3 Things To Focus on as a Brand New Blogger

Are you a brand new blogger and overwhelmed with all the tasks on your to-do list? Learn the top 3 things you should focus on when you’re just starting out!

When you’re just starting out as a brand new blogger, it can be difficult to know what to prioritize — especially if you only have time to focus on a few things.

Because of this, I always encourage beginner bloggers to start small and focus on just a few essential things when starting out:

1. Bring Value.

If you bring value to your audience, they’ll have a reason to keep coming back for more — which means your site will grow.

And remember that value can take many different forms!

A lot of times when we think about value, we think about really fantastic content that provides practical, helpful tips.

And while that’s great, bringing value could also simply mean providing laughter, telling a great story that engages people, or challenging people to think about a meaningful topic.

Don’t just think of value in the context of really amazing posts that change the world and have great SEO.

Someone might connect with your content or relate to your story, and that brings value to them simply because they feel less alone.

2. Show up consistently.

When you’re first starting out as a brand new blogger, the most important thing you can do is show up consistently.

I once heard this profound quote at a conference: “Show up every day for two years without expecting results.”

We live in a culture of instant gratification — where we have fast food, microwaved meals, online shopping with one-day shipping, and Internet at our fingertips.

And it’s really easy to get frustrated when you’ve been blogging your heart out or posting consistently on social media for a month, and nobody is showing up or commenting.

But here’s the thing — blogging and building an online platform is not going to happen overnight. It’s a long haul.

{Of course, there are those rare exceptions where online influencers make $100k in their very first year. But that is not the norm, and typically there’s a backstory as to why they had so much instant success.}

In the beginning, it can sometimes feel like your online platform isn’t gaining any momentum at all, but just keep showing up consistently and eventually you’ll see small changes in the right direction!

3. Build an email list.

This is something I didn’t do until just a few years ago, and it’s one of the biggest mistakes I made in my business!

Learn from my mistake and build an email list from the very beginning — even as a brand new blogger!

When I first started blogging, it was pretty easy to get noticed if you brought value and showed up consistently because there weren’t a lot of people blogging. I got the benefit of being a frontrunner in the blogosphere.

Because of this, I based all of my platform building on the expectation that people would just come to my site on their own. And then eventually when social media became bigger, I started using that as an extra way to easily get traffic.

But I was not gathering a way to contact them personally. And blogging has now changed. People don’t just show up to blogs, because there are SO many blogs and distractions on the Internet.

And social media algorithms are constantly changing. When algorithms change, you’re in trouble because people don’t easily see your content and have the reminder to come to your site.

Bottom line? People won’t go out of their way to find you, if you don’t give them a reminder or reason to visit your site.

For example, there are a lot of influencers and blogs that I absolutely love, but unless it shows up in my feed or inbox, I don’t remember to go and check those sites!

It’s SO important to think about your longterm plan and be intentional about building an email list from the get-go.

Whether your main platform is a blog, Instagram account, or Facebook account, be sure to make sure you’re being very intentional with giving people a way to sign up for your email list.

When you have people on your email list, you can build an ongoing, longterm relationship with them.

And then when you have something you want to share with your audience — a new blog post, video, or product to sell — you’ll have an easy way to tell people about it!

You won’t have to wait for them to show up and come to you. You’ll be able to go to them, knock on their door, and say, “Hello! I have something to show you! Come check it out over here!”

You should always be thinking about where you want to take people longterm! And an email list will serve you well as you build long-lasting relationships with your audience.