Launching a blog can be very exciting. But you should know that, at the very same moment when you publish your first post to mark the launch of your blog, there are at least another hundred blogs that are also launched. There are at least a few thousand blogs that are launched every week and most of them could be writing on the same blog topic as that of yours. How will your blog stand out and compete with them?
Mentioned below are some of the important points that you should follow while launching your blog for it to enjoy higher chances of being successful than those thousands of blogs that are going to be launched at the same time.
Points to consider before you launch your blog
1. Have a title for your blog – Before launching your blog make sure that your blog has a nice and catchy title. As soon as your blog is launched, the first thing that your visitors will most likely see is your blog’s title. Other bloggers who will write about your blog will also mostly use the title of your blog to provide a link to your blog from theirs. So, it’s important that you select a title of your blog in such a way that it’s not only catchy but also contains keywords for which you want to rank in search engines.
2. Create ‘About Me’ and ‘Contact’ pages – Whenever I visit a new or an interesting blog I check the ‘about me’ or the ‘about’ page’ to find out more about the blogger. There are a lot of reasons because of which people navigate to the ‘about’ page. It helps your visitors know more about you and help them establish trust in the content you are writing. I often come across blogs that make recommendations about some products or write about some topic but when I check their ‘about’ page, I find that it is either missing or has not been updated with any information. In such cases, I don’t know who is writing the content and what kind of relevant experience the blogger has because of which I would follow his advices on the products and topics that he/she is writing about.
On many occasions I came across blogs that were authored by bloggers who had similar experience and interests as that of mine. I sent them an email for possible networking and since then I know a lot of bloggers and help each other with both blogging and other technical stuff.
I hope you are understanding the essence of what I am trying to tell you. Spend some quality time on your ‘about’ page and write something interesting about yourself. Without the ‘about’ page, there is a lot that you could miss and your blog will remain incomplete.
3. Write at least 10 draft posts before you launch – Don’t start your blog with just one of two articles. In the first few days of your blog, you get some attention that you must take to your advantage. As soon as you launch your blog, fellow bloggers from your niche are going to visit your blog and see what you have got in terms of content. The same is with visitors who will find your newly launched blog and then follow you if they find your articles interesting. With just one or two articles, you can’t really impress your visitors.
4. Link to other blogs in your niche – At the time of launching your blog make sure that you link out to the top blogs in your niche. This will help you get some extra attention and some bloggers may even mention about you and link to your blog in their next article thus giving free publicity to your blog.
5. Setup RSS feeds and social bookmarking icons – You have got some great quality content already written and your blog is ready to be launched. I am sure a lot of people are going to visit your blog very soon and will the content you have written. They will then want to follow your blog and bookmark your website. But how are they going to follow your website and bookmark your articles?
You need to setup social bookmarking icons in your blog for your visitors to be able to follow you and bookmark your content and also recommend your blog to their friends. You can’t really miss on this one. I still remember, when I had launched my first blog, I had put up a Digg icon below the content and somebody had actually submitted it to Digg. My article was on the first page and it fetched me more than 500 links from various blogs and websites. It’s very important for your blog to be linked from quality websites for it to rank higher in search engines.
Additional resources to help you launch your blog successfully:-
Blueprint for a Brilliant Blog Launch – A three point strategy from Copyblogger can be used by anyone starting a blog and doesn’t need existing audience to use as a springboard.
How to Launch a Blog and Have Fresh Content for Weeks – If you are thinking whether to first write a lot of articles and then launch your blog or write few initially and then keep writing for some weeks, this article from ProBlogger will help you with a launch strategy that will leave your blog with fresh content for weeks.
Launching a Blog — What Type of Posts are Best? – If you starting a blog, this articles will tell you what types of posts are best for you to start with.
21 Surefire Tips for a Successful Blog Launch – The 21 points included in this checklist will cover the basics of what you need to do during those all-important first two weeks of your blog’s life.
A Step-By-Step Blog Launch Plan and Roadmap – The article provides you with a roadmap that covers the most crucial steps that you should not miss.
How To Launch A Successful Blog In The First 90 Days – Here are some tips for new bloggers on what you may want to focus on in your first 90 days of blogging.
How to launch a blog on blogger platform? – If you have decided to start your blog on the free Blogger platform, this article is what you should read first. It contains some very simple steps to get you started in minutes.
Additional resources – some of the best ‘About Me’ pages of popular bloggers:
About Problogger – ProBlogger author Darren Rowse writes about his journey from those days when blogging was just his hobby to present day when he is a full time professional blogger and author of a book.
About Digital Inspiration – Check out the about page of Amit, the blogger at Digital Inspiration and you will certainly get inspired.
Copyblogger – This is another great example of how the about page should be written. Brian Clark, the founder of Copyblogger first introduces his blog and them himself.
About SEO Book.com – Take some inspiration from Aaron Wall’s about page. The about page is not the same as it used to be two years ago but nevertheless, it’s worth reading and followed as an example.