For the purposes of this project, I will create a demo blog and go through the process of setting it up, optimizing it, and creating content for it. I will also set the base for monetization, even thought this is a lengthy process that includes many variables, and cannot be completed in the scope of this project.
NICHE
Many bloggers start out by writing about topics that interest them, without much planning - especially if they are not intending to profit. However, such a blog might end up being too general. It is harder to get users to follow a blog if each post is on a different topic; it is much easier to grow a following if all content relates to a specific topic - called a niche.
Basic knowledge on SEO and marketing in general would help a blogger plan out and structure a blog even before creating it. Such planning starts with picking a niche, and considering the target group of that niche. Popular niches are lucrative but also highly competitive. There is less competition in obscure niches, but they are also less likely to bring in traffic.
Some examples of popular niches are:
- Technology. "Tech bloggers" write about new apps, websites, gadgets and all things technology-related. Authoritative tech bloggers are said to be able to "make or break" a company. The target group is very wide and includes end users, designers, developers, start-up founders and employees of already established technology companies.
- Gaming. Bloggers in this niche review games, demonstrate how a game is played, or give tips on how to play it. A big part of their content is video - in fact, many of these vlogs are youtube channels. The target group is also quite wide; however, the majority is young males
- Do-It-Yourself. These blogs give step-by-step descriptions on how to create or fix something by yourself. Most DIY projects are home-related. The target group is mostly females, the majority of which are 30 or older.
- Food. Cooking blogs are a growing trends, especially ones that follow a specific diet (vegeterian, vegan, gluten-free, raw, paleo, etc.) The target group here is also mostly female, and includes all age groups.
Starting with the niche, I did some research and consideration and picked Fashion & Lifestyle for the following reasons:
- Lucrative industry. There are always a lot of sales to be made in Fashion.
- Easier acquisition of followers. The target group is middle-class females aged 20-35. This group uses social networks (such as Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram) daily, and is always on the lookout for new blogs to follow.
- Not too specific, neither too general.
- Content variety. The niche allows for variety of topics, which still interest the same specific target group.
- Personal enjoyment. I am genuinely interested in fashion and lifestyle.
I looked up Fashion & Lifestyle blogs and analysed the more successful ones. (My conclusions can be seen in the section "Examples" in the navigation above.)
This niche is still broad and general, and needs to be specified further to get a well-target blog. For this reason, I chose a specific style in fashion and lifestyle, which is very popular and "trendy:" bohemian culture. Now the niche I have is Bohemian Fashion and Lifestyle, which is targeted, but still broad enough to allow for plenty of varied content.
KEYWORDS
In order to have a properly optimized blog, I started with keyword research immediately after picking the niche. I used a free online tool: Wordtracker.
PLANNING CONTENT
This niche is still broad and general, and needs to be specified further to get a well-target blog. For this reason, I chose a specific style in fashion and lifestyle, which is very popular and "trendy:" bohemian culture. Now the niche I have is Bohemian Fashion and Lifestyle, which is targeted, but still broad enough to allow for plenty of varied content.
KEYWORDS
In order to have a properly optimized blog, I started with keyword research immediately after picking the niche. I used a free online tool: Wordtracker.
It is important to note that in SEO, the terms "keyword" and "keyword phrase" are used interchangeably.
The first keyword I ran through Wordtracker was boho, a "nickname" for bohemian. As the term is short and informal, I expected it to have less traffic, but also less competition. It actually exceeded my expectations, as the tool indicates searches for sub-keywords and 0 results that include that sub-keyword in their title and <h1> tags. This means traffic (even if it is little) with no competition. These are the keywords with a KEI index of 100 in the screenshot above.
The first one with a 100 KEI index is "boho tumblr backgrouns" - unfortunately, this one has to be disregarded, as it is out of my niche. It is, however, worth considering for a small side-project.
The next two, however, are quite valuable: "boho diva" and "boho hippie clothes." This indicates that if I name my blog Boho Diva, the name will be unique and there will be no one to compete with. To verify this, I ran a Google search for the term. It returned a couple of exact match results: a Pinterest account and an Etsy shop (called Boho Diva Jewellery, which is still a different phrase).
According to these results, "Boho Diva" would be a good name for the blog. The Blogspot subdomain is availabe, and www.bohodiva.com is on sale.
Afterwards, I ran the keyword bohemian through Wordtracker and compared the results.
As I expected, here we can see more traffic and more competition. An interesting result is "bohemian apartment decor," which has a KEI index of 100 (albeit little traffic). Another valuable suggestion is "bohemian chic clothing," which has an index of 88. Wordtracker indicates that there are 3 competing websites, but the number of searches is also higher.
Repeating this procedure a couple of times, I came up with some more keywords.
Here is my keyword list so far:
- boho diva
- boho hippie clothes
- bohemian apartment decor
- bohemian chic clothing
- boho chic decor
- boho room decor
These will be used when creating content: in titles and <h1> tags, image alt tags, link anchors, and throughout the text in posts (sparingly).
PLANNING CONTENT
Next, I compiled a list of varied topics and content-types from the fashion & lifestyle niche, which I would be interested to write about. The list will be used to create some initial content, and will grow in the future.
- Article topics
- Product Reviews
- Styling tips
- Healthy eating & recipes
- Interior design
- Music
- Travelling and Tourism
- Inspirational people (interviews)
- Image posts
- Tutorials
- Moodboards
- Infographics
- Styling photography
- Video
- Tutorials
BLOGGING PLATFORM
Finally, I had to choose a platform on which to build the blog, and design it. After some research, I came up with three options: Wordpress, Blogger and Tumblr.
Although Tumblr is a blog platform and has many benefits, it is rarely used for regular blogs. Instead, users use it mostly for image sharing, similar to Pinterest.
Tumblr has many benefits. One of them is its social network functionality, which allows for easier discovery of the blog. Users can stumble upon the posts simply by browsing hashtags or categories. Then, they can easily like or reblog the posts, similar to Facebook. Moreover, Tumblr links are dofollow, meaning that they contribute to search engine rankings. Thus, every time a post is shared by another Tumblr user, the blog's rankings go up. Finally, Tumblr accounts can easily be customized by installing a theme, and there many quality themes available, even for free. A customized Tumblr account looks like a webpage on its own and gives no indication of the platform.
However, there are also disadvantages to Tumblr. User behaviour is different than other blog platforms, and users are more inclined to quickly like and reblog big amounts of images, rather than read and concentrate on specific posts. Tumblr would be good for a daily visual mini-blog, supportive of a bigger blog or website.
Wordpress is another option. Users can create accounts, or they can download and install the CMS on their own server.
Wordpress is highly customizable and professional. It allows for high-quality, beautiful websites. It can be customized by installing a theme, just like Tumblr. There are great premium themes on Themeforest, and recently, free themes have been catching up with the quality of the premium ones. However, to achieve the best results, users can create their own theme using PHP, CSS and (optionally) frameworks such as Genesis. Twitter's Bootstrap can also be used for developing a Wordpress theme, providing responsiveness and a modern flat look. Besides the blog, pages can be built on their own, and a Wordpress website can feature a portfolio, online shop or other complex pages. Furthermore, as the webmaster has full control over the CMS and all its files, there are greater SEO possibilities.
The disadvantage to using Wordpress is that it takes a lot of skill and time investment. The CMS requires third-party hosting, and theme development is a complex job that calls for a developer. Worpress would be a good option for a big, long-term, professional project - such as a designer's portfolio, or a corporate blog.
Blogger seems to be the most popular platform in the Fashion & Lifestyle niche. It is a simple platform where users can create a blog, set it up and choose a theme for it in a matter of minutes. Blogger is a part of the Google ecosystem, and users sign in through a Google account.
Blogger seems to be the most popular platform in the Fashion & Lifestyle niche. It is a simple platform where users can create a blog, set it up and choose a theme for it in a matter of minutes. Blogger is a part of the Google ecosystem, and users sign in through a Google account.
Blogger has limited customization capabilities, and for this reason, it is not favourable with design and tech professionals. However, Fashion & Lifestyle bloggers focus on large images that create an impact on the viewer, and tend to use less text. Such blogs need non-intrusive, minimalistic design: white backgrounds and less elements to make big titles and images stand out. Blogger is great for this purpose, as it looks best at it most minimalistic version. This can quickly be achieved by using the built-in easy customization feature. Moreover, since Blogger is integrated with Google AdSense, users can easily apply for AdSense accounts and place PPC ads on the blog.
With this in mind, and considering the purposes of this project, I picked Blogger as the platform to set up my blog on.
According to the keyword research I did previously, I chose the name Boho Diva and created a Blogger domain right away: http://bohodiva.blogspot.com.
DESIGN
As this blog will be focused on rich content, including lots of images, some video, and longer texts, the design is not the main focus. A good design would be invisible, emphasising on content. Thus, I will be looking for a minimalistic design, specifically white backgrounds, one bright and fresh accent colour for button and links, readable sans-serif fonts and simple navigation and widgets.
I picked the "Simple" Blogger theme and customised it according to my needs. I created a sample lorem ipsum post including a large image.
I picked the "Simple" Blogger theme and customised it according to my needs. I created a sample lorem ipsum post including a large image.
CREATING CONTENT
Content creation can be both the hardest and the easiest part of this process. If one has a genuine interest in the subject, original and engaging content comes easily. If not, however, writing posts can be extremely time-consuming and difficult. Many blogs are created with the purposes of monetization, and the "blogger" outsources article writing (or directly copies existing articles) and scrapes images from the web automatically. In these cases, the content is not very valuable, and the "blogger" relies on well-optimized and targeted post titles to bring big traffic, which then gets monetized via PPA programs. Such blogs blogs are a turnkey business but have a limited potential and lifespan; it is hard to trick users into becoming loyal followers to low-value content and they lose interest over time, causing the blog to die out. Moreover, copied content gets reported.
This is why I picked a niche which I am genuinely interested in, instead of picking one based only on its traffic and monetization potential. As I read blogs in this niche daily, content creation comes easily. For the purposes of this project, I will create 5 sample posts.
The process of optimization already began in the initial stages of the project, by keyword research.
The main keyword was then used in the domain and title of the blog. The other keywords were used in the description, and will be added throughout the blog: in the widgets and navigation (wherever possible) and in static pages. They will also be considered when creating content. I will aim to use them in the post titles, <h1> tags, in text near the top of the post, in link anchors, and in image alt tags.
The linkbuilding process is a long-term endeavour, but its basic principles will also be demonstrated for the purposes of this project by interlinking, building links in social bookmaring websites, and social media signals (Facebook, Pinterest and Tumblr).