How will I be different from others? Not just experience and quality! How are you really different from them? Why should clients choose you?

Only when you clearly articulate the answers to these questions will you be able to start a blog that will not only take up your time, but also be useful. It can be successfully monetized or strengthen your own personal brand. Plus, a promoted profile always brings new opportunities and offers.

How to create a personal blog on Instagram: step-by-step instructions

Choosing a blog topic

Depending on your goals, decide on the topic. It should be of interest not only to you, although this is also important, but also be relevant to your target audience. Think about what kind of subscribers you want to see on your profile, and then assume what topics might hook them.

Find blogs with similar topics and research them. Note that on Instagram, these are not only direct competitors, but also those with whom you are competing for the attention of your target audience. For example, if you are going to promote hair services and write about beauty, you need to analyze not only the blogs of masters with similar services, but also pages that in principle write about the beauty sphere.

In order to build off the competition, try to find your own niche. Do not be afraid to take narrow topics – this way, on the contrary, you will be able to attract a higher quality audience. For example, instead of a psychologist “for all hands”, you can blog “family psychologist”. Instead of a “stylist for everyone,” position yourself as a “stylist who dresses moms.”

Creating a new account

Many times I’ve seen users change the topic and format of the same blog several times. They’re sorry to lose their established audience and think it’s easier that way. But think about this. Suppose you used to write book reviews, and now you’ve decided to blog about marketing. What makes you think your old audience would be interested in a new topic?

Most likely, many people will start unsubscribing from your profile, Instagram algorithms will consider your blog as uninteresting and will start to show it less. In addition, there are always risks that there may be some blocking on the old profile. That’s why, more often than not, I still recommend creating separate pages for new purposes. Although, of course, there are different situations. First, register a page in Instagram and convert it to the format “Personal Blog”.

• Go to your profile, open the settings and select “Account”.
• At the very bottom of the list, click “Switch to Professional Account.

When selecting your profile type, specify “Business” and select the “Personal Blog” category.

• Specify the contact information you think you need. You can change or add them at any time.
• Link your Facebook page. If you don’t plan to promote your profile with targeted advertising in the near future, you can click “Don’t link to Facebook” for now.

Note that you can select any category you like. For the most part, it does not affect anything.

Personal blog layout

In order for the profile to work, you need to “package” it properly. Before you start working on attracting new subscribers, make sure that your page is ready to receive “guests”. Pay attention to the following points.

Your nickname should be simple and easy to read.

Try to use one or two words. A minimum of dots and underlines. Ideally, the nickname should be memorable and associated with your field or positioning.

These are good examples: @style.mom.

This one’s not so good:  @457525sharipat.

The avatar is bright and high quality.

Since Instagram is first and foremost a social network, your personal, positive photo that shows your face well is best for an avatar. Even if you have a very nice logo, but no one knows it and it won’t tell users anything, putting it on an avatar makes no sense.

Name

The line “name”, the line in bold should contain key queries that you can be searched for.

Only this line affects the formation of the search and the list of results. So you do not need to be original here, you just need to work with the most popular queries.

Profile header

Should include your unique selling proposition and offer (an offer that works right now).

I also recommend bringing out an individual author hashtag, which will allow users to immediately see your best work or most important posts. Use verbs in your wording: tell, teach, show, do, etc.

Header contains non-author hashtags, non-clickable phone number, no unique offer

Links

Active links to messengers, website or multilink.

With a clickable link, you can specify a convenient way to communicate and provide information that your subscribers or customers might find useful.

One of the most common ways is to put a link on WhatsApp.

Here’s a good example of a link: wa.me/79991111111

You can simply replace the digits of the number with your own and set it to your profile in the “site” field. When you click on the subscribers will be immediately redirected to a conversation with you on Whatsapp.

But this is not good: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=79991111111

This link is too long and will look ugly on the blog. You can make it more “pretty” with any link shortening service.

Profile menu (topical stories)

These are clickable circles where you can save the storis you want. They can contain all the information for potential clients and subscribers. For example, reviews, price, description of services, work process, recommendations for choice, behind-the-scenes.

How do I create a menu of pinned posts?

This menu is called “Highlights. Some people call it “eternal posts,” while others call it “Highlights,” but their essence doesn’t change. There can be as many “eternal” posts as you want. You can adjust the number, edit names and choose covers of your own taste.

To create a new circle, go to a storis you’ve already published and click “Highlight” in the bottom right corner:

In the window that appears, write the title that will appear on the Instagram page. If you don’t fill in the name, the default name will remain “Highlights”:

How to make covers

To make your profile menu match the visual concept of the whole page, you can add your own covers for eternal storis. To do this, either use the most common pictures or create special ones. For example, there is such functionality in the Canva app.

• To replace the cover, go to the existing circle and click on “More” in the lower right corner:
• Select “Edit Current.”

Here you can edit the name of the mug or insert the desired cover art:

What to write on your personal blog: 10 ideas to start with

In order for all content (posts, photos and storis) to be united by a common idea and lead your profile toward a goal, it makes sense to make a content plan in advance. Here are some post ideas to get you started.

Introductory post

To an outsider reader, it doesn’t make much difference whether you’re a blogger or a clothing brand. In both cases, they are interested in you because you can do some good. Benefit isn’t just education or advice. Having a laugh is a benefit. Finding out how you’ve organized a family trip, of course, is, too.

So write in this text not so much about yourself, but about what you will be useful for.

Post Instruction

Any instruction can be written dryly, or you can be creative and fun. Choose your format depending on the goals of the blog. Either way, if the topic is relevant to your subscribers, such posts go down a treat.

Before/after post

Tell your subscribers what results can be achieved by using your product or service. You can use an example from your own experience or describe a customer’s story.

Useful kit

Put together a useful selection of books, a list of must-have products for the road, or anything else relevant to your topic. Posts like these always retain very well.

Checklist

This is a checklist post to help subscribers prepare for an event or check themselves/their actions.

Post Story

Stories are always read more readily than regular text. They are memorable and easier to absorb. You can tell a personal story that will reveal some of your positive qualities, or describe a story about your clients – the main thing is that it fits harmoniously with the subject of the blog and evokes the right emotions.

Expert post

Such posts allow you to demonstrate to your subscribers what you understand about your subject. The most important thing is that the post should contain your personal opinion on the issue, and not general recommendations that everyone already knows.

Backstory post

Show us what’s going on inside. How do you create your products? How do you provide your services? That’s interesting and raises the credibility level. You can shoot a video and speed it up in the editing application.

Post a testimonial or case study

Take any feedback from a customer and “re-shape” it into a story. Tell why the client came to you, what were his expectations, what he got in the end. Attach screenshots of the feedback to the carousel.

Selling post

Tell about your services or products, describe their features, benefits and benefits to subscribers. Think of an interesting pitch, add comparisons, a mini-story.

Do not forget that the posts can and should be supplemented with interesting posts, live broadcasts and video IGTV.

Conclusion

Once you have completely “packed” your profile – thought through the visual concept, designed your profile header, filled your personal blog on Instagram with useful and interesting content, you can move on to promotion.

Yes, you can’t do it without it too, because subscribers and clients won’t come just like that, the times of organic growth are long gone. To make your personal blog known, it makes sense to think about advertising: targeting, bloggers, cross-promotion, mailing lists, etc. But this is a topic for a separate article.