Hi there ??‍♀️

Welcome the Biggest Mistakes I have made as a Blogger and Business Owner that no one share on the internet.. (haha, a little exagerrated here- of course there’s bloggers that shared about this  but this blogpost is based on my personal experience)

If you are fairly new this blog,

My name is Anys Nadhilah or you can call me Dr Anys! I am a full time medical practitioner, a future mom and a very passionate digital business owner! 

I love making passive income and make money while I sleep through digital products. My mission is to help women, bloggers, solopreneurs, new coaches, course creators build their dream online business with SO MUCH ease, fun and flow.

During writing this blogpost, I had night shift work as a training medical doctor where I work from 8pm till 1pm the next day (Its a 17 hours shift guys).

My normal daily shift as a training doctor was from 7am till 9pm (14 hours per day)  … I have 2 night shifts every week, and one off day in a week.. This was basically my work schedule as a training doctor in Malaysia.. 

Despite being very busy, during my free time , I like to create new digital products for my shop or consume content via blog or Youtube.

Today while consuming blog articles, I stumbled upon  https://outofthe925.com/ by David Woutersen.. His pins particularly is this one https://pin.it/h4h7DSs

The last advice in that video pin was a shocker and has give a big realization and clarity to me..

Check out the pins here -> https://pin.it/h4h7DSs

I feel numb for a while solely because it has made me realize the biggest mistakes that I have committed for the span of 3 years.. from 2019-2021

(no wonder I moved no where)

Well, thanks God I am not commiting a crime in case you wondered but I have made this huge mistakes that I don’t want you to do the same as a blogger or a someone who want to start an online business.

If you want to know what were those mistakes, continue read on..

I’m going to list down the mistakes that have I made as a blogger and a business owner down below so that you can learn from it and avoid these mistakes..

MISTAKE #1: TRY TO CREATE A COURSE TOO EARLY

When I think of this mistake back, I feel mad of  those videos and courses that I consumed for the past three years on how to create an online course.

Personally I feel like those who are selling courses on ‘How to Create An Online Course Business’  doesn’t specify who are really fit to start online course business.

Everybody believes that everybody can create a course, but the fact is that not EVERYBODY can create a course…

I was too naive and too fool to think that I can create a course where  I don’t have the skills and capability to create a course yet.

These has costed me 1 year of not blogging for free, create content for my blog and build an email list first. I am too focus trying to learn how to create a course which led me in a wrong tunnel.

First thing first , why I want to create online course instead being a free blogger?

Online course business is a very profitable and high margin profit business. Imagine making impact on other people lives while making such a high income that is good enough to pay your bills , have a great vacation and buy anything you like for yourself and your family..

Best thing is you get to live on your own term and be your own boss. This is what I want. Freedom.. 

The reason why I was trapped here because I guess a lot of people said ‘course route’ is easy money-making route and is like get rich fast scheme (which is not 100% true).

As someone who want to start a business myself, I am hooked! Well the fact is, it takes lotttt of efforts,brainstorming and knowledge to get a course launch successfully..

Having said that , I also do not aware and don’t have the exposure that blogging business is also very profitable. I don’t know why would I choose the ‘course route’ instead of ‘blogging route’ which is easier and less pressure.

I also have read mutiple blogs that have generated 5k-30k per month . Can you believe that they don’t even have a course and they basically don’t bother about it.

Plus, I  a lot of missing puzzles.

The missing puzzles are

• Don’t know what niche I am in.
• Don’t know what I am an expert about.
• Not good with informational content creation

As you can see, there is a lot of missing puzzles here and if you are really interested in creating a course, best advice that I can give to you is you should really nailed your niche, experties,content creation and get a coach or a course that would teach you step by step.

Pro tips for someone who still want to create a course

I suggest you to do list down all the things that you are good at and what you can teach others. You can brainstorm  your own techniques or methods on achieving something that you knowledgable about.

You don’t have to have all figure out, especially on a systems , tech and everything.

And also you don’t have to get all the content of your courses figured out.  

The  point of making courses is to help others to achieve what you have achieved because there are someone in the world who are just lower than you, which means they need your strategy, your content, your teaching to improve and level it up.

But remember, if you did not have the puzzles that I am missing above, forget about creating a course, start a blog instead!

MISTAKE #2: DO NOT HAVE SPECIFIC NICHE

Deciding a niche is really difficult for me in the early days because I have this syndrome called as SOS – ‘ Shiny Object Syndrome’.

I am not trying to start a niche-specific blog first so that I know what I love and what I can to talk about for hour.

Instead I am trying to create a course where I don’t really have the niche clarity, skills,experience and the quality it needed to create a course plus I try to teach something that I haven’t gotten any result yet. Confusing right?

Pro Niche Tips –

You need to know what topics do you interested and what topics that you can talk for an hour.

What topics that you can teach or share without cramping your head out and without referring to a notes or books, to know exactly that is your niche..

MISTAKES #3 TOO MUCH SELF-PRESSURE

I can’t deny that I have this perfectionist disease that attacks at random time. I just want the best out of the best.

So, if I were to start a blog and create a course, I want to create one that has best quality, best content and the one that will exceptionally help others make transformation.

Therefore, I force myself and put too much pressure looking for content, trying to create a full fledged course and because I try to teach something that I haven’t gotten any result yet, I plan to learn and memorize those lessons before I teach it to other which has costed me severe overwhelmed and burn out. Due to this, I have taken months off, detaching myself from the online business world. Major loss.. 

Pro Tips –

Never ever put too much pressure to yourself. Sometimes minimum viable is the best way to get started. Always create a plan first before start doing something for your business.. 

MISTAKES #4 THE BELIEVE SYSTEM AND THE QUALITIES

Wrong believe system is very dangerous.

I believe blogging would takes years to make money. I believe I only can earn income from my blog via advertising.  I BELIEVE I can create a course in one month without any skills and experiences.I believe I can launch a course and generate thousands dollar per month without any audience..

Let me tell you , these are a bad believe system..

Well just like other people said that everybody can be a course instructor.

(I repeat here : Not everybody can be a course creator and instructor within just a blink of an eye…). Teachers went to college to get a teaching degree for a reason. Text-books existed for a reason..

So you  definitely need an experience, skills, and the qualities to become a  course creator otherwise it will be a very difficult pathway for you..

In case you are wondering, the qualities needed are

• Experience
• Some Tech Knowledge
• Content and materials
• Teaching skills

Because of I had this false believe, it had stray me away from blogging properly. So I ended up not creating a blogpost for almost 1 year..

Pro Tips –

If you are not making daily sales or you are stuck at certain income level,pull out a paper and start assessing your believe system.. 

MISTAKES #5 NOT BEING VISIBLE

Because of the mistake that trying to create a course a little too early without nail down my niche and build an audience first , it makes me delay of being visible to the world.

For three years I was been invisible, and this is really sad, because I wasted three years of my time trying to do something that was not legit for me thus I kept pivoting every other months.

I try to create a course about something then pivot then decide not to.

Hence, everything left hanging and not completed,. I spend my money on a lot of resources that I feel were going to help me in creating a course and coaching programme but in the end, it just a waste..

So how can you be visible?

Answer : Blogging! Blog more ,  visible more.. or use social media. Personally I love Tiktok 😉 Tiktok has helped scale my business to 6 figure. 

MISTAKES #6 TRYING TO TEACH SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW YET

Imagine you want to start a cooking class when you never cook before.. That is how I’ve tried to blog and teach a course topic that I’m not even know of. I just have this believe that I can teach others when I read one chapter ahead of others.

Why I try to teach a topic that I don’t know about? It is because I know that topic is money-making topics , so I try to create a course on that topics (Shiny Object Syndrome). This is the biggest, biggest mistakes I ever did.

It is true that you can teach others when  you read one chapter ahead but it just not applicable on everything and to everyone , especially a beginner like me..

MISTAKES #7 NOT FOCUS ON MARKETING

Marketing is VITAL in any type of business.

Even though you have the greatest product or content in the world, you’re not able to sell it if you do not market it and nobody see it.

Learn marketing more for sake of your business.

Pro Tips –

Just focus on one marketing platform first to see a massive growth. Either Pinterest,Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook or Linked in, just pick 1-2 and really harness it for the first 3 months of your business. 

MISTAKE #8: NOT BUILDING AN AUDIENCE FIRST & not making impact for free.

Well , you would realized by now that building an audience is very important as a blogger or as a business owner.. 

You can build your audience through

-Blogging
-Email subscribers
-Facebook group
-Facebook fan page..
-Pinterest
-Instagram
-Twitter
-Linkedin
-Clubhouse

Generally I can conclude that my overall mistakes is not start be a serious blogger,create consistent content and build an audience first..

MISTAKE #9 NOT CREATING HELPFUL POST

Lastly, I have a blog before that I created and blogging since secondary school. That blog has 4k subscribers with a total of 1million+ pageviews. That is because back then, I was consistently drive traffic to my blog via blogwalking which means visit for visit.

I realize that even back then, I was not as successful as other top bloggers who had way more followers and way more blog views .

Why? that was because I was not creating a helpful content like guides, tips, checklists, and click-worthy content..

TURNING POINTS

Today during writing this post, was a huge turning point for me.  I feel frustrated to those people who introduce me to create my own course a little too early, instead of being visible first.,

I could just start be a blogger first..

I feel like if I start being a blogger 3 years back, I would have created more content in my blog, sharing beneficial contents and then start creating mini courses when I’ve gained more clarity of what my niche is and what ther people want from me..

Well in the span of three years, I barely be visible anywhere. I am not visible on Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and even blog, I just have Instagram account and Youtube channel that I no longer post content and barely make any income.

but thankfully,

While I was consuming those courses, I sustain my digital product shop on Etsy and that was where my most side income came in.

At least I achieve something..

I have my own Etsy shop where I sells digital products since late 2019 .I’ve created a small movement while consuming those courses,I create Canva templates and business toolkits.

I now able to earn $500 to $1,000 per month from those digital products.

CONCLUSION

The pins that I stumbled today has become an eye opening. View it here in case you haven’t -> https://pin.it/h4h7DSs

You should focus on being visible either  creating content on your blog first or on your Instagrams, YouTube, LinkedIn podcast, or everywhere.

Before you create a course,create content for free.

Yes, this is not the money making activities, but you need to do this first for a least 3 months to figure out what you really love about and what you can talk easily for an hour..

These are my biggest mistakes that I have made as a business owner and a newbie blogger. I hope you learn a lot from this post and can resonate with certain points.

Thankfully, even though I have made these mistakes over the span of a few years, I have created multiple digital products to sell on my website and on Etsy.. 

If you still haven’t figure out your passion that can turn into a profitable business, download this free workbook to nail down your passion and niche and develop your own empire.. 

Hey guys, I’m very excited to write today’s post, because I really wanted to share with you the truth of starting a blog.

Yes, it is true what other bloggers might say that it require less investment to start a blog, (i.e to tell other people that you have a blog) but to run, maintain, grow and scale your blog, you definitely require more investment and need to upgrade to more expensive plugins ,software or tools.

Nevertheless, I’m really excited to share this one with you guys and I am always being transparent with the investment that I made.

I believe there are some other investment that I made that I cannot recall of, so it might not be in this list because I’ve made that purchases months ago. However, I will continuosly update this list from time to time so it is updated. (last update in June 2021)

I really hope that this post will be beneficial for you as I would find this entire blogging cost will be very beneficial for me as a beginner.

I suggest for you to bookmark this blogpost  and  refer it whenever you think you want to scale your blog and need to upgrade any plugins or make an investment.

I hope you enjoyed this reading this blog post, and if you have any questions, do let me know in the comment section down below.

Before we dive in, make sure to download my Blogger’s Magical Guide to start making money through your blog..

[et_bloom_inline optin_id=optin_4]

SETUP A BLOG

Hosting and Domain

• • • For my domain name and hosting, I use NetKl. Particularly because I have nothing to complain but a compliment of their customer support. They replied to my query as fast as lightning. Plus their plans are super affordable for me..

1st year – $30 / RM100

2nd year – $40/ Rm200 (this is because I upgraded the capacity on the blog)

TOTAL : ~$70

BLOG THEME

I am an avid blog design theme and a designer at heart so I switch to tons of blog themes . I love switch theme because I am looking the perfect one for me as a blogger and business owner. I finally found one that I swear to stick for at least 2-3 years.

Here are some of themes that I remember purchasing but I can promise you I purchased a lot more

HelloYou Hello Coach $69

• • • Pros : Really good theme for service provider to showcase your skills and  service.
    • Cons : Takes time to actually install numerous wordpress plugins needed to make the theme looks like demo. It could take 4- 6 hours if not more to actually make the blog looks in place (that includes install plugins, create graphics, logos etc).. But I suggest for you to use their installation service. It will save you tons of time..

HelloYou Hello Team $68

• • • Pros : Perfect theme for Ecommerce website or shop owners. I use this theme now and I love it to bits.
    • Cons : Same like above, it does take time to setup.. I took 2 days to make the themes looks great and personalize it to my blog..

Little Theme from Etsy $45

• • • Pros : This theme is super cute and affordable. I just love it!
    • Cons : It has less features and that includes a shop features so I have to switch.. They also have a theme that E-commerce friendly but it is a little expensive..

Asthetic Blogging Theme from Etsy $30

• • • I have to buy these because it is so pretty , the price is so affordable too..
    • The fonts are really small to my liking to position myself as a professional blogger.

My own Business Theme $45

• • • Pros : This theme is perfect for coaches, course creators, virtual assistant and service providers.

It is also easy to install and edit . Drag and drop features.

• • • Cons : Need to setup manually for 5-6 pages and need more customization for e-commerce features if you are a shop owner like me..

Hire Fiver for blog theme : $35

• • • Biggest mistake! I didn’t even like the theme and it doesn’t suit my goals and personality..

TOTAL : ~$295

GRAPHICS

• • • Graphics plays a major role guys! One to create for Pinterest marketing, second to add graphic in the blog.

Canva Pro subscription : $15/ month or free

• • • I subscribe to Canva Pro on and off. Only when I find I need more icons, templates features that month.
    • Other months, I just use Canva basic which is free.

Haute Stock for stock photos : $97 / 3 monthly

• • • Haute Stock has tons of beautiful stock photos which includes flatlays, office photos. I love it but I didn’t continue to subscribe them because I did not have the budget yet..

Etsy Stock Photos : $35 / one time

• • • Great investment for 100 pretty flatlays. But the flatlays are basic and less choice.

TOTAL : ~$147

TOOLS

Tailwind : $89 / year

• • • I use Free plans for my first 2 months but then I realize that Tailwind a powerful schedule tools that I need to invest. This is a must for a beginner blogger..

Email Service Provider Free – $15-$30/month

• • • Mailerlite  : Free up to 1000 subscribers
    • $15/month: 1,001 – 2,500
    • $30/month: 2,501 – 5,000

Membervault  Free – $19/month

• • • Free plan is limited to 3 products only..

TOTAL : ~$123

PLUGINS

NotificationX for FOMO ~$35

MonsterInsight for Analytics ~$99

GPL for Woocommerce ~$25

Thrive Cart as Payment Gateway – $495

• • • Not yet purchased but it is in my top wishlist ?

TOTAL : ~$654

COURSES

• • • 1. Pintraction by Alessandra Caprice  ~$97
      2. Pinning Strategy by IncomingSuccess ~$20
      3. Pinterest Ebook by AnnaSheApproach ~$35

• Course24 $97

TOTAL : ~$249

TIME

Website and shop setup : ~$999

• • • I do this on my own and it takes time , effort and patience..
      

Graphic designer  : ~$999

• • • I do this on my own and it takes time , effort and patience..

This is the cost I estimated if I hire a freelancer which will save me tons of time and I can focus on what matters!

I didn’t because I am have basic design skill and I am tight in budget.

TOTAL : ~$1998

Gadget

Ipad Pro + Magic Keyboard – ~$999 /lifetime
Macbook Air – ~$1299 / lifetime
Internet – ~$20/month

TOTAL : ~$2318

Apps

Notions – free

One Note – free

Trello – free

Others

Trello Blogging Template from Kate Doster Trello Magic ~$35

Blog Topic Ideas from Etsy ~$10

TOTAL : ~$45

For those not down with the lingo yet, a ‘niche’ basically means a subject or a topic. This is the area of interest that your website is going to focus on and it’s what you’ll be writing about on a daily basis for your blog posts.

This might sound like an easy job – but picking your niche is actually something you should consider very carefully. Getting this right can make your life a lot easier, while choosing poorly can make it almost impossible to achieve the success you’re looking for.

Here we will look at some considerations that you need to bear in mind when picking your niche.

A Topic You Enjoy

Tip number one is to always choose a niche that you enjoy reading and writing about. Blogging is not a ‘small’ job by any stretch of the imagination. Remember when we said it would essentially need to become your full-time career if you wanted to be very successful? Well then you have to ask yourself – is this something you will be happy to write about on a regular basis?

Writing will also come a lot easier if you’re well-versed in the subject. You’ll need to do less research and at the same time, you’ll find it much easier to come up with new interesting topics that people who like the subject will be interested in. What’s more, your passion will come across in the content and people will be much more inclined to read more of what you have to say as a result.

Even if you plan on outsourcing your writing, knowing the niche you choose well will help you to feel excited about your site and to check over the accuracy and usefulness of the writing you’re receiving. Ultimately, choosing a niche just because some ‘guru’ says it’s a profitable one is a fast track to becoming bored and disillusioned and ultimately giving up.

Popularity

When picking your niche, you need to think about the competition out there and how easy it is going to be to stand out. Of course you want a subject that has a large potential audience, so why not pick something big like ‘fitness’ or ‘cars’?

Well, that’s a good idea on the face of it until you think about how many other bloggers are writing in those niches. Bodybuilding.com is one of the largest sites on the net and it generates a huge turnover – most of which is invested back into the site to ensure a steady flow of new topics. Question is: can you compete with that? Are you going to be able to compete with any of those sites to get to page one?

On the other hand, if you choose to blog about rearing stick insects, you’ll likely find that there’s a much smaller audience – but also far less competition.

The best case scenario then is to find a topic that is popular but that isn’t so popular that it’s going to attract lots of huge companies and top-name bloggers. Things like ‘foraging’, ‘knitting’, ‘writing’, ‘parkour’ are all big without attracting too much attention.

Broad vs Specific Topics

Another strategy is to start with a topic that has a broad appeal but then to narrow it down to something more specific. For instance if you like fitness, how about picking a certain area of fitness such as running or CrossFit?

Or alternatively, what about targeting a particular group? For instance ‘fitness for diabetics’. You can also try combining two different topics. A great example of this is the blog ‘Nerd Fitness’.

Another alternative strategy is to go very broad with your chosen niche which has the advantage of allowing you to come up with lots of new angles for content. If you do this though, you risk a lack of focus so you need to ensure that you keep everything tied together with a common thread. A great example of this is the ‘Art of Manliness’ blog. This blog writes about anything that could be considered ‘manly’ – so that includes editorials on the role of the modern man but also posts on how to smoke a cigar or enjoy whiskey and posts on how to raise children. This gives a huge broad range of topics for the writer while still having a very strong brand identity and focus.

Choosing a Profitable Market

Another consideration when picking your niche is whether or not it’s profitable. That’s right: some niches are far more profitable than others and you’ll find it easier to monetize depending on which one you pick.

Examples of highly profitable niches include finance and business. These are profitable because they offer ROI in themselves: someone will be happier to spend money on an eBook about earning money because in theory they’ll make that initial expense back.

Likewise, there is money to be made in any niche that has a big and obvious ‘value proposition’. A value proposition can be thought of like an emotional hook – it is the thing that people will want to buy your products or read your blog for and the ‘way’ that they hope their lives will benefit. Fitness is a great example because people badly want six pack abs and are willing to pay. The same goes for dating.

Monetizing that blog on raising stick insects on the other hand will be harder. There is simply not the same demand or ‘need’ for products here. That said though, the relative lack of competition in the area, combined with the relative scarcity of information means there are certainly ways to monetize.

Ultimately it’s worth just thinking hard whether or not your niche is going to be profitable or not and weighing this up when choosing whether to write about it. Look at your competition to see whether they look to be making much money, think about your business model and maybe even try verifying your intended business model. Verifying means trying to sell to your target audience first to see if they are actually there and if they are actually interested in buying your product.

Selecting The Right Blog Platform

Got your niche? Great! The next thing then is to think about actually setting up your new site and getting started with your content. To do this, you will need to choose a ‘blogging platform’ which effectively dictates how your site’s code will be structured and what you’ll see when you’re logging in and adding content.

Now of course, you don’t actually need a ‘blogging platform’ as such. You can go about building your own website from scratch which will involve creating pages in HTML and CSS, possibly using a builder like ‘Dreamweaver’ but if you do this it will take a lot longer and be much harder to create something that looks and performs like a professional website.

Instead then, you want to use a blogging platform/CMS. CMS stands for ‘Content Management System’ and is essentially a tool that simplifies the process of designing and building your website, as well as adding and editing content as needed.

Use a CMS and you won’t need to know a line of code in order to build the site, to add new posts and to edit your existing content. This of course saves a lot of time, it streamlines the process and it ensures that your site is at least functional.

Choosing Your CMS

So how do you choose a CMS?

The first thing to do is to recognize the difference between hosted and self- hosted options.

A hosted option is a blog platform that you use almost like a social network. In other words, you create your account and ‘sign in’ to another website and from there, you’ll then be able to add new posts for other users to see. In other words, the platform and so your website are already hosted somewhere online, meaning you don’t need to pay for a hosting account to get started.

Good examples of hosted blogging platforms include BlogSpot (www.blogspot.com), LiveJournal (www.livejournal.com), WordPress Hosted (www.wordpress.com), WordPress Self-Hosted (www.wordpress.org) and Tumblr (www.tumblr.com). Each of them has strengths and weaknesses, though they all do essentially the same thing. Tumblr here is really the odd one out as it straddles the line between blogging platform and social media platform – and as it mainly focuses on images that you upload as opposed to written content.

The great thing about this is that it’s a completely free process and requires absolutely no set-up. You simply visit the blogging platform, be that BlogSpot or WordPress, sign in and then start posting! You can make changes to your blog in terms of the way it looks but you’ll be quite limited in terms of what you can do. Likewise, you’ll also be limited in terms of your URL – meaning that you won’t be able to call your website ‘BodybuildingNewsArticles.com’ – instead your blog will have to be ‘wordpress.bodybuildingnewsarticles.com’ or ‘blogspot.bodybuildingnewsarticles.com’. This of course looks far less professional and it also means your URL is going to be far less catchy and brandable. People will likely not remember your URL and type it back into the address bar – they’ll have to search on Google. And that said, even searching on Google will be harder seeing as it’s not as easy to get hosted websites to ‘rank’.

For all these reasons you’re much better off with a self-hosted CMS. This means you’ll need to pay for the hosting space too as well as a domain name. In all, this will likely set you back $100-$500 for the year but if you monetize well you should be able to make that make even in year one. If you plan on becoming a professional blogger, this is really a mandatory expense.

When it comes to hosted blogging platform options, you have a few popular options. These include:

• WordPress (yes, WordPress is both)
• Joomla
• Drupal WordPress is available as both a hosted and a self-hosted CMS option. If you go for the hosted option, you will simply need to visit WordPress.com and start an account. If you want to go for a self-hosted choice, you’ll instead want

to download the install files from WordPress.com, then upload them to your server. You then navigate to one of the files in your browser and the set-up process begins.

Which self-hosted platform should you use? The answer is WordPress by a long shot. The reason for this is partly that WordPress is simply the most popular blogging platform. In turn, this means it also has the widest support. That means that you’ll be able to find plenty of developers to work with who are well-versed in the platform and it means you’ll be able to easily find additional plugins and themes to install to take your site to the next level. We’ll look at what themes and plugins are in a moment but for now all you need to know is that they significantly increase the capabilities of your website and are often free to use.

The fact that WordPress began life as a blogging platform also gives it another big advantage. That is that it is highly user friendly and compared with Joomla or Drupal, the control panel is much more accessible and easy to use.

But most of all, you should use WordPress because everyone else does… That might sound like a somewhat lame reason but think about it: most of the most successful bloggers on the net use WordPress. Countless people before you have shown that a WordPress website can be incredibly successful… so why then would you use anything else that is much more of an unknown quantity? Why would you take your chances with a more complicated platform? We know that WordPress can be optimized for search engines, we know it can be very well optimized… if you’re serious about making money then it’s the logical choice. And the websites created with it look great.

Choosing a Name and URL

As you’re going with a self-hosted option for your blog, you’ll now need to choose a URL. This is the address that people will type in their search bar in order to find your website and as such it will probably also act as the title of your website and the brand you’re going with.

Choosing your name is another very important step here and there are two big factors to consider when making this decision:

• SEO
• Branding SEO is search engine optimization – in other words, tweaking your website to ensure that it will likely to rank highly on Google and to show up in searches. Your URL affects your SEO because some URLs are much more ‘searchable’ than others and this will give you an edge over the competition. In other words, if you wanted to rank highly for our earlier example – bodybuilding news articles – then having an address like bodybuildingnewsarticles.com or bodybuilding-news-articles.com would be a great advantage. This won’t guarantee you’ll rank highly mind and those who have done more work at their SEO could still beat you in other ways – it’s just a good head-start and advantage. In terms of branding, you want to choose a URL that is the same as, or similar to, the name of your website. So a business called ‘Spination’ would do very well to get ‘Spination.com’. Again, this isn’t a requirement but it will make several things easier – not to mention promoting your site and making it more memorable.

If you don’t have a site name yet, then this is a good time to think about it. Aim for something that’s unique and interesting, catchy and at the same time descriptive. In a perfect scenario your URL will tell people what your site is about without just being a boring description. So in reality, ‘bodybuildingnewsarticles.com’ is a dull URL that’s not great for branding. Much better would be something like BroNews, BBNews or MuscleTalk. This is easier for creating logos, for making an impression and more but it still will give you some SEO benefit and won’t be too obtuse.

As for your ‘TLD’ or ‘Top Level Domain’ (the ‘com’ or ‘co.uk’ part), it’s still always preferable to aim for the ‘.com’ if you can. An exception to this is if you’re running a local blog in which case a regional TLD is better. In most cases though, ‘.com’ is the easiest to remember and thus the simplest to promote.

As well as posting content as blog posts, a WordPress site also lets you add pages. These will be static points of interest on your site that people will be able to view regularly whenever they’re interested in them.

This blogpost will serve as a useful reference for adding pages to your blog…

About Page

An About Page is a page where you tell people about your blog. This is an excellent opportunity to explain your mission statement and to help new visitors make sense of everything they see on the home page. If you have lots of content, this can help you to tie a little bow around it all and to get people excited for your future output. You can also use this to weed out your ‘non audience’. In other words, to really hone in on your specific target demographic.

Contact Page

For gaining fans and for building new contacts and networking opportunities, a contact page is an absolute must. Leave this out and you might miss out on some serious opportunities!

A good way to let people get in contact without opening yourself up for abuse is to use ‘Contact Form 7’ (https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/).

This is a plugin that adds a form to your contact page and helps protect you from spam.

Services

This is another great way to monetize your site! Why not turn some of that expertise into a service you can charge top dollar for?

Products

This is where you will promote your own products or your affiliate products. Some bloggers will call this page something like their ‘essential gear’ or their ‘survival kit’ and for real fans it’s a great place for people to gain some of your magic for themselves.

Recommendations/Resources

This is similar to the above but will work more purely for affiliate links. What products can you unreservedly recommend?

Here is a screenshot of a blog using a ‘Resources’ page:

‘Start Here’

The only downside with the blog format for websites is that it can be hard to find older, legacy posts and content. A good way around this is to have a handy ‘Start Here’ page that can act as a ‘jumping on point’ for your new visitors and show off the highlights of your site.