Decided that you aspire to start a wedding blog of your own and wish for it to get popular and get you noticed? First, you must be aware of what you ought to do when it comes to setting up a wedding blog and further marketing it to your target audience for its success.
Of course, setting up a wedding blog can be pretty fun, primarily if weddings are something that you are passionate about. But, you should ensure that the final product is professional-looking. So, here are some practical tips that can help you start a wedding blog of your own.
Step 1 – Find your niche
To start a wedding blog, you must focus on any one particular aspect of the wedding. It can help you fetch an audience mainly interested in that niche or topic. More so, it gives your blog a definite purpose.
So, how do you decide the niche for your blog? Imagine weddings, and think of the part that most interests you. Do you love the locations, or the flowers, or the dresses? When you pick a topic or genre that is interesting, you will enjoy your work more, love the thrill of producing more content around it.
Further, besides the things that you love, you can also include a topic that people would love to read about. See, the fact of the matter is, your content will not receive optimum engagement if it is not on a topic that users usually search.
Step 2 – Pick the best blogging platform
‘When creating a wedding blog, the choice of blogging platform can be quite tricky. Unfortunately, so many people end up making mistakes when it comes to the selection of the blogging platform,’ comments Jessica, an online developer and an expert who provide pay for programming homework service.
So, which platform should you select? See, the most simple and straightforward option is WordPress.org. Why? It is one of the most prevalent platforms in the world and can be availed for free. Approximately one-third of all the websites on the internet run on WordPress.
Step 3 – Pick a domain name
After all, this is done, you need to start brainstorming on the name for the blog.
‘It is best advised to opt for a brandable name. It is what the users will type to reach your website. The domain is your website’s address, and as you may know, so many addresses are already taken. So, not everything that you decide on will be available.
So, use a tool wherein you can check if your desired domain name is available. If the name is available, scoop it up instantly before someone else gets hold of it,’ comments Jane, an expert who provide English homework help.
Step 4 – Get a web hosting.
Web-hosting is wherein your website is live. It is your website’s home on the internet. All the files related to the website are stored on the hosting platform. All websites need hosting, and without it, you cannot get your blog live.
Step 5- Install WordPress
Once you have decided on the hosting company and paid for the membership fee, you can now install WordPress.
Step 6 – Decide the theme
After WordPress has been installed, you will notice that your website looks pretty basic. It is because you have not yet installed any theme or a plugin to beautify its appearance. You can find an umpteen number of themes to pick from, some are free, and a few are paid too. Naturally, the premium ones will have more advanced features.
When deciding the website’s theme, always pick one that is not complicated and has a clean design. If the blog does not look visually appealing, nobody will take an effort to read through your content, regardless of how good it may.
Step 7 – Install necessary plugins
Plugins are one of the best ways to make your WordPress blog powerful. These help your website perform more efficiently and effectively. A plugin is like an extra application, which adds more features to your website. If you install the right plugins, you can get access to the best features available.
On WordPress, there are more than 54000 plugins available for you to pick from. These plugins can help you get more leads, boost traffic, create contact forms, and do a lot more. Certain plugins run in the background, optimize your blog, optimize the images, boost speed, etc.
On the other hand, the other plugins can be accessed via the admin dashboard and aid you in customizing and editing the blog content.
Some plugins that you can include are:
- Yoast SEO
- Updraft Plus
- Jetpack
- WP Fastest Cache
- Grid shortcodes
- Feed them social
- WordFence or Akismet Anti-Spam
- Autoptimize
- Shareaholic
- Heater Social Comments
- EWWW Image Optimizer
- SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle
Step 8 – Configure some basic settings.
Before you get to the writing part, it is vital to ensure that everything in your blog is properly configured.
- Set the permalink structure
By default, when you start your blog, the links on the pages appear like http://www.example.com/?p=233.
Hence, it would be best if you began by changing the permalinks. Why?
- With customized permalinks, it gets easier for google to comprehend your blog’s intent.
- It appears more reader-friendly.
- Make your blog public
If you want traffic on your website, your blog has to be public. Therefore, the blog you have created should be visible on the search engine. It makes it easier for it to rank.
- Disable pingbacks
Pingbacks will alert you when some other bloggers link to you. In all honesty, this is not very helpful. As a matter of fact, it opens your blog to spammers. Consequently, it appears unprofessional. Thus, it is recommended to disable them.
Now, all your settings are in place. Now, you can move to the substance or the core of your blog.
Step 9 – Build the core pages and the main menu
Now, we will take you through some of the pivotal pages that should be on your wedding blog before you actually get to the main work of writing your first blog.
On WordPress, you have two content types – pages and posts. The former is the umbrella head that has several posts within it.
So, when you start your wedding, you will first create three pages:
- About page
On this page, you have to introduce your blog. The about page should have everything that your blog covers and what readers can expect from your blog. In it, you can include the links of all your social media profiles to enable the readers to keep in touch with you.
- Contact page
At times, your readers may have some concerns with you. So, if you want your readers to reach you in case of any problem, you should have a contact page. With WPForms, you can conveniently create your contact page in less than five minutes.
- Privacy policy page
On the privacy policy page, you need to give your readers an assurance that whatever information you extract from them stays safe with you, and you do not share this information with any third party. This assurance is vital because your readers will feel confident in sharing their name, phone number, address, or any other details, as and when required.
Step 10 – Create the main menu
After your pages have been created, you have to add them to the main menu. Firstly, decide on the name of your menu. For instance, something as simple as the Main menu works just fine. Now, you can add your created pages to this menu and save them.
Further, you can even decide where you want this menu to appear. Of course, the location also depends on your website’s theme, but primarily there are three locations, such as the header menu area, main menu area, and the primary menu area.
With that’ setting done, your wedding blog is ready.
Step 11 – Understand your audience
Before you get to writing your blogs, you need to know who you are writing for. When you know who will read your blog, it gets easier for you to produce the right kind of content, shape it, and finally grow your following. When you understand your niche, it becomes easier for you to understand your audience too.
Also, finding your target audience, that is, the people who will engage with your blog is not merely about demographics and statistics. Instead, it demands a deeper understanding of who the audience, and what they seek. Â
So, are you writing your wedding blog for college graduates who decide to tie a knot, or are you writing for older couples who have been married once but wish to make their second one last? Bottom line, irrespective of who your audience is, it is vital to be fully aware of them, as only then will you be able to produce the content they like.
Step 12 – Start writing the content.
Now, you can get to the main content part.
‘When you write content for your blog, you have to publish evergreen content because only this will last years. These articles have a long shelf-life and draw more readers over time. Such articles are majorly text-based, long-form articles that delve deeper into the topic,’ comments Zoe, an expert with EduWorldUSA who provide do my book report service.
You know the approaches and styles may shift over time, but certain things remain consistent. For instance, a bride will always have to pick a dress for her wedding.
So, some of the topics for the wedding blog should be about dress selection, the color coordination between the bride and groom, the dress codes for the attendees, and the places where they can find the dresses. This is evergreen content, something that bride and groom will always need, regardless of the evolution in the wedding world.
In addition to the text-based content, you can even produce some content in video form. For this, you can use platforms, such as TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, and embed the content on your blog.
Many bloggers believe that video-based content is relatively more challenging than text-based content, but all the technology to create video-based content is right on your smartphone.
Further, you can also include some news-type articles. These are short and powerful. It can be an excellent way to attract new readers. In these, you can write about the recent events or new events. However, do not overdo them because they are not evergreen and will faze out soon.
Step 13 – Be disciplined.
There is something that your readers must be aware of, and that is, when will you publish new content. Of course, professional bloggers recommend daily content posting to have a lot of content too soon and increase your probability of being noticed.
However, if you find it hard to produce new content every day, you can have a writing schedule that can easily fit your current schedule. However, do not keep the gap longer than once a week. Regardless of the schedule you choose, be disciplined, and ensure that the readers know when they can expect a new post from you.
Step 14 – Boost your online visibility
As you are new in the business, people won’t automatically find about you and start visiting your blog. Instead, it would help if you took conscious measures to boost the visibility of your website. This increases your chances of being found by people who will love reading your content.
For example, you can share your blogs on your personal and business social media platform, use ads, and ensure that your website has a strong on-page and off-page SEO.
Step 15 – Network with other wedding blogs
Lastly, to boost awareness about your blog, you need to network and collaborate with other wedding bloggers. After you have built a small but consistent following on your page, the bloggers will not shy away from collaborating with you. This cross-promotion can be an excellent way to boost your online visibility and will open your blog to a newer audience. So, you can either make videos together or do guest posting for one another’s blogs.
So, these are 15 easy steps that can help you start a blog. We have included steps from the base to finally having your blog live and running. So, go ahead, follow these steps, and you can live your dream of being a wedding blogger. Have something to add to this? Do let us know in the comments below.
