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1. Always use long links
A lot of new bloggers like to register with Amazon Associates straight away. Fine fine fine. The problem comes when you don’t make a sale and get kicked out. This isn’t a problem in itself – you can just reapply. The problem is that if you used the short links Amazon provides, there’s no way to bulk update your pins with new tracking code.
Don’t. Shorten. Links.
If you hate the way long links looks, use the Pretty Links plugin.
2. Content is king
If you’re creating valuable, unique content that people are searching for, Google will point then at you. It may take a long time for you to prove to Google that you know everything there is to know about *insert niche here* but it will happen, if the content is good enough.
Google’s only job is to provide a website that will answer the questions people search for. It has to do that well, or people will stop using it.
3. However interesting you are, no one is going to search for your content – it’s up to you to create content that people are searching for
No one cares about your journey – use your experiences to make your articles more interesting, and back up your points. If your blog post is something like ‘my vegan journey’ literally no one will read it. No one cares.
Make it ‘how to go vegan when you’re allergic to soya’ and you may be able to get somewhere.
4. Logos are easy and quick to create
You don’t need to pay anyone to make a logo. DIY it in Canva. The free version is fine. A text-only logo is fine.
5. You only need to pay for hosting and a domain
You don’t need to pay for anything else – Tailwind, SEO tools or anything. I personally don’t think they’re worth it, but if you’re in a super competitive niche, maybe it’s worth it.
I would wait until your blog is making money before investing further. I’ve had two years worth of Tailwind, and trust me, it might put Pinterest on autopilot, but it’ll still take a good few hours to fill up the scheduler for a week, and still won’t guarantee decent traffic.
6. Adsense slows your site down too much – wait until you have enough traffic for a higher paying network
You may still have to apply to Adsense since a lot of ad networks require that you’ve been accepted before they’ll even consider you.
Just don’t put a load of ads on right away. Even a site that has 10K page views a month is unlikely to make more than about £50 a month, so it’s not worth it for the first few months. Your fast site speed is a big sign to Google that you’re worth ranking, so hang on to it.
7. Use jpgs rather than pngs unless you need a super clear photo
They’re lower quality but less bulky.
And make sure you have lazy load activated.
8. A social media strategy isn’t a necessity
One of my websites gets quite a lot of Facebook traffic. I didn’t even make a page for it, and I’ve certainly never shared any of my posts there. You concentrate on creating content for Google, and leave the social media sharing to your users.
9. Pick a fast theme over a pretty one
It’s no secret that GeneratePress is my favourite.
10. And you can get really good ones for free
See above.
11. Keyword stuffing does nothing but gain you a black mark in Google’s book
Get rid of Yoast and it’s ridiculous traffic light SEO system. Write like a normal human and let Google’s latent semantic analysis do its thing.
12. Paid keyword tools aren’t necessary
Google doesn’t share its data. SEMrush and Ahrefs etc are only guessing. If you want to track backlinks and all that stuff be my guest, but it is absolutely not necessary. I don’t use them, and I don’t plan to
13. Use insert headers and footers rather than edit your theme
That way you don’t have to go back and add it all back in every time the theme is updated.
14. Use ‘ad inserter’ to add affiliate disclaimers
You can set it to put whatever message you like in every post, page or wherever.
15. Separate writing from deciding on blog post structure and creating images
I can prep 30 blog posts – titles, subheadings, featured images, and Pinterest pin in a day. I can just add in the actual writing later. If I try to do everything at once I always end up forgetting to create the featured image.
Batching content like this is so much quicker than going from a blank page to a published post in once sitting.
16. Embrace change. It’s inevitable in this industry.
Delete that classic WordPress editor. I promise you’ll get used to Gutenberg.
17. Find somewhere to store code snippets, Canva adjustment codes, keyword ideas etc
I like Google Keep, because it’s free and on my phone, laptop, and tablet. It also syncs with my calendar and Google docs.
18. Learn how to use reusable blogs on Gutenberg
I use them for my content breaks, and on my house plant blog for plant profiles, since I always use the same subheadings.
19. Resize all your photos to 672X372 px.
It’s a great size for blog images and your featured images.
20. Pinterest is not the answer to all your traffic dreams, I’m afraid
Search traffic is worth waiting for. I would highly recommend delaying your Pinterest strategy until you’ve created a decent amount of content.
21. There’s nothing stopping you from planning every blog post out in advance
I mean, for your entire blog. First post to the last post. It can really help you get through the Google sandbox without giving up, gives you an end point to work towards, and there’s nothing to stop you continuing on after. Read more about content strategy here.
22. Keyword shortcuts are life changing
Particularly cmd-K for adding links,
23. Never delete your blog because you’ve lost interest
Just leave it alone. In a couple of years time the traffic might come pouring in.
24. WordPress is a learning curve
But it’s absolutely worth it. Don’t be tempted by Squarespace or Wix – they’re fine for beginners, but once you get going, the limited functionality will be a pain in the bum, and it’s a bugger migrating them.
25. The camera on your phone is fine
A blog is not a magazine. As long as your photos are clear enough to see what needs to be seen, that’s fine.
26. And there’s always Unsplash if it’s not
There’s so many awesome FREE photos available.
27. Every time you add something new like a code snippet or a plugin CHECK YOUR PAGE SPEED.
Skimlinks TANKED mine.
28. You need so much patience and faith in yourself. I promise it’ll pay off.
Try the ‘just keep swimming’ mindset that Dory swears by.
29. Income School’s YouTube channel is a gold mine of information
A lot of SEO experts believe it’s too simplistic but if the only bit of blogging you like is the writing content part, you’ll LOVE it.
30. Tailwind does NOT put your Pinterest strategy on autopilot. It’s just another distraction from creating content.
Tailwind is a very powerful tool, but it is NOT a shortcut. It’s extremely time consuming and you need a clear strategy to see quality results.
31. Writing articles for complete beginners is a surprisingly underserved niche
Scroll the r/explainlikeim5 subreddit to see if you know things that other people wish they knew.
32. Google does not hate you.
It wants to find great content and give its users what they need.
33. Not wanting to write every day is normal
Find a schedule that works for you. I only write five days a week, and I built my most successful blog whilst working a 40 hour week and only writing when I could.
34. Do your best
If you can only write articles once a month, that’s better than none. It’ll just take longer to achieve your goals.
35. This time next year, you’ll wish you started now
Just go and get hosting and make a start.
36. Blogging won’t die until people stop using search engines.
Sure, traditional journal style blogs are hard to grow, but niche sites are doing very well.
37. You can’t fast track sustainable success
Despite what a thousand Pinterest courses are trying to convince you
38. If you can’t think of article topics, put yourselves in the shoes of a beginner
What would a complete newbie Google to learn about your niche? What have you googled about it recently? Our own search history can be a mine of information.
39. You can rank one article for multiple keywords
Posing your subheadings as questions can help
40. Don’t discount keywords that have low search volume
Write the article, find a bigger site with an article that mentions the keyword briefly and ask for a link
41. But you don’t need a whole back linking strategy
If you create high quality content, then people will link to it.
42. Outbound links build authority
Link to white papers, government sites, and other professional resources.
43. Google loves stats
Conduct surveys in Facebook groups and create your own unique ones!
44. A good interlinking strategy can help hard-to-rank articles get traffic.
Once they get a bit of traffic, Google might be convinced to rank them more highly.
45. A content calendar will be indispensable for executing your content strategy
It will help you to create a lot of the right content within a certain timeframe.
46. But allow a little wiggle room
You don’t want a week in bed with the flu to mess up your whole schedule.
47. Only use social media if you want to
Whilst social proof can improve SEO, it’s an optional extra. If you want to build a niche-specific Instagram or Twitter following, great, but don’t feel you need to. Only do it if you enjoy it, and don’t use it as a procrastination method to avoid writing articles.
48. The more content you have, the more traffic you’ll get
That’s just simple maths. But more articles also help SEO massively, because they help Google decide who you are and who your site will best serve.
49. You don’t need to consciously build traffic
You need to consciously write awesome content. If the content is good, the traffic is coming, just not quite yet.
50. Avoid hard to rank for niches
At least when it’s your first website. So no:
- personal finance
- news/entertainment
- fashion/ beauty
- diet/fitness
- health/wellness
- blogging
Unless you have some experience or qualification that could help you rank, I’d avoid these niches. If you choose to go for one anyway, niche waaaaaaaaay down to have a hope at ranking.
51. Don’t pick a niche because you think it’ll make money
It doesn’t work like that. Pick a niche you either know, or one you want to learn about.
52. Don’t discount a niche because you think it won’t make money
There are very few niches out there that can’t make at least some money. Even if the niche itself won’t make you a millionaire, the skills you’ve learned certainly can.
53. If you can’t afford hosting, go and write on Medium
Not only can you make good money there, but you have a chance to see if you’re cut out or blogging.
I advice against relying on Medium as a place to host your blog, because they’ve been known to change the way they pay out and people have lost all their income overnight.
You need to pay to become a Medium user, but you can post articles there for free.
54. If you have multiple niche ideas, start multiple blogs
If you have the time and the inclination, why not? Blogs tend to rank more quickly on Google if they only cover one topic.
55. Take advice from other bloggers with a pinch of salt.
I make £30 every time someone clicks on my link and buys Siteground hosting. Of course, I’m going to recommend them.
I use Siteground, and will happily acknowledge that they’re not perfect. However, they’re the best for the price point. I might prefer WP Engine, but I would never recommend that to a beginner, who, most likely, won’t make it past a year.
I couldn’t be a Tailwind or a course affiliate because I can’t guarantee your results. But I know that if you buy Siteground hosting you’ll, er, have Siteground hosting. You’ve paid for a product that I know will do what I’ve said it will.
And it’s not perfect, but if you want perfect hosting, expect to pay $100 a month. You get what you pay for. And Siteground is far and away the best of the budget options.
Trust me, I’ve been at this blogging lark for a decade. It’s taken me a lot of hosts, themes, and content strategies to be able to tell you this.
56. Back up your site
I use Updraft, because it syncs to my Google Drive – you can use Dropbox or whatever. Luckily, I’ve never had to use it. Siteground will also provide you with a back up if required.
57. Follow for follow Facebook groups are a waste of time for most of us
Though I like to lurk in them and try to poach bloggers that have no idea what they’re doing and force them to learn from my mistakes
58. Blog commenting is largely a waste of time
I read a lot of blogs, and I comment if I think I can be helpful – whether that’s helpful to the blog owner or helpful to other readers. Do. Not. Spam.
59. Guest post strategically
In order for your guest post to drive traffic, it needs to be incredible. And if it’s incredible, surely it should be on your site?
I don’t recommend guest posting a lot, especially if you’re in a fairly uncompetitive niche.
But if you’re struggling to get traction in a competitive niche, and you feel like you have value to add but don’t stand a hope of ranking on Google, guest posting is a good way to give potential users tasters of your unique approach. Think posts like ‘top 10 tips for taking care of house plants’.
60. Don’t panic if you have no followers and no network
Remember all those OG blogs about blogging which told you to share your post with your followers, and you slunk away with your tail between your legs. God, if I shared my blog posts on Facebook they would TANK.
You don’t need a network. You should know what you need by now (it’s content).
61. Don’t change your URLs.
Before you start, go to the permalinks tab in your WordPress back end and change the settings so that the URL for your posts is the post name. Never think about it again.
If it’s too late for that, either leave, them or use Yoast or a similar redirect plugin.
62. Don’t use the Yoast traffic light system
I don’t use any SEO plugins. I know how to write. As long as my keyword research is good and the post is relevant, useful, and optimised for SEO (headings, short paragraphs), it doesn’t matter how many times the exact keyword shows up.
63. Don’t worry about meta descriptions
Google will use whatever the hell it wants as the meta description. If it’s showing some random text and you want to change it, I use the very simple meta description plugin.
I changed the settings so the the default meta description is the excerpt WordPress uses. You can add an excerpt if you like (it’s in the post settings on the right hand side of the post editor) but I leave mine as whatever WordPress picks, usually the first 55 words of the post.
64. See also: site maps
I used to use Jetpack, which automatically submitted site maps. Yoast does the same. Now I just let Google crawl around and that seems to be working fine.
65. General listicles aren’t always searchable or rankable
And for that reason, you may never read this one. They’re great as guest posts though. If they’re long enough and pertinent to your niche, they might rank for some keywords you hadn’t considered
66. It’s not always hard to beat the top ranked articles
If the top ranking is ’50 ways to entertain your tarantula’, you come up with 100. It’s worth a shot!
67. Don’t guest post for your competition
Pitch an authority site in an adjacent niche. For example, for my house plant website, I would pitch big home decor magazine websites.
If they reject you, pitch another. There’s no point giving your competition your best articles. If you’re giving away content, at least make sure millions of eyes will be on it.
I personally don’t use guest posting as a strategy, so don’t feel you have to.
68. Don’t expect support from your friends and family
Creating websites for money seems to blow the mind of 95% of people.
69. Nice
70. Don’t worry about haters
You do NOT need a thick skin to make money online. Turn off the comments and don’t link your site to your social media accounts.
If you need an excuse to turn off your comments, they actually do slow your site down.
71. Don’t worry about search volume for your niche
Whilst it takes trial and error to work out which articles are being searched for, don’t worry that your whole niche isn’t worth creating a website for.
If you’re interested in something, so will other people. And if it turns out your niche is too narrow, you can always branch out later.
72. Use Reddit to generate articles ideas
If you’re really into your niche, it can be hard to remember what it feels like to be a beginner. Join any relevant subreddits and see what people are asking.
In fact, find those people who are asking really stupid questions that everyone else in the subreddit ignores and ask them exactly what kind of resource they need.
See? You don’t need an audience of your own, you just need to find out where your target audience are. If they’re millenials or gen X, they’re probably on Reddit and twitter. Gen Z are on Instagram and Tik Tok, boomers are on Facebook.
You don’t need to be active on these platforms or build a following, you just need to be an observant lurker.
73. YouTube is also a great place to lurk
Find those Youtubers demonstrating intermediate and advanced areas of your niche. There will probably be beginners in the comments asking to be spoon fed. Answer their questions until such a time that it’s easier to just…drop a link.
74. Don’t use your name as your website name
It makes leaving links so much spammier because it’s obvious that you’re self promoting.
Big websites often use Spot.Im so that commenters are just out for backlinks. If someone asks for help, drop them your link with a comment like ‘this website really helped me’. If it helps the person that asked the question, they won’t care that you technically spammed them.
75. Blogging is simple but hard
Once you know what you’re doing, and concentrate on creating useful content, not spreading yourself incredibly thin over every social media platform going, it’s actually easy.
The hard part is being patient and taking the time to learn how to write useful content.
76. Long content doesn’t equal great content
Almost all of my articles are 1000+ words. Any fewer than that and I try and fit them in to another post.
But also, if you’re looking at a 10,000 word monster, maybe do a master post, and few other posts linking to it.
Nobody wants to read 10,000 words on watering plants. A LOT of people want to read a 3,500 article on watering plants, plus links to what kind of water to use, when to water from the bottom, and how to schedule watering your plants.
77. If you have no idea how long your article should be…
Google your keyword, and make your post a couple of hundred words longer than your competitors.
Remember, you can always go back and add information later if you forgot something.
78. You don’t decide which direction your website goes in
If it turns out your audience likes an aspect of your niche you’re not that bothered about, I’d maybe make the time to get interesting in that aspect.
If the audience of your pet blog loves articles about snakes but you’re scared of them, I’m afraid I’m recommending that you suck it up and write about snakes.
79. No one cares about your blog schedule
Upload a post once a week, every week, or publish 52 articles in January. No. One. Cares.
I post ten posts a month until I reach 100 posts and then cut down to whatever I fancy.
80. A high bounce rate isn’t a bad thing
A user may ask a question, Google shows them your blog, they click through, your article answers their question and they leave.
Google has no issue with that.
What Google will have a problem with is if someone clicks through to your site, leaves, and clicks through to the next result on the page. It’s called pogosticking, and it tells Google that your article doesn’t fit with the keyword the user searched for.
81. Different search engines rank your content differently.
Bing will often take a chance on a new kid, whereas Google wants to know you’re in it for the long haul
82. SEO is not that hard
Not on-page SEO anyway. It’s actually common sense, but only once you’ve had it pointed out to you.
83. Social media is tricky to learn
Once you’ve mastered it, they change it again.
84. If you have a cheap laptop (especially ones that run Microsoft) don’t even attempt to use a pagebuilder
I once built a company’s website using Elementor. I started it on my Macbook, but finished it on their crappy Windows laptop. half of the functionality of Elementor wasn’t available, because the laptop wasn’t powerful enough.
Seriously, I had to finish it on my iPhone.
Pagebuilders are often slow if you’re not a designer, so still with a theme like GeneratePress.
85. Google loves bolded text
It makes articles easy to skim
86. And bullet points
See above.
87. A little bullet-pointed and bolded summary of your article at the beginning is often enough to win you the snippet
88. If you have the skills, growing a YouTube channel alongside your blog, implementing the same ideas of SEO and niching down, can be a great way to boost traffic
I currently don’t have time, but it’s on my list. Also, the sound of my own voice makes me want to flush myself down the toilet
89. Fewer people care about grammar than you’d think
In the beginning stages of a new website, I batch my post prep (images etc), write about 30 posts, publish them, and then go back and check for spelling and grammar errors.
Er, sometimes.
Often they just get caught when I’m spending the day adding internal links.
90. But get grammarly anyway
It’s a free software extension that’ll pick up any rogue effect/affect errors.
91. OMG don’t panic about an email list
We’re all sick to the back teeth of them
92. If you HAVE to, set up a newsletter
Your newsletter will only feature things your target audience care about, for example, any new gear you’ve bought, new research in the industry etc. No one wants your crappy course.
93. Don’t monetise too soon
Wait for your traffic to grow. Almost all forms on monetisation (including affiliate links) will slow your site to some degree. You need to have an edge over your competitors in the early stages, and often a fast website will give you one.
94. Calm it with Pinterest
You’re procrastinating. Stop chasing traffic, and start creating useful content. Even Tailwind knows that Pinterest doesn’t want to be every blogger’s bitch anymore, and is moving towards Instagram.
Pin your stuff, sure. But other than that, just use Pinterest like a normal person. Don’t rely on an algorithm to give you exposure – create great content and, er, expose yourself.
You know what I mean.
95. Stop making excuses
If you’re having trouble standing out in your niche, narrow your niche farther.
If you don’t have time, you don’t have time – there’s not a lot you can do about that, but also using that as an excuse will not earn you a free pass from Google.
96. Don’t flog a dead horse
I’m meant to say something encouraging like ‘never give up!’ but if you hate your niche, move on. Often if you upgrade your hosting you can have multiple websites.
If you still want to be a blogger but want to change your niche, I advise to start a new website from scratch will a new domain. Leave your old site exactly as it was. You might come to it later, or it might just need time to rank.
But if you want to give up, go ahead. If blogging makes you miserable, try something else.
97. Do not start a website to make money from:
- Fiction you’ve written
- Personal essays you’ve written
- Poetry you’ve written
Literally no one is going to be searching for that. How will they EVER find you?
Put that stuff on Medium.
98. If you want to make money from any of those things you need to create an audience
Start a website that addresses the pain points of other fiction or poetry writers. Maybe your audience will want you share at some point
99. Do not assume that what works for some people will work for you
Don’t be like the million girls that created vlogs channels, hoping to be the next Zoe Sugg. Sugg was an early adopter. She shaped the industry.
We don’t really have that luxury.
Blogs have moved on. If you’re not helping people in some way, you’ll struggle to get traffic.
100. Don’t have a mirror on your desk whilst you write
There are few things as distracting as our own reflection. I also like to use the Flora app to keep from playing on my phone.
101. Write any 101-point listicles in your own time
They probably won’t rank. I mean, who’s searching for ‘101 things some randomer wish she’d known about blogging 10 years ago’?
No one.
Still, I had some spare time, and GOD I wish someone had written this post for me.
I hope it can help you.
