#16. 30 days of Blogging: Learning, Asking, and Money making.

On May 4th 2021, I started my blog with the post “Journey begins“. It was a small note intended to create momentum for writing. In the last 33 days–today is the 33rd day from May 4th–I have written 15 articles and published them in my site “flows through“. So far, I have gained 15 followers and successfully crossed 50 total likes. As a person who intended to become a writer, I view my recognition as a sign of progress towards my goal. This post will touch upon 3 aspects that would benefit anyone who begins blogging: Learning, Asking, and Money making.

First, a new blogger should enrol in the “Learning the fundamentals” course. It is a 14-day course, and you are expected to finish one task per day. There is neither an assessment at the end nor a mandatory submission at the end of each task. The course is designed to give an introduction to various key features of blogging. Though I refer to a WordPress course, it is not limited to a particular hosting site. I am confident that every hosting site will have a fundamentals course; and, as a new blogger, you should complete the course. If you spend an hour daily practising what is being told in the course, it will benefit you immensely. Personally, I like the topic “visit the neighbours“; it introduces you to develop the habit of socialising with other bloggers. If I had not taken the course, I would have picked this important habit much later.

Second, when you have any doubts, don’t hesitate to ask for help. There is a blue colour question mark at the right bottom of your WordPress page. When you click on it, it suggests you with help topics; you can type for any specific topics. In case, your query is unavailable, you can click the option “contact us”, and it will take you to one-on-one help with a real person. For example, when I had trouble understanding blog post block, I contacted a WordPress technician through the “contact us” option. She was very patient and spent close to an hour understanding my query. During the conversation, I never felt uncomfortable for being a slow learner. She listened to my query, accessed the specific pages of my website, and waited until I implemented the solutions. The experience was fantastic! Likewise, all hosting platforms will have a customer support team, and as a new blogger, you should reach out to them whenever you are struggling.

Third, a new blogger should not rush to monetise the website. As you are new to blogging or creating a website, you should aim to learn more about it. I have looked at various sources and recommend the following steps before monetisation:

1. Write at least 50 posts.
2. While writing, visit different bloggers and learn from them.
3. Enrol in free courses to improve your blogging skills.
4. Learn about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
5. Improve your visits and followers using tools such as google analytics etc.
6. Study about different options of monetisation.
7. Finally, decide the best one suitable for your blog or website.

While I am yet to explore all the steps, I have kept the above 7 points as my way forward strategy to progress in blogging. After studying multiple articles on how to grow blogging, I formulated these simple steps before entering into money-making. Even if you have not started a blog to make money, I would urge you to follow the steps because it sets you in the right direction to become a great blogger. Personally, I have started my blog to express my thoughts. So, whether the blog makes money or not is not a big deal. However, I would keep the above 7 steps as my measure of improvement.

Overall, a new blogger should enrol for fundamental courses, must clarify doubts without hesitation, and should complete few steps before monetisation.

Thanks for reading the full article. I have given some tips for new bloggers. If you have any other suggestions for newbies, please share your thoughts in the comments!