11 Blogging Tips I Learnt After Blogging For Three Months (2021)

I am proud to say (as of October 2021) I have been blogging for 3 months. I know this is not a very long time but I’ve learnt a lot during these three long months. In this post I’ll like to share 11 tips that will help you as a new blogger – hopefully, I started before you.

Take these tips seriously and I can assure you that your blogging journey will be smooth and easy. Ignore them or take them lightly and you know the outcome.

#1 Always create a backup plan and plan ahead

Sometimes it seems like we don’t have enough time to write our blog posts. So having a backup will help you publish your articles on time.

I can’t stress this enough, it’s really important. Creating a backup plan for your blog should be on your list too. But what do I mean by backup? Personally, I like to create a backup for my articles.

I don’t rely on my laptop alone to write my articles. I blog on my phone too. And honestly doing this will help you write more and become a better blogger. So if your laptop is not available your phone will always be there.

This is one of the best backups you can have. Imagine if your laptop was faulty for some time, it won’t hinder your blogging schedule

#2 Keyword research shouldn’t be your main source for blogging topics

It’s surprising how a lot of bloggers depend mainly on keywords to get ideas of blog topics they should create. Keyword research should only be used to get an idea of what people are searching for so that you can contribute to the topic.

Depending only on keywords to get topics to blog about will be a wrong approach to follow. Why? Because you will depend only on some particular keywords. And your blog will have no identity of its own.

You should be able to write blog posts. Even if you have no idea of what people are searching for. This will help you to differentiate your blog from the millions of other blogs trying to rank for those same keywords.

Check out this awesome post by Brittany Berger for more ways to get blogging ideas

#3 Stop using only keywords as the main title of your posts: it’s lame

It makes no sense to make your dominate your title with only keywords. Firstly, it makes your title read “unnatural”. Secondly, you’ll be reducing your clicks-through-rate (CTR)- which is the number of clicks you get per impression.

As an example, let’s say 100 people saw your post but only 10 clicks to read it. Then, you have a CTR of 10%, similarly, if all 100 read your post your CTR is 100%

So if your title is lame and filled with only keywords, your CTR will be very low.

#4 Ranking is not all about keyword difficulty

Most pages that rank #1 on Google are not ranking for only one keyword. They are ranking for many more keywords. Sometimes the keyword difficulty (KD) for some keywords might just discourage you from writing about that keyword.

Stop leaving those keywords behind. If you have the knowledge and would like to target people searching for those keywords with high KD, go for it.

If you do it right and answer the questions properly, you might begin to rank for the synonyms of that keyword.

The formula is to write SEO friendly blog posts that will outperform others

#5 Always start with an outline

How many hours do you spend writing blog posts? One hour? Five hours?

Look if you want to write your blog posts in record time you have to consider using an outline. It has many benefits.
Firstly, you’ll have an idea of where your article is headed. It’s really hard to write when you don’t have a clear picture of what will be included in the post. The outline gives structure to your posts.

Just imagine how the constriction of a roof is done. First, it is given structure with woods and later it is covered with roof sheets. In the same way, use an outline when writing your posts and you’ll write faster and more efficiently

#6 Make your titles awesome

If you shouldn’t use only keywords for your title -cuz it’s lame- then you should “write awesome titles”
Talking about CTR, it increases your click-through rate. But there’s a warning here. Always deliver on your titles. Because sometimes your titles might sound too-good-to-be-true(aka clickbaity titles).

By striving to deliver what was promised in your titles, it will make more people believe the promises of your next titles and trust your words.

#7 Your websites identity is in your hands

Do you want people to see you as an authority or just some other guy trying to make a sale at all cost? Always remember that the identity of your blog is in your hands, and every blog post you put out there is telling your readers more about you as a person.

What you write about and how you write it are very important things you have to consider. For example, if you go into an affiliate site, 95% of their posts will be reviews and comparisons.

But on a personal site, what do you think will be there? Obviously, it’ll be about your favourite topic. When your blog has an identity, this will distinguish you from the majority of other blogs.

#8 Understand what your audience wants and give it to them

Understanding the reason(s) behind every keyword will help you create an awesome post and talk directly to the readers using their pain points the right way.

This has many benefits but the highest of them all is that your ranking positions will continue to go higher. How? And why?

Google has a very complex system that is used to determine the usefulness of each and every article your write. Whenever someone spends more time reading any one of your articles it increases your dwell time.

And if your dwell time is higher, it will signal to Google that you know your stuff. This will lead to higher-ranking positions. People will “dwell” on your site for a long time if you truly understand their condition. This is why understanding the searchers intent is really important.

Neil Patel explains this better in his article

#9 Encourage engagements, it’s helpful

Aside from dwell time, engagement is the other most important thing you should focus on. The more people engage with your content the better for you. Why? Because it will keep your content fresh in googles eyes.
This is why at the end of all my posts I usually ask a question.

The second reason why you should strive to increase engagement in your site is that it will help you build a community. And create more returning visitors. So if you’ve not been asking questions before, start today.

#10 Grow a list fast

You heard this from a lot of top influencers but you are still not building a list. Start today. A list is a goldmine if you do it right. It can help increase the number of returning visitors to your blog. Even the number of readers.

There are many email marketing platforms that you can choose from. My recommendation is, if you are just starting out – go with Mailchimp or Getresponse- they both have free plans.

But Mailchimp will allow you to have more people on your list while Getresponse has more functionalities in their free plan.

#11 Always promote your post: never stop

I’ll like to leave you with this last tip. And that is to always promote your articles. Never stop promoting it. You took time to write it, so why abandon it like that.

There are different promotional strategies you can adopt. The point is to make sure you are always sharing your posts.

Conclusion

These are the things I learnt after blogging for three months. There are many more tips that can help bloggers out there.

But just reading about them is not enough to get you to the top. The work is needed, you have to apply what you’ve read about. That’s the only way you’ll see results.

Did I miss anything? What other blogging tips have you learned so far?