the blogging space you’ll need to stay up to date on Google Updates, SEO best practices, Web Design, Affiliate Marketing, Webmaster tools like Google Analytics, and many more. So spend a little time each week catching up. Keep a small notebook or use Google Docs to document things that you learn along the way that you may need to refer back to at a later date. This approach helps me out a lot and I’m sure it will help you too!
Things to Avoid Doing in Your First 6 Months Blogging
Here, I’ll point out some of the most common mistakes that many bloggers make during their first six months of blogging. I will also go into detail to explain why you need to avoid doing such things if you want to achieve long-term success with your blog.
That said, the following are some of the don’ts during your first six months of blogging:
Don’t Rush to become an Affiliate
I understand that you want to make money from blogging. Most of us do. However, this shouldn’t be your main or only priority in the first six months of blogging. From experience, many pro bloggers usually recommend beginners to sign up for affiliate programs.
If you don’t know what an affiliate program is, it is a program created by brands such as Amazon for companies, bloggers, and influencers to earn commissions from advertising or promoting products on their platforms (blogs, social media accounts, etc). If you want to gain a better understanding of affiliate marketing and how blogs make money, check out my post here on the topic.
So, yes, it’s possible to earn good money from blogging. However, you have to approach this step strategically. If you ask most bloggers, you will find that only a small number sign up to become affiliates within their first six months of blogging.
That’s because of a couple of reasons. First, it’s less likely that you will even earn a substantial amount as an affiliate in your first six months of blogging. Remember that because you have just launched your blog a few months ago, and you are trying to get noticed by your audience and search engines. Low or no traffic means, low click-through rate s and therefore low commissions, etc.
Secondly, many affiliate programs may be interested in the amount of traffic your site has, the audience, and how you will work to promote their products or services. This is hard to do when you are just starting out with little to no traffic.
Unless your site is a rare exception and is getting a ton of traffic, it is probably better to wait a while until your site has a healthy amount of traffic first. Instead, focus on offering value to your audience and engage with them to understand what they really want from your blog. When you understand your niche, search engine requirements to rank higher, and your blog’s motive, then you can start to consider incorporating affiliate programs in your blog.
Note that I’m not discouraging you in any way, just giving you the reality of things as they are. Furthermore, many affiliate programs like to partner with blogs that have established a certain amount of traffic as well. If you do happen to be accepted in some affiliate programs, it’s important to know that because you are still growing and building traffic that the initial rewards will be very, very low.
Don’t Over-Analyze your Progress
Another mistake that many new bloggers end up making is over-analyzing their metrics during the first six months of blogging. Don’t get me wrong, setting and tracking your metrics and goals is a healthy practice for your blog.
However, the problem comes when you decide to start over-analyzing your blog’s metrics. This is mostly because of comparing your blog to other competitors in your niche. Similarly, you may also start to over-analyze your blog if you fail to reach certain goals during the first few months.
You certainly want to avoid doing this. Over-analyzing your metrics might only discourage you more. What you should focus on instead is analyzing only the necessary elements that contribute positively to your blog’s progress. For instance, you should analyze the number of Pins you need to post in a week or month. Also, you can analyze the number of pageviews on your blog to see how you are faring compared to your goals.
Don’t Spend over your Means
Spending money that you don’t have is a bad idea as a new blogger. As it is, many people who start a blog don’t really have that much to throw around. Therefore, you shouldn’t overspend in the name of investing in your brand.
Although you will need to spend some money to keep your blog running, don’t go over your means. Some of the necessary expenses include paying for your domain name, hosting, and any other plugins or services that you may need for your blog.
Other than that, stay in your lane until your blog reaches different financial milestones that allow you to afford other expenses. One thing I love about blogging is that it is a low overhead business model. And with the right strategy, hard work, dedication, and patience, you can earn significant amounts from blogging.
Don’t Be Inauthentic
During the first six months of operating your blog, you don’t want to come across as being inauthentic. Having said that, ensure that everything you do as it pertains to your blog is an authentic representation of who you are, your values, and your goals with your blog. It will be much easier to attract and retain your audience when they view you as being your authentic self. This will allow you to grow steadily, organically, over time. An audience that has found you organically will value your opinions, recommendations, help, or services.
One opportunity that you can take advantage of in showcasing your authenticity and developing and building upon how your audience views you is through your newsletter. Ensure that when you are setting up or building your newsletter that you are providing them with a lot of value. Make sure that you are truly offering them what you are promising.
Show them that you deserve to have them on your mail list. If you offer freebies or helpful resources in exchange for their email address, make sure you put a good amount of effort into what you are offering them. This will go along way in establishing yourself as a valuable resource, someone who is reliable and authentic.
The first six months of blogging are essential for your blog’s future and your blogging experience as well. If you aren’t careful, you may end up coming off as someone who is inauthentic or shady, and your audience won’t grow to trust you as a person, brand, or resource. So if it doesn’t feel like you, it probably isn’t.
Engage with your audience through research, comments, and social media, among other platforms, to understand what they want and desire when they come to your blog.
Don’t Fall Victim To Shiny Object Syndrome
Shiny Object Syndrome. Have you heard of it before? Well, I’ll describe it to you and afterward, I think you’ll find that you know it very well. In fact, you may know it intimately during your first six months of blogging.
Shiny object syndrome is basically an itch or tendency for us to continuously chase something new. When it comes to blogging this can come in many forms. It can be that we are chasing new, expensive, and fancy plugins, software, or online tools. Or it could be that now that we are a new blogger, we just NEED to have a newer, better camera with more expensive lenses to “take pictures for our new future successful blog.” Or it could be that we need to upgrade our laptop to the newest version and once we do and THEN our blogging will REALLY take off!
It’s called Shiny Object Syndrome because it is purely and simply a distraction. I’ll admit, I definitely fell victim to this syndrome early in my blogging career. First, it started when I was selecting my first niche to dive into. I kept discovering new niches I could enter into. I found other sites that I thought were cool and I thought, wow I could make a site like this and BETTER! Next, it was with domain names, I kept thinking up new and different domain names and spent a lot of time going back and forth. Only to then think of another domain name for my blog.
Then it crept into other aspects of my blogging journey. Namely, paid plugins. For some reason, I just had to have the BEST and fanciest plugins for my site. I knew I probably could get by without them and save a lot of money but I was really just like a kid in a candy shop.
So my advice here is to be resilient and stand strong against the shiny object syndrome. You don’t want to get distracted from what it is you are trying to accomplish with your blog. Again this can be the urge to chase new business ideas, goals, niches, trends, courses, domain names, etc.
The key is to recognize that you’re being distracted and then pulling yourself back in to focus on what really matters.
Final Thoughts
So, what are the dos and don’ts in your first six months of blogging? Below is a well-detailed summary:
Dos
- Refine your niche
- Create and follow a solid schedule
- Build your audience
- Learn more about your niche and blogging in general
- Never stop learning
Don’ts
- Don’t rush to sign up for affiliate programs
- Avoid over-analyzing your numbers
- Lastly, ensure that you don’t overspend to build your brand
- Don’t be inauthentic because it will show
- Don’t fall victim to shiny object syndrome
So, that is what you should and shouldn’t do in the first six months of blogging. I understand that some of the ‘dos’ might be hard to accomplish for some people. However, you need to adhere to them for better results and a successful blog in the future.
Similarly, some of the “don’ts” are also a bit hard to ignore, considering that it might be your first blogging experience. But from experience, it’s better you follow these instructions to the letter.
In the end, no one wants to fail, and that’s why this guide is here to help you succeed with your blogging experience. Fortunately, you’ll have a higher chance of success if you follow the tips covered here.
I hope these tips helped you on our blogging journey! Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the next one.
