Author: Maria Alfano
To start blogging may seem overwhelming if you have never done it before. Don’t let words like WordPress, SEO, or backlinks scare you. Like any other thing you learn for the first time, blogging has its own lingo and acronyms. It will take some getting used to but you can do it! If my 80-something-year-old mother could learn to use a computer in her early 70’s you can create a blog that your audience will love.
There will be some things you need to establish before you even begin to write a blog, but the key is to have fun doing it. If you are having fun, it will reflect in your content and it will bring your reader back for more.
Ok, so what is blogging you ask? Think of it as a diary of everything that you have ever explored or wanted to explore. It’s a recounting of an adventure you went on. Perhaps, you have an important tip you learned by accident that others should really know about. No matter what it is you want to write about, blogging means creating this content and sharing it on the world wide web.
9 Incredibly Easy Tips To Start Blogging After Retirement
The internet can be scary if you let it. You have the power in your hands. Make this experience one that is enjoyable for both you and your readers. Don’t be intimidated. Compare this to starting a new job. A new job takes a little while to feel like you know what you’re doing. Blog writing is the same.
In this post, you will learn how to get started writing a blog, the tools you will need to write a blog, and some ideas for creating an unbelievable digital masterpiece.
Start Blogging For Beginners
So you have this amazing idea that you want to share with the world. Before you do share it there are things you need to understand.
- What type of blog are you thinking of writing? Is it a fashion blog, a business blog, a personal blog, or a lifestyle blog? Start by searching online for similar topics like yours. This will become your niche – the subject which your post is about. Blogs are more successful when they stick to a specific topic. For example, this blog is all about life approaching/being at retirement age.
- Determine who your audience is. Are you a grandma teaching other women your age how to be a first-time grandma? Once you have identified who your reader will be, it will be important to keep them engaged with topics for their age group and life experiences.
- Create a list of blog idea topics related to your niche. The worst thing a blogger can do is to run out of ideas to talk to their audience about. Having a running list ensures you will always have something to say.
- Come up with a name for your blog. It should be catchy, easy to read, and easy to spell. Make it a name that your audience can relate to. For example, Sew Hot Granny could be an amazingly kitschy title for a retired seamstress to start blogging about. She could give tips on making beautiful outfits at home for a fraction of the cost of buying one at the store. A really bad name would be something like fity86tyfour.com. What’s this blog called?? What could this blog be all about??
Blog Writing Tools
You have your niche, you know your audience, your name has been chosen, and your list of ideas has been written, now what! One of the most frequently asked questions after what do I write about is how to write a blog? There are key tools you need in order to make your blog possible.
Blogging Template
This is a record for when you start blogging. Like any other business, tracking your ideas is an important part of growing the business – in this case, your blog. It could be a notebook in which you track your ideas or Google sheets to create a digital tracker. You will need to track your topic, any related keywords, the volume of the keywords, and the best time to write about the topic/publish your post.
Hosting
You will need a website and a place online to host your site. The host is like the invisible office building you used to frequent daily when you were working. You are renting space for your blog digitally on the internet through the online host. I know what you’re thinking – this is going to be super expensive. Did this lady forget I am retired and living on a tight budget??
I promise you blogging is the least costly thing you will ever spend your money on. My favorite place to get my domain names (the name of your blog in a format that the internet likes) is BlueHost.com. Blue Host has the most reasonable prices for both domain names starting as low as 99 cents per year and hosting for as little as $2.95 per month.
Keywords
Have you ever gone to Google to search for something and as you start typing a word, Google gives you 10-15 more words that are similar to yours. These are the words that people on the internet are searching for, better known as keywords. I use the toll Keywords Everywhere. It is the most reasonably priced tool I found for this purpose. In one year I spent less than $12 on this tool.
Why should you care about KeywordsEverywherecom.? This application tells you how many people are searching for the topic you wish to https://keywordseverywhere.com/write about. Searches with a volume of more than 500 per month are considered a decent search volume. This means that when you use this word in your blog and people ask Google to bring up information on the topic, your blog will be one that is presented to the reader.
Check out this example for hair tricks. Google shows other related keywords in the search and Keywords Everywhere showed us the number of times the word is searched on Google. The first line – hair tricks – is searched 1000 times per month and the last one is searched 480 times (almost 500) per month. These would be the two keywords I would ensure are part of my blog on tricks for hair.
Google Trends
Google is the world’s largest search engine and most folks who are looking for something online will go directly to Google to find what they need. You will be no different. Know the right time to publish your post, the time when people are searching for those blog topics. Make sure your post is written and published at least 2-3 months before the search dates in order for it to be properly indexed by Google. This works like the books at the local library. Each book is indexed/cataloged and put on the shelf well in advance of when people want to read it.
Google Trends is a free tool from Google that shows you exactly when people want to read about your topic. The search for hair tricks shows the audience wants to read the post between May 2-8. With a score of 100, that’s the best date for this keyword topic.
SEO
Yes, I meant to say SEO, not CEO. SEO means search engine optimization. Google uses SEO to put your website in front of the reader who will get the most benefit from it. This combines the content of your site with just the right mix of keywords in your blog post. Caution, there is such a thing as overdoing it with the keywords in your blog post. Google considers too many keywords as spam. Think of all the junk mail you get in your email or at your mailbox. This is the same concept in a post. The right mix of keywords depends on the length of the post. Writing a post (like an essay only much more fun) with 1000 and 1500 words, would contain between 5 and 8 of the main keyword and an additional 5-8 related keywords. The main keyword is the topic of your blog.
Stupid Simple SEO
Your site is created, your blogs are ready and posted and now you want to know more about SEO. Learn how to move your blog to the next level, then a little education goes a long way. There are so many courses available but how do you know which one is best for you? How can you possibly wade through the hundreds of digital courses? I took many before I landed on Stupid Simple SEO.
Stupid Simple SEO made learning fun and easy. The course is laid out in bite-sized pieces. Each video is short with an action item for you to complete before you move on to the next video. I highly recommend doing the tasks for each topic before moving on. This is not an expensive course and anyone can follow the steps to grow their blog to the next level.
In Summary
Starting a blog after retirement is an inexpensive way to start a business. The investment is less than $50 for the first year. Even a retiree living on a super tight budget can afford to start blogging. Staying busy not only passes the time but keeps the aging mind alert and alive. Who knows, you might even get to the point where you can start making money to help with retirement through your blog.
We would love to hear from you. Let us know which of these tips you found most helpful. Do you have a blog? What’s it all about? Is there a tip you would like to share?
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