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Ever Wondered How To Look Like A Professional Blogger from the start? As a new blogger, we tend to visit loads and loads of blogs for ideas. Looking at all those professional blogs does make our blog look incomplete. Don’t you think so? Or am I the only one that felt that way? Hurmm
Before I share with you the secrets to look like a pro blogger from the beginning, let me share with you a little bit about my very own journey as a blogger. Believe me, there were so many ups and downs and I did feel like quitting at the beginning but today I am thankful that I didn’t.
I started blogging about 7 years ago. At that time I had zero knowledge about it. I registered for a blogger account and started creating my first online diary. That’s when I started reading other blogs and saw how creative their templates were and I started decorating my blog as well. Added background music to it, photos and even a chat box. I got so excited when I started to get visitors (believe me I knew nothing about blog traffic that time) and from that day I got hooked to blogging.
Time has changed and I grew with time. Blogging is no longer my online diary. Now it’s a platform for me to share my knowledge with you. Being a boss girl is so satisfying and the best part of it is working from the comfort of your own home.
Well, that’s enough said about me for now. Let’s go back to our main topic of the day.
How To Look Like A Professional Blogger From The Start
I have personally experienced all the 7 secrets below and believe me you will look like a professional blogger in no time.
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Choose Self Hosting
If your goal is to pursue blogging as a career and to look like a professional blogger, then its time to ditch the free platform. Having your own domain name makes you look more professional. Let us compare these two domain samples
- www.karenmonica.com
- www.karenmonica.blogspot.com.
Number 2 seems a little less professional, doesn’t it? But yeah starting with a self-hosting platform does require you to invest in it. And I am sure most of us don’t like to invest in something that we are new to. I had doubts at the beginning as well.
But hey lets put it this way. Imagine blogging is your business and investing for self-hosting is like putting in some capital for your business. Believe me, with just a little bit of effort to be consistent, you can get back that capital. As a matter of fact, you can be earning a lot more if you are committed to pursuing your goal.
Why choose a self hosting? You can still share quality contents in a free platform can’t you?
I have used both, a self-hosting and a free platform. As I mentioned earlier, I started with a free platform and then switched to self-hosting. Trust me, in return for that little investment comes the satisfaction of the extra benefits that a self-hosting has to offer. You own the blog, that means you don’t have to follow any rules. You can customize it your way. Change it however you want it to be. There are so many high-quality plugins to build your blog. You start being the boss of your blog from day one.
Create A Brand For Your Site
To look like a professional blogger, you must have a brand. Your blog is going to be your brand. Choose a theme that suits your niche. There are millions of themes to choose from and if you have that extra tech knowledge, then you can even design your own theme. Focus on the quality of your content and include high-quality images. To appear professional, quality plays a big part. If its possible have a colour scheme for your theme and images. Be yourself. Be unique. The blogging world doesn’t need a duplicate copy of someone else. You only got to learn the basics and start creating your own brand.
Share Quality Content
Content is the king of blogging. It is the heart of your blog. Focus more on creating quality content. Do your research before you start creating a content. Imagine that you are a speaker and there are thousands of audience out there listening to your talk. Reach out to them in a professional manner. Let your voice be heard.
To look like a professional blogger, you must write with confidence. Choose a topic that you have knowledge about. Only when you have confidence in yourself to write about that topic, others will believe in what you have shared and will be coming back for more.
Related Article: How To Write Your First Blog Post
The main thing is you got to be consistent in creating quality contents. If possible set days to publish your post. For instance, if you are posting 3 times a week then maybe it can be on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. When you have a routine post schedule, your regular blog readers will know when to check it out. And that will make you appear more professional and consistent.
Create A Pinterest Account
Remember that your blog is new, traffic will be minimum or maybe none if you don’t promote your post. It might be difficult to get organic traffic from search engines during the early days of your blog. Pinterest will be your main source of traffic at the beginning. If you take Pinterest seriously, it can continue to bring loads and loads of traffic to your blog.
Unfortunately, I started on Pinterest quite later on. Looking at the daily flow of traffic that Pinterest brings, I wished I had started much much sooner. Please don’t repeat my mistake. Go and start using Pinterest now.
Create beautiful pins to help you look like a professional blogger. I use Canva to create my pins. You can either use the desktop or mobile version of Canva to create beautiful pins. Make your pins attractive for others to click on it and be directed to your blog. If any of your pins go viral, the traffic flow to your blog will be massive.
Have A Subscriber’s List
However, depending on 100% of traffic flow from social media can be risky too. Who knows a social media platform might just shut down and you will lose tons of traffic. Create your email list from day one. Install an email list plugin and start collecting subscribers. There a few to choose from and most of it are affordable. At the moment I am using Mail Chimp and I love its features. And the best part is, it’s free until you reach a certain amount of subscribers. This is another secret that I found out a bit later in my blogging journey. But now you know the secret, so start collecting subscribers today.
Social Media Buttons
These little social media buttons play a very big part in your blogging career. The purpose someone stops at your blog is to read your posts. If they find informative content, they would want to share it. Having those social media share buttons in your blog makes it easier for your audience to share your blog post.
Popular Post: Top 10 Blog Post To Get Traffic
You also need to include some links to your social media accounts to your blog. Your blog readers would want to follow your social media accounts and get all your latest updates. This will make it easier for them to keep coming back to your blog. That’s the traffic that will play a big part in helping you to monetize your blog.
Build Your Network
Build a network with other bloggers to make you look like a professional blogger. Believe me, there is so much to learn from other bloggers. And you can share your knowledge with other bloggers too. That’s where you grow together as a team. There is no such thing as ‘I am a better blogger that you are or she is a better blogger than I am’. Each and every blogger has something special in them that makes them unique. It takes experience, hard work and determination to get to the top.
How to build a network?
There are loads of blog groups, Pinterest groups and other social media groups that you can join on Facebook. Get to know other bloggers. Ask questions and learn from them. Don’t feel intimidated. Every blogger was once a new kid on the ‘blog’. Every blogger knows what was it like to start from zero. And trust me when I say, every pro blogger is still in a learning progress. Learning is a process that has no end to it.
If you have doubts or questions about building your blog, just reach out to another blogger. I am sure every blogger you come across is ready to help another blogger in need. You can definitely reach out to me too. Just leave me a comment below and I will get back to you.
You can also subscribe to my weekly newsletter for FREE tips and secrets to building your blog like a Pro. Just fill in your name and email address below.
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Love these 7 tips! There is definitely room for everyone at the blogging table!
Thank you Aysia. I agree. Every blogger has something unique to offer and something new to learn 🙂
I think one of the best things for new offers to do is to buy a theme right away. It just gives you the professional polish right away.
Hi Rachel, Yes I agree. Buying a premium theme is a good choice to make if they have found a theme that they like. But if they are not ready to invest yet, then a free theme will do. There are many free themes that a great too. At the moment I am using a free theme too 🙂
This is a great write up, I love how you practice what you preach, and have all those elements implemented in your blog as an example to follow 🙂
Thank you, Helena. To be honest, this website is still very new and there is so much more I need to do. But the progress is quite slow because of time constraint
This is some good information. I am not self hosted because I wanted to make sure I would stick with it for a year or so before I go that route. I will be looking into that next year though.
I believe you would. And I am sure when you are self-hosted, you would love it. All the best Melissa
This is helpful information. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you found it helpful. You are most welcome 🙂
I’m so glad you mentioned connecting with other bloggers. Certainly, there are blogging groups that will help give your content a boost, etc. But the reality is, I’ve met some really awesome people through their blogs. Not only do I enjoy their content, but their friendship has been invaluable. xx
Yes, there are so many awesome bloggers out there that share great content. They are also very friendly and supportive. It’s so nice to hear that you have built some great friendship with other bloggers.
Your tips are wow. The distinction between professional and hobby bloggers is important because of the rise in accessible blogging platforms. As free platforms like WordPress.com, Tumblr, and Medium become more popular, more and more people are starting blogs.
Some hobby bloggers are even willing to pay small fees to providers like Squarespace or Wix, to create blogs that look cleaner and are a bit more customizable.
But no matter how advanced a hobbyist becomes, they still don’t make their living through blogging. That distinction, and the different skills and blogging techniques that come with it, make all the difference.
Yes, some blog because they love writing and sharing. While others blog for a source of income. No matter what their main purpose to blog, the friendship and support between bloggers are invaluable. And we get to read so many great contents daily.
Great tips! I think its important to fake it til you make it, and sometimes having a professional blog gives that appearance even before you are really feeling it yourself!
Very true. And sometimes you need to fake it at the beginning for the added boost of motivation to become successful
I just recently started learning about having a brand color scheme for my blog and also, I’m so thankful for Pinterest! My Pinterest isnt as populated as I’d like but I’m working on it.
That’s good. I have just started a brand colour scheme too and I have noticed some positive side to it. Hope it works well for you too.
Except from the subscriber list, that is something I don’t practice because we all receive dozens emails every day and I don’t want to go into the spam folder, I apply everything you say. The tip about creating a true brand with logo and personal graphic is also very important when it comes to self presentation. Another thing to do is uploading a media kit on the blog 😉
Thank you for reminding me about the media kit. That’s on my to do list but haven’t gotten round to do it yet 😀
Lovely ideas for the beginners, but I would change the title into “How TO BE a professional blogger” otherwise it sounds like a fake blogger 😀
I think at the beginning you got to ‘fake’ it but don’t get me wrong. Not to lie but to work hard to be a pro 😀
Awesome information! I am new to blogging, and this will definitely help me out! Thank you for the tips!
Glad that I could help. All the best with your new blog 🙂
These are all great ideas! I started my blog 3 years ago. I started out with self hosting right away. I didn’t want to have to switch over later on. The one thing I don’t have is a subscriber list. I do, but I could be better about actually using it.
I think it makes the blogging process easier when you start with self-hosting right away. About the subscriber’s list, I have not sent any newsletter out yet. I don’t really like spamming anyone’s inbox. But if there is something important to share one day, then I might actually use the list 🙂
This is a really useful post with lots of good advise . I totally agree with all of them .
Thank you Nayna 🙂
Thanks for the tips on how to be a professional blogger right from the start. I just started my blog so I appreciate the help!
Hope that helps. Good luck on your new blog Adam 🙂
Great tips on how to be a professional blogger right from the start. I just started my blog so I appreciate the help!
Your tips are great and I agree with them because A Professional Blogger is a person who blogs for a living. Just like a professional athlete, a professional blogger is one who can support themselves and their family with the income generated through their online properties and their blog(s)
Exactly. Thank you for the comments, David.
These are great tips to help newer bloggers, especially, to get started and set up. I’m happy to see I’m following most of these tips, and especially enjoy networking with other bloggers (which is how I arrived here!) 🙂
Good for you Dr K.Lee Banks. You are a pro blogger 🙂
These are definitely great tips that I wish I would have seen when I first started blogging. We kind of learned these things in a slow trinkle. Like the subscription plug in and the social media buttons lol. But it’s all part of the process!
yes, that’s true. I think it was an enjoyable learning process for us 🙂
I have to check my website again and incorporate some of your tips for sure.
That’s great Elena. I am sure you will be a pro blogger soon. Keep it up 🙂
what an excellent post. terrific tips. working on my subscriber list slowly with mailchimp.
I am working on mine too. It is not that easy 😀