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 youโre a blogging beginner? ๐ค
#Fakeittillyoumakeit, baby!
You need to set yourself up for blogging success. So Iโm going to tell you the 10 ways to create a professional blog.
Hereโs what weโre going to cover:
โข Branding
โข Website Set Up
โข Blog Design
โข Text & Grammar
With these strategies, youโll be well on your way to becoming a rockstar 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 TweetBRANDING: Professional Bloggers Need Proper Branding
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 youโre 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.
2. Create a Professional Logo
If youโre 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 Donโt Look Like a Beginner Blogger
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. Theyโre 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 thatโs the kind of blog you want to have too if you donโt 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, youโll need a top-notch, reliable web host provider. I personally use (and highly recommend) SiteGround hosting.
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. Itโs the theme I use for this blog and love! Iโll 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.
Iโm 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.
*Psstโฆ you can get 10% off Elegant Themes and get access to everything!
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 donโt 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
7. Use High-Quality Images and Graphics
As a blogger, youโll need to use images and graphics, whether itโs 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 youโre a member! Another option is stock photos from Depositphotos.
8. Use a Lot of White Space
You donโt 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 blogโs 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
9. Break Up Your Text
Let me ask you a questionโฆ 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, โHow 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 โxโ of the browser tab to close out the blog post because youโve given up and want to move on to something else that doesnโt require such a time commitment.
Or would you prefer a super short paragraph thatโs only a few sentences long? Isnโt 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
Weโre all human and make grammar mistakes from time to time. But youโll make a heck of lot less typos with Grammarly. Itโs 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 youโll 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! ๐
Got questions about blogging or starting a blog? Ask away! Seriouslyโฆ leave your questions in a comment below, and Iโll answer them.
Leave a question or comment here!
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This is so nicely written! Thanks for sharing all your tips!
Thanks, Komal! I hope these tips help you rock your blog!
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.
So glad you stumbled upon my post, Matthew! I hope it helps you in developing your blog.
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.
Thank you, Whitney! Really appreciate your comment and am so glad you found it helpful!
These are great tips! Thanks for sharing๐
Thanks, Binet! Hope they help! ๐
Ver insightful and useful information.
So glad you found it useful, Trina! ๐
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
Thanks, Delaney! Better late than never. ๐ 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.
These tips are so helpful! As a newer blogger, I’ll definitely be using some!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that, Kara! I really hope these tips help you with your blogging journey.
Excellent tips! Definitely going to refer to this in the future!
Thank you, Priscilla! I hope these tips help you with your own blog.
Loves all your tips on becoming a better blogger. Thank you!
Awww… thanks, Jessie! I’m so happy to hear that you found the tips helpful.
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!
Exactly! It’s so true! You have to believe in yourself for others to believe in you too. Glad to hear you agree, Emily! ๐
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!
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!