I started a blog

I feel like everything I see on how to start a blog is from a great blogger who is super successful now, but they don’t really remember or can’t articulate how they got started--what it was like Day 1 with 0 followers. I am about 1 week into blogging now, and I’ve learned a lot this week. Will this work? No idea. But hopefully, it’s either helpful or funny to someone. Besides, this blog is all about recording what I’ve tried, and I’m trying this. 

Setting Intentions. 

    I’ve known that I wanted an outlet for my creativity + writing for a while. I also knew that I did NOT want to be a fashion influencer or just churn out consumerism-type content. I love that content, but I do not have the time or tough enough skin to post all day on Instagram stories. I just had to figure out my niche and what that would look like for me. 

    I am the type of girl that has to turn over every rock to feel good about a decision--I can’t just jump in. When I applied to college (all 24 schools), I wanted to make sure I had fully explored every option. I had a huge spreadsheet, tons of categories, and characteristics I was comparing the schools on and toured way too many schools. But choosing a college is a big deal, and I wanted to be sure I was committing to the right one! That’s the setting for the next four years of my life, and I wanted to find a place that I could plug into and grow in. 

    Starting my adult post-grad life is an even bigger commitment. I am building the communities that I will be pouring into for a lot longer than 4 years. My brain will not let me just go to one church (or gym or anything else); that is admittedly fine when I know there are 20 other churches that I’ve never even tried around the city. I have to check them out and systematically pick which one will be the best for me and what I am looking for. You can check out their website or Google reviews, but the reviews are not comparing churches; they are just by members who all love their church and give you very little insight into which you will connect with the most. Same thing with any community you want to plug into. 

    I realized that my blog could be the place that compares all the different options. I want it to be a place for me to reflect on each thing I try, build community, and help others try things and build their community. To accomplish that, I will set out what one should expect when they try that particular thing and what I like about it. 

Make a Plan. 

    I decided to start a blog to compare everything that I would consider adding to my life. 

    So I wrote down everything I could think of that I wanted to try. Then, I categorized the places and activities: (1) exercise, (2) podcasts and books, (3) churches, and (4) healthy and fun habits and activities to start. 

    I considered how often I can actually commit to posting every week. I decided on twice (Tuesday and Thursday). I made a spreadsheet with 5 columns: category, title, written, publish date, and number. The category cycles through the four types above so that the posts will systematically rotate through all four, and I set out when each activity will be published. Getting a hard date is important because I know that it’s important to be consistent, giving me deadlines for each blog. Setting it out clearly gives me deadlines for what I need to do and when I need to have it done. 

Decide on Branding. 

    I’ve taken some classes on this and nearly skipped over the things I knew I needed to do (because they are a pain.) I went back to this, and it turns out my professors were right--I almost screwed some things up, and I’m glad I did these things before posting. 

• Come up with potential names- you need to think of 5-30 names. I know that the first one that you came up with and have been running within your head is just so great. The thing is, it’s actually not. It is super likely that someone is already using it--in my case, 600 very successful podcast episodes, etc. It also might not be as creative or directly relevant as you think it is. Further, it might just not look as aesthetically pleasing written out as something else. Your first idea is probably great, your next 5 will be stinky, but after that, you will come up with something great. When deciding which name to use, make sure it’s available. If you can hire someone to run a trademark search-do that! If not, google around and search on social media to ensure it wasn’t someone else’s brilliant idea first. 

• I wanted something really quirky and fun, but everything I could think of was fully taken. Reagan’s Reviews ended up being great, though, because I love alliteration, and it’s straight to the point of what I’m doing and who I am. It’s personal and informational. Is it a fun name? No. But it works, and I’m unlikely to be sued over a name that is my actual first name + a generic term like “reviews.” 

• Draw a logo- I used Canva and Procreate. On the app Canva, you can make a full branding kit. Canva allows you to use any of their fonts in your branding. You cannot use some of the other features and stickers. I used Procreate to draw a little flower to add to the lettering. I love doodling flowers and smiley cowboys and little things, so I chose one of my favorite doodles. You want something that you can make tiny as a logo, and people will still recognize that it is you and associate with just you. 

• Make brand accounts- I went ahead and made an account on every social media platform I could think of. I’m not doing a typical blog, and I’m not sure what type of social media I’ll be the best at or what I’m presenting will be effective. I want to be sure that I have the option to use any type of social media that I could ever want to use. So I made an Instagram, Facebook Page, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube account under a new Gmail, so everything is set up together. You can use your personal accounts and either just start posting there or change the name to a blog name and start posting. 

• You also need to choose a solid platform for the blog.  I set up really cute and fun sites on every blogging platform I could find but went with Blogger because it is free and connected to Google. Blogger is by far the ugliest and one of the worst user interfaces I tried. But I like that it is associated with Google in some way, and it is free as I’m just getting started and am not actually sure what I want in a blogging platform anyway. This saves money and gives me plenty of room to grow. For other options, WordPress and Squarespace were the cutest, and Wix is also cute and cheap. I did buy a domain and am currently not sure how to use it? 

Start posting. 

You’re not going to learn this stuff by studying or researching. You just gotta jump in and start posting. Try new things-post at different times, try hashtags, use different captions lengths-whatever you can think of. I’m figuring out how to make TikToks that will make sense for each review and am fiddling around with drawing on procreate to have a consistent cover for each review. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m going for it, and I’ll continue learning along the way.