10 Things to Do on First Day of Your New Blog

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Did you start a new blog recently? Or Do you plan to start a new Long-Term Blog? Or Are you already running a long-term blog?

I can sense a YES from you!!

Great!!

But do you really know how to start a long-term blog properly?

Well, there are certain things to be taken care of, even after setting up the blog on WordPress (or any other CMS).

In this article, I will be explaining all such tasks required to start a new blog properly.

Let me also tell you that If you skip these things, you might lose a lot of indirect revenue, data and value.

So, take it seriously and make sure to follow all these things on every blog you start.

10 Things that must be Followed after Starting Every New Website

There are many things, but I will be listing only the ones that are important and skipped by many people.

1. Set Up All Important Pages

No matter what niche you select, it is always important to have certain pages on your blog.

These pages include;

  • Disclaimer (affiliate disclaimers)
  • Terms of Service (if you provide services)
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise (Can be set up later) 

Though most of these pages are not very much relevant to your readers, but, it is still necessary to have them on your blog.

In fact, having these pages on your blog makes it easier to get Approved by AdSense or other ad networks.

Moreover, publishing such pages is not a tough task. You can use a plugin called WP Freshstart to Automatically add all these pages to your blog.

Or you can simply create them manually.

The content of such pages are pretty much the same and you can use an online tool to generate content for pages like Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. 

The contact us page can be easily set up using contact form 7 plugin.

Anyways, once done make sure to link these pages to your website’s Menu bar, Sidebar or Footer.

2. Set up Social Sharing Plugin

Social networks drive a lot of traffic!!! In fact, for a new blog, social shares can be really helpful to drive some initial views/readers.

But for all this, you need to have social sharing button spread over your blog. All your blog posts must have sharing buttons that let your readers share your content.

Now the question is, how to enable social sharing?

Well, there are many ways!!

If you use a well-designed theme, it is pretty much possible that social sharing options are inbuilt into your theme. So you can directly use those options.

Otherwise, you can use any free/paid plugin as per your requirements. I use SUMO, Monarch, Easy Social Share, etc on my blogs.

Note: It is advisable to show sharing buttons on at least 2 positions in a blog post. 

Note: Do not fall for paid plugins unless necessary.

3. Set up Analytics and Webmaster Tools

Analytics lets you track your website traffic while webmaster tools allow you to index your website on various Search Engines.

Setting Up Analytics

Google Analytics is one of the best and most common tools to track your website traffic. To install, just open Analytics and set up your account using your website URL. You will be provided with a tracking code that you have to place in your website header. Once done, your analytics will be verified and you will start receiving traffic data.

This data is very useful to analyze and optimize website traffic.

Note: You can also use Clicky or Jetpack to track visitors. However, Google Analytics is recommended.

Setting Up Webmaster Tools

In order to get traffic from search engines, your website must be indexed by them. Webmaster Tools by Google Allows you to submit your sitemap and index your website on Google.

In the same manner, Bing has its own Webmaster tools.

So it is important for you to submit your blog to Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc using the webmaster tools.

4. Insert Facebook Pixel Code to your Blog

Do you know what is a Facebook Pixel??

Well, If your site has a pixel code and someone visits your blog, Facebook will record that person’s data. You can later show Facebook ads to the same person by targeting your pixel views on Facebook Advertising.

Here’s an extract from Hootsuite;

A Facebook pixel is code that you place on your website. It helps you track conversions from Facebook ads, optimize ads based on collected data, build targeted audiences for future ads, and remarket to qualified leads—people who have already taken some kind of action on your website.

So, how to add this code??

It is pretty simple…

Simply follow this video by WpBeginner to learn the entire process.

Though your new blog may not get that much of traffic, but it is really helpful to collect Pixel data from day 1.

So whenever you set up a proper long-term blog, make sure to follow this step.

5. Set Up a Backup of your Blog

Nothing is secure on the internet, Not even your own blog.

Your blog is something that you should always care about. Having a proper backup of your blog is really important these days, specially when many blogs are getting hacked every day.

Also, many of us mess up with the codes and lose the design of our blogs.

In all such cases, a simple backup can help you.

How to get a backup??

You can;

  • Purchase Backup from your Hosting Provider (Many companies offer free weekly backups)
  • Purchase an external Auto Backup Plugin
  • Manually Backup your Blog regularly
  • Use a Free Backup Plugin

Well, to be honest, don’t rely on your hosting provider for your blog backup.

Rather go for something that you can control yourself.

I use Jetpack Personal Plan (Vaultpress) for iftiSEO.com and some of my other blogs. It automatically takes a backup of your blog daily. And, it has no size limit as well. 😀

This way I don’t even have to worry about backups. The best thing is, It can restore backups with just one single click.

So, if you ask me, I will recommend you to go for the personal plan that costs $39 yearly for a single blog.

Apart from this, you can also use other backup plugins like;

  • UpdraftPlus
  • BackupBuddy
  • BackWPUp
  • Duplicator

And many more…

Most of these plugins are free but with some restrictions. Some of them have size limits while some doesn’t offer cloud backups for free.

Anyways, it’s up to you.

Just make sure you set up Backup for your blog!!

6. Set up Email Opt-in Forms

 

Do you know my biggest mistake in blogging?

Well, I never really utilized the power of Email Marketing!!!

Your blog subscribers are worth 100s of dollars if you utilize them properly.

That is why it is really important to put email opt-in forms on your blog. And not only forms but setting up email marketing solution is also important.

Creating and adding opt-in forms on your blog is not a tough task. There are many ways by which you can do so…

  • Use an Email Opt-in Plugin like Bloom, Hellobar, Sumo, etc
  • Use a Custom Coded Html Form
  • Create and Embed an Opt-in Form using your Email Marketing Solution.

On iftiSEO, I use Thrive and Bloom to collect emails!! Both of them are paid plugins.

If you are just starting up, opt for free plugins. You can use HelloBar, Sumo or any other free alternative.

On iftiCrypto, I am using a simple form made for free using MailerLite Email Marketing solution.

So, it doesn’t really cost anything!!

Make sure to put such forms throughout your blog. Collecting leads from day 1 will surely help you build a powerful audience.

Anyways, let’s move on to the next point.

7. Set Up Email Accounts for your Domain

When you are starting a website, you are essentially starting a business.

To contact your potential customers, clients or partners you will be needing an email address. Well, your Gmail or Yahoo account is something you should avoid.

For professional stuff, you will be needing an email address under your own domain name ([email protected]).

This may not be needed from day 1, but you never know when you may need it.

So its always recommended to have a few email accounts ready for your domain name.

You can create the following email accounts;

If you are an individual, you can simply create 1 account and use it for all purposes.

By the way, creating such email accounts is not a tough task;

If you use shared hosting, you can find email account option in your CPanel while if you are using a VPS like DigitalOcean, you can use ZohoMail or GSuite.

There are plenty of videos tutorials on Youtube about how to create such email accounts.

So, go ahead and make yours now 😉

8. Install all Important Plugins

There are some plugins that are needed on every site. It’s good to have all of them installed and activated from the first day itself.

Make sure you do the same. Here are some plugins that I usually install on every blog during WordPress setup;

  • Social Content Locker
  • ContactForm 7
  • W3 Total Cache
  • Table of Contents Plus
  • NoFollow
  • Akismet
  • WordFence
  • and a few more.

It depends upon your requirement. But make sure to have them installed right from the beginning.

9. Install SSL Certificate on your Domain

It’s no more a secret that Google prefers sites with active SSL certificates.

SSL is a certificate that makes your site look trusted in the eyes of Google as well the browser you use.

So, make sure to install an SSL Certificate on your new website.

Installing an SSL certificate is not a tough task anymore.

You can;

  • Install using Cloudflare – Takes less than a minute
  • Install from your Cpanel – 1 Click Installations
  • Install Manually – Takes less than 5 minutes

So, depending upon your level of understanding, you can use any method.

Let’s move on to the last point!!

10. Push Notifications

Ever seen such pop-ups asking you to allow Push Notifications??

Well, Push Notifications is a trend these days.

Push notifications are direct notifications that a webmaster can send to the browser of his readers. You can send both mobile and desktop notifications to your readers and thus it is probably the fastest way to let readers (subscribers) know about your latest blog post or update.

So, you can set up Push Notifications from Day 1 itself. This way you can collect all your readers from day 1. Having 1000s of push notification subscribers can help you get instant traffic to your articles.

Apart from that, you can also promote affiliate deals, offers or your own services using it.

Setting up push notifications is not a difficult task plus most of the services are free for starters. Wondering which service to pick? Well, check out the list of Best Push Notification Services for Websites/Blogs.

That’s it, guys.

These were the 10 things that must be done with every new blog.

Having all these things ready right from the beginning will help you focus on the main part (SEO and Content) and will keep you away from such distractions. Make a habit of following all this and you will never have to scratch your heard afterward.

About The Author
Iftekhar Ahmed
Iftekhar Ahmed is the owner of iftiSEO.com and writes on various topics like Online Earning, SEO, Blogging etc. He has worked on many blogs and also works as an SEO Analyst.

9 Responses

  1. Nice blog post about doing the checklist for the new blogs while creating. Nice steps informed good blog post keep the good work going.

  2. Hi Iftekhar,
    First I would like to thank you for sharing this and it was a good read. I am still new in blogging and still learning. Your blog is very helpful and I’m going to follow all the strategies that you have listed in this post.
    Keep Inspiring;-)

  3. You always write a masterpiece. I am doing blogging from a very long time but What did I used to do? I write only post… But after knowing all the things which you have mentioned, Now I am going to follow all the things…

  4. I’m a continuous reader of this blog. Really great post that you have shared Ifti sir, this will help to implement a new blog for beginners. Thank you.

  5. This is the best checklist that every newbie blogger don’t take it seriously in Initial phase. This is very important to have all these major stuff after launching the first blog. Thanks!

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