10 Ways to Look Like a Professional Blogger (Even When Youโ€™re Brand New)

by | March 2021 | 26 comments

So you want to be a professional blogger. Is that right? 

Well, friend, to become a blogging pro, you first need to start with a professional-looking, eye-pleasing, well-designed, and well-written blog.

Makes sense, right? But how do you do all that? How can you look like a professional blogger even when youโ€™re a blogging beginner? ๐Ÿค”

#Fakeittillyoumakeit, baby!

You need to set yourself up for blogging success. So Iโ€™m going to tell you the 10 ways to create a professional blog.

Hereโ€™s what weโ€™re going to cover:

โ€ข Branding

โ€ข Website Set Up

โ€ข Blog Design

โ€ข Text & Grammar

With these strategies, youโ€™ll be well on your way to becoming a rockstar blogger!

How To Look Like a Professional Blogger Even When You're Brand New to Blogging and a Beginner Blogger

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How To Look Like a Professional Blogger

New to blogging? #Fakeittillyoumakeit with these 10 Ways to Look Like a Professional Blogger (even when you're brand new)! #bloggingforbeginners #howtostartablog #blogging Click To Tweet

BRANDING: Professional Bloggers Need Proper Branding

Coolors Brand Colors for Next Destination Unknown

1. Choose Your Brand Colors

Branding is one of the first steps for creating an identity for your blog. Start with your brand colors by choosing a color palette that represents the mood youโ€™re trying to evoke.

You can use a free color schemes generator for inspiration to help choose your color palette. Then stay consistent with your brand colors throughout your blog.

Canva Logo Templates

2. Create a Professional Logo

If youโ€™re a DIY kinda person, you can use Canva to create your logo. There are hundreds of free logo templates that are completely customizable.

Creative Market also has logo templates, over 98,000 to be exact! Rather not try to create your own logo? You can hire someone to design a professional logo if you prefer to go that route.

You may also like: How to Easily Start a Self-Hosted WordPress Blog in 5 Steps

WEBSITE: Set Your Website Up for Success So You Donโ€™t Look Like a Beginner Blogger

Free WhoisGuard with Every Domain Purchase at Namecheap

3. Use a .com Domain Name

A .com domain name is the most professional option. It makes your site look legit and you look like a professional blogger. I use Namecheap for all my domain names. Theyโ€™re affordable, have a user-friendly interface, and provide free domain privacy protection (score!).

You may also like: How to Choose the Best Blog Name and Get a Matching Domain Name

4. Go with Self-Hosted WordPress

Most professional bloggers have a self-hosted WordPress blog. So thatโ€™s the kind of blog you want to have too if you donโ€™t want to look like a blogging beginner.

You can start from scratch and create your own self-hosted WordPress blog. Or if you already have a free WordPress.com blog, go ahead and convert it to self-hosted WordPress.org.

*FYI: To self-host your WordPress blog, youโ€™ll need a top-notch, reliable web host provider. I personally use (and highly recommend) SiteGround hosting.

Divi WordPress Theme

5. Use a Premium WordPress Theme

There are plenty of free WordPress themes out there. But you want to have a professional WordPress theme, one that will grow with your blog and let you fully customize it without having to no coding.

If you want to be a professional blogger, the best WordPress theme is the Divi Theme by Elegant Themes. Itโ€™s the theme I use for this blog and love! Iโ€™ll admit, there is a bit of a learning curve with using it. But the customer support is super helpful! They have excellent how-to articles as well.

Iโ€™m also a big fan of the Elegant Themes premium plugins included with the Divi Theme: the Bloom email opt-in plugin and the Monarch social sharing plugin.

*Psstโ€ฆ you can get 10% off Elegant Themes and get access to everything!

WP Rocket - WordPress Caching Plugin

6. Optimize Your Site Speed

Have you ever visited a site that buffered for what seemed like forever, got tired of waiting for it to load, and then just closed out of it? You donโ€™t want your blog visitors to go through that. 

So make sure you optimize your site speed so it loads quickly. You can easily do this with the WP Rocket WordPress plugin, one of the best blogging tools you can use! A lightning fast site is sure to make you look like a professional blogger.

You may also like: 10 Free Essential Plugins to Use for Your WordPress Blog

BLOG DESIGN: The Look of Your Blog Will Have You Looking Like a Professional Blogger

Canva Stock Photos

7. Use High-Quality Images and Graphics

As a blogger, youโ€™ll need to use images and graphics, whether itโ€™s for your blog design, blog posts, emails, social media, the list goes on. For example, you should break up your blog post text with images to create more interest. 

But you want to make sure you use high-quality images and graphics. So where do you find them? 

Canva Pro is my fave design tool and includes THOUSANDS of premium stock images you can use for free when youโ€™re a member! Another option is stock photos from Depositphotos.

8. Use a Lot of White Space

You donโ€™t want your blog looking busy and overwhelming for your audience. By using a good amount of white space, your blog will look clean with a minimal design.

A white background is the most professional and the easiest on the eyes. You may be tempted to use a fun color or pattern for your blogโ€™s background. But stick with white, and lots of it!

You may also like: The Blog Investments You Need To Make When You Start a Blog

TEXT & GRAMMAR: Professional Blogs Require Proper Writing

Hemingway App for Shortening Paragraphs and Sentences

9. Break Up Your Text

Let me ask you a questionโ€ฆ Would you rather read a page-long paragraph where the sentences all blur together? It just goes on and on and never seems to end. You wonder, โ€œHow much more of this do I have to read to get through this paragraph and on to the next one? Will I ever finish this blog post?โ€ Your eyes start to lose focus, your mind starts to wander (what am I eating for lunch today???), and the next thing you know, your mouse is heading to the โ€œxโ€ of the browser tab to close out the blog post because youโ€™ve given up and want to move on to something else that doesnโ€™t require such a time commitment.

Or would you prefer a super short paragraph thatโ€™s only a few sentences long? Isnโ€™t this tiny little paragraph so much better for reading and keeping your attention?

Everyone has limited attention spans these days. Your blog posts will be easier for your audience to read (and keep them on your blog longer) if you break them up into smaller, easier-to-digest paragraphs.

The free Hemingway App is one of my fave blogging tools for writing. It will help you break up your sentences, which in turn will also help you break up your paragraphs.

10. Use Proper Grammar

Weโ€™re all human and make grammar mistakes from time to time. But youโ€™ll make a heck of lot less typos with Grammarly. Itโ€™s free, and the Chrome extension is super handy!

I seriously use Grammarly every time I type something โ€“ blog posts, emails, social media posts, and more. The better your grammar is, the more youโ€™ll look like a professional blogger!

You may also like: Top 5 Free Blog Writing Tools to Help You Write Better

Wrapping Up 10 Ways to Look Like a Professional Blogger

And there you have it. Those 10 ways to make your blog look professional will take you from blogging beginner zero to professional blogger hero! ๐Ÿ†

Got questions about blogging or starting a blog? Ask away! Seriouslyโ€ฆ leave your questions in a comment below, and Iโ€™ll answer them.

Leave a question or comment here!

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This post may contain affiliate links or links to Amazon. If you choose to purchase anything through these links, I may earn a commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting me and my blog. Youโ€™re the best! See the full disclosure for details.

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Hey there! I’m Briana, a blogger, hiker, traveller, RVer, photo-taker, and National Parks lover who is passionate about exploring the great outdoors while practicing clean living for a healthier lifestyle to continue doing the things I live for. My goal is to inspire others to live a life focused on wellbeing and wandering. Join me!

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26 Comments

  1. Komal Singh

    This is so nicely written! Thanks for sharing all your tips!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks, Komal! I hope these tips help you rock your blog!

      Reply
      • Matthew Justin

        Great post. I’m a new blogger and still trying to design my blog the way I want it. But this post points me in the right direction. Thank you.

        Reply
        • Briana Nickas

          So glad you stumbled upon my post, Matthew! I hope it helps you in developing your blog.

          Reply
  2. Whitney Woodley

    Wow!!!!! This is some very useful information for not only bloggers but anyone creating a website! Number 1 really stood out to me because I had to question my own website. Do I even have brand colors that stand out? Thank you for sharing this info with us.

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thank you, Whitney! Really appreciate your comment and am so glad you found it helpful!

      Reply
  3. Binet

    These are great tips! Thanks for sharing๐Ÿ˜Š

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      So glad you found it useful, Trina! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  4. Chris

    Thank you so much for taking the time to write this post. Those are some great tips. Long paragraphs do indeed make it hard to read a blog post, that’s for sure. I use the free version of Grammarly, which I love. I might have to invest in the paid version for its extra features one of these days.

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks for taking the time to read the post, Chris! I also use (and LOVE) Grammarly! I don’t know where I’d be without it.

      I also like the free Hemingway App to help with breaking up sentences as I tend to write long, complicated sentences, which turn into long paragraphs.

      Have you tried the Hemingway App yet? I went ahead and added it to this post for tip #9. Thanks for the reminder!

      Reply
  5. Asavari Awasthi

    I really am trying to work on point 9 for my own blog. Great points! You offer some really nice guidance for bloggers who are beginning their journey.

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      I really appreciate that, Asavari! I always loved English as a subject in school and was taught that paragraphs should be 3-5 sentences long.

      So it was a tough habit for me to break to make shorter paragraphs. But I think it makes a huge difference for blog readers as I appreciate short paragraphs when I’m reading other blogs myself.

      Reply
  6. Delaney

    So many great tips here! I especially like your tip about breaking up your text. I wish I had known that when I first started!! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks, Delaney! Better late than never. ๐Ÿ˜‰ There are so many things I wish I had done differently with my early blog posts.

      Maybe I’ll get around to updating them (eventually). But for now, I just keep plugging away moving forward, constantly trying to improve.

      Reply
  7. Kara Madeline

    These tips are so helpful! As a newer blogger, I’ll definitely be using some!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Yay! I’m so happy to hear that, Kara! I really hope these tips help you with your blogging journey.

      Reply
  8. Priscilla

    Excellent tips! Definitely going to refer to this in the future!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thank you, Priscilla! I hope these tips help you with your own blog.

      Reply
  9. Jessie

    Loves all your tips on becoming a better blogger. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Awww… thanks, Jessie! I’m so happy to hear that you found the tips helpful.

      Reply
  10. Emily Young

    Great article! I really believe in the fake it till you make it mindset, the more confident you appear, the more people will believe in you!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Exactly! It’s so true! You have to believe in yourself for others to believe in you too. Glad to hear you agree, Emily! ๐Ÿ˜Š

      Reply
  11. Meg Stewart

    Such simple but super effective advice! I took a break from my blog to survive 2020 as I put it and cancelled my premium WordPress and other things to save money and it makes a difference when you have the right tools. Getting back into the swing of things slowly and glad I came across this!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks for sharing, Meg! To be honest, I took several months off from blogging myself. 2020 was definitely a challenge with 2021 having it’s own challenges as well.

      Sometimes you need to take a step back to take a breather, re-evaluate, find new inspiration, and get motivated again. And that’s okay! In fact, it’s healthy to take a break now and then.

      If and when you’re ready to dive back in, it will be there waiting for you. I’m so glad you found this post helpful for getting back into blogging!

      Reply
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