Getting started with blogging can seem intimidating. There seems to be so much to learn. The secret is to just get started and you will pick up everything else as you go. Here are ten tips for authors new to blogging that should get you off to a flying start.

1. Never launch naked

If you invite people to read your first post and they love it, they will look for more. If that search leads to disappointment what do you think their first impression will be?

Most likely they may leave and might not come back. This is why you should make sure they have some more good posts to find. Having had a good experience on your blog, readers will be more likely to bookmark and return again.

I would recommend, writing at least three good posts before you tell anyone about your blog. Ideally, try for at least two in each category you have set up.

2. Don’t forget common pages

With blogs such as WordPress you can add pages to your site. Pages are different from posts in that they tend to be timeless and intentially perminant.

For example:

• Your contact details
• Press information
• Privacy policy

I strongly recommend writing a good about page and publishing it before you invite people to visit your blog. For more about writing a great about page see our post on the subject.

3. Minimise categories

Before you start your blog, think about what sort of topics you want to cover. See if you can give all your topic ideas just a few broad headings.

For example, on the Thanet Create blog, we started with a category “advice” then as our content collection grew we slowly added subcategories dealing with world-building, character, getting published, getting paid, motivation, and so on. In this way we never had any empty categories sitting around making the blog look unloved.

It sometimes pays to think “big picture” when planning categories. Chose categories that a broad and encompass a large selection of possible topic areas. You can always add more granular sub-categories as your blog grows.

4. Keep categories and tags separate

A common mistake made by experienced and new bloggers alike to mixing up categories and tags.

For the reader of your blog there is no difference between the archive for posts tagged “weekends” and posts in the “weekends” category (for example) except that they have different posts in their index.

Tags and categories with the same name are not only confusing for readers but generally only serve as extra work for the blogger who has to keep both lists synchronized.

I tend to use tags for stand out details. Say an author I quote or a specific technique I mention. Categories, on the other hand, I treat like shelves in a well organised library where the “books” are ordered by broad subject names.

5. Schedule posts

Blogs that are updated regularly grow faster than those that are not.

Some authors set aside one or two blocks of time each week to attend to their blogs and social media. If you do too this does not mean you only have to publish on those days.

Modern blogging software has the ability to write a post and have it publish later. This allows you to write many posts in a single session and spread them out over the week.

Author Buzz blogs have an editorial calendar to help pace and schedule your posts. It is a free plugin available for all hosted WordPress blogs (not WordPress.com as far as I know). There is a sandbox demo here if you want to try it out.

6. Identify topics that match your writing

Try to identify topics and themes that match those in your writing. These can make great jumping off points for your blog posts.

For example, if part of your story is set in Sub-Saharan Africa then perhaps you might want to post about some aspect of the Red Sea coast, the Kalahari Desert, or the Nok culture. Especially if you want to attract readers who will appreciate your well researched setting.

As a rule, most things that you research for your writing will make for a great post that should appeal to a similar audience to your writing. This can be a great way of attracting readers who will later love your book.

7. Pick a theme that draws attention to your content and not away from it

There are a lot of very flashy and impressive themes to chose from. Especially with WordPress blogs.

Despite what most theme authors tell you, your theme has one job and one job only – to present your content in a way that is easy to read and easy to browse.

Some themes are so flashy that they serve to draw attention from your content rather than to it. I always look for a few key things when evaluating a theme.

• You can make it obvious what your blog is about
• Your content and important pages are easy to find
• The style suits your writing
• It loads reasonably quickly
• Readers do not have to scroll to get to the content
• Text is displayed in such a way that it is easy to read

As long as visitors to your blog can do all of the following, your theme is most likely good enough.

8. Try to end with a CTA

“What is a CTA?”, I hear you ask. I will tell you.

CTA stands for Call to Action. It is marketing speak for the thing you want to invite readers to do. As often as you can, try to end a post with a CTA that fits your style and audience.

Common calls to action include:

• Leave a comment
• Subscribe to an email newsletter
• Create an account
• Follow on social media
• Share on social media

The exact call to action that you use will depend on what sort of audience you are reaching out to and what you want from them.

9. Write for your ideal reader (even if you have not found them yet)

While the rule of first writing for yourself is a good one, a better one is to write with your future ideal reader in mind.

Write the kind of content that will attract the readers you want. Rather – as some have mistakenly done – write whatever is popular and wonder why your readers are not interested in your important content.

If you write with the interests and needs of your ideal reader in mind, when readers like that find your blog, they will instantly feel at home. While this sounds similar to “if you build it, they will come”, it is actually closer to “if you build it, when they find it they will stay”.

10. Get ideas from your audience

I do this all the time. Most of the posts I am most proud of came from questions asked by readers.

I make a point of inviting people to ask me questions. Those questions can be the jumping-off point for one or more new posts.

Not only is this an amazing way to get post ideas but it is just as good for showing your readers that they matter to you. I honestly could not blog as much as I do without reader questions.

If you have questions about blogging you can ask them in our blogs and blogging forum. Not only will you likely get answers from the community but you might be the reason why I write my next post.