In this millennial era, it is considerably easier to be anything you want to be especially when you really decide to, and somehow it is a lot more challenging when courage seems to be far specifically when it comes to starting your own blog. This is a paradoxical statement, I will go further to explain. In this world of dreams coming true, there are a lot of people already doing what you hope to do, so you see, the problem is not doing what you love to do but in finding a way to stand out, to be seen, to be innovative.

Innovation is the way forward in life and it’s the same for any career path because hey, whatever you’re doing right now, someone somewhere has done it. This is not to put a downer on your creative thoughts, authenticity is never to be underestimated, just remember to always make a difference.

Starting a blog has varying difficulty levels for different people, it might be medium range for some, easy for others and downright hard for others still, I don’t know what particular level it might be for you but regardless, here are some tips that will help you on your blogging journey.

What do I need to know before starting a blog?

You do not have to be a nobel-prize writer or own a best-selling book before you qualify to own a blog, forgive me if I exaggerate but, you get the point. However, blogging is all about writing so you will need to know how to write… Way to state obvious, yeah?

4 steps to starting your own blog

• Practice

The common saying that, ’Practice makes perfect’ comes to mind. You are going to need loads of practice to get comfortable writing about anything. During this practice sessions, you will take note of your grammar, use of punctuation, rhythm, and readability. You can employ your friends and loved ones to help you out or those you know that know about writing or even take a writing course on Udemy. It is important to work on readability because you need to pass your point across to your readers effectively leaving no margin for confusion and having them invested enough to follow along with you to the end and possibly want more.

• Discipline

God alone knows the amount of projects that have been discarded due to procrastination and laziness, sadly, I am guilty too. Discipline is key in creating a habit of writing, hitting deadlines and in time management. It is not easy though, so a lot of intentional effort is needed to make it work. You can decide, as a blogger to post content every Tuesday and Thursday, doing that consistently despite whatever occurrence takes grit, determination and professionalism that can be fueled only by discipline.

• Choose a niche

This is one of the most troublesome aspects of blogging for beginners, we tend to want to write about anything without dealing with the headache of restriction, well too bad.

You have to be known for something, allow me use this as an analogy;

Hannah’s blog The GlowHub writes a piece about family planning and Joyce’s blog Mommalicious writes also about family planning. Which blog post are you likely to read and take serious?

I believe I speak everyone’s mind when I say I would be more inclined to Joyce’s piece. Having a niche assures your credibility and consistency to your audience.

• Have a website

I am one for theatrics seeing as I saved best for last. A website is arguably most important in starting a blog because it is impossible to have a blog without a website. You must be thinking, “Why didn’t you talk about this earlier?!”

Worry not, it is for the best, the points above are very important too. Your website is your digital space where you can store content and interact with your audience. Although you need a domain name before you have your website, the domain name serves as the address to your space, for example Hannah’s domain name can be www.theglowhub.com or www.theglowhub.com.ng etc, depending on the domain extension purchased. A website can then be created tailored to fit the kind of blog The Glowhub is.

How do I build a website?

You can hire an expert who will build a website for you, but we all know or have heard about how tedious it is to deal with web developers in Nigeria, I know I don’t need to elaborate.

The other option is, create your website yourself, even if you know nothing about coding! Amazing right?!