68 Blogging Tips for Beginners And Pros (2020 Updated)

1. Do Not Wait Until You Have Learned Everything

Because you will never get there where you will know everything about running a blog successfully.

This is called analysis paralysis.

When you analyze a thing so much just to reach that “perfect” benchmark you have set, it becomes a cause of your paralysis, preventing you from taking action.

Blogging is a long-term game. It’s an ongoing process.

You learn BETTER from your wins and mistakes – and not by reading countless articles and pondering on them.

It will take a lot of hard work and time, yes. But you will never become a successful blogger unless you start today. Now.

3. Find The Right Blogging Niche

As simple as this may sound, it’s actually one of the most confusing things for many.

You want to have a blog on a topic that you genuinely take interest in and are passionate about.

If not, you will eventually get tired of it. And you will quit if you see no quick result.

In the same breath, you would also want to pick a blogging niche that has enough opportunities to make money.

This makes the task to pick a blogging niche quite confusing.

Health, finance, personal development, self-help, fiction, movies, music, food, technology, fashion… There are many profitable blogging topics.

Take your time, think and then pick wisely.

Recommended Read: How to Find The Best Blogging Topics That Make Money?

5. Identify Your Close Competitors – Take Inspiration From Them

Your competitors are your biggest source of learning.

So, first, find who your close and successful competitors are. And then run down some analysis on their URL.

Spyfu is one of the best competitive analysis tools out there. (Click here to visit) Enter your URL and it will spit a list of all your competitors.

Go through those URLs – at least the top ones – personally. Check their blog design, kind of content they have produced, their social media presence and more.

Next, use SEMrush and Ubersuggest to get more insights about your competitors, like the keywords they rank for, their most popular posts and more.

Once you know about your competitors and what they are up to, do the same thing they are doing – only do it better!

7. Learn A Few Things About SEO

No matter which blogging niche you have picked, this is essential.

Having basic knowledge about Search Engine Optimization will take you a long way.

You would be able to optimize your blog and content efficiently, which will help you drive organic traffic rather easily.

Fortunately, the basics of SEO isn’t difficult. It’s quite simple. Using the right resources online, you can learn SEO right at your home for free.

Recommended Read:

• How to Learn SEO at Home?
• A Complete SEO Checklist (+ PDF Download Available)

9. Get A Good, User-Friendly Blog Design

• 38 percent of visitors will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is unattractive.
• 48 percent of people say that website design is the #1 factor in determining the credibility of a business.

There are countless other such statistics that underline the importance of having a good website design.

Where and how you serve your content is equally important.

So, get a beautiful blog design. Make sure it’s optimized for search engines. And, more importantly, make sure it’s optimized for the better user experience.

“An editorial calendar is a visual workflow that helps a team of content creators schedule their work on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Editorial calendars can help you track content types, promotional channels, authors, and most importantly, publish dates.”

11. Write On Things That Your Audience Wants To Read

This is one of the biggest blogging mistakes.

Many times, there’s a big difference between what you want to say and what your audience wants to hear.

If you want to make money from blogging and build a brand, you’ve got to say what your target audience wants to hear. (At least in the initial stages!)

Don’t get romanticize with what you want your audience to want.

Focus on them. Focus on their problems. Focus on their preference and convenience.

It is basic demand-supply. Don’t supply what isn’t demanded.

13. Ensure Your Content Is Engaging

Just like this article that you’re reading right now.

It sounds engaging, does it not?

Imagine if I wrote this in a very formal tone – just preaching without that approach of two-way communication – would you have found it interesting enough to read this full?

Likely not!

Blogging is about having a one-on-one conversation with your readers.

They must feel like you’re talking to them. They must feel “this content is written just for me”.

If your audience is engaged, they will listen to what you’re saying, trust you and act accordingly.

This would help your SEO (increase session duration, decrease bounce rate). And, most importantly, it would help your branding.

Recommended Read: How to Make Your Content More Engaging? (15 Practical Tips)

15. Spend More Time In Writing Headlines

Here comes a very common stat…

8 out of 10 people will read your headline and only 2 people will go on to finish the article.

It’s no secret just how important it is to write attention-grabbing headlines that tempt people to click on.

When you Google something, you will click on any one result for either of the two reasons: one, you recognized that brand; two, you liked that headline.

So, spend a sufficient amount of time in writing engaging and promising blog headlines.

Recommended Read: 9 Best Practices For Bloggers to Write Clickable Headlines

17. Avoid Picking Copyright Images From Google

You pick an image from Google and use it on your blog.

It might not look like a big deal. And honestly, nobody would care.

However, if things do go South, or if your blog becomes big, and the owner of the image objects you using her/his property – it’s an unnecessary expense and even legal battle waiting for you.

Even when you have given the proper credit to the owner of the image, you can still be reprimanded to pay settlement money or risk getting sued.

Getty Images, one of the leading premium stock-photo websites, is famous for doing this.

They find people who use their images unlicensed. They then send notice of settlement which can be anywhere around $1000. If you don’t cough that amount, they then send threating letters to sue you, which would cost even bigger.

Read more on this here, here and here.

In short, avoid using copyright images. Remember, better to be safe than sorry.

Use images with the appropriate Creative Commons license. Platforms like Pixabay and Unsplash are great for free images.

You can also use this Creative Commons search engine to find copyright-free images.

19. Engage With People on Social Media

There are two ways to go about with content: create it and engage with it.

You’re already creating content for your blog and social media. To maximize the return of your efforts, you must also engage with content.

So, respond to people leaving comments on your posts. Join relevant conversations using the right hashtags.

Engage people in meaningful discussions.

Not only do you build your brand value this way, but you also open yourself to learn many new things, including market insights and your audience’s needs.

This is a very big deal today when we’re heading towards a time when brands would virtually be everything. They would be the biggest difference-maker between successful bloggers and those who aren’t.

21. Start Building An Email List From Day 1

This is the most important part if you really want to create a sustainable business out of your blog.

Sure, the open rate and CTR has declined over the years. However, emails remain the most effective and personalized form of communication.

Unlike your social media likes/followers, you enjoy the full control of your email list.

You hold the key to your target audience’s attention which you can use anytime per your needs and requirements.

Besides, your blog sales funnel would essentially require people’s email addresses. (I have discussed this in the latter part of this post.)

This is why you should make efforts to get more blog subscribers from day one.

It is one of the most important things bloggers should do if they are in this game for the long-term.

23. Keep Your Email List Engaged

Just building an email list isn’t sufficient.

Email open rate and CTR is low already.

And if you’re not keeping your subscribers engaged all the time (and if you don’t remind them that they have subscribed for your emails), your email campaign would have a poor return. Period.

In fact, sending emails once in a blue moon (even when it’s something good) would lead many people to unsubscribe.

Have a definite email strategy. Using automated tools like MailChimp or Ontraport, run drip campaigns with clear objectives.

Push to them relevant and valuable emails on a regular basis. (Don’t spam though.)

The number of emails in your list doesn’t matter if your engagement and conversion are poor.

25. Optimize Your Homepage’s Above The Fold

The homepage would be the most visited page on your blog. It’s the most important one.

While you should be careful of how the entire homepage looks, you should be more perceptive of its above the fold portion.

Above the fold is the content/portion that first appears on the browser when you land on a page.

Since it is the first thing that’s visible to the visitors, it can play a difference-maker in grabbing their attention and creating a perception about your blog.

So, ensure your above the fold is meaningful and attractive enough to catch visitors’ attention and provide them (and to you) a relevant value.

I published an in-depth article on the subject: 16 Best Practices For Above The Fold Content Optimization. Do give it a read.

27. Do Not Accept Guest Posts

Sure, having more content on your blog is a good thing.

However, when accepting the guest posts, the biggest concern that comes is the quality of the content.

Majority of the people that wants to guest post on other websites do that for the sole purpose of backlinks.

So, the quality of their content is usually mediocre at best.

There are countless examples out there where the owner of the blog, just for the sake to have more content, has virtually destroyed the quality of the blog by accepting guest posts from just about anyone.

For this simple reason, it’s best you avoid accepting guest bloggers.

In addition, when you’re trying to build a personal brand, you want to put forth your ideas and hot takes – and NOT others’.

Moreover, a large part of your community would want to hear from you and not the other bloggers.

So, it’s the best idea to produce all the content on your blog yourself.

Recommended Read: Here’s Why You Should Not Accept Guest Posts On Your Blog

29. Know How To NOT Waste Your Time

As a blogger, you have to take care of SOOOOOO many things: FROM publishing content TO posting on social media TO engaging with your community.

It all can get quite overwhelming.

So, time management isn’t a luxury – it’s essential if you want to be efficient and at the top of your game.

Audit your day every other week.

Are you optimally productive? Is there any room to be more efficient? Are you sure you’re not wasting your precious time on irrelevant things?

Answer these questions.

So, learn to be more productive to achieve more.

Recommended Read:

• 24 Ways Bloggers Waste Their Time (Only To Regret Later)
• 37 Practical Productivity Tips for Bloggers With Full-Time Job

31. Avoid Spending Big Money On Anything At The Beginning

If you have the money, sure you can. If not, cut back on all the possible expenses.

You don’t need an advanced web hosting plan in the beginning. As your blog grows, you can make your upgrades.

You don’t need to buy a premium theme. The free ones are good to begin with.

Do not spend big on email marketing solution in the early days. The likes of Mailchimp that offer a basic plan for free are sufficient to get you going.

You don’t need expensive blogging tools.

When you have launched a new blog, you should make proactive efforts to reduce your expenses.

33. Pay Attention To Internal Link Building

Internal link building is one of the key on-page SEO techniques.

Not only does it help you spread the link juice and make crawling easier for the search bots, but it also provides easy navigation for the readers.

They can click on the links and jump to the different sections of your blog.

They will stay engaged with your content and get more value throughout their session.

This will collectively improve visitors’ experience, which will then further boost your SEO.

So, link different pages and articles on your blog with each other wherever it’s relevant and make sense.

Use keyword-rich anchor text. Have ‘Recommended Read’ options.

35. Do Not Monetize Blog Right From The Go

Imagine this: You land on a blog and all you see is articles promoting affiliate products and courses.

What will be the first thought in your mind?

“Ah, they are just trying to sell things to me!”

And this perception will likely negatively affect the brand image in your subconscious.

Of course, that is not good for that brand/blog.

Sadly, this is what many bloggers are doing. They are shelling promotional content from day #1.

Now, pushing affiliate products isn’t bad. BUT how do you expect people to convert…

• if they don’t know you?
• if they don’t trust you?
• if you haven’t brought them any substantial value?

Foremost, you need to build an audience base. You need a group of dedicated readers with high Lifetime Value (LTV).

You need to bring value to all. You need to win over your visitors by providing them the best possible solution.

And unnecessarily pushing them to buy products or click somewhere is NOT the right way to do that.

So, trying to monetize your blog from day #1 is a bad strategy. Don’t do that.

37. AdSense/PPC Is A Bad Way To Make Money From Blog

Yes, today, in 2020, Google AdSense is a very bad way to make money from your blog.

They pay in peanuts for every click.

Meaning, unless you’re getting thousands of visitors every day, your blogging income would be very low.

And getting “thousands of visitors” daily is a tough task even for the big names in the industry – let alone the beginners.

Moreover, even if you’re getting good traffic, how many of these people would really click on these ads? (When was the last time you clicked on any such ad?)

Exactly!

In addition, putting up flashy ads on blogs doesn’t look too good for the brand. (Or maybe this is just my opinion!)

There’s a reason, after all, why almost every top blogger has done away from Google AdSense as their source of income.

So, keep it as an option – but do not expect to make a lot of money from AdSense.

This is why building a personal brand is so desirable. Because when people know who you are and they trust you, you take their attention wherever you go. You can make money from that attention anywhere – and NOT just on your blog.

For example, you can start a new business and make money there easily – because you would be carrying, to this business, the attention of people who know and trust your personal brand.

39. Build A Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is a goal-centric marketing system that allows businesses to keep a tab of the phases that a prospect goes through until conversion.

Sales funnel helps devise a better marketing strategy.

Broadly, it’s divided into three levels: Top, Middle, and Bottom.

Each of these levels has its respective phases: Awareness, discovery, evaluation, intent, purchase, and loyalty.

(Note: Sales funnel is different from the customer journey. The latter is a collective experience of a customer when interacting with your brand and all the touchpoints.)

Here’s a nice video by Grumomedia explaining Sales Funnel:

You need to create a sales funnel for your blog.

How?

It depends on the topic you blog on, the monetization model you have, the kinds of products you have and, of course, who are you targeting.

Usually, your blog posts and social media updates will create awareness and interest.

A free eBook or email course will generate you leads.

Exclusive and helpful content will drive that lead into a prospect, which will eventually convert to being your customer.

The length the sales funnel can be short or very long depending on many factors, including the price.

If you’re selling a $1000 item, you would need time to convince people to spend that much money. So, it would usually have a long funnel and many touchpoints.

But if you’re selling something at $7 – that’s fairly cheap and many people wouldn’t think a lot to spend that much. So, this may not require a long funnel.

Take your time to create a good blog sales funnel. And then create content and communication strategy around that funnel.

Commoditizing information is a big mistake if you don’t bring something unique, exclusive and valuable to the table.

41. Give As Much For Free As You Can

“Only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have.”

Yes, the quote is cliché. But it fits in the business world.

When you give, something funny happens – the universe returns you even greater rewards.

So, right from the front, give as much as you can to the target audience for free. Provide them the most value without charging.

Do not put a price label on the little information that you know and others don’t.

Like Gary Vaynerchuk says, “jab, jab, jab and right hook” – give, give, give and then ask.

Sure, this might not be the most strategic thing for a blogger.

However, when you bring high value to your audience – they observe that. They see you and your good intentions. And this shapes your brand in the right way.

And when your brand is strong, in the long-run, you inevitably find money-making opportunities pouring in from many directions.

Be a giver first. And you will automatically find many people giving it back to you in perpetuity.

43. Include Links Of Other Websites In Your Posts

Sure, when you link other websites (and have DoFollow directive), it does spill your link juice.

However, the benefits of outbound links far outweigh that.

They help search engines understand the context of your content.

The kind of websites you link, it gives search engines a fair idea about the kind of website you have.

To know more on this, read: Do Outbound Links Help SEO?

So, link to other high quality, relevant articles and websites whenever and wherever it makes sense… even if it means linking your competitors.

45. Never (NEVER) Promote Products That You Don’t Believe In

Many bloggers sell affiliate products that they either don’t know about or haven’t used them.

There are many things wrong with that.

• How can you tell your audience to purchase something that you haven’t yourself?
• How do you know about the quality and value of the product if, again, you have never used it before?

Your audience will be able to see-through your affiliate agendas. They would know you’re promoting all the products just for the money – and you DO NOT really care about their needs.

And guess what happens next?

This will hurt your brand. They will stop trusting you.

And, most importantly, you will now lack the structure to build, grow and sustain your blog.

In the short run, promoting affiliate products that you don’t believe in just for the sake of money can bring you decent rewards.

In the long run, you will lose.

47. Spend Time In Analytics

You must always be in the know how your blog is performing and growing (or declining).

It helps you have the right perspective and realistic goals, which would help you create and execute the right strategies.

So, whatever analytics tool you’re using, visit and check it every other day.

How many pageviews your blog is getting? What’s the bounce rate? What’s the demography of the visitors? What devices are people using to access your blog? How/from where are they landing on your page?

These are some important numbers you should always know.

That said though, it’s also important that you don’t get too hung with the vanity metrics.

These numbers will surge and decline every day. More so if you’re a beginner.

Unless there’s any massive change in the trend line, do not dwell on them.

49. Get Rid Of Thin Content As You Go

The first article you published on your blog wouldn’t necessarily be as great as your latest ones.

You will find many articles that aren’t very good in quality. They don’t provide as much value as you want them to.

Similarly, you will also find many pieces of old content that might not fit your refined blogging goals, vision, and voice.

It’s important to get rid of such content as you go about creating new ones.

Thin, bad quality content hurts your brand. They diminish the standard of your blog.

And most importantly, they also have a negative effect on your SEO, hurting your organic reach and traffic in the long-run.

So, from time-to-time audit your blog and get rid of poor content.

51. Come Up With A Relatable Story

A brand is built on the top of a story.

People might remember your name. But they will connect to you, and trust you, based on your story.

So, what’s the story of your brand? What’s the story behind the existence of your blog?

Why you started this blog on minimalism?

Why do you want to talk about fitness?

What got you into starting a blog on history?

There’s a story. Tell that story to your audience in a creative way. Shape that story in a way that connects with your target audience.

The more people relate to your story, the more they will end up engaging with your content and trusting you.

53. Build Trust With Your Blog Readers

Your blog will NEVER sustain if you do not attempt to win your audience’s trust for their high LTV (Lifetime Value).

After all, only those people will convert and make you money who knows your brand and trusts your value proposition – and NOT the strangers who have landed on your page after a Google search.

So, throughout the journey, you must take several measures to build trust with whoever visits your blog and consume your content.

You must give them good reasons to remember your name.

The foremost thing to do is to publish high-quality content that addresses the problems of the visitors – and provide them the solution.

When you provide people what they are looking for, they might not trust you just yet, but this does improve your retention value.

The next time they see your brand name anywhere, they would recognize it and choose to engage with it over other brand names.

And if you provide them some more value, this can ultimately transcend into a bond of trust between you and your audience.

You can then (carefully) use this trust to achieve your blogging goals – be it to make money, to establish yourself as an authority in your niche, or more.

55. Build A Community Of 100 Readers First

To be a profitable blogger, you don’t need thousands of readers.

Just a hundred core and committed readers are sufficient to get the wheel rolling.

These 100 readers will be your biggest fans and cheerleaders. They will consume all your content and purchase all your products. They will be your brand ambassador, promoting your blog on social channels.

And, most importantly, they will be the biggest reasons why and how your blog will grow.

So, get rid of the mindset that you need to bring thousands of visitors to your blog.

In the beginning, focus just on 100 readers. Provide these readers an immense value that they start trusting you.

This is a much achievable and practical approach. And if you do this correctly, these 100 readers will unlock new opportunities in the long run.

Soon that 100 will turn into 1,000 and 10,000 without much of efforts on your end.

57. Play The Game Around Your USP

Don’t try to be humorous in your content when you aren’t the funny guy/gal.

Don’t try to sound like an expert when you’re still in the learning phase.

Do not lie that you’re experienced when you’ve been doing this for only 2 years.

Every blogger has a unique voice, style, and proposition.

And their “voice, style and proposition” are usually linked to their authentic story and personality. They do not fake it. And neither should you.

You have something unique, which others don’t have. Focus on that.

Play on your own strength rather than playing with the rules others has set.

Identify your USP as a blogger and then triple down on that. Because that’s your strength. You’re more likely to win with that than trying to improve on your weaknesses.

Authenticity is the key to build a community.

59. Do (Necessary) Experiments Regularly

What if your blog design can be improved to deliver better UX?

What if a few changes on the landing page can improve your conversion?

Continuously experimenting with different aspects of your blog is essential for its growth.

Experiments in design, content, and campaigns on a regular basis are crucial so to find better ways to achieve more than what you’re getting at present.

Proper A/B testing can ensure such experiments do not hurt anything good that’s going on with your blog – at the same time helping you find better alternatives.

So, don’t settle for anything for a longer period. Keep trying new things. That’s the ONLY way to grow your blog.

61. Get As Much Learning Exposure As You Can

The growth of your blog would only be as big as your own growth.

A common mistake bloggers make is that they do not proactively work to grow themselves in their field.

Passively reading articles, watching videos when traveling – these help but they do not add substantial value to your intellect.

You’ve got to make measurable efforts in learning new things, analyzing the latest ideas and redefining your own thoughts.

This would require you to expose yourself to the right learning resources, industry leaders and consumer data.

You’ve got to get yourself deep in the game to understand it inside-out.

63. Know How To Keep Yourself Motivated

It’s easy to get disheartened when you don’t see the rewards that you were hoping for.

It’s easy to see less traffic and wonder if blogging was really the right choice for you.

It’s difficult to have patience when nothing is going right.

This is why keeping yourself motivated throughout the blogging journey is very important.

So, know when you’re feeling down, what you should do to get your motivation back.

• Get away from analytics?
• Look at other successful bloggers?
• See an email from a reader thanking you?
• Taking a (very) small break to refresh yourself?

It varies between individuals. Find what would give you the motivational kick and keep it handy for down-time.

65. Consistency Is Everything. EVERYTHING.

This couldn’t be stressed more.

Treat blogging as more than just your hobby or “pass time”. Treat it as a business. Take it more seriously.

No matter what, you will have to show up every single day. No excuses.

Publish articles on a regular basis. Post on social media every day. Send and respond to emails every day.

Stay in your ‘blogging groove’ all the time.

Remember…

Missing even one day can bring you so many steps backward. And you cannot afford this.

Meaning, do not give up when it looks you’re not getting anywhere. It takes time. Be patient and continue the hard work.

67. Build A Team And Grow Your Blog

Blogging isn’t necessarily a one-man thing.

Yes, when you’re starting, you would be crunched in the budget; you would want to do everything by yourself.

But now when you’re trying to grow your blog to the next stage, building a team would be important.

You can’t do it all by yourself.

So, find for yourself an editor, writer, web developer, virtual assistant, video editor/maker, audio editor, more.

Outsource these professionals per your needs and goals.

When working with the right people, you will find growing your blog would become so much easier, efficient and faster.

This, in turn, will increase your revenue, which will make up for the cost of outsourcing a team.

The Internet will continue to progress and evolve. New ways and mediums will come (and go) for better communication and efficiency.