Do you love reading? Do you love talking about books or reviewing them?! Have you been contemplating starting your own blog? Then you've come to the right place!!
When I started blogging back in 2013, I had no clue what the hell I was doing. I was nervous because I kept thinking "who would even read my posts?" If you feel like that then the first step is to think positive because we all had to start somewhere. We all eventually grew our blogs. Everyone will all experience something different. And I think it really just depends on how active you are with your blog and how much you expose and promote it to the world.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
Who is going to be my audience? Young Readers? Adults? Or both?
Am I only going to be blogging about books?
What platform will I use to start my blog?
Am I going to post every single day?
What's my blog going to be called?
Obviously, you don't have to just blog about books. It can be anything you want really. Remember this is going to be your blog and you have the liberty to make it into what you want. For example, I started off just blogging about books and now I'm sort of starting to post about my other random things.
or
?
The two most popular platforms people use are Blogger and Wordpress. Blogger is free while Wordpress is not. I think Wordpress offers a free version but I think it's very limited on what you can do with it such as the design. And there would be ads on your site. The version where you would have to pay and be ad-free is the self-hosted one.
The first thing you need to come up with is the name of your blog. It doesn't even have to be related to books. My blog's first name was Watcha Reading and I didn't like it so I recently changed it to A Reader Under The Sea. That's why you need to choose wisely as I don't think it's smart to change it after people already know you by your other name.
And be careful about choosing your name because you don't want to pick a name that's already been taken. Do a search on Google and see if it's already been taken or not. And be sure that the name and link are the same!! It doesn't make sense that they would be different because people will have a hard time looking for your blog.
Believe it or not, I was guilty of having all of these. They can be fun but they may distract your readers from what they are reading. And if you are going to have a countdown widget, I suggest keeping it to a minimum of one or two.
The Platform
or
?The two most popular platforms people use are Blogger and Wordpress. Blogger is free while Wordpress is not. I think Wordpress offers a free version but I think it's very limited on what you can do with it such as the design. And there would be ads on your site. The version where you would have to pay and be ad-free is the self-hosted one.
But if you're leaning towards WP, I'd recommend using Blogger first because you don't even know how long you will be blogging for; I've heard people say that WP is a bit complicated for new people and Blogger is pretty easy to navigate.
Blogging may not work out for you or you'll decide not to blog anymore. But if it does, there is a thing where you can migrate from Blogger to Wordpress so that you don't lose all your work you've done.
I think it's smart to wait for at least one year. And if you're still blogging, then you can consider using Wordpress. But, of course, this only my advice and it's really up to you. I've been blogging for almost two years now and I've been happy with Blogger so far.
Blogging may not work out for you or you'll decide not to blog anymore. But if it does, there is a thing where you can migrate from Blogger to Wordpress so that you don't lose all your work you've done.
I think it's smart to wait for at least one year. And if you're still blogging, then you can consider using Wordpress. But, of course, this only my advice and it's really up to you. I've been blogging for almost two years now and I've been happy with Blogger so far.
The Blog Name
And be careful about choosing your name because you don't want to pick a name that's already been taken. Do a search on Google and see if it's already been taken or not. And be sure that the name and link are the same!! It doesn't make sense that they would be different because people will have a hard time looking for your blog.
The Blog Design
When it came to the look of my blog when I first started, it was a complete mess. My header was just horrible. I didn't know anything about graphics or coding. And I was alone so I had no one to turn to for help. But I promise that the more you move along, you will get better.
Blogger offers so many backgrounds and you can mess around with it to make it like your own. The design doesn't have to be fancy. Just try to make it eye-catching because it could be a key factor to whether people will decide to come back or not.
Blogger offers so many backgrounds and you can mess around with it to make it like your own. The design doesn't have to be fancy. Just try to make it eye-catching because it could be a key factor to whether people will decide to come back or not.
1. Choose a color palette and stick to it! And don't have too many colors.
2. Stay away from overly bright colors like yellow (Maybe a dark yellow is okay).
3. Dark backgrounds and light text are straining to the eye.
4. Don't pick fonts that are hard to read.
Here are some examples of good color palettes:
Designers
I just want you to know that the first two designers on the list offer free backgrounds and lots of other things that I used to go to when I first started. And if you do want to invest in your blog, these designers aren't so expensive or they offer a cheap design package.
Your Sidebar(s)
I originally used to have two sidebars but I had decided that it made my blog look like a mess. And it looked less cluttered with only one.
But I do recommend that you don't include many unnecessary graphics. You've probably seen lots of those graphics where people have their favorite series or favorite teams they are on where they move up or down or sideways. I just recently got rid of it because I realized that it was bit distracting and it was just taking up room.
The Essentials
1. Have links to your social medias like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, etc.
2. Follow options for your blog like Google Friend Connect, Bloglovin' or email.
3. Have your blog's archive.
4. Your Blog's Pageviews.
5. A search button.
I always think having your archive at the top in your sidebar is important. That's just my opinion. I've always gone to some blogs and have been annoyed because they would have it at the bottom or they didn't have one. And I'm just there, trying to find an old post of theirs.
Also if you decide to use Blogger as your platform, you should use the Pageviews widget because it helps publishers see where your blog stands with how many readers visit your blog. Thought that's only if you are going to request advance reading copies for review.
What Not To Have:
1. Don't have too many graphics.
2. No moving graphics.
3. Don't have too many follow options.
4. Don't have a lot of countdown widgets.
Believe it or not, I was guilty of having all of these. They can be fun but they may distract your readers from what they are reading. And if you are going to have a countdown widget, I suggest keeping it to a minimum of one or two.
Page-Tab Essentials
- About Me: It would be nice for your readers to know who is running and posting on the blog. And just have fun with it. You can add a picture if you want to. You don't have to if you don't like having your picture in social medias.
- Policies: I think it's important to jot down rules you have for your readers/authors. If you host giveaways, you might want to say whether it's only US or INT. And maybe you don't accept indie author review requests. Simple things like that can go in this page.
- Contact: You can leave your email for your readers if they have questions. Or for authors who might want to work with you. And you can also leave links to your social media sites here as well.
- Review Archive: You can have all the reviews you've ever written so that readers can find them easily. I don't think this is really important unless you're requesting arcs because this could be like your portfolio and publishers can see how you do your reviews.
What Turns People Away From Blogs
I decided that it would be a good idea if I actually asked people what they don't like seeing in a blog. These are some of the responses I got from Twitter:
@Watcha_Reading Dark background with white text, contrasting colors, sound effects
— Alexia (@alexiareads) July 12, 2015
@Watcha_Reading When they only care about followers and never answer the comments or interact with people.
— Clintasha Maximoff ➰ (@Queen_Malec) July 12, 2015
@Watcha_Reading If they have laggy sidebar things (or a ton of countdown widgets, ugh), or sound effects, or general clutter!
— Alyssa Susanna (@Alyssa_Susanna) July 12, 2015
@Watcha_Reading @jdetrapani if their reviews are just a paraphrased synopsis with no actual thought about the book.
— Jaime Arnold (@arnoldjaime13) July 12, 2015
What did you guys think? I hope you all found this to be very helpful!
