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Reading Time: 4 minutesSo you want to start a blog eh?
Maybe you want to start a blog for your business or maybe you're just as crazy passionate about writing as I am and wanted to get all that creative energy out on paper.
Regardless of the reason, you are ready to begin blogging.
And if you don't think you need a blog for your business I've got six reasons you do.
Curious?
Check them out for yourself here.
You've picked out your sassy blog name and picked a template that you like for your blog.
You may think that you now need to get ready to launch right?
I mean you hear it all the time, make sure to have 25-30 posts BEFORE launching, but what if I told you it's still possible to have a successful blog launch without actually launching?
Interested?
Put your swim goggles on, we're diving in deep!
I have always read and been told to have a launch of my blog.
That I needed to do steps x,y, and z before ever pulling up the curtain and showing off my brand new blog to the world!
But, I had a problem with this.
You see, I am a chronic over thinker…you're raising your hand too?
Good, you're in the right place.
So for me to have to write 20, 30 or even 40 blog posts before launching gave me way too much time to overthink my blog.
I went from stages of pure joy and excitement for my blog launch to anguish, anger, fear, and dread.
I would re-read and re-read and edit and copy and paste…it was endless!
What ended up happening was I'd have ten completed blog posts in drafts ready to publish then I'd change my mind.
And guess what, no one ever even saw those posts!
Which is kind of the whole point of blogging for your audience…
I thought, there has to be a better way to do this for us over-thinkers out there.
Then I thought, what if I said screw it to the rules and launched a blog without a “real” launch?
What would happen?
Would it fail miserably?
Kind of a scary thought at first but guess what?
I did it and the world didn't stop turning, the blog didn't flop and my overthinking tendencies started to fade.
I didn't allow myself enough time to over-think my posts.
I sat down, did my research on what questions my audience wanted answers to and I began writing.
I wrote, I checked spelling and boom, pressed publish.
And because I wasn't allowing myself the time to double, triple, quadruple check everything, I was banging out blog posts more quickly in my own authentic voice than I was when I was trying to get as many blog posts written as I could be launching to the public.
I want to share with you a blog that I started with my mom just a mere two and a half weeks ago.
We only have three posts, we did not launch, we did not follow the rules, and we did not use ANY scheduling apps.
You can find us at twocraftygals.com (now she's living her best life lifestyle blog) if you're into D.I.Y, homemade decor, etc.
As you can see in the screenshot, we've had 250 visitors, 44 comments and over 100 repins on our blog posts and like I said, we didn't use any scheduling apps, we didn't pay for any advertising and we only posted one blog a week.
Also, keep in mind, there was a holiday within that two and a half weeks, we were pinning manually to Pinterest and honestly missed quite a few days of pinning and we're still getting the hang of our website.
We also hadn't even joined group boards yet on Pinterest and if you didn't know, group boards can be a huge game changer for new bloggers!
Not to mention, writing this blog in real time without having to stress over a blog launch was quite freeing and made the process a whole lot more enjoyable!
We are getting consistent daily traffic, close to 100 views a day.
We are getting a consistent stream of comments daily.
We have gotten almost 10,000 monthly views on our Pinterest which we just started less than two weeks ago and our posts are continually getting shared.
To us, that's a successful blog launch.
Also, keep in mind, we had a few things set up on the backend that I still think are imperative regardless of a blog launch or not.
You can read about those things here.
This has since increased to 26k monthly Pinterest views and 100 views almost every single day! And we didn't change a thing.
While of course, success is relative to each individuals idea of what success means to them, it is possible to have a successful blog without having a launch.
I wanted to show you this because, you don't have to follow all the rules, you don't have to use a scheduling app, you don't have to do what everyone else is doing!
So how did we do it?
One word, strategy.
That's right, all we did was have a solid strategy in place.
We strategically used Facebook groups to promote our posts, we had a solid Pinterest strategy in place and we delivered great content.
The key here is to know your audience and then build a strategy around that.
What social platform are they on?
What type of posts do they want?
What questions are they asking?
What can you help them with?
What purpose does your blog serve?
Because our blog is about D.I.Y, crafting, craft shows, home decor and such, we knew our audience was on Facebook.
We also knew this particular niche did very well on Pinterest.
So, we went where our audience was, set up a strategy for promoting our blog and watched our blog grow.
At the end of the day, the best thing you can do for your blog is to just start.
So forget about the rules, stop overthinking it and just write.
There is no golden number for posts, there is no guarantee that your blog will take off so just enjoy the ride, pick a plan for your blog and share it with the world!
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Great post! I have a friend who is just starting her blog and was asking me about launching! Definitely sharing this post with her!
Thank you so much, Courtney! That’s fantastic for your friend! I hope she enjoys the process and it goes well for her! Thank you so much for sharing my post with her as well!!
This is such great advice. I agree the first step is just to start.
Thank you, Shelley! Exactly! But sometimes just starting is the hardest part!
My launch consisted of me clicking “Publish”. I had no marketing budget, so it was just me doing my thing. Even my one year “bloggerversary” was low key. I think the only thing that matters is taking that first step to publish great content.
Yeah, mine too. I didn’t go all out or get fancy with it, I just wrote. I think that’s one of the most important things to remember for new bloggers, just write great content and hit publish!
Great tips! I think starting anything new can be daunting. I still over-think posts sometimes, I have a bunch of drafts just sitting out haha.
Thank you, Amanda! Oh yeah, definitely. New things are scary at first and once you get the hang of writing blog posts often they can be quite time-consuming! Haha, I think we all over-think our posts at some point or another!
Great post!! Thanks for sharing how important Pinterest really is. It’s amazing how much traffic it can bring.
Angela
Thank you so much, Angela! Yes!! Pinterest is the bomb.com! While it’s not magic, with the right strategy it can really drive tons of traffic even if you’re brand new to blogging which is why I love it so much!