If you're thinking about starting a blog, you've probably already read plenty of articles telling you how to choose a domain name, set up WordPress, pick a theme and publish your first post. And don't get me wrong, all of that is incredibly useful. But after more than 12 years of blogging, I've realised there are quite a few things I wish somebody had told me before I started a blog. Because when I first started blogging, I genuinely thought it was about writing things I enjoyed and putting them online.
How hard could it be?... Quite hard, it turns out!
Over the years, blogging has changed massively. I've learnt about SEO, social media, photography, analytics, pitching, working with brands, updating old content, building traffic and, perhaps most importantly, being willing to constantly learn something new. So if you're thinking about starting a blog, here are 15 things I think are worth knowing before you publish that first post.
And if you're looking for the practical side of actually setting one up, I've also written a guide to how to start a blog, which is a good place to start.
15 Things I Wish I'd Known Before Starting a Blog
1. Blogging is so much more than writing
This is probably the biggest misconception about blogging. Yes, writing is a substantial part of it. But once you have your own website, there's suddenly a whole list of other jobs that come along with it.
You might find yourself doing keyword research, taking and editing photographs, creating graphics, adding internal links, checking Google Search Console, updating old posts, sharing content on social media, replying to emails, pitching to brands and wondering why your latest post isn't getting the traffic you expected. And that's before you've even written tomorrow's article.
I've written before about the different blogging tools I use, and even something as seemingly simple as running a blog can involve learning about SEO plugins, keyword research, image optimisation and analytics. The writing is often just one part of the job.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it's one of the things I love about blogging because there is always something new to learn. But if you're starting a blog thinking you'll spend an hour writing posts with a cup of coffee and then put your feet up, you might be in for a surprise.
2. You probably won't make money straight away
If you're starting a blog because you'd eventually like to make money from it, that's absolutely possible. But I'd try not to go into it expecting an income immediately.
There are lots of different ways bloggers can make money once they've established themselves, including sponsored content, affiliate marketing, advertising, freelance writing, digital products and offering services.
The important word there is once!
You generally need to build up your website, audience, content and credibility first. Brands aren't necessarily going to appear in your inbox the day after you publish your first blog post.
My own blog eventually became my full-time job, but that wasn't how it started. In fact, when I first began blogging, I had no idea it could become a career at all. I actually wrote about making the leap into freelance blogging, after years of building up my website and knowledge around blogging, marketing and SEO.
So if making money is your ultimate goal, think of your blog as something you're building rather than something that needs to pay you immediately.
3. Your first blog posts probably won't get much traffic
This one can be a little frustrating when you're starting out. You can spend hours writing a post, take some lovely photographs, choose a title you're really pleased with, press publish and then... Nothing! Absolutely nothing!
A handful of views. Maybe your mum reads it. Maybe your friend clicks on it. And that's about it. It doesn't necessarily mean your content is bad. New blogs need time to build up content, authority and visibility. Search engines need to discover and understand your website, and you're competing with lots of other websites for people's attention.
One of the biggest lessons I've learnt is that you shouldn't judge your entire blog by what happens in the first few months.
Some of my own articles have continued bringing in traffic long after I originally published them. That's one of the brilliant things about creating evergreen content: a useful article can continue working for you long after you've moved on to something else.
4. SEO is worth learning, even if you're not an SEO expert
I wish I'd understood SEO properly when I first started blogging. I really do! SEO can sound incredibly technical, but you don't need to become an SEO specialist before you start a blog. You just need to understand the basics.
Things like:
- What are people actually searching for?
- What questions are they asking?
- Are your headings clear?
- What keywords are relevant to your content?
- Are you answering the searcher's question properly?
- Are you linking to other useful articles on your website?
- Can Google understand what your page is about?
When I first started, I didn't really think about any of this. I just wrote because I liked writing. Now SEO is a huge part of how I approach my content.
And that doesn't mean writing articles that sound like they've been written for a search engine. Quite the opposite. The best SEO content, in my opinion, is content that answers what somebody is looking for while still sounding like a real person wrote it. I like my blog and tone of voice to sound like I'm talking to a friend in person.
5. You'll spend a surprising amount of time updating old posts
This is something nobody really tells you when you start a blog. And it's something I dismissed for quite a long time.
You might imagine your blogging routine looking like this: Write → publish → move on to the next post.
In reality, mine looks much more like: Write → publish → monitor → update → improve → add links → change photos → update information → repeat.
Some of the most useful work you can do on an established blog is go back to content you've already published. Perhaps a post is ranking on page two of Google and could be improved. Maybe some of the information is out of date. Perhaps you've since written three other articles that would make useful internal links. Or maybe a post that you've completely forgotten about has suddenly started getting lots of traffic.
I've learnt not to assume that a blog post's life ends when you press publish. Sometimes that's when the most interesting bit starts.
6. Google can change your traffic overnight
This is probably one of the less glamorous (and more humbling) realities of blogging. You can work incredibly hard on your website, watch your organic traffic grow and feel like you've finally cracked it. Then something changes. Your rankings move. A competitor publishes a stronger article. Search results change. Google changes how it displays information. Your traffic drops. And sometimes the opposite happens.
Equally, an old post you've barely thought about suddenly might start ranking and brings in hundreds of visitors. That's why I think it's important not to put all your eggs in one basket.
Google can be an amazing source of traffic, but so can social media, Pinterest, email marketing and people finding your content through other websites.
I've written previously about reaching new readers without relying entirely on social media too, because the way people discover blog content has changed considerably over the years. The lesson is simply that blogging involves a certain amount of uncertainty. You have to be prepared to adapt.
7. Don't rely on one platform to bring people to your blog
This is closely linked to the previous point. When I first started blogging, social media was a huge part of getting your content in front of people, especially Twtiter. You could share a new post and hope your followers would instantly click through.
It's still useful of course, but social media algorithms are constantly changing. The platform that works brilliantly for you this year might not be the platform you spend most of your time on in a couple of years. That's why I love the fact that your blog is something you actually own. Your website isn't dependent on Instagram deciding to show your post to your followers.
Search traffic, email subscribers, Pinterest, direct traffic and links from other websites can all help people discover your content. You don't need to be everywhere. But I would definitely think about how you can build an audience that isn't entirely dependent on one social platform.
8. You don't need to know exactly what your blog will become
If you're putting off starting a blog because you don't know exactly what your niche is going to be, I would say this: You don't need to have it all figured out. Your interests will change, your circumstances will change, your audience will change. And your blog can change with you.
When I look at Claire Mac now, it's a mixture of lifestyle, interiors, travel, business and everything in between. That's reflected in the way the site is structured today. It certainly wasn't necessary for me to know all of that when I started.
If I'd tried to create the “perfect” version of my blog on day one, I probably would have spent far too much time worrying about what it should look like rather than actually blogging.
Start somewhere. You can refine things as you go.
9. Your niche can change, but your audience still matters
There's a difference between allowing your blog to evolve and completely changing direction every five minutes. As your blog grows, you'll start to understand what your readers enjoy. You might discover that a particular type of article consistently gets more traffic.
Perhaps your readers love your travel guides. Or your parenting posts. Or your reviews. You don't have to write about that topic forever, but that information is certainly useful.
Your analytics can tell you things you wouldn't necessarily expect too. One of my favourite things about blogging is that you can have an idea you think is brilliant, spend ages creating it and then discover that your audience isn't particularly interested. Meanwhile, something you nearly didn't bother writing can become one of your biggest traffic drivers. Either way it's useful.
10. You'll become much more techy than you expect
When I started blogging, I certainly didn't expect that I'd end up spending quite so much time thinking about websites, SEO, analytics and technical things. But here we are.
Blogging can teach you an enormous range of skills, including:
- WordPress
- website management
- SEO
- Google Search Console
- analytics
- image optimisation
- basic HTML
- keyword research
- social media
- email marketing
- affiliate links
- content creation
You don't need to know any of these things before starting. I've learnt most of them because I've needed to. And that's something I'd tell anyone thinking about starting a blog: you don't have to know everything before you begin. Google is your friend. Other bloggers are your friends. And there are an enormous number of tutorials, guides and resources available when you get stuck.
11. Consistency matters, but you don't need to publish every day
There's a lot of blogging advice out there that makes you feel like you need to be publishing constantly. You don't. Consistency is useful, but consistency doesn't necessarily mean publishing five new articles every week.
You need a schedule that you can actually maintain. If that's one post a week, brilliant. If you can manage three, great. And if you're spending time updating an old article rather than publishing something completely new, that can be valuable too.
The biggest mistake would be creating an unrealistic blogging schedule, keeping it up for three weeks and then burning yourself out. I'd much rather see a blogger consistently publishing one genuinely useful article a week than frantically churning out five posts that they don't have the time or energy to properly research, write and promote.
12. Some of your best-performing posts won't be the ones you're most proud of
This is one of those slightly annoying blogging truths. The article you've spent three days writing isn't necessarily going to become your biggest traffic driver. Sometimes a relatively simple post answers exactly what somebody is searching for, and suddenly it takes off. I've experienced this myself with older content that continues to bring people to Claire Mac through Google.
That's why I think there's value in separating the content you enjoy creating from the content your audience is actively searching for. Ideally, you want a mixture of both.
Your blog should still sound like you. But there's nothing wrong with looking at what people are searching for and creating content that genuinely helps them. That's not selling out. That's understanding your audience.
13. You'll need to get comfortable with numbers
Don't panic. I'm not suggesting you need to become a maths genius. But if you want your blog to grow, it's worth becoming comfortable with looking at the numbers.
Things like:
- How many people are visiting your posts?
- Where are they coming from?
- Which articles are bringing in organic traffic?
- What keywords are you ranking for?
- Which posts are getting impressions but not clicks?
- What pages are growing?
- Which articles need updating?
Google Search Console has become one of the tools I regularly use to understand how my content is performing, alongside other SEO tools. And I don't look at those numbers because I want to know whether I'm a “good” or “bad” blogger. I look because they give me information.
If an article is performing well, I can ask why. If it's almost ranking on page one, perhaps I can improve it. If something isn't getting traffic at all, perhaps I need to rethink it.
The numbers are there to help you decide what to do next.
14. Blogging can be surprisingly lonely
This is the one nobody puts on the “reasons you should start a blog” list. When you work for yourself, particularly from home, there can be a lot of time spent sitting at a laptop by yourself. There isn't necessarily a colleague next to you saying, “That article was really good.” And there isn't always somebody checking that you've done your work.
You have to motivate yourself. You have to make the decisions. And sometimes you have to keep going when something you've worked really hard on doesn't perform the way you hoped.
I've experienced plenty of highs and lows over the years, particularly since turning blogging into my career. But the flip side is that you get to build something that's genuinely yours. And there is something pretty awesome about that.
15. Your blog can become something much bigger than you imagined
This is probably the biggest thing I'd tell anybody thinking about starting a blog. You don't have to know where it's going.
When I started blogging, I couldn't have predicted that more than a decade later I'd still be doing it, that it would become my full-time job, or that it would lead to brand collaborations, freelance opportunities and skills that I use every single day.
Your blog might remain a hobby. It might become a side hustle. It might become your full-time business. Or maybe it leads to freelance writing work, collaborations or something else entirely. Or it might simply become a place on the internet that belongs to you.
You don't need to decide all of that before you start. You just need to start.
Frequently Asked Questions About Starting a Blog
1. Is starting a blog still worth it?
I think it can be, particularly if you have a genuine reason for wanting to start one. Blogging has changed considerably over the years and it isn't necessarily the quick route to fame or fortune that some people imagine. But a useful, well-maintained blog can build an audience, bring organic search traffic, create opportunities and eventually become a source of income. The important thing is to go into it with realistic expectations.
2. How long does it take for a new blog to get traffic?
How long is a piece of string? A new blog needs time to build content and authority, and how quickly it attracts traffic will depend on things such as the topics you're writing about, how competitive they are, your SEO strategy and how you promote your content. I wouldn't expect a brand new blog to suddenly receive thousands of visitors overnight. It's something you're building over time.
3. How often should you publish blog posts?
There isn't a magic number. One well-researched and genuinely useful article every week is better than publishing several rushed posts simply because you think you have to.
4. Can you make money from blogging?
Yes, bloggers can make money in a number of different ways. These can include sponsored posts, affiliate marketing, advertising, freelance writing, digital products and services. However, it usually takes time to build enough content, traffic and trust for these income streams to become worthwhile.
5. Do you need to know SEO before starting a blog?
No. You can absolutely start learning SEO after you launch your blog. I actually think one of the great things about blogging is that you can learn as you go. That said, if you know from the beginning that you want your blog to attract traffic from Google, learning the basics of SEO early will save you a lot of time later.
6. Do you need a niche to start a blog?
Not necessarily. Having a clear focus can make it easier for readers to understand what your blog is about, but your blog can also evolve over time. Your interests will change, and that's okay. The important thing is to create content that is useful, interesting or entertaining to the people you want to attract.
Final Thoughts
If you're thinking about starting a blog, my biggest piece of advice is not to wait until you know everything. You won't! I've been blogging for more than 12 years and I'm still learning. SEO changes. Social media changes. Google changes. The way people consume content changes. And that's actually part of what makes blogging so interesting.
Don't worry about having the perfect website. Learn as you go, create things you're proud of, pay attention to what your readers are looking for and give yourself time to grow.
And if you're ready to move from “I want to start a blog” to actually doing it, my step-by-step guide to starting a blog is a good place to go next.
