You Have a Blog Idea? Start It. Now What?
I know they say to do the work and pay no attention to anything else and as well-intentioned as that sounds, something about that mentality for starting a business, project or venture doesn’t sit right with me.
“If you build it and they will come.”
It’s not that I don’t care for the idea of working without worrying about whose watching or who’ll support the vision as it comes to fruition, it simply seems impossible for my logically minded, highly analytical personality to actually abide by.
Nah, baby, nah, I need to know what’s going on.
I’d never heard of, let alone seen, the movie Field of Dreams, but when I typed that quote into Google’s inquiry engine, apparently it has been widely misquoted anyway. I’m siding with the folks over at one of the search results that popped up, Coaching for Leaders:
If you build it, they will come,” is a lie.
You can’t just say, “oh, I want to make some money, I’m going to start [insert business idea],” and think that as long as you create it that you’re achoo’ing, the money is coming. It has to make logical sense outside of your own mind and be something that a whole lot of somebodies want and be executed in a way that gets your thing in front of those somebodies.
And, first of all, money should not be the motive. That’s another blog post of its own for another day though.
Ugh, why am I doing this again?
The idea of this particular blog website, aroundLAwithTK, came about organically when I transitioned over a 6-month period from a car to a bike as my main source of transportation, causing co-workers and extended family to say, “damn TK, you be all around LA.” In addition to the quirkiness of a cute lil’ early-20-something female riding her bicycle around LA (when nobody that looked like me was), there was the layer of me often ending up somewhere or trying something that locals born and raised in Los Angeles hadn’t, that generated interest. And boom, born was a personal lifestyle blog where I write about anything related to being a girl from the South living in Los Angeles.
What to do before beginning a blog?
As obvious as it may seem, before beginning a blog, you need to pick a topic. What is it that you would like to share with the world via your blog website?
Pick a topic.
Before beginning a blog website, you’ll want to know exactly what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. My what and why for aroundLAwithTK had already been given to me by the friends and family I’d made since moving to Los Angeles, as well as people from back home, down South, asking for suggestions when visiting L.A., advice on moving away from home, and general curiosity wanting to be quenched by my storytelling.
(The initial thought was never, “ou, I want to make money online with a blog.. what’s a profitable blog idea?" The inspiration for my personal blog website was people-based… and brain-deterioration-prevention-based.. ‘cause I can believe ‘em on that old adage, if you don’t use it, you lose it and baby I wasn’t using it at allllll. Having excelled in English language arts from primary school thru the matriculation of my Bachelor’s degree in journalism, I knew writing was a gift God had given to me and not exercising it felt blasphemous. I’d started little blog websites before in the past, sometimes as a school assignment, never fleshing them out fr fr; now I’m realizing why this one, aroundLAwithTK, would be different. I had the intrinsic motivation of wanting to write because it’s part of my being, then the extrinsic motivation of a someone to do it for that really sold me on the idea.)
In June 2019, I started a list of 50 blog post ideas for this blog website idea I had in mind.
Quick tip for beginning a blog: 9-year veteran blogger, Carly the Prepster, suggests aspiring bloggers come up with 50 ideas for blog posts in the content area he or she will be covering before starting a blog. This is word-for-word out of my June 2019 notebook entry, ‘cause one thing about it, I’m going to over-explain to me and you. Like girl, why are you writing a note about your note TO YOU?? Guess it came in handy to be able to link the source in this here blog post about beginning a blog that I never knew I’d write. [inserts shoulder-shrug emoji]
In June 2019, long before even registering the domain name for my personal blog website, I wrote a list of 50 blog post ideas. | photo: tekeyakrystal on Medium
Write a list of 50 blog post ideas before beginning a blog.
If you can’t come up with a list of 50 fresh blog post ideas for this website that you have in mind, it’s not a viable website to launch. When brainstorming for my website idea, aroundLAwithTK, a personal blog about my life as a brown girl from the South living in Los Angeles, here are 10 blog post ideas I listed before beginning to blog:
I conveniently chose examples from my blog brainstorming that I eventually did cover. The other 40, I’m looking at this list in my notebook from 5 years ago thinking, “hmm.. that’s a good one.” When beginning your blog, please be better than me when I began mine — write the list of 50 blog post ideas before beginning a blog then consistently bring the blog post ideas into fruition upon creating your blog.. not years down the line.. not one here, one there [inserts melting face emoji].
⚡ Biker Babe Quick Tip: Have a list of 50 blog post ideas before beginning a blog.
Though that blog topic and angle, life in Los Angeles from the perspective of a brown girl from the South, may seem niche… it’s not. It’s niche, but not niche enough with heavy hitters holding domain authority since 2012 and earlier in both of those categories (Los Angeles bloggers and Black girl bloggers). Plus, a city as popular as Los Angeles is difficult already, as major publications (L.A. Times, U.S. News and Travel, TripAdvisor, Time Out, etc.) dominate the Internet for any common or basic query related to Los Angeles — it would take all 12 of Jesus’ disciples for a new website to get ranked anywhere near the first page of Google when someone searches “things to do in LA,” for example.
Once you have decided what your blog will be about, take that topic and make it even more specific.
When beginning a blog, you. are. beginning! The big bad search engines with billions of results trying to be seen doesn’t know you, my baby, not a bit. You have to write consistent content that will allow search engine web crawlers to understand your site.
Grr… Why am I writing extensively about ONE niche topic for my personal blog when I rather be writing about everything under the sun? How do I pick a blog niche that’s specific without limiting myself too much? I want to write about whatever I want to write about on my blog.
(My actions would make ya think I don’t want to write about nothin’… been quite the bummy, crummy writer over the past few years, not writing much at all, on any topic.. but I’m saying though, when I do write, why I gotta be limited?! [insert side-eye emoji]).
“Because b****, you like to talk and you like listening to other people talk,” one of my girlfriends from junior high, Kayla Mitt, said to me, I think in relation to not being surprised that I listen to NPR, podcasts, and talks in my car rather than music stations or streaming music as the majority of my peers.
Wait, that makes me think about my cousin Rashan from Atlanta, “b****, you like that boring a** s***, nobody wants to listen to that boring a** s*** but you.” Oh my, that tickles me.
Anyway…
In-person, face-to-face, I enjoy talking. I am a yapper, I just be yapping. And in my leisure, I enjoy listening to people talk and reading the talk of people put into text in the form of blog posts, long Instagram captions, or full-blown books out of the bookstore.
Dang, maybe I need to get up and go for my daily sunset walk and come back to this because why is my mind drifting away. (Not me acting as though my thoughts taking extended courses is unusual.. el oh el. Girl.)
I like to talk.. without limits. But in blog building world, bloggers that aspire to gain traction from Google or other search engines can’t talk about whatever, we have to pick a blog niche that will work. If you don’t have a blog because you’re starting one and you don’t know have an example of this idea working because it’s an original idea and that’s the whole reason you’re starting one, how in the world to know if your blog idea will work?!
How to Know if You Have a Good Blog Niche: A Step-by-Step Guide
The most common search query in relation to how to start a blog ends with “and make money.” People hop, jump, skip clean over their failing English Language Arts grades and decide they want to monetize a business based on English Language Arts (writing). A blog website is a compilation of written ideas on a given topic or an array of topics.
I'll admit, it's fascinating to see website metrics. We want to know we're being seen, yes, that's natural. However, what's most important is creating quality content. | image: Squarespace analytics for personal lifestyle blog aroundLAwithTK.com
Though I’m a school girl through and through, baby that girl loves a school, I can lend a bit of understanding to school not being for everyone.
(Really, that’s not true.. I’m only trying to be nice. Unless a child is experiencing developmental delays and/or some sort of medically-diagnosable brain dysfunction, school is for everybody. We are some learning a** creatures, man, come on. So, actually, when I say that I understand school isn’t for everybody, I’m really lending understanding to those that may have faced external challenges he or she wasn’t able to overcome that greatly disturbed his or her school performance.)
You don’t have to have been a straight A student in English Language Arts to begin a blog. Anyone that is literate can begin a blog, as deplorable as that literacy may be.
Though you don’t have to be a skilled writer to begin a blog, I would suggest searching, “how to write a blog post,” before scouring the Internet for the best tips to make money quick with a blog. Before worrying about how to be seen, you need to worry about making what will be seen quality. Only then should you as a beginning blogger even begin to think about website performance metrics.
After some refresher courses at YouTube University on how to write and learning how to write a blog specifically, then we can start thinking about a blog idea’s viability. Finally, to the main subject of this blog post. You’ve done all of this work, writing practice, extensive blog post idea preparation, you’ve narrowed down your niche, you have something meaningful (or at least entertaining) to bring to the world and you’re ready to hit the ground running. POW! The race gun goes off and maybe you’re the Mommy Rocket, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, with an impeccable start, or maybe you’re one of those African distance runners pacing yourself perfectly to be able to tour the continent from the Equator to Johannesburg. Consistent spurts or steady flow, however you may decide to go. It’s going. Yeah, buddy, it’s going. You’re doing it. I started a blog, I’m blogging, I’m a blogger! Whooooo!
Wait.
Now what?
I followed all of the smarts steps to take before beginning a blog, and I’ve done what people say to be the hardest part of doing anything, starting, but how do I know if I’m off to the right start? Yeah, I’m doing it.. but am I doing it right?
Beginning a blog does not bring instant gratification.
Beginning a blog may be kicks and giggles at the kickoff, when you first launch the website and tell people about it — that is short-lived. Most people quit blogging before their blog can get off the ground for exactly that reason. You will not get the feedback, you will not get the traffic, you will not get the rewards (that you may want or are even mildly expecting) anytime soon.
This is something I’ve never seen on all the many blog posts I’ve read about blogging and all the YouTube videos I’ve watched about beginning a blog.
Building a blog is a long, slow and rather unrewarding process. In the beginning of building a blog, you will barely know what you’re doing, let alone if what you’re doing is working. So, where’s the resolve?
Am I doing all of this work blogging for nothing? How do I know if I made the right decision with my niche? Is what I’m writing information that Internet users will be seeking? What language and words do I have to use to allow Internet users to find the content that you create? Will my blog ever get ranked on Google? Will my blog make it’s way in front of an interested audience? These are questions that can’t be solidly answered when beginning a new blog website. Sure, you can have faith that your blog idea will work, but there’s no hard evidence telling you as a blogger that your website idea is working.
↻ rider, don't roll past this ↻
Perseverance and realistic expectations. Blogging is a century ride, not a quick sprint! It takes time, patience, and a genuine, dedicated interested for your niche to push through the early stages. If you're expecting instant success, you'll likely be disappointed -- the reward comes from staying committed, even when going against heavy wind, not giving in.
Truly liking my personal blog idea is thee only thing that has kept me paying for this aroundLAwithTK domain name and Squarespace subscription. If I launched this website with hopes to get a quick buck, it’d’ve been domain name not found a long time ago. I’ve picked it up and put it down, but I’ve never thrown it out. This time around, picking it up again, I’ve decided to take an approach I brainstormed a couple of years ago that I hadn’t gone through with: niche’ing down.
Related: Hi, I'm T.K. I've Given Up On A Lot, But I Won't Give Up On This
Girl, you told us 27 paragraphs ago to niche down.
Yes, when I launched aroundLAwithTK, I thought a country lil’ brown girl from the South talking about her new life in the big city of Los Angeles was niche. Y’all saw I came up with those 50 blog post ideas. …And who knows, if I’d’ve gone at it consistently for a long enough time, maybe that was a niche enough blog topic, I definitely was garnering pageviews, and according to Reddit, getting 1,000 monthly pageviews in the first year of a blog website’s existence is darn good.
Darn.. maybe I should revisit that list and give that route a shot.. No, TK, no, you’ve switched gears; give this current gear a fair go.
I took my niche and went even more niche.
Okay, by nature of riding a bicycle as a form of transportation around LA, the basis of the blog was “around”, we’re going “around”, rolling around, pedaling the city, etc. in a thematic way. The content itself wasn’t at all bicycle adventure-focused. Now, I’m taking it that way. THAT is very specific.. a brown biker babe blogger living in Los Angeles. There’s plenty of Los Angeles-based bloggers when I Google search, but not a single one, not for the first hundred or so search results, not a single one of those Los Angeles-based bloggers has a bicycle-based blog. And beyond Los Angeles, there aren’t too many brown girls biking and blogging about it. (By “aren’t too many”, I really want to say there are none.. but in the crevices of the Internet somewhere, there may be one.. in any case, this is a very unique lane.)
In addition to being unique and not existing elsewhere on the Internet, bicycle riding and bike related content is very clear cut and easy for an algorithm or a search engine to understand. It’s the same batch of words used over and over and over and that’s what a website needs to be search engine optimizable. Talking about soul food restaurants one day, natural hair growth two months later, then not coming back until 6 months after that with a post about how to dress for house parties was going to take search engines forever to figure out what my website was about and begin ranking it higher on search results.
Are people searching for bike riding-related content though?? Don’t go on a tangent, TK…
Related: What to Wear to Party in the Hollywood Hills | aroundLA
Though my content hasn’t been the most narrowly curated, I wasn’t about to start an entirely new blog website. Instead, I’m treating this new niche focus to aroundLAwithTK as if it is a new website; I’m looking at it as if I just started a blog… and I’m wondering if this is thee one.
(First of all, you gotta stick with it, my girl, them other ones could’ve been the one, but how would you know? [sigh] I digress..)
All things biker babe related aroundLA.. is this the way? I’ve completely re-done aroundLA’s homepage, restructuring the site, about page, title and all, went from “A Personal Blog by Te’Keya Krystal” to “A Biker Babe’s Guide to Life in Los Angeles”.
Honorable mention: I must give credit to a childhood friend, Marcus, for reminding me, “nobody knows you, TK,” insisting that I lean into the really great niche opportunity I have with being a young brown girl biking around LA (as opposed to hey, I’m TK and this is my life in Los Angeles.. ‘cause who tf are you for someone to care??). This thoughtful conversation with an old friend was the kick in the tush I needed.
Do I really feel like writing about all bicycle everything all the time? No, absolutely not. I like riding my bike, not writing about riding my bike. But hey, say like Granny would say to childhood Te’Keya Krystal, “it ain’t ‘bout whatchu feel like.. I don’t give a damn what you feel like, little girl.”
Is this the right way to find a blog niche and build an audience? Is this the blog niche that will give my website domain authority? I’m giving it a go. But ughhhh, I don’t know!
You began a blog, now what?
I asked ChatGPT the following:
How to know if a blog idea is viable or not? Or, how long to give a blog to “work” before changing course? For example, I’ve recently niched down on a blog website that I’ve been having the domain to for four years, but hadn’t ever created consistent content for and definitely hadn’t kept the content within one niche topic. This week, I started posting blogs within the specific niche I’ve chosen and none of the 4 have gotten any clicks from Google yet; I know domain authority doesn’t happen immediately — how long do I give it before determining the niche I chose isn’t viable for a successful blog website that will get ranked well by Google?
Here’s what I learned from a computer system about finding out if/when my blog website is viable to a computer system.
Is Your Blog Idea Viable? A Guide to Finding Success in Your Niche
It’s good that you’re thinking strategically about your blog's niche and viability. Here are some guidelines on assessing whether a blog idea is viable and how long to give it before considering a pivot:
Understand the Timeline for SEO Growth
Initial Expectation: Building domain authority and getting organic traffic can take 6-12 months or longer, especially for newer sites or those just beginning to niche down. It’s common for new posts to take a few months before gaining traction on Google.
Content Consistency: Consistently publishing content within your niche over 3-6 months will give search engines time to recognize and rank your site. The more targeted your content, the faster search engines may start to understand your authority in that niche.
2. Monitor Early Indicators of Success
While waiting for organic traffic to build, there are some indicators to track:
Impressions on Google Search Console: Even if you’re not getting clicks yet, rising impressions show that Google is starting to notice your content.
Related: How I'm Building My Blog Using Google Search Console
Keyword Rankings: Use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to see if you’re starting to rank for any relevant keywords, even if they’re on pages 3 or beyond.
Engagement Metrics: If you’re sharing your posts on social media, newsletters, or other channels, monitor metrics like time on page, bounce rates, and shares. High engagement can indicate content quality.
3. Analyze Competition and Search Demand
Keyword Research: Ensure there’s sufficient search volume for the topics you’re covering. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, and Ahrefs can help. If your chosen niche has low search volume or is oversaturated with strong competition, that might indicate a need to refine your focus.
Competitor Analysis: See how your competitors are performing in the niche. If there’s demand but your content isn’t gaining traction, evaluate what they’re doing differently (content length, SEO strategy, backlinking, etc.).
4. Give It a Minimum of 6 Months Before Deciding
How long to give a blog website to be successful? Or, how much time before a blog takes off towards success? This is what I was wondering, give me a hard solid number to measure an amount of time to give consistent effort towards my personal lifestyle blog website. Mind you, I started wondering this within the first week of my 12-week blog action plan. And I don’t even mean at the end of the first week, I mean mid-week, I’m over here thinking, “okay… is this website idea logical? Or, is this not a good niche nor route to take at all? How do I know if I should continue doing what I’m doing on my blog?”
Why 6 Months? This gives you time to produce enough content, test different strategies, and allow search engines to start ranking your pages. However, patience is key—many successful blogs take 12-18 months to see significant growth.
5. Set Measurable Milestones
Occasionally checking blog website metrics for signs of progression is a way to know if your blog is working. | image: Squarespace analytics for personal lifestyle blog aroundLAwithTK.com
Monthly Growth Goals: Set realistic goals for impressions, keyword rankings, and organic traffic. If you’re consistently seeing growth (even small), it’s a sign to keep going.
Content Goals: Commit to a content schedule, e.g., 2-4 posts per week, and evaluate after six months if you’re seeing improved traffic or rankings.
6. Be Open to Adjustments Without Changing Course Too Soon
Content Tweaks: Before considering a full pivot, experiment with different post types (e.g., listicles, guides, opinion pieces) or optimize older content for keywords you’re close to ranking for.
Feedback Loop: Engage your audience (social media, email subscribers) to see what resonates and adjust your content strategy based on their feedback.
Know When to Pivot
Though we’re in a social media era of toxic positivity, where delulu is the solulu and every person with a smartphone and access to the Internet can earn $10,000 tomorrow by starting to post on Instagram today, in the world of reality, every business idea isn’t a viable one.
Simply because you build something does not mean they will come.
How do I know when to call it quits with my blog?
If, after 6-12 months, your content isn’t gaining any traction (no impressions, clicks, or engagement), it may be time to reconsider either your niche or your approach.
Evaluate Audience Fit: Sometimes the niche is viable, but the content doesn’t match what the audience is searching for. A minor pivot in content style or angle may yield better results.
In summary, give your blog at least 6 months of consistent effort within your chosen niche, using that time to gather data and refine your strategy. If you’re seeing even small signs of growth, it’s likely worth sticking with your niche while optimizing your content and SEO strategy.
Riders, I’m riding.
It’s not a great sign that only two weeks into my 12-week content creation action plan (which I’ll have to repeat before I’m at the suggested 6-month mark for reevaluation) that I’m already questioning what I’m doing. Pas bon. Pas du tout. Mais, I’m going to stick with it. I’m riding this thing out — at the very least, I will complete my 12-week action plan for blog content creation.
I really want to quit, yeah.. I guess I wrote this blog post about figuring out if your blog niche is viable to convince myself that my blog niche is viable and to keep going to see its vitality. Aie aie aie! It’s 10 o’clock at night and I haven’t gotten my 10,000 steps in for the day. Oh uhnt uhn!
This blog post about blog posts has already been 3 work days in the making. I’ve said all I can say about blog niche viability and riding it out. I’ve convinced myself as much as I can convince myself.. Oh, this isn’t quite within the niche of biker babe, is it? And I’m sitting here saying how I’m going to prioritize and focus on lifestyle content related to being a girl that bikes around LA, but spent three different writing sessions reading, writing and researching about writing.. blogging.. I mean, the biker babe is a blogger.. Girl, I’m sick. No, for real, tomorrow, I’m back on it with the around LA biker babe blogging. I did work a “TK’s choice blog” slot into my weekly content calendar though, just saying; I knew if I wanted to stick to publishing 4 pieces of content per week up for 12 weeks, I’d have to give myself a little budge room.
Girl, my eyelids keep trying to meet. I don’t even have images added.. Well, Unsplash it is. This blog about blogging has worn me out.. or maybe it was the 8am hot yoga on less than 6 hours of sleep and no midday nap to make up for it. Now my head is starting to hurt. Why am I still sitting here? ..Oh baby, no, I have 8am yoga tomorrow before my 10am French class.. I need them 8 hours of sleep tonight. Ahhhhh, I need 6,000 more steps!! (Ten-thousand steps really isn’t a difficult goal to meet when you’re not sitting at a desk all day [side-eye]).
Okay, if by the rare phenomenon that any other eyes than mine happen to read this blog post AND make it to the end, you must be my friend. Nah, you really might love me.. wanna buy me a coffee? If so, my Venmo is @tekeyakrystal. (Though I find that a bit cheesy, I’m a long ways away from making money blogging, so hey, who am I to stop someone from blessing me for the quality content I provide?)
Thank you for riding, Riders.
