8 pillars to consider before launching a blog

Hi. Are you thinking of launching a blog?
Then I think you look at this post first,
A  blog is something that can give your voice a new wing. It's always great to have a blog but it is even better to have a well-planned blog. A small mistake can take away all the hype your blog deserves to get.

Here are 9 things you need to consider before launching your first blog.

1. Choose your Blogging Platform Wisely:
When you are going to have a blog, you need a platform where your site is going to be hosted. There are dozens of blogging platforms to choose from. From them, WordPress.org, blogger.com and WordPress.com are the most popular.
It's now up to you to choose the one that suits your need. For example, if you are not in a position to invest money on hosting you can choose Google’s blogger platform (it's free). If you want more control and power to your blog, choose WordPress.org. With WordPress.org you have full rights over your content.

2. Choose the Right Domain Name:

Your domain name becomes your business's nick name in the online world. Choose a domain name that fits your topic well. Having a keyword in the domain is still great. But avoid using exact match domains (EMDs). A .com domain is more preferred and widely used; however you can get country specific domains if you want to focus on a particular country. For example, if your audience is from Nigeria you can opt for .COM.NG or NG.

3. Register your social profiles:

This is a very crucial step that comes in between buying your domain and publicly launching your blog. You have to be very fast registering your social profiles after you have bought a domain to avoid someone else from registering it. In that case it will cause a problem in branding and identity crisis.

4. Your Interest:

No wonder anyone can open up a blog but only the passionate people survive the first year of blogging. You have to think what your interest is and which topic can never bore you from writing.
You should also not choose a topic that has no audience or has limited scope of growth. Choose a niche that interests you and has scope of growth for the coming years.

5. Design your Blog:

No one would like to visit a site that has a clumsy design or one that confuse the reader. But as a beginner this part seems to be an hindrance, you can start with a simple design and as you move forward you start getting enlightened about more design techniques, If you still can't get the design, you can pay top bloggers to get it done for you.

6. Write at least 10 to 15 posts before your launch:

When you launch your product with a bang, immediate visitors should not be disappointed to see only 1 or 2 posts. Instead, serve them a full meal of 10-15 posts so that they can enjoy their session. This idea is extremely helpful for newbie bloggers because:

a) Your audience can better understand you: With 10 posts your readers can understand your voice, your tone and your style of writing.

b) It will decrease bounce rates: You wouldn't want Google Analytics, to register high bounce rates for your newly launched blog.

c) You get more time: When you are launching a site, you have tons of task to do. You need to market it on social media, comment on relevant blogs, build relationships and reply to comments on your own blog. For this you need time. And if you have some 10-15 posts you can have enough time for doing all these.

7. Improve your social skills:

Blogging is nothing but a social platform revolutionized. You cannot take it to the next level if you are not social. Before even you launch your blog polish your social skills. Start by visiting popular blogs in your niche, comment there and build a relation. This will help you in the launch of your new blog.

8. Funds:

“You need money to run a successful blog” that is the truth. You cannot blog for long if you do not have adequate funding. The industry standards and my own experience says, you should not start pushing ads or affiliate posts to your audience right from the launch date. Most ad programs like AdSense, media.net etc. also don't approve freshly launched blogs. A blog can potentially earn after 6 months of its launch. You should therefore, have sufficient monetary backup to support you during this period.
These are the tips that you should keep in mind before launching a blog. A clear strategy will always save you from untimely problems and embarrassment. SEO, small bits of HTML coding along with the blogging processes...