So, you have started a blog and are confused about what to do next? If yes, then this post is especially for you! Many new bloggers purchase a domain name, web hosting then set up their blog but don’t know what to do after that.
It’s a problem almost every new blogger face, even I have faced it. This problem happens because we just jump into blogging without much thinking. There are a lot of things one should know before starting a blog.
However, even then there are things which can only be done after you’ve started your blog. If you haven’t done so here’s our guide on starting a blog. (It can be done within 20 to 30 minutes.)
After you have got your blog ready on WordPress, there are a lot of things to do. And, this blog post is made to solve this issue of yours. So sit back, read through and implement what you’ve read.
Here are the 9 things that you must do on the first day of your blog. [If you don’t do so you might incur losses in the future.]
9 Things You Must Do After Launching Your Blog!
#1 Install Important Plugins (And A Good Theme)
Well, this one is obvious, the first thing you should do after installing WordPress is to get a paid theme. If you want to blog as a professional then free themes aren’t going to look good. You will need a premium WordPress theme.
The difference between a free and paid WordPress is too much. Premium themes offer more customization options and are much better for SEO. Free themes are just not up to the mark, they come with limitations.
Some of the themes we recommend are GeneratePress (the ones we use), Thrive Themes, WP Astra, etc.
When you’ve got your theme the next thing you should look forward is to install essential plugins. You should have every kind of plugin installed. Using good plugins on your blog can ease all of your work, there’s a plugin for everything.
Some plugins every blogger must use are – sharing plugins, social locker plugins, security plugins, backup plugins, etc. The plugins depend on what your requirements are, but it’s good to install some plugins as they are essential.
#2 Set-Up All The Important Pages
The second thing you gotta do after installing WordPress is to set up all the important pages. It doesn’t matter what’s your niche is these pages are important for all. If you don’t set up these pages right away it will be of trouble later.
These are the important pages you should set up right away are –
- Privacy Policy
- Disclaimer
- About us (or a contact page)
- Advertise here (you can set it up later)
- Terms of services (when you provide services)
Having these pages is important even if they are of no value to your readers. Not having these pages can land you in trouble, especially the privacy policy page because of GDPR. Sites which are not up to GDPR can attract a huge fine.
One other benefit of having these pages is that you will get approved fast by ad networks like Google Adsense (as your site will look more legitimate). You can create most of these pages with online tools.
The only pages you will need to create manually will be the about us, contact, and advertise page. About and advertise here page will take up some time. The contact page can easily be created with plugins or be merged into about page.
#3 Select Your Categories
With the help of WordPress, you can easily create categories for your blog post. Creating categories for your blog is important as it enhances user experience i.e, by helping users to navigate through your blog easily.
It’s good for both your readers and search engines. Adding categories to your blog will help in organizing your content. For example, this blog has more than 4 categories right now – blogging, WordPress, deals/discounts, SEO, etc.
Adding categories to WordPress is a child’s play, just go to your WP dashboard > Posts > Categories. Then on the categories page create a new category or just rename the default one. Carefully, fill out the details and you’re done.
The only details you will need to fill are – name, slug (URL), parent category, and description. Here is a complete tutorial by WP Beginner on how to add categories to your blog (or site) on WordPress.
#4 Setup Webmaster Tools And Google Analytics
The next thing you need to do is set up a plugin to track visitors coming to your blog. Tracking visitors gives you data about your traffic sources and other important metrics. The most common way to track visitors is by Google Analytics.
Almost everyone uses Google Analytics, sure there are other tools but none comes close to its popularity. Also, other tools are paid ones whereas for small businesses and individuals Google Analytics is free.
Getting started with Google Analytics can be confusing for beginners. Knowing how your visitors are interacting with your blog is important and shouldn’t be ignored. Here’s another guide on how to install Google Analytics on WordPress.
If you want to get visitors from search engines then first you should get indexed by them. And to get indexed by any search engine you must submit your blog’s (or site’s) sitemap to the webmaster tools. Each search engine has its own.
This is a super duper important thing to do, else you won’t be getting any organic traffic. If you don’t want any organic traffic you can ignore it. Now head to Google Webmaster Tools and set up the search console.
#5 Get Ideas For Your Blog Posts
Now you’re in a position where you can start creating content for your blog. But have you thought what kind of blog posts are you going to write? And what will be your blog posts focused on? Answering these questions are necessary.
Of course, you would have selected your niche by now. If you haven’t you’re doing it all wrong. After that, decide what kind of blog post you’re going to write and brainstorm 5 to 6 topics to write about.
There are a lot of kinds of blog posts to write, here are some of the best ones – list posts, how-to posts, beginner guides, etc. We have created a list of 21+ types of blog post that drive huge traffic. Make sure to check them out.
However, there are lots of steps involved in creating the right kind of blog posts. You have to find the best keywords If you create posts that no one wants to read then no one will read them. Create quality content and promote them.
After you have found right keywords to target, get started with writing. Have at least 20 to 30 blog posts before you start promoting your blog, this is what worked for me. You can start promoting from the start there’s no loss in that.
#6 Make Sure To Have Opt-In Forms
Do you know what most pro bloggers admit as their first and biggest mistake? Yep! That’s not utilizing the power of email marketing from the start. Almost everyone does this mistake and you should avoid it.
The power of email marketing is real, the only thing I can see challenging it is FB messenger subscribers but that’s a whole different story. Email Marketing has been effective for a long time and isn’t gonna die.
The value of a small email list which is collected genuinely can be worth thousands of dollars. An engaged email list is one of the most valuable assets a digital marketer can have, so avoid ignoring it.
And the best way to collect emails from your readers is to have great Opt-In forms. Adding email opt-in forms to your blog isn’t hard at all, if you’re using WordPress then it will be much simpler. There are many plugins made for this task.
Some of the best plugins for creating email opt-ins are Thrive Leads, Bloom, etc. Even if you’re not using WordPress you can create them with the help of custom code. It doesn’t take much time to set them up right away.
#7 Have E-mail Accounts (and SSL Certificate) For Your Domain
Having a site is like a business so you must look at it as a business. And, one way which people judge businesses online is by looking at their email address. Using personal email addresses for your blog won’t cut it.
To make your email address look professional you should use your email address under your site’s (or domains) name. For example – [email protected] looks way better than using a Gmail account.
Setting up an email address for your domain is easy. Most of the hosting providers make sure that you can create email addresses from cPanel. However, some don’t, for them you can use Gsuite.
Another important thing that you should set up from day one is an SSL Certificate. Having an SSL Certificates has many benefits like your site looks more trustable and sites with SSL Certificate tend to rank higher in search results.
Back in the days using SSL Certificate was a choice but now it’s a necessity. It doesn’t take much time to install an SSL Certificate and you should install it from day one. You shouldn’t sit back and do nothing about it!
#8 Set-Up Social Media Accounts
Even while your main focus will be on blogging, setting up social media accounts isn’t a bad idea. You should set up some social media accounts while the username’s still available. Or, else someone might take that.
You should not be going all day making social media accounts on almost everywhere. But you should make accounts on the top sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc. It will be of use in the future to get more free traffic.
Social media is used correctly can be used to send a ton of traffic to your blog. Making pages on Facebook and Insta should be one of your priorities. You can get a lot of targeted traffic from these social media sites.
If you have the budget you should also run ads on Facebook as SEO will take months or years to show the desired results. You should also install a Facebook Pixel code on your blog that will help in retargeting visitors.
Adding a Facebook Pixel code isn’t rocket science. Follow this guide and it will not take more than 10 minutes. Retargeting your visitors will help you to make more sales by which you will earn more money. It’s a win-win situation.
#9 Have A Blogging Schedule (And, Plan!)
“Luck favors the prepared!” this is a quote that reminds me to plan everything in advance. No matter how much brave you’re when life hits everything is shattered. Same can be applied to blogging. How?
Assume – you’re a blogger, you’re doing well and SEO traffic is coming, suddenly you are hit by a penalty because of some bad links you purchased. Normally this would be fatal but it won’t be if you know how to get out of this situation.
It’s the worst case scenario. What I want to tell you from this is that you must be prepared and have a plan for everything. Things change way too fast in digital marketing. But having planned in advance eases things.
You should also have a blogging schedule. A blogging schedule means you have to plan what you want to write and on what days you will publish those posts. You can use Editorial plugins for keeping track of your work.
Final Thoughts…
Every journey begins with a small step. (A Chinese quote re-written by me.) This quote applies everywhere and is also true for new bloggers. It may feel overwhelming at the start but after some time you get a hold of it.
With the help of these points getting past the first day of blogging will be a piece of cake for you. These tips are also great for experienced bloggers, as they will remember what it felt to go through their starting days.
While writing this blog post I noticed that even I haven’t got a good way to capture email subscribers. (sigh.) Sometimes you learn to fix your mistakes while teaching others. (I think!) I am gonna work on this in coming days.
So, have you applied all the things I told above? If not, where are you stuck? According to you, what are the other things that should be done after launching a blog? Let us know in the comments below.