.png){kind=small}
You enjoy writing, you have things to say, and you think you can earn some money from it. You've decided to start a successful blog. Cheers to you! However, if you are anything like I was when I first started blogging and have little to no knowledge of how to do it, hold on for a moment.
Many new bloggers lose motivation and give up because they did not do any research before starting a blog and are unclear about what to expect. Here is a tip and a list of things you should be aware of, before starting a successful blog, because I don't want that to happen to you.
In this article, I will focus on the free blogging platform called Blogger or Blogspot. It is free and hosted by Google itself. Let's begin.
Things to Consider Before Creating a Successful Blog on Blogger.
All you need to start a blog using Blogger is a fully functional Gmail account. That is what people often say, and the statement contains some truth. Yes, it is simple if you only want to do basic blogging, such as setting up a blog to write your stories.
But if you want to introduce and promote your platform or affiliate
program, make your ideas accessible to people around the globe, retain
existing visitors to your blog, and prevent yourself from giving up in the
middle of your blogging journey, then having an active Gmail account is not
adequate.
Simple blogging, such as using an empty notebook to write down your thoughts, is very different from creating a business that others can use and profit from. One should think of starting a blog as starting a business. A fundamental blogging tip would be to carry out a well-structured plan.
This article is intended to help you get ready for blogging professionally by outlining the steps you need to take. Whatever its length or depth, this article's content may be "too much" for those who only want to blog about their personal experiences or stories.
But since this is only an introduction to blogging with Blogger, for a serious blogger, this article must be "not enough." Hopefully, in future posts, we'll go into more detail about the components of the blogging-making plans.
It is strongly advised that you use a specific Gmail account solely for blogging. Please refrain from using the same Gmail account you use for work to blog if you already have one. You can easily manage the information (emails) using a new Gmail account you create just for blogging, which will make managing your blogging easier.
For your email, pick a suitable name. To make your email address appear professional, choose a name that is closely related to the subject matter of your blog. Please choose a more generic name for your account if you intend to have multiple blogs, as Blogger only needs one Gmail account for this.
Suppose that Thomas is your name. Use a name for your Gmail address that represents your niche, such as "brilliant.ideas", "food.researcher", "outdoor.guy", etc., or something like "thomas.inc", "thomas.institute", "thomas.lab". Of course, this is unpredictable because you have no idea if those names have already been taken by someone else. Please stop using names for your emails like "bad.boy," "killing.machine," "dirty.shoes," or similar terms.
Many bloggers aspire to have a captivating blog. That is excellent. Nevertheless, having a visually appealing blog is not always sufficient and may even be unrelated to the content of your blog. Blogger templates are created to match the content of the blog. You should look for some blogger templates that are appropriate for your niche and use just one of them.
If your blog is about cooking, you might want to try the search term "free Blogger template for food blog"; you can substitute any other word that fits your niche for "food." There will be twelve templates available to you, ranging from the most complicated to the most basic. They're all great templates, but you should only use one and make sure you won't change it later unless there are issues with the template. The following are the features you should consider before selecting a template.
Simple blogging, such as using an empty notebook to write down your thoughts, is very different from creating a business that others can use and profit from. One should think of starting a blog as starting a business. A fundamental blogging tip would be to carry out a well-structured plan.
This article is intended to help you get ready for blogging professionally by outlining the steps you need to take. Whatever its length or depth, this article's content may be "too much" for those who only want to blog about their personal experiences or stories.
But since this is only an introduction to blogging with Blogger, for a serious blogger, this article must be "not enough." Hopefully, in future posts, we'll go into more detail about the components of the blogging-making plans.
How to Properly Create your Blogger Blog
Starting a blog requires following a few fundamental steps. Since a blog serves as a platform for your articles, you should first get the platform ready. You can pour your ideas into the vessel once it is finished and doesn't require any more major adjustments. To see how your blog will look as you go along, you will need a dummy article.Tip # One: Initiative Planning
In this step, there are two steps that you must thoroughly apply. Setting up your Gmail account comes first, followed by selecting a Blogger template (from a dozen).Creating Your Gmail Account
We are not attempting to teach you how to set up a Gmail account because you are probably already aware of how to do so and may even have done those things. We're providing you with some essential ideas for setting up your Gmail account for blogging.It is strongly advised that you use a specific Gmail account solely for blogging. Please refrain from using the same Gmail account you use for work to blog if you already have one. You can easily manage the information (emails) using a new Gmail account you create just for blogging, which will make managing your blogging easier.
For your email, pick a suitable name. To make your email address appear professional, choose a name that is closely related to the subject matter of your blog. Please choose a more generic name for your account if you intend to have multiple blogs, as Blogger only needs one Gmail account for this.
Suppose that Thomas is your name. Use a name for your Gmail address that represents your niche, such as "brilliant.ideas", "food.researcher", "outdoor.guy", etc., or something like "thomas.inc", "thomas.institute", "thomas.lab". Of course, this is unpredictable because you have no idea if those names have already been taken by someone else. Please stop using names for your emails like "bad.boy," "killing.machine," "dirty.shoes," or similar terms.
Selecting a Blogger Template
Blogger offers several free blogger templates for your blog, but you might prefer a different design. You can use some of the free Blogger templates that you find online that you think are appropriate for your niche. Here are some things to think about, when selecting a Blogger template:Many bloggers aspire to have a captivating blog. That is excellent. Nevertheless, having a visually appealing blog is not always sufficient and may even be unrelated to the content of your blog. Blogger templates are created to match the content of the blog. You should look for some blogger templates that are appropriate for your niche and use just one of them.
If your blog is about cooking, you might want to try the search term "free Blogger template for food blog"; you can substitute any other word that fits your niche for "food." There will be twelve templates available to you, ranging from the most complicated to the most basic. They're all great templates, but you should only use one and make sure you won't change it later unless there are issues with the template. The following are the features you should consider before selecting a template.
1. Simple menus: A good blogger
template shouldn't be overly complicated or have too many menu options. It
suffices to have a single menu bar at the top, a sidebar to the right or
left, and a footer with a few links. The straightforward design of the
template ensures simple navigation, which will make your readers adore
your blog. People visit your blog to learn things, not to admire how
pretty it is. If they can't easily navigate your blog and can't find what
you claim to have, they will leave and never come back. The social media
icons and anything else can be added to your sidebar later, so don't worry
about them now.
2. Loads Quickly: This has to do with how intricate the template is. The longer it takes to load, the more features it has. A template's slow loading speed can be caused by both the quality of the internet connection and the way the template is coded. Because it doesn't require many scripts to run, a fast-loading template is typically a straightforward template. So, if you find a straightforward and simple-to-use template, there's a good chance it will load quickly as well. Please be aware that a blog with no content will load quicker than one with content, especially if the content contains images. In the other post, we'll talk about how to deal with this problem (please remind us if we forget!).
3. Responsive Template: Being responsive is essential because the majority of your visitors will be using smartphones or tablets to navigate your blog. You can look at the template's description to see if it guarantees a responsive display on various screen sizes. If it doesn't, throw the template away. The Jannify Fast-Loading Blogger Template is one of the responsive Blogger templates.
4. SEO-Friendly: You need an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) optimized blogger template if you want people to be able to find your blog quickly online. Additionally, you can see if the template's creator specifies that it is SEO-optimized. Don't worry if you're unsure if it's search engine optimized or not; we'll cover that subject in the other posts.
To find the best template that fits your niche and expectations, you may occasionally need to experiment with a few different ones. So that you can see how your blog will look, you need a dummy article.
2. Loads Quickly: This has to do with how intricate the template is. The longer it takes to load, the more features it has. A template's slow loading speed can be caused by both the quality of the internet connection and the way the template is coded. Because it doesn't require many scripts to run, a fast-loading template is typically a straightforward template. So, if you find a straightforward and simple-to-use template, there's a good chance it will load quickly as well. Please be aware that a blog with no content will load quicker than one with content, especially if the content contains images. In the other post, we'll talk about how to deal with this problem (please remind us if we forget!).
3. Responsive Template: Being responsive is essential because the majority of your visitors will be using smartphones or tablets to navigate your blog. You can look at the template's description to see if it guarantees a responsive display on various screen sizes. If it doesn't, throw the template away. The Jannify Fast-Loading Blogger Template is one of the responsive Blogger templates.
4. SEO-Friendly: You need an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) optimized blogger template if you want people to be able to find your blog quickly online. Additionally, you can see if the template's creator specifies that it is SEO-optimized. Don't worry if you're unsure if it's search engine optimized or not; we'll cover that subject in the other posts.
To find the best template that fits your niche and expectations, you may occasionally need to experiment with a few different ones. So that you can see how your blog will look, you need a dummy article.
Before installing the template, publish the test article. Install another
template if the one you have doesn't meet your needs and expectations. I
must advise you, though, that no matter which template you use and
install, you will never be entirely satisfied. You must be aware of when
to stop utilizing different templates and select just one.
1. Disposing of unused menus: The newly installed template must already have some links pre-set, such as social media icons and navigation menus, either in the top navigation bar, in the sidebar, or in the footer. If you want to use them later, you can simply hide them or you can delete them by removing them from the layout. The top links for "home," "about," and "contact" should all remain or be added. All blogs must have this standard menu. It is also necessary to list any specific goods or services you offer. When linking to draft content, the link content can be left empty or replaced with a "/" or a "#" sign.
2. Enable Custom Robots.txt: It is located in the Blogger settings tab, where it can be customized. Robots.txt is a configuration file that controls whether search engine crawlers like Googlebot, Bingbot, or Yandex can crawl, index, and follow your blog. Additionally, you can instruct the robots.txt file to prevent the crawling of particular pages or articles. If you are unsure of what to do with this, it is strongly advised that you disable this customized robots.txt. Therefore, during this stage, simply leave the custom robots.txt disabled and make no changes. The standard robots.txt file is effective. You can use a more SEO-friendly robots.txt file by using the one found in the post-Custom Robots.txt for Blogger SEO, or you can use the one described in the post-Custom Robots.txt for Blogger SEO.
3. Set up Meta Tags: You must set up crucial meta tags if you want to increase the SEO of your blog. You can use a setting in Blogger to manually set it, but if you're a beginner blogger, we don't advise it. Use one of the online tools that generate free meta tags. The description and keywords that best describe your blog must be included in the meta tags that you set during this step. If they are offered by the meta tag generator you are using, you can also set some other meta tags.
Tip # Two: Foundational Settings
Although your template has been set up, this is not the appropriate time to publish your article. You might have to wait until all the basic settings are complete if you have an article that needs to be posted. There are a few fundamental adjustments you must make.1. Disposing of unused menus: The newly installed template must already have some links pre-set, such as social media icons and navigation menus, either in the top navigation bar, in the sidebar, or in the footer. If you want to use them later, you can simply hide them or you can delete them by removing them from the layout. The top links for "home," "about," and "contact" should all remain or be added. All blogs must have this standard menu. It is also necessary to list any specific goods or services you offer. When linking to draft content, the link content can be left empty or replaced with a "/" or a "#" sign.
2. Enable Custom Robots.txt: It is located in the Blogger settings tab, where it can be customized. Robots.txt is a configuration file that controls whether search engine crawlers like Googlebot, Bingbot, or Yandex can crawl, index, and follow your blog. Additionally, you can instruct the robots.txt file to prevent the crawling of particular pages or articles. If you are unsure of what to do with this, it is strongly advised that you disable this customized robots.txt. Therefore, during this stage, simply leave the custom robots.txt disabled and make no changes. The standard robots.txt file is effective. You can use a more SEO-friendly robots.txt file by using the one found in the post-Custom Robots.txt for Blogger SEO, or you can use the one described in the post-Custom Robots.txt for Blogger SEO.
3. Set up Meta Tags: You must set up crucial meta tags if you want to increase the SEO of your blog. You can use a setting in Blogger to manually set it, but if you're a beginner blogger, we don't advise it. Use one of the online tools that generate free meta tags. The description and keywords that best describe your blog must be included in the meta tags that you set during this step. If they are offered by the meta tag generator you are using, you can also set some other meta tags.
Before selecting any of the options they offer, carefully read the
instructions. You will receive some HTML codes to add to the primary HTML
file (your blog's). The HTML codes should be copied and saved to your
local drive first. Next, copy the codes and insert them in your HTML file
following the "<head>" tag. Even though your template already
includes the "<title>" tag by default, the meta tag generator
requests that you leave it alone. So, ignore the "<title>" tag and
paste the rest.
4. Include significant widgets to the sidebar: You should have subscribe forms, visitor counters, and follow us buttons in your sidebar. You can add as many widgets as you like, but these widgets must be set up first because they are important. Another widget you might want to add is a live chat box, but just like with the meta tags above, you must paste the code you receive from a free live chat box generator directly into the main HTML file of your blog. If you are still unable to find it on this blog, please remind us to display it. In case you need to change your template in the future, you must also save the codes to your local drive.
5. Set up your Tracking ID: Occasionally, you should check your blog's statistics and progress. Join Google Analytics to do that by using your Gmail account for blogging. Create your property and add your blog to Google Analytics after registering. A tracking ID will be provided. Please read the post about Google Tracking ID for Bloggers to learn how to add the tracking ID to your blog by navigating the blogger settings and finding the tracking ID.
So, you are now prepared to move on to the next tip.
By submitting your sitemap, you're letting search engines know about your blog. Google and Bing are currently two very large search engines. Consequently, you must first register for Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster using your Gmail account for blogging. Like with Google Analytics, you will need to set up a property in these two search engines. That can be completed in no more than five minutes. You can create a sitemap through this generator. Then you can submit the sitemap for your blog.
The three sitemaps that Blogger has are atom.xml, sitemap.xml, and rss.xml. You only need to submit one of them to the Google Search Console and Bing, though you can submit all of them. Experience has taught us that rss.xml is beneficial because it updates frequently as you publish new content to your blog. The Submit Sitemap button can be found in each search console. Click it to submit your sitemap. Your blogger sitemap's URL is as follows:
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/sitemap.xml
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/sitemap-pages.xml
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/rss.xml
Please be aware that entering the URL, rather than uploading the sitemap file, is the preferred method for submitting the sitemap. You can go back to your blog and begin posting articles after submitting your sitemap. But don't rush; take your time. You're not the only blogger who publishes fresh content. For the search engines to regularly crawl and index your content, you should post new content frequently (once or twice a week is ideal).
You don't need to do anything else to get your blog ready. Once everything has been completed correctly, you can begin regularly posting new content. Writing a blog is a journey, not a sprint. Scrap content is less valuable than high-quality content. Instead of writing for Google Adsense, consider who needs to read your blog. If you do it correctly, both your blog and the number of visitors will increase. Please read the post How to Have Google Index Your Site if you want your article to be indexed by Google quickly and easily.
If you created your blog by following the instructions in the three phases we gave you, kindly include the URL in the comment section so that we can visit it just as you have done with ours.
4. Include significant widgets to the sidebar: You should have subscribe forms, visitor counters, and follow us buttons in your sidebar. You can add as many widgets as you like, but these widgets must be set up first because they are important. Another widget you might want to add is a live chat box, but just like with the meta tags above, you must paste the code you receive from a free live chat box generator directly into the main HTML file of your blog. If you are still unable to find it on this blog, please remind us to display it. In case you need to change your template in the future, you must also save the codes to your local drive.
5. Set up your Tracking ID: Occasionally, you should check your blog's statistics and progress. Join Google Analytics to do that by using your Gmail account for blogging. Create your property and add your blog to Google Analytics after registering. A tracking ID will be provided. Please read the post about Google Tracking ID for Bloggers to learn how to add the tracking ID to your blog by navigating the blogger settings and finding the tracking ID.
So, you are now prepared to move on to the next tip.
Tip # Three: Submit your Sitemap
Don't hold out for this. A lot of bloggers submitted their sitemaps after publishing some articles on their blogs. For the search engine to regularly crawl and index your articles, which is faster than asking it to do so for all of your articles at once, we advise submitting your sitemap before publishing your first article (that is not how search engines work, by the way).By submitting your sitemap, you're letting search engines know about your blog. Google and Bing are currently two very large search engines. Consequently, you must first register for Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster using your Gmail account for blogging. Like with Google Analytics, you will need to set up a property in these two search engines. That can be completed in no more than five minutes. You can create a sitemap through this generator. Then you can submit the sitemap for your blog.
The three sitemaps that Blogger has are atom.xml, sitemap.xml, and rss.xml. You only need to submit one of them to the Google Search Console and Bing, though you can submit all of them. Experience has taught us that rss.xml is beneficial because it updates frequently as you publish new content to your blog. The Submit Sitemap button can be found in each search console. Click it to submit your sitemap. Your blogger sitemap's URL is as follows:
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/sitemap.xml
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/sitemap-pages.xml
https://yourblog.blogspot.com/rss.xml
Please be aware that entering the URL, rather than uploading the sitemap file, is the preferred method for submitting the sitemap. You can go back to your blog and begin posting articles after submitting your sitemap. But don't rush; take your time. You're not the only blogger who publishes fresh content. For the search engines to regularly crawl and index your content, you should post new content frequently (once or twice a week is ideal).
You don't need to do anything else to get your blog ready. Once everything has been completed correctly, you can begin regularly posting new content. Writing a blog is a journey, not a sprint. Scrap content is less valuable than high-quality content. Instead of writing for Google Adsense, consider who needs to read your blog. If you do it correctly, both your blog and the number of visitors will increase. Please read the post How to Have Google Index Your Site if you want your article to be indexed by Google quickly and easily.
If you created your blog by following the instructions in the three phases we gave you, kindly include the URL in the comment section so that we can visit it just as you have done with ours.