Let’s not be too hasty: 5 tips before you launch your blog
So you’ve decided to launch a blog. You’ve picked your blogging platform and you’re raring to go with a dozen posts drafted out in your head. But WAIT! Hold your horses a moment longer and build some good foundations first. It’ll make all the difference in the future.
- Install Google Analytics: It’s free, it’s extremely useful and it provides beautifully detailed stats. All you need to do is add a short snippet of code to the footer of your blog template.
- Get a FeedBurner RSS feed: With your regular RSS feed, quantifying the number of readers you have is very difficult.
- Think wisely about your categories: In particular if your permalinks include the category name (see below), use category titles which contain relevant keywords. For example, naming your category “gardening” rather than “green-thumbs” will match more search engine users’ keywords and yield more traffic. Generally, once these are set, you should not change them since they may break links for those who are pointing their readers to your content. Even if you’re familiar with URL redirection, think carefully and be descriptive about your categories, it’ll pay off.
- Create SEO-friendly permalinks: Usually, your blog settings will allow you to select the URL formatting you want. What this means is that your post can appear under the URL “domain.com/gardening/5-tips-for-healthier-tomatoes”, rather than “domain.com/?p=132″. Not only is this more useful to the human reader by indicating what the content will be, but it also supports a search engine in its quest to gather information about your page’s content.
- Test your template: Whether your template is downloaded from one of the many free resources available out there, or a bespoke template, be sure to test it thoroughly in as many operating systems and browsers as possible. It may look good on your screen, but that’s no guarantee that it’ll be the case for all your readers. Be weary of downloaded templates, as they could contain loopholes granting the creator backdoor access into your blog, so get a blog template created by a pro if you can afford it.
These aren’t the only things you need to do before launching a blog by any means, but they’re a few of the most important things to consider, from a technical point of view. The most essential factor in launching a blog is your stamina and perseverence as a writer, but getting these foundations ready will make writing and reaping the benefits far more enjoyable.
Tags: analytics, design, feedburner, planning, rss, tracking