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Building Your Blog: 11 Questions You Must Ask

I remember building my blog. Well, I wouldn’t actually call it building. I would call it randomly piecing together. I went into my blog thinking that it was going to be a hobby. Something that I would do every so often when the inspiration hit me.

Ok, I will admit that is how I completely started blogging. I waited for inspiration to hit me to write anything. Do you know what that got me? Not a whole lot. I began to heal but I found that because I didn’t actually build a blog correctly, that I wasn’t reaching who I wanted to reach. I was getting stuck.

Not because I wasn’t sharing my story or because people didn’t want to read what I was writing. I was stuck because I wasn’t being consistent. I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t build my blog correctly when I first started and there was no clear direction in what I wanted to do.

I want you to learn from my mistakes. I want you to build your blog the proper way so that you are setting yourself up for success. That means you need to have a plan, create a plan and build from that plan.

Does that sound time-consuming? I am sure it does.

Does that make you question if you know what you are doing? I am sure it does.

Does it make you wonder if you have the knowledge to blog? I am sure it does.

DECIDING TO BE A BLOGGER BEFORE STARTING TO BE A BLOGGER

This is crucial.

By deciding that you are going to be a blogger, you need to decide if the workload is going to work for you. I went into blogging with my eyes closed. I didn’t realize that consistency is truly what matters and to be consistent means setting actual work hours.

Having a blog means treating it like a business. You need to walk in with your eyes open and know that starting a blog doesn’t mean 4 hours of work per week. It means dedication. It means showing up. It means doing the work that is required AFTER you hit publish on your blog post.

I thought that starting a blog and deciding to be a blogger came at the same time BUT it doesn’t. Deciding has to come first or you are going to want to walk away when you realize how much work goes into it.

Deciding means creating and building a plan before you start. This is the true way to success. I am telling you this from experience. I love to jump into things immediately. I know that I can tend to overthink things when I get into my head so to avoid that, I don’t plan and I just jump. Hence why now, I plan like crazy when it comes to my blog. (I still tend to jump with other things business and life-related.)

This blog post is all about helping you in the deciding stage of creating and building your blog. It is going to help you to again, lay the foundation that you need to be successful. It is going to help you ask yourself questions BEFORE you actually start blogging.

Are you ready to DECIDE to blog with your eyes wide open? Let’s jump in!!

11 QUESTIONS YOU MUST ASK YOURSELF BEFORE BUILDING YOUR BLOG

I love teaching women how to blog.

I love watching women decide that blogging is right for them.

I love watching women realize that they CAN build their own website.

I love watching women share the stories that have shaped their lives.

I say it all the time. I truly think that EVERYONE should have a blog. I know, you are laughing right now. Wondering HOW that would even work but we all have stories. We all have magic. We all have moments where we overcame something. These questions are going to help you with the building of your blog.

1| How much time can I commit to having a blog in my current life? This is where we must start because I have said it multiple times, blogging doesn’t just take 2-3 hours a week. It takes many many more hours and dedication to truly see success. (I am totally going to do a blog post on how many hours a week I work on my blog.)

You need to be open and honest with how much time you can commit to having a blog. If you have a short amount of time per week to work on your blog that doesn’t mean it won’t work. It just means that you have to be honest with how much fresh blog content you can publish.

2| What are my reasons for wanting a blog? Write a list of the reasons you want a blog. No one needs to see this list but it is going to reinforce why you want a blog to begin with. It is going to help you to create a schedule that you can stick with when you know the reasons behind doing it. Write down your reasons and keep them close by. That list is going to make a great motivator when you need it.

3| What are the outcomes you want to reach with this blog? Is it to expand your reach as an expert? Is it to make money doing what you love? Is it to educate people on a topic that is important to you? What are the specific outcomes that you wish to see? Read here for more inspiration for creating blogging goals.

4| Do I have the knowledge to set up a blogging website? If this is a no, don’t worry about it. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a blog. It means that you know where your weaknesses are and what you need to learn to make blogging a little bit easier for yourself.

I didn’t know how to create a website when I first started blogging. It took practice. It took me building a website and researching how to do it as I went. It was time-consuming and frustrating but I knew that if I wanted to learn how to blog, I needed to learn how to create and run my own website. Now, if you want to, you can hire someone to set it up for you. That is perfectly fine. I would still recommend that you learn the basics so if something happens on your site, you can try to fix it yourself without having to depend and wait on someone else.

5| How do I want my readers to feel when they visit my website? This is a great insight to have before you start blogging because it is going to affect everything on your blog. From the way you write to how you design your website. Knowing how you want your readers to feel means that you are putting yourself in their shoes before you even begin.

6| What are important features when it comes to my blogging website? Knowing the answer to this is going to again, help you set up your website. There are so many platforms out there for you to have a blog on that when it comes time to choose, it can feel very intimidating.

Do some research before you begin to build your site. Check out other sites and write down what you love and hate about each of them. This is going to help you narrow down the important features that you want to have.

7| What is my background in the niche that I am choosing? This is great information to have on your home or about me page on your website. Why did you choose the niche that you are in? Why is it important to you? I don’t believe that any niche can be crowded because each and every person in that niche has a reason for being there. They bring a different perspective to those that are also in the same niche.

8| What can I offer on my blog to make me stand out? Have fun with this question. Think outside the box as to what you can offer that will help you stand out with the information that you are giving.

9| What do I want my blog name and blog URL to be? I had this conversation the other day in my Planning Your Blog Launch masterclass. It is also a common question that I find is being asked in other blogging Facebook groups. My opinion may differ from other people’s but this is what I think.

You can add a keyword that lets readers know what your blog is about. That is recommended because it helps with SEO but it also allows readers to know exactly what you are talking about before they get to your website.

BUT I personally LOVE a website that has a unique blog name and blog URL even if I do not know what the blog is about directly from the URL. Why? Most of the time, when you come across a unique name, there is a meaning behind that name. That is what makes it special and what makes it stand out.

There are other ways to showcase WHAT your blog is about other than your name and URL. So don’t think that you have to stick with something that says exactly what your blog is about. I say, get creative, stand out and pick a name that people are going to remember.

10| What are the foundational pieces of my blog going to be?I also call these your blogging pillars. These are going to be the core topics that your blog is going to cover. Knowing these ahead of time is going to help you to create blogging categories that will be understood and easily recognizable to your blog readers. It is also going to help you to create content for your blog when you know what these foundational pieces are.

11| When do I want to launch my blog? Giving yourself a date to launch means that you are giving yourself a timeline. If you do not have a timeline, you are going to find ways to delay the process, especially when you are struggling to decide on something. Your date can be moved if you need it to be as it isn’t set in stone but try to stick with your game plan.

Are you ready to use these questions to help you decide to become a blogger and help you begin to build that blog? I have created a workbook for you to use to take these questions and begin to answer them.

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