The document provides guidance on starting a blog to build a business. It recommends self-hosting using WordPress for full control. Blogging allows one to share ideas, help others, and build an audience. Key aspects to consider include choosing a blog name and platform, defining the target audience and content, using SEO and social media to promote posts. Regular posting is important to engage the audience and show expertise on topics. Blogging should be enjoyable while demonstrating personality to attract readers.

1. Blogging Basics
Blogging & The Rest - Jessica Corson
www.jessandtherest.com

2. Blogging is an essential tool for building a business. It is your
“hub” - a place that is wholly yours, you own it, you control it,
etc. (As long as you self-host). It’s a place you can drive
people to, it’s a place you can sell your services on, and so
much more.
Blogging allows you a place to share your thoughts and ideas
with the world, it allows you to help others through your
writing, and - of course - it helps people find you online!
Why should I blog? What are the benefits?

3. Why should I blog? What are the benefits?
Blogging can help you set yourself apart, it can help you build
a “tribe” and show your audience who you are and what you’
re all about (your personality), and most importantly, blogging
can help you demonstrate your expertise and you can
become a thought leader in your industry.
Even more important than that, blogging is fun!
(Or at least it should be, in my opinion!) You don’t have to
take it *too* seriously… you should enjoy it!

4. How do I start a blog?
There are many platforms on which to start a blog. From
Wordpress.com to Blogger, Squarespace to Wix, the list goes
on. There are many pros and cons to each of these services.
However, I do 100% recommend going the route of self-hosting
via Wordpress or another similar content management system.
This allows you to have complete control over your website,
your content, etc. Everything you produce, you own.

5. Things to know when starting a blog:
● As I said before, I recommend creating a self-hosted blog from the
start (it’s something I wish I had done). Especially now when the “free”
platforms are no longer so free. Make the investment now if you plan
on blogging to help grow your business. It will pay off in the long run.
● Think about who your target audience is when creating your blog.
What type of content do they want to read? What can you help that
person with? This will help you in coming up with a blog name, as well
as content ideas.
● Don’t OVERTHINK it though… otherwise you’ll just put it off. At some
point, you just have to DO IT.

6. Blog Checklist – What you need to decide on:
● Blog name - this is very important!
● Blog URL (especially if you self-host)
● Colors and fonts you like / branding for your blog
○ What do you want the overall feel of your website to be?
● Blog theme / design & potentially a logo
● Who your target audience is
● What type of content you want to create
● How consistently you can post (it helps to have a schedule)

8. Blog design & themes:
Blog design and choosing a theme is another important aspect of
building your blog as a business. You want your blog to be cohesive —
think of it as a brand. You want your logo, your blog, your social media,
etc to all scream YOU.
When someone visits you on any of those platforms, you want them to
know it’s you and know what to expect from you.
Picking a theme or a blog design is definitely not easy, but it’s
something you can play around with. I’ve changed my branding and my
blog theme numerous times until I figured out what I really like and what
represents me and my blog.

9. There is no right or wrong answer when choosing a blog
design or theme. (Okay I lied, there are some terrible designs
out there… but if you stick to a reputable source for themes,
most of the time you’ll be in good shape).
You just have to find something you like that represents you
and the image you want to present. If you’re not sure or if this
isn’t something you feel confident about, you can always hire
someone with expertise in this area.
(I am also willing to help out when I can!)
Blog design & themes:

10. Blog Design & Themes – Resources
Places to get themes and other design-related resources:
● Creative Market (www.creativemarket.com)
● Pretty Darn Cute Design (www.prettydarncute.com)
● Restored316 Designs (www.restored316.com)
● Studio Press (www.studiopress.com)
● Etsy (www.etsy.com)
There are also many FREE themes by default! You can
always try that out first before you commit to buying a theme.

12. How do I start blogging? What do I write about?
First and foremost, just start writing! Once your blog is set up, get on
there and just write. Blogging does take practice and you will get better
with time.
Write about what you are passionate about. Write about whatever it is
that you actually WANT to write about. Remember that fun part I
mentioned earlier? It’s tempting to want to be salesy on our blogs, but
try to remember who your audience is and how they will view your
content. Will they find it helpful? Will they want to share it with friends?
Those are your goals! If you are staying true to yourself and being
authentic, your tribe will love it and will keep coming back for more.

13. Things to know when creating content for your blog:
● Think of different “themes” your content will have, or how it can be
grouped together. These are called categories.
● Once you have an idea of what you want to write about, you can go
from there. There are so many ways to think of ideas. Look at other
bloggers for inspiration. Check out Pinterest and Instagram. Create a
list somewhere of all your ideas so you can always go back to it, add to
it, etc.
● There is some conflicting arguments on whether your blog should be
focused on one niche or not. In our case, I think it does help to have a
health and fitness focus, but you can definitely write about more than
just that. In the end, you want your audience to see who you are as a
person - including all of your interests!

14. I’ve written a post… Now what?
The next step in blogging is… promotion!
You want to get your blog out into the world, you want people
to read it and share it. How does this happen?
There are 3 main ways someone can find your blog online:
● social media (both free and paid)
● organic search (a.k.a. search engine optimization / SEO)
● paid search (google search ads), etc.

15. Social media sharing
Sharing on social media is definitely the easiest form of
promotion. Besides just sharing on your profiles, you can use
hashtags to reach new audiences. Another cool form of
promotion is Facebook groups, ambassadorships, etc. These
don’t always get you extra traffic, but it doesn’t hurt.
Example groups: Fitfluential, Sweat Pink, Girls Gone Sporty,
The SITS Girls, Blogger Babes, and so many others!

16. * Search Engine Optimization (SEO) *
SEO is one of the most vital tools
you can utilize in blogging. When
you optimize your blog post for
search engines, basically what
that means is that you’ve added
signals on your blog post to tell
Google what your blog is about
through keywords, anchor text
and links, meta information (page
titles, image tags, etc), and more.

17. Search Engine Optimization & Keywords
To make your blog optimized for search engines, you will
want to include specific keywords within your content. There
are many tools out there to help with SEO, but my favorite
(for Wordpress self-hosted) is Yoast SEO.
What are keywords? They are strings of words that users
search in Google. For example, “how to lose weight”. This
can be any combination of words, so the possibilities are
endless! Again, it all comes back to what a user wants to read
about, what problems they have that you can solve.

18. My favorite Wordpress plugins:
● Yoast SEO - this plugin makes SEO so easy!
● Redirection - this plugin helps manage your URLs and
redirects (very helpful if you ever change your URL)
● Genesis plugins - these work with themes built on the
Genesis Framework and there are many! This is how I’m
able to achieve my “home page” look on my blog.

19. Conclusion:
● Don’t be afraid to start, don’t overthink it! You have to put
yourself out there :)
● Do your research - there are so many resources out there!
● Be authentic - show the world what you’re all about and
you’ll attract your tribe!

20. * Blogging Basics *
Brought to you by:
Jessica Corson
www.jessandtherest.com
Blogging & The Rest
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