7 Mindset Shifts for Beginner Bloggers

In this article you’ll learn seven essential mindset shifts you need to make before starting your blog.

I’m sure you’ll agree with me that you want to get your new blog and online business started on the right foot.

Fortunately, as someone who’s been in the blogging world for awhile, I’ve figured out seven of the essential mindset shifts to make before getting started.

So, let’s “get your mind right” and save you some frustration before you forge ahead on your new endeavor.

Already well on your way?

If you’re already well on your way, don’t worry! Take a look at the seven mindset shifts below and see if some of these can you help you right now.

Mindset Shifts for Blogging Success

The mindset shifts below will help you to take your blogging business seriously and position you well to move forward with success!

1. Treat Your Blog as a Business

A lot of the information you read online about blogging tends to gloss over this.

It’s more fun and sexy to talk about the benefits of starting a blogging business and the lifestyle freedom it can give you.

But, as soon as you make your first penny blogging, the government considers you a business whether you like it or not.

Now I don’t know about you, but I’m not one for trying to hide what I do from the government!

With that said, it’s much better to be aware of this and learn what it means to be in business where you live.

In most cases you’ll find that it’s a lot less work than you might think. And sometimes there’s financial benefits as well.

If you’re in the USA, start by looking into your state requirements for doing business. There’s also some great resources on the Small Business Administration website.

If you want to make it easy on yourself and are willing to pay a bit of money, contact a nearby business attorney who can help you set everything up.

But, above all else, don’t ignore this!

2. Passive Income Comes After Doing the Hard Work

One of the great things about starting an online business is that you can make an income without having to trade time for money.

I especially like affiliate marketing for this, since sales happen as a result of work you’ve already done with your blog.

But, notice I said “work you’ve already done.”

The reality is that you need to spend a lot of time up front to make passive income later on.

You’ll need to start your blog, get your systems in place, create content and a whole lot more before you actually start making money.

And honestly, these things take a lot of time and effort.

So, be ready to commit to some hard work first before expecting to make money with your blog.

3. Avoid Shiny Object Syndrome

The more involved into blogging you get, the more you’ll realize there’s a lot of different strategies you can follow to be successful. And each one will seem better than the next!

That’s what Shiny Object Syndrome is… Jumping from one thing to another without finishing what you’ve started, because the newest thing seems more shiny and better than the last.

The best advice I can give on this is to spend some time upfront learning as much as you can. But, limit that time to just a few days. Maybe one week max.

Then, after that, pick the strategies and systems that make the most sense for you. And stick with them!

This also includes the online experts that you follow. Find just a few that truly demonstrate they know what they’re talking about. The more experts you follow, the more emails (and opinions) you’ll get. And, the more confused you’ll get.

Plus, it also leads to more and more time consuming content versus creating content. You want to create more than you consume!

So, do your research quickly, commit to your choices and stay focused on them while you build your business.

4. Be Yourself

The next mindset shift I’d like to talk about is to just be yourself.

The reality is that there’s probably already someone doing the same thing you want to do.

The good news is you don’t have to let that stop you from starting an online business in a similar niche.

By virtue of being the unique person you are, your unique voice and way of doing things will naturally stand out.

That’s what will set you apart from everyone else in the same niche or selling a similar product!

So be sure to add your own voice to your content. Write your blog posts in a way that sounds like the way you naturally talk to people. Let your personality shine through!

I see a lot of beginners that try to appear very “corporate” online. They end up looking very generic and frankly make people wonder if there’s a real person behind the brand or just some scammer looking to make a buck.

So, just let your true and real self come through in what you do. Those that dig your vibe will naturally be attracted to you. Those that don’t, won’t, but that’s OK.

5. Pick One Platform to Focus On to Drive Traffic

As you start writing blog posts, you’re obviously going to want people to come and read them.

But getting people to visit your website (i.e. get traffic to your site) takes some work. Unfortunately, it’s not “just build it and they will come.”

One thing to do to get people to visit your site is to drive traffic from external platforms.

By external platforms I mean places like Facebook, Google, Instagram and Pinterest (among others).

Much like the shiny object issue I mentioned above, being active on many different platforms can really spread yourself thin.

You end up doing just a mediocre job on several platforms versus doing a great job on just one.

So…. Pick one platform to focus on when driving traffic. OK, maybe two if you’re a hustler!

Stay focused on that one platform and get good at it.

Make sure your audience is actually located on the platform you pick. For example, you’re not going to find many older men on Pinterest since the demographic on that platform is mostly younger women.

But, once you’ve got that figured out, focus on the platform that resonates best with you.

Maybe you’re a food blogger, for example. Pinterest or Instagram are great visual platforms where food pictures do well.

Then, work that one platform hard to get visitors back to your site.

6. Be Consistent

If you want to be successful with blogging and online business, you need to keep showing up again and again. And on a regular schedule so people can depend on you.

This means you need to be consistent with your blog posting schedule (weekly for example), your email marketing and driving traffic.

Staying top of mind with your audience and followers is important.

The truth is, you’re going to be competing with many others and if you don’t stay top of mind you’ll be forgotten about quickly.

So, don’t let a lot of time go by between blog posts, social posts and emails to your subscribers. And, don’t keep changing the frequency of how often you show up.

Just be consistent.

7. Don’t Neglect SEO

I don’t see this last one talked about much as a mindset shift, but I think it’s very important for the long game of your business.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of making your content rank high in the search results on platforms like Google, Bing, Pinterest, YouTube and others.

Here’s the thing… With social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, your posts have a very short life. Sometimes just minutes!

But with the search engine platforms, if you can get your content to rank well, your content can be seen over and over again based on what someone is searching for.

This is very powerful for the longevity of your content and getting traffic to your website.

So, don’t neglect SEO for your blog.

Believe me, once your content starts ranking, the amount of effort you need to put into driving traffic to your site diminishes greatly!

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this post on mindset shifts for beginner bloggers!

Hopefully, you learned some new things and are now on the right track to build your blogging business.

As a recap, here’s the seven essential mindset shifts for beginner bloggers:

Treat Your Blog as a Business.
Passive Income Comes After Doing the Hard Work.
Avoid Shiny Object Syndrome.
Be Yourself.
Pick One Platform to Focus On to Drive Traffic.
Be Consistent.
Don’t Neglect SEO.