5 Things to do before starting Professional Blog

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Blogging has evolved from a running account of personal lives since late 1990s. It has now become a means of running business & earning money in this century. With the evolution of the internet and IT, people across the globe are realizing the potential of blogging and how
to leverage it for betterment of their lives.
It takes time to develop a blog for earning purpose. For that you need to prepare well for your journey. Just like a swimmer needs to learn how to swim in the water, a blogger must understand how he would go about lucre success through blogging. As the great inventor, Alexander Graham Bell once quoted, "Before anything else, preparation is the key to success." If you are prepared you can achieve it.
Lets check out important things to do before starting with your Professional Blog:

1. Narrow down your topic 

You need to understand what exactly you are going to write about. You need to be very clear about this. Choose a topic/niche which you are passionate about or that interests you the most. Your passion & interest will help you fuel your blogging in tough times. It can be hard sometimes to find out what you really want to write about. This thing require a little brainstorming or maybe asking your friends or colleagues who know you well to narrow it down for you.

Related Posts: "How to find your blogging niche"

2. Selecting the right blogging platform

There are numerous blogging platforms available on the internet. If you are starting new, blogger is best for you and if you are planning to make it a professional blog (earn lots of money) you might want to migrate to wordpress self-hosted after you get familiar with blogging. If you are already familiar with blogging, you might want to start with wordpress self-hosting. Blogging and wordpress, both has pros & cons. You may also not migrate to wordpress and stick to blogger if you want to. Wordpress is slightly better for those who have some technical knowledge about blogging or technical bend of mind.

3. Target audience 

Deciding your target audience is the most important aspect for your blog reach new heights. You need to understand the people whom this blog is meant for. If it is related to technology, your target audience can be tech. people who are interested in, if it is related to cooking, your target audience can be housewives & chefs primarily. Explore and decide for whom this blog is meant and develop your blog along those lines.

4. Competition 

Check out other blogs in your niche. If you like a blog a lot, then observe why this blog attracts you. You might be able to comprehend lot of new & interesting ideas for own blog. I'm not saying just go on copy other blogs, that would be bizarre. You can draw some inspiration though.
Ask questions like, what different you are going to do? What valuable or what value you are giving to your viewers? What extra can you do? How to create your brand or your blog's brand? What is your strength or core-competency or uniqueness which separates you from the rest of the crowd?

5. Don't waste time

"The best time to start was 10 years back and the second best time is now." Don't get caught up with too much research. When you actually get into blogging, just figure out what will be your next step, doesn't matter if it is as small as deciding to put a widget in your sidebar or maybe deciding to change your entire theme for good, and then ask how will you do it. You will grow in your subject and blogging as you get deeper into it. 

List of topics that you can write about.