Make your new blog look like a PRO
Hey first of all congratulations on the launch of your new blog! I am sure you would start earning $1000+ from your blog in the next 6 months 🙂
Check how can you start making a passive income free of cost.
Just be sure you keep on writing fresh, meaningful new blog posts.
5 posts is a good number to start marketing your blog posts on Pinterest or FB groups for initial traction (new blogger tip).
Okay, now I know you have just started, so how to make your blog look like a pro (like professional blogging) so it doesn’t look gloomy at all.
9 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR NEW BLOG LOOK LESS LIKE A NEWBIE
PART 1: TAKING CARE OF THE BLOG STRUCTURE
1. Customize the sidebar
Have you seen any top blogs showing up useless things in the sidebars?
Sidebars by default have many tags, categories, RSS feeds, and others. You need to customize it to show the most important things.
WordPress Dashboard> Appearance > Widgets
Keep only the blocks that you feel right to display.
In the available widgets section, you will find a number of widgets as a custom menu, pages, meta, calendar, recent posts, RSS links, and many more. You can simply drag the ones you want to display from available widgets to the sidebar and vice-versa.
You can choose to display your Pinterest profile widget, categories or any particular ad, or anything else which you feel will be useful for your users.
2. Set the Menu structure
Have CLEAR and SIMPLE navigation for your entire website.
To set your desired menu go to Appearance> Menu
A. You can either edit the menu or create a new one.
I am assuming you are totally new, so create a new menu and name it anything you like.
B. This is where you will set your menu. In the menu structure, you can drag any of your posts, or categories.
On the left, you can find all your posts and categories to be dragged.
This is what my menu looks like.
C. You can even create sub-menus which will be displayed as drop-down lists when the mouse is placed on the particular menu.
To create a sub-menu select the category/post and add it to a menu and place it beneath the primary menu where you want it as a sub-item.
For example, I have put the SEO category on my Blog menu.
3. Update your Permalink Structure (very important)
I cannot say enough how much is it required for SEO purposes.
Permalinks should have a clear structure and not be something that can confuse search engines.
Check the options. You can set it in any format.
But ALWAYS choose the one which will give you a clean URL. No dates are required, nor the month when you publish. Just your blog name along with the Post title.
Check out how permalinks affect the On-page SEO.
4. Keep your theme consistent
I know it is really difficult to choose and settle for one theme at first. If you have just started with your site then definitely you will be trying out different themes to see which works best for your niche and overall feel.
But once you start marketing your blog then I would prefer not to change the theme anymore.
Your theme and blog structure is the first impression you make.
So have your trial and error before you start marketing your posts.
You can definitely use the free WordPress themes but you will not get any sort of support there.
If you are really willing to take blogging professionally I would like you to check the Elegant Themes. Especially the Divi themes in it. It offers a very easy drag and drops feature with full customization and amazing support.
Click on the image to check.
5. Customize your favicon/ website logo
A favicon is not necessary but it helps to recognize your blog when many tabs are opened in the browsers. You can put your website logo as a favicon.
To set go to WordPress Dashboard> Appearance> Customize
It will direct you to your theme customization. Find out site identity. There you will be able to change your favicon.
You can create your Favicon in Canva for free. Generally, 512*512 dimension works best for the favicon size.
PART 2: ADDING THE ‘YOU ‘ FACTOR IN YOUR BLOG
Alright, so we have come to a part now where it will make your blog different from the rest.
6. Write a proper About Page & Disclaimer policy
You may not know but your About page is the most visited page on your site.
My ‘about’ page is very simple. Just my qualification and personal interests.
You can include anything you want to showcase on your About page.
You can pretty much include anything you want to say to your readers.
Now next comes the Disclaimer part.
It is an essential legal part if you are having/wish to have any sort of monetization on your blog.
Check out the links for a referral.
7. Write attention-grabbing headlines
When you see a headline that is attention-grabbing, be sure it is from a well-established blog.
Take care of your Post Titles. No one is going to click if your Post Title does not convince or intrigue them to do so.
I like this post about statistical proof of content headlines that get results.
You can check how your headline scores in Headline Analyzer. It’s free and it’s awesome.
You should also include keywords in your Titles for SEO purposes. Check out How to find keywords for your posts.
8. Your writing style
Be consistent in your writing style.
So be YOU from the very first post you publish. That is what will make you consistent forever 🙂
Do not ever try to copy any other successful blogger as that will make you only second to her. There are so many bloggers whose writing style you will like, so how many will you copy?
Always remember YOU ARE YOUR BRAND. So if you are trying to be someone else then how will your Blog going to stand out?
9. Create the Gravatar
Gravatars are Globally Recognized Avatars.
When you comment on any blog, mostly it picks up your gravatar image as a display image.
As said earlier You are your Brand so I would definitely say to use the same picture all through your business social profiles like Pinterest, FB business page, your blog, Twitter business account, or any other. It helps readers recognize you and your blog. It is like creating a brand identity.
Use any good, clear close-up picture.
Here you can set your gravatar image.
Once you start your blog, I would definitely tell you to start using Pinterest.
Pinterest is a huge traffic driver. For the first year, you will get more traffic from Pinterest than Google.
SEO is a big game but it will take time to show the benefits.
For SEO I would say to get Debbie’s SEO book. Soon I will update you with the link.
For Pinterest look nowhere other than Carly’s Pinteresting Strategies.
Binge on:
- 7 Useful Blogging Platforms for Beginners to Start with
- How to Run a SemRush Website Audit for Free?
- 10 Affiliate Progam You Can Start With
