Only Checklist You Need for Starting A Successful Blog from Scratch

                                    

In general most of the people prepare checklists to perform any work,the same thing goes with the blogging too. If you have blog set up checklist you can find out ways to improve your ranking and sales.

If you are setting up a new blog, here’s the most comprehensive check listyou can use to start a blog from scratch.

A question arises in general “Do I really need a checklist for starting a new blog? My answer is yes if you want to build up a blog that makes money. 

WordPress is highly recommended over any other blog platform of you are a beginner to begin a blog.You will have thousands access to thousands of plugins themes so you don’t have to be tech knowledge to manage your blog.

1.     Here is the ultimate checklist for starting the new blog Make sure you know why you want to start a blog and use this to make a commitment to stick at it for at least a year..

2.     Develop some concrete goals that have a deadline and a specific outcome.

3.     Research the other blogs in your niche and see what they are doing and how you might be able to improve on their failings.  Keep researching regularly so you never stop learning about your market and targets.

4.     Brainstorm a strategy for your blog with your end-goals and potential products in mind. It doesn’t have to be finalized but it’s good to have some ideas about where you want to end up.

5.     Check to make sure your brand or domain name isn’t already taken by some other company.

6.     Purchase a domain name and hosting package so that you fully own and control your website and aren’t limited by a free blogging platform’s policies and technologies..

7.     Install WordPress on your domain name as your free blogging software, through which you write posts, edit the design/template and build out your website.

8.     Suggestion is to Use a complicated username and a complicated password that involves many different characters, capital letters and numbers.

9.     Set up an email address using your domain name which you can use to sign up for services related to your blog. .

10.               Choose a responsive theme that fits your purposes which may mean purchasing a premium one or searching through some quality simple themes that have a focus on content.

11.               Give your site a name and tagline that includes the domain name and ideally your target keywords in the header. Change this in SETTINGS > GENERAL.

12.               Create a sitemap with the plugin XML Sitemaps so that Google can see how your site is structured and updated.

13.               Add a social sharing plugin like Mashshare so you have some clean and simple icons where people can click to share your articles.

14.               Register for an Akismet key to help combat spam comments that your blog will inevitably receive.

15.               Add a plugin like Subscribe to Comments so commenter’s can receive notices when you reply to their comments.

16.               Add the Yoast SEO plugin and set up the basics. This can be quite an advanced plugin so don’t waste too much time now you can squeeze it as you go.

17.               Sign up for a service like AWeber where you can store your email subscribers’ addresses, create opt-in forms, analyze stats, etc.

18.               Create some opt-in forms for your sidebar, bottom of posts, header, etc. using the AWeber form generator and add them to your blog’s code.

19.               Create a lead-magnet or free eBook that you give away to readers in exchange for them signing up for updates. This should be a very high quality/high value offering that is tight on the topic you want to talk about over the coming months.

20.               Create an automatic Follow Up email that welcomes subscribers to your blog and lets them know what to expect next as well as delivers the free eBook.You can create follow up email from the GetResponse

21.               Edit your title in your theme code so your post name appears first instead of some ugly alternative.

22.               Write an About Page that describes who you are and why you and your blog are different to the other ones out there.

23.               Create a contact page that has an email address where people can reach you, and maybe links to social networking if you prefer to be contacted there.

24.               Consider adding a privacy policy and term and conditions page if you have advice on what it needs to include in your local area.

25.               Add a high quality photo of yourself to help create brand personalization.

26.               Consider having a logo made for you by a designer on Freelancer or Elance but don’t let this stop you from launching and getting started with your blogging.

27.               Create a Start Here page or subscription pages that introduce your blog and let’s people know what it’s about and how they can get updates.

28.               Add some links to your social networking profiles on your About Page and/or in your sidebar so people know where to connect with you off-site.

29.               Write your first pillar blog post of at least 2,500 words that really sets the tone for your topic and your blog’s style. You want to provide as much value as possible as soon as people land on your site so they know you’re the real deal.

30.               Add relevant links to that blog post that point to other quality sites and resources to give your post more authority and help you get on the radar of other site owners.

31.               Consider adding lots of other media to these long-form posts like videos, audio, graphics, resource lists, etc. as this increases the value of the post and is a quality ranking factor for Google.

32.               Think about your categories and tags that you use and try to put each post into only one category and 3-5 tags based around your keywords.

33.               Sign up for an analytics package like Google Analytics or Clicky so you can track visitors and see where they land and how the behave once on your blog.

34.               Sign up for Webmaster Tools to give you some interesting insights about how Google sees your blog and how you can improve your search performance.

35.               Get your photo to appear in comments by associating your email address with a Gravatar account. This works on any blog that has photos enabled in comments.

36.               Get some genuine feedback from someone who has experience in the field and is not afraid to tell you if something is done badly. Accept as much criticism as they take and be willing to try out their suggestions.

37.               Publish your first post on a high traffic day like Monday or Wednesday at East Coast US time for maximum chance of exposure.

38.               Promote your post by sending out emails/tweets to people that you’ve mentioned in your amazing pillar article letting them know that they were featured and even spending a few dollars on Facebook Ads to your get blog out there.

If you follow all of these steps you’ll find that your new blog is set up in a way that will give you a good start and put you in a position to grow and change in the future.