Should I Start A Blog? 10 Powerful Questions To Ask Yourself
Reading Time: 9 minutes Should I Start A Blog? There are many reasons why starting a blog is a good idea.
Being able to earn a living from home, work from anywhere, travel anytime you want, and generally have freedom; are all good reasons to start a blog.
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But blogging isn’t all freedom and traveling, at least not in the beginning.
Yes, blogging is hard work, and it takes time, determination, savviness and patience to develop it into a long-term profitable business. But, once you get it there, it will be so worth it.
And in my opinion, working on my blog never really feels like work at all. But..should you start a blog?
Should I Start A Blog? Blog Strategy
If you aim to create a successful and profitable blog, it’s best to have a general blog strategy mapped out ahead of time.
This blog strategy plan, or blog blueprint, can be as in-depth or shallow as you want it to be. But you will need a basic outline if you hope to be a successful blogger.
Having a blog strategy planned out now will help you decide if blogging will be right for you.
I’ve created a blog strategy blueprint that you can download and use to help develop your own blog. You can get a free copy of it here.
In addition to your blog blueprint above, here are some more tips on creating a blog strategy.
As well as important questions to ask yourself before starting a blog.
How To Create A Blog Strategy
In order to lay the framework for your blog’s strategy, you’ll need to research a number of topics, websites, and keywords related to your desired niche.
The first place to start is with keyword research
It’s not hard to learn. But definitely read this guide on how to do keyword research.
Look for topics that are a bit more ‘fringe’ the more niche-downed the better
That’s not to say that you have to have a defined niche from the start, but having one does make it easier to monetize.
If you aren’t sure what niche you are passionate about enough to be able to write about forever, then consider starting a lifestyle blog.
Lifestyle bloggers write about various topics. You could start with a multi-niche blog such as this to get started with blogging.
And then niche down later on, once you have more experience figuring out your blogging voice.
Determine the good and bad features of related websites
Identify potential revenue sources, and select the primary keyword phrases for your blog that you could compete on Google with a new blog.
Discover what other blogs are ranking for those keywords on the first page of Google, and then write your content better than theirs.
Make your blog posts longer, more detailed and more helpful than your competitors.
It will take a while before you reach those first page ranks, so why not start out with quality content from the get go.
Should I Start A Blog? 10 Blog Strategy Questions To Ask Yourself Before Starting A Blog
Once you have those bases covered, it’s time to go deeper in developing your blog strategy.
Before you start a blog, you should answer the following questions.
1. How do you define your blog?
In two sentences or less, define your blog; the subject, identify the niche topic, and tell readers what to expect at your site.
You may not know your niche right away, but defining your general topic sooner than later will help you in the long run.
2. What is the purpose of your blog?
Is the purpose only to inform or entertain? Is it to host a store, a forum, sell a service, attract leads, etc.?
Make a list of your goals and what you hope to accomplish with your blog.
3. What is your budget for starting a blog?
Starting a blog costs less than $3 when you use my special web hosting discount.
But there are expenses of maintaining a blog, that need to be budgeted for.
Most bloggers won’t have to spend more than a few hundred dollars per year to maintain everything.
But if you are intending to run your blog as a business, you will face various expenses, like any business would.
Not to freak you out, but I spent over $23,000 on my blog last year! And it was worth every penny.
4. What are the important actions you want visitors to take?
Do you want them to share your content, follow you on social media, sign up for your newsletter, buy a product promoted on your website, hire your consulting services, etc.
This is called a ‘call to action.’ Make your call to action obvious so that you readers know exactly what to do after reading your blog post.
5. What will be your main revenue streams?
You need to spell out what your financial expectations are in order to map out the best way to get there.
Will you sell digital products? Promote affiliate links? Offer consulting or services? Will you work with brands and offer blog sponsorship?
In my opinion, you should have all of the above revenue streams at work on your blog at all times.
To learn all about the many ways to monetize your blog, enroll in The Blog Monetization Course.
Identify the top three revenue generators on similar sites to yours and make a plan to optimize them on your blog.
6. Where do you see your blog in 5 years?
- What is your long-term plan for blog?
- Will it be your full-time job?
- How will it grow?
Always know what direction you are headed and why.
7. What makes your blog unique in your niche?
What does your blog add to the landscape of your subject matter? How is it different, better?
Once you know what sets you apart, exploit it.
8. How much time do you have to dedicate to your blog?
It’s no secret that blogging requires a lot of time. Especially in the first few months while you are getting it off the ground.
Expect to spend several hours a day working on your blog.
Don’t expect fast results like thousands of followers or dollars in the first few months. Just focus on writing great content and growing your brand.
9. What are your three primary keyword phrases that define your website?
After you determine the best keywords for your blog’s niche, you’ll have to maximize keyword use throughout your blog.
You absolutely must learn to use keywords properly if you ever hope to rank well in Google.
Enroll in my free SEO course to get started!
10. Where will you market your blog?
- What websites will you target for guest post opportunities?
- Will you use social media bookmarking services or article marketing to help with SEO?
- Have you enrolled in a Pinterest Marketing course to learn how to drive traffic to your blog for free?
It’s wise to have an organized regiment of how and where you share each post.
If you’re serious about making money online with your blog, you must treat your blog more like a business.
Ultimately, these questions represent a mini business plan.
However, your blog strategy doesn’t need to be as detailed as a normal business plan, but the answers to these questions should be written down somewhere for constant reference an updating.
Personal Qualities That Will Help You Become A Successful Blogger
Next, we need to address the more individual qualities that make a blogger successful.
When deciding ‘should I start a blog‘ consider these helpful personal traits.
If you possess any of these qualities or have the desire to develop them, then you would make a great blogger:
- Desire to learn
- Patience – know that a successful blog doesn’t happen overnight
- Experience and knowledge in your niche
- Time to spend on your blog – Ideally, several hours per day, even on weekends!
- A passion and determination to see it through
- Friendliness! The blogging community is an awesome group of people. As a new blogger, you are sure to make lots of new blogging buddies. There is no place for negative Nancy’s in blogging. Come and join our community for new bloggers here so we can support you!
All of these qualities will help you become a blogger. Because believe me, it will get hard sometimes!
But you will learn and grow and be so much better off afterward.
Why Should I Start A Blog?
Now that you have considered these basics before starting a blog, let’s discuss the benefits of becoming a blogger.
Before I became a blogger, I wondered ‘should I start a blog?‘ for far too long. I wasted a lot of time thinking instead of doing.
I had a for-fun Tumblr blog for the years before I finally got it together to start a proper WordPress website, to run it as a business.
When I finally did decide yes, I should start a blog – a real blog on WordPress.org, everything changed.
Within just a few weeks I earned $1200 from my small beauty niche blog.
Within a year I was making over $5000 per month as a blogger, and nowadays I earn over $160,000 per year from blogging.
But there are more reasons than just the money that makes blogging an awesome job.
Why Should I Start A Blog? Reasons To Start A Blog
- Ability to be your own boss, never have to be an employee again
- Ability to work from home, or anywhere in the world
- Unlike starting most businesses, the startup fees are extremely minimal
- Travel whenever you want
- It’s challenging and you will learn a lot
- You will surprise yourself with what you can accomplish
- You get to help people, grow your authority, and become an expert in your niche
- Blogging is used to promote any product or service
- And of course, the income! As a blogger, you get to make money via various revenue streams, and there is no salary cap, no limit to how much you can earn.
How Much Do Bloggers Make?
Bloggers can make any amount of money. Some earn 6 or 7 figures per year, others earn that in a month! Many other bloggers make less than $500 per month.
There’s no way to tell you exactly how much you will make because everyone’s income will be different.
But, there are a few things that tend to determine a higher income earning blog. Since you are your own boss, how much you earn will depend on:
- How much time you spend on it
- How effective your content and sales pages are
- How well you market your blog
- The amount of traffic your blog gets
- The types of revenue streams you implement
- Advertiser interest
- Other variables
- (All of which can be grown slowly over time)
For some inspiration, read these blog income reports, and discover all the different ways bloggers make money.
When you are ready to start making money with your blog, enroll in Be Your Own Blog Boss, the ultimate blogging and affiliate marketing course.
Should I Start A Blog? In Conclusion
Starting a blog takes patience and belief in yourself. Sometimes it will feel like you are working away, and no one is listening. And that’s OK! It takes time to build an audience and a following.
But if you write from the start as if you have a big audience of admirers, pretty soon you will.
Don’t be scared to start a blog. Blogging is one of the best, most exciting and rewarding things.
My life has absolutely changed for the better because of it.
Ok now, should you start a blog?
- Did you read through the questions on this page and think to yourself ‘hmm..I think that sounds like me’?
- Did you nod your head in understanding when I warned of the time constraints that blogging takes?
- Did you feel a sense of confidence when I told you the benefits of blogging?
Yes? Well, If you ask me, then yes I think you should start a blog.
Ready to become a blogger today? Great! Follow my ‘How to start a blog’ step by step guide and you will have a professional self-hosted blog in 10 minutes!
I hope these blog strategy tips help get your blog off the ground in the right direction.
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and let me know how your blog develops! I look forward to hearing from you. Please share this post if you found it helpful.
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- How to write your first blog post
- 21 blog tips for new bloggers
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