45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

8. Format your blog post to make you look like an expert

A well-formatted content increases reader engagement and time on page, much like attractive photos do.

People no longer read anything word-for-word, let’s face it. Today’s typical internet reader skims. There is simply too much stuff and not enough time for other activities.

The formatting plays a role in that. Your readers can quickly scan your piece to see whether it is worthwhile of their time before diving in, if they decide it is.

So how do you format when you first start a blog?

Observations are as follows:

  • Utilize headers and subheaders to break up large texts.
  • Use numbered and bulleted lists to highlight important information.
  • Bold and italicize important phrases, but avoid doing so simultaneously.
  • Add reputable images (rule of thumb is to use one every 300 words or so)
  • Use concise paragraphs (no more than 3 to 5 lines at most – this helps with skimming and mobile reading)

9. Use content upgrades for 785% more conversions

You’ve probably heard of a lead magnet. In essence, it’s something you give away for free to your audience in exchange for their email address, such as an eBook, check list, or worksheet.

A lead magnet on steroids is what a content upgrade is. They were specifically designed for one blog article and are closely tied to it.

The blog article “25 Customer Service Scenarios (And How to Handle Them)” was written by Formilla as an illustration.

You can access a content update from this page to download the manual as a PDF:

45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

It converts for them at a rate of about 10%, which is substantially higher than the average lead magnet. And all they had to do was offer their viewers a PDF download of their piece. Easy as pie.

But if you really want to succeed as a blogger, you should include extra supplemental material, such as Brian Dean’s checklists:

The reason why content improvements are so effective is that they are designed to assist visitors in achieving the specific goal they came to your page to fulfill.

45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

If you’re writing about Facebook ads, a content upgrade on Facebook ads is way more likely to convert than a lead magnet on general marketing.

45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

10. Add call to actions to get the most from your audience

I made a big error by not using call to actions (CTAs) when I was learning how to build a blog.

Any action you want your clients to take is a CTA. It can include buying something, reading another blog post, or signing up for a newsletter. A CTA can be something like a content update.

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Every single one of your posts should include a CTA of some form, especially if it’s your first time beginning a blog. Every post should have a result, whether it be as small as asking for a share or a remark or as huge as completing a purchase.

You’re losing out on a ton of chances to generate leads, sales, and traffic if your content doesn’t have a CTA.

I’m not arguing that each post must promote a product. It only needs to indicate what the reader should do next.

For instance, if you’ve already found this content to be interesting, would you mind sharing it with your audience? I’m phoning to ask you to do something merely one click:

45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

Yes, it helps us because it expands our reach. However, it also helps you because it allows you to display useful content on your social networking platforms. You’ll become known as a reliable source of knowledge.

11. Use influencer marketing to 10x your audience

Influencer marketing is a strategy that is vastly underutilized.

I’ve seen influencers get amazing outcomes.

For instance, RESCUE sought to promote natural treatments. Their marketing effort led to 133 million social media impressions, over 6,000 website views to the coupon site, and a 258% rise in Instagram followers.

Furthermore, they are not alone. Numerous businesses are seeing comparable success. For instance, the influencers in my piece on the 30 full-time RVers brought hundreds of people to my site.

Use an influencer database to locate influencers in virtually any subject that can help you promote your content. This is a terrific network to establish as you begin a blog.

45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

12. Always be networking. Always.

The easier it is to advertise your work and the more opportunities that present themselves automatically as your network expands.

A good example is how my freelance writing business significantly improved in January. I was able to join a Slack group with some of the most well-known online marketers and authors.

My income nearly tripled over night. They presented me with chances I never would have imagined. They opened doors for me, and their marketing know-how almost ten times increased my ability to promote my posts.

My eyes opened as soon as it happened. From being an afterthought to one of my top objectives, networking has changed. I really think that anything is achievable with the appropriate network.

A few quick suggestions for expanding your network:

  • Always look for opportunities to assist others. Share the content of other bloggers, leave comments on their blog posts, keep up with them on social media, and direct traffic their way.
  • Join forums and communities centered on your interests. I participate in Facebook groups for full-time RVing, SEO, and content marketing. They’re fascinating, and I always discover new things and acquaintances.
  • Take classes online. You can join the private communities of many of them. This makes a lot of like-minded folks available. Additionally, you will learn everything the course covers.
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I learned a lot from this post in one of the forums I participate in, and it even helped me land two new clients:

(I also learned that the reason I wasn’t receiving credit for the sites that linked back to me was because Google hadn’t yet indexed them. To avoid this, I gave Google’s URL crawler the URLs that connected to my post.)

45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

One last tip: Don’t let relationships fade. Make it a point to reach out to your new network at least once or twice a month. Shoot them an email with a cool article, or tag them in something interesting on social media.

45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

13. Build an email list from the start, and don’t forget to send them stuff

If you take care of your email list, it will eventually grow to be your main source of traffic and sales.

Consider this:

You get out of bed anticipating the day. A pot of coffee is started. You enter your home office to check your email as you wait for it to brew.

Sales from the email campaign you sent last night total over $1000.
You take a sip of your coffee and grab another email that needs to be sent out soon. Your work for the day is finished, so you may now go out and do anything you like.

Basically, your life starts to resemble a stock photo. just like this

45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

Some individuals truly enjoy their lives. That is made feasible through an email list. Naturally, you’ll still need to manage your business and write blog entries as you learn how to create a blog (unless you outsource those tasks out), but your workload can be significantly decreased.

Before you write your first blog article and as a top priority when establishing a blog, you should build an email list. But even if it wasn’t, go ahead and give it today’s top priority.

  • If you don’t already have one, invest in an email marketing platform like SendinBlue or ConvertKit. Because Convert Kit is simple to use and effective, I use it. (Editor’s note: This is our own list of preferable substitutes and more affordable choices.)
  • Use a tool like Sumo to add on-scroll and exit-intent popups. Here, you can make your lead magnet or content upgrade available.
  • Put inline opt-in forms like those from Formilla or Brian Dean. You can simply provide users the opportunity to subscribe, offer a lead magnet, or both.
  • Create effective landing pages for your offers using a platform like LeadPages.
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45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

14. Stick to a theme for better SEO and a stronger follower base

Not keeping to a theme for your posts is one of the major mistakes I made early on and see other writers make.

I realize that people are different. All of us have a variety of interests. You can be a marketer who who enjoys travel and photography. But discussing all three of them won’t help your blog. This is why:

  • It can be challenging to locate the ideal readership. How many travel enthusiasts, photographers, and marketers do you know? (Okay, so maybe it is a sizable niche, but you get the idea.)
  • SEO will be more challenging. Google prefers sites that are entirely devoted to a particular subject because it is aware of the focus of such a site.
  • It will be more difficult to monetize your blog. Money is made through focused, direct traffic. You won’t receive the kind of traffic you need if you’re overextending yourself.

If you absolutely must discuss various topics, I advise launching a completely different blog. It’s just not worth it unless you can really target a certain demographic and yet have excellent pieces on each subject.

15. Use your audience to choose topics

Picking themes at random because you think your readers might be interested in them is similar to playing the lottery. You could succeed, you might not.

But what if you listened to what your audience wanted to hear? That is a surefire victory.

Here are a few methods for learning more:

  • Simply ask them by contacting them through social media or email.
  • Send a survey to the people on your email list or through Qualaroo.
  • Read the comments that people have posted on your site or the blogs of your rivals.
  • Visit forums in your field to discover what questions are being asked.
  • Find frequently asked questions about your subject with Buzzsumo:
45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog: How to Start a Blog for Free in 2022

Buzzsumo’s unique feature is that after you produce an article answering a frequently asked issue, you can go to the forum where the question was posted and link to the article there. (But be careful to add more than simply a link; otherwise, you’ll be blocked from most locations.)

Asking your audience is thus not too difficult. Even if you’re just starting out and don’t yet have an audience, you can still implement the following three suggestions.

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