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Last week, I published a post in which I shared three reasons why you should stop procrastinating and start a blog. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly suggest you go do so now (here), then come back and read this post once you’re done!
Alright, now that you’re ready to let go of the idea that everything has to be perfect before you show it to the world, let’s dig into what that entails when launching a blog.
There are an endless amount of things you could do before your launch, but they all aren’t always 100% necessary.
So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed with your pre-launch to-do list, here are just eight essential things you can focus on implementing before your launch. The rest can come later!
8 Things To Do Before Launching Your Blog
1. Pick Your Website Hosting Platform
There are quite a few different website hosting platforms you could pick from to use for your blog. However, I have found these three to be the most common:
WordPress.org Websites | These are typically hosted with either Siteground* or Bluehost*. And because you’re using WordPress on a separate hosting service, you have almost endless customization options at your fingertips. This is the platform I use and love!
WordPress.com Websites | WordPress.com offers free websites to bloggers and entrepreneurs on their hosted platform, but the downside is that your customization and optimization options are extremely limited.
Squarespace Websites | The Squarespace drag and drop site builder tool makes it easy to design your own website without having to worry about coding.
I could go on for days about the differences between these three options, but I think these articles break it all down very nicely. If you read them and still have questions about what a host is or which platform you should go with, feel free to contact me!
- WordPress.com vs WordPress.org- Which is Better? (Comparison Chart)
- 11 Best Blogging Platforms- SquareSpace vs WordPress vs Blogger
- 5 Top Differences You Should Know | Squarespace vs WordPress
2. Pick a Theme & Design Your Website
My absolute favorite place to find beautiful WordPress themes is definitely Creative Market*. They are generally very affordable, and when you create a free account with them you even get a coupon for your first purchase! I have also heard great things about Theme Forest if you want to check them out as well.
Now, let’s talk design. My biggest tip when it comes to designing your website is to make it clean and easy to navigate. The last thing you want is a busy background that distracts from your content. Websites with a lot of white space are popular right now for a reason! Go look at other websites you love and take notes on why they are attractive to you.
Oh, and in case you need any inspiration on color palettes for your website, I have a Pinterest board dedicated to just that! You can find it here.
3. Set Up Your Categories and Tags
Even though you’ll always have the chance to change your categories and tags after you launch your blog, deciding on them now will benefit you in a few major ways.
First of all, it will save you the hassle of going back through all of your posts in three months to tick off the appropriate categories and tags. It’s way easier to do this to each post as you go before they’re published.
Additionally, it will help you structure your website and your blog content. Take a few minutes to write down your blog’s mission and think about what kind of posts you’ll want to put on it. Look for common themes in your post ideas and use them as your guide for this step.
You could even look at how other bloggers in your niche have set up their categories to see if something similar would work for you. Then, once you have your categories all set up, you’ll be able to decide how you want to structure your website menus and sidebars.
In case you aren’t sure about the different between categories and tags, I love how this article lays it all out.
4. Decide on Your Permalink Structure
You might be thinking, “what the heck are permalinks?!” That’s a good question.
A permalink is basically the permanent URL for your blog post.
The following examples are a few of the most common permalink structures:
- Day and name – www.domain.com/2017/08/31/sample-post-title
- Month and name – www.domain.com/2017/08/sample-post-title
- Post name – www.domain.com/sample-post-title
“Day and name” is the default structure for most WordPress websites. Another common one that people use is the “Month and name” structure.
However, the one that I’ve gone with for both of my blogs is the “Post name” permalink structure. This one just includes the domain name and the blog post name. I like this structure, because if I have a post from 2015 about WordPress which I updated for 2017, I don’t want people to think it’s irrelevant when they see that it was originally posted two years ago. Does that make sense?
Now, if you already have some blog posts published but want to change your permalink structure, make sure that you set up the appropriate redirects from the old URLs to the new URLs. The WordPress plugin Redirection is great tool that can help you set this up.
5. Create an Email Newsletter
As a new blogger, you might feel overwhelmed with the idea of having a newsletter for your email list. And I totally get that. However, it doesn’t have to be that complicated.
One easy thing you can start with is an RSS feed newsletter that will email your subscribers whenever you have a new post. This is a great way to make sure that your content is seen, and it doesn’t take much work to maintain.
But once you’ve settled into your blogging routine in a few months, I highly recommend sending a monthly newsletter to your subscribers to build your relationship with them and keep them engaged.
Do you need some recommendations on email marketing services? I have a few listed over on my Blogging Resources page just for you! Some of them are free when you have under a certain number of subscribers. How awesome is that?
6. Have Three Posts Ready to Be Published
You’re going to have a lot on your plate once your blog is live. So, that’s why I recommend taking a few days beforehand to write up schedule out at least three posts so they are ready to go once you launch.
This will include the following steps:
- Writing and editing the posts
- Taking pictures for your posts (if applicable)
- Creating the applicable Pinterest graphics
- And filling out SEO information for your posts
It’s best to do this now and get ahead while you can!
7. Set Up Google Analytics
Although Google Analytics isn’t my personal favorite interface for seeing daily blog stats, I do have to admit that it has some pretty fantastic information available for when I need more advanced information about my blog’s performance.
Google Analytics is definitely the industry standard when it comes to reporting your stats, so setting it up sooner rather than later will give you more information to work with down the line.
In case you need some tips, this article has a lot of helpful information about how to get Google Analytics properly set up for your WordPress blog.
8. Join (At Least) Three Blogging Facebook Groups
I’ve said this before, and I will say it again: Facebook groups are the absolute best resource for new bloggers.
Just a few of the benefits they can bring you are:
- They give you an opportunity to connect with fellow bloggers
- Group members are willing to give each other honest feedback on each others blogs
- Promotion threads can give you views and shares on your content
To get started, I recommend checking out this post I wrote, which includes a list of all the best Facebook groups for new bloggers.
