Top 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting a Blog

1. Why do you want to start a blog?

Like anything in life, if there’s not a real why, should there be a how? You should have a reason you want to start it, not just because you have nothing better to do, want to get rich quick (ha!), others are doing it or telling you to, it looks glamorous, etc.

2. Do you enjoy writing, taking photographs, editing them, documenting your life/business/hobby?

If the answer is no, this probably isn’t for you. True, you can use photographers (but that can get pricey and come off as unauthentic and unapproachable, people want to see your skills and viewpoint, not others) or it can be photo and not text-heavy, if writing isn’t your strong suit but if you don’t enjoy these things, it will get extremely tedious and the likelihood of you continuing is not high. Plus, people can sense when things are forced or fake. But, if you’re passionate about it and having fun, that’ll come through too.

3. Do you have something to say?

If not, what will you post every day/week? And why bother? I have plenty of struggles and obstacles when it comes to blogging but ideas and words have never been one of them!

4. Do you have an angle or a hook to set it apart from others out there?

While this isn’t imperative, it will help. I have a lifestyle blog, which is certainly not reinventing the wheel, there are hundreds of thousands of them out there but my hook is that its also the first choose my own adventure blog, where readers get to choose what I actually do from decorating my home, planning a party and taking a trip to cutting my hair. This, hopefully, feels fresh and different. It’s a completely interactive experience and engages the reader. I also try to be a worts-and-all environment, sharing the good and the bad, pretty brutally. I let readers in on my obstacles, own up to my mom fails, marriage and mental health struggles and share others’ stories as well so they can find something they relate to more than just a pretty feed or cute kid.

5. Is it a passion project? (Or are you simply in it to make money?)

If you’re in it for the money, you’ll be pretty disappointed. After two full years, I still can’t support my family on my salary alone. First, there were a lot of outgoing costs before I ever made a cent (website development and design, branding, web hosting, courses I took, programs I’ve paid for like Photoshop and Planoly, conferences I’ve been to, ads, etc.) and affiliate sales pay you a fraction of what you’d think they do. My highest payments come from sponsorships (being paid by companies to promote their product/line/brand), hosting and consulting and I’m seeing great improvement in this area. I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of great companies and more opportunities are coming in each month but it took me a long time to get there (a.k.a. serious hustle!)

6. Is it to help promote an already existing or new business? Do you have social media for that business?

If it’s for a business (Etsy or brick and mortar shop, photography, wellness or coaching business, etc.) and you already have a lot on your plate, you may be better of micro-blogging on Instagram. This is huge these days and plenty of very successful and lucrative people have Instagram only and are pulling in six figures or more. A well-curated Instagram feed (more on that later) is sometimes all it takes and the time and money you’d spend on blogging might not be worth it.

7. Do you have time?

Do you want to/are you able to devote time to learning about and actually doing it? Can you post on a consistent basis? Likely in the beginning, you will have to be doing this in your spare time. Mornings, nights, weekends. Do you really envision taking the time after a full day (or week) of work to spend on it? Or would you rather or realistically just chill, hang out with friends, family, watch bad reality tv…? It’s okay if it’s the latter. But, if it is, you may want to think twice because, if done well, it is extremely time consuming!

8. Do you have the time/interest in promoting it?

Okay, so you’re passionate about it and you’ll make the time, great! But are you into social media? Do you have time for that? Because you can have the greatest content in the world but if no one knows about it, no one’s reading it, meaning no traffic, no money, no readers. Surprisingly, social media also takes a ton of time!

9. Do you have funds/knowledge/help to actually develop and build the platform or site?

Once again, you can have the greatest ideas but if you don’t know where or how to put them out there, if your site looks crappy or is shutting down, there’s really no point. You either need to know how to DIY it well or afford to pay for some help. My advice is not to scrimp, get someone good and you won’t have problems down the line.

10. After all this, do you still really want to do it?

Did I completely bum you out? You’re always going to get the real deal from me; I don’t want to sugar coat it. But if you answered YES to all 10 questions, then, my friend, go forth and blog! It’ll be challenging but also a lot of fun. And I’m here every step of the way for you! Comment below or on my Insta, Facebook or Twitter and I’ll help you out! We’re in this together! What are you waiting for? Start blogging!

 For q&a’s about blogging from some of the top bloggers, click here.