Are you a black LGBTQ person content creator looking to become the next big black gay blogger? Read below on the best ways to start a black gay blog.
Creating and maintaining a blog is not an easy task. I’ve noticed that in the blogging world there aren’t too many gay black bloggers. I believe that queer black voices are important and that more of us need our online platform to talk about the topics affecting the black gay community including the HIV/AIDS epidemic, mental health, and homosexuality. And so I created this blog post on how to start and grow a black gay blog.
How to create an amazing black gay blog
1. Find a domain name
A domain name is your website name. It should reflect your passion and interests or your brand. I chose the domain name menwhobrunch.com because I’m a man that loves to brunch. Other gay men enjoy brunch and since gay men are my audience I felt themenwhobrunch.com would be easily recognizable. Granted you may come up with a domain that is similar to others. Just remember you’re truly unique.
2. Choose a self-hosting platform
Ok, you may get a brain fart as I explain this concept so I won’t get too much in-depth. A self-hosting platform is a website that you pay to view your website. A nonself hosting website on the other hand is free such as Wix and Tumblr. As a professional blogger, you should NOT ever use a non-self-hosting platform. I made the mistake of doing that and had to recreate my entire website after 2 years worth of content.
By using a self-hosted web platform you save more than a hundred dollars a year to customize your website. I use the self-hosting website Hostgator and I pay at most about $7/month. When I used WordPress.com, a non self-hosting website, I paid more than $180 for their business plan.
You’ll also be able to make monetize your blog through self-hosting. You can work with brands, get sponsorships, and collaborate with ad agencies. A non-self hosting website won’t give you all those options.
The most important thing to know about a self-hosting website is that you have full ownership of my Kim
Overall, self-hosting is the best route to go if you want to start your own black gay blog. There are tons of self-hosting sites like Hostgator and Bluehost.
3. Find a niche
Find what you’re passionate about. If you love traveling you may want to start a gay travel blog. If you’re into arts & entertainment you may want to start a black gay entertainment blog. Whatever your niche is stick to it so that when you have your blog you’ll be able to create content effortlessly.
4. Write quality content
As soon as you create your blog you should begin the written content. Writing your content and promoting that content will be your main job as a blogger.
In the article, “3 Reasons Content Is The Important Part of Digital Marketing” it’s mentioned that written content can help a brand grow. By writing blog posts you can attract viewers to your blog through Standard Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is a strategy used to promote your website online. If you write an article about brunches and you use certain keywords in that article, write a good headline, and make the article interesting and engaging that article can appear on a high ranking in google. Even when posting a video written text in the video description is important.
Written content also helps you build backlinks which are links from websites to your website. Backlinks are important because it tells Google that your website is credible and trustworthy. The more content you write the more backlinks you can have on your website. And with more backlinks, you can attract more viewers to your website.
Another reason why written content is important is that the information can be easily consumed. People have communicated through written text since the beginning of time. Even with modern technology writing is still important. People still read magazines, newspapers, and online articles.
What is quality content?
Not only is important to write content but quality content. Quality content is content that makes sense and will capture the audience’s attention. As I learned from my blogging coach and other coaches you have to write with the reader in mind. This means before you write a certain topic such as homosexuality type in that subject in Google search engine and see how other authors write about that subject. And then you will outline your content based on the most interesting parts of the topic. A blog post should be at least 1000 words
Promote your content
As most blogging coaches would say, “Blogging is 20% writing and 80% promoting”. You can write the best content on the internet. But if you don’t promote it right what you’ll get in return are crickets. One of the best ways to promote your content is through SEO. I would strongly recommend you to buy the course Mike’s Stupid Simple SEO. I guarantee you that after you buy the course your traffic will grow.
Another way to promote your content is through Pinterest. A lot of bloggers use that platform to get traffic on their blogs. If you’re not familiar with Pinterest I recommend you purchase the Pinterest Avalanche course.
Get a mentor
In the blogging world, you can not grow on your own. If you try to do everything yourself you will make a lot of unnecessary mistakes. In order to avoid this, I would advise you to hire an experienced coach. A coach would give you honest feedback on how to grow your blog and help you avoid a lot of costly mistakes. More importantly, a coach will encourage you when you feel like you’re failing. One person I recommend you to seek help from is Dawn Marie Nesbitt. She’s a tough but caring black woman. Her coaching service will help you grow your website.
Best black gay blogs
Black gay blogs focus on entertainment, politics, celebrities, news, health, and other subjects relevant to the black LGBT community. Below are examples of successful black gay blogs.
Jojo Crews
JoJo Crews is an entertainment blog for the black LGBTQ community. The blog covers black gay life, fashion, pop culture, and current news. This black gay blog has been around since 2013 and so you’ll find a lot of content on the site. The owner is Joseph Crews who is based in Washington D.C. One of the most recent articles was about the Salt N Pepa Biopic. If you want to stay on top of pop culture JoJocrews is a site to go to.
Glisted
The Glisted is one of the most popular black LGBTQ blogs. The man behind this blog is Waddie G. The blog covers the black gay lifestyle, the impact of HIV/AIDS within the black LGBT community, and current news. One distinguishable feature about this black gay blog is that there’s an annual listing of 40+ black gay influencers around the world.
I’ve known Waddie G for some years and I respect his craft. He’s a real gay black man. Waddie is never afraid to state how he feels and this shows in his writing. For instance, around the time of the Jussie Smollet scandal, he was one of the persons that suspected the incident was staged. I also like how personal his writing is. He posted one article about how he great up and his relationship with his mother. The story was the one of most heartfelt stories I ever read.
Pop Glitz
Pop glitz is another gay blog centered around celebrity news and gossip. The blog started in 2012 and is owned by media consultant JaVonni Brustow. He has a lot of content on his website which categories include fashion, music, and politics. One of the most interesting categories on the site is Eye Candy which features sexy black gay men and black gay Instagram influencers.
Hey Mikey Atl
Hey Mikey Atl is another popular gay black blog that covers black gay entertainment. This site has a clean layout which makes it was to navigate. The blogger Michael Fanning is based in Atlanta which is a black gay mecca so you know you’re getting all the tea!
Hey Mikey has received millions of views and has worked with many brands and companies since it started. In an interview, Mikey stated that he will expand his blog to Hey Mikey Global. Make sure you go follow him on his social media.
Jamari Fox
Jamari Fox is the man behind this black gay blog. He writes about all types of topics including politics, sexuality, news, and entertainment. What I like about his content is that the tone is conversational. He even has posts where he solely focuses on the issues he’s being thorough.
Cypher Avenue
This is a queer blog that is truly one of its kind. I can’t think of any website for black gay men that talks about gay black pop culture, social change, science, and VIDEO GAMES!!! On the website, you’ll see certain posts categorized as “featured questions’ where the writer asks a question based on a current trend.
What I like about this blog is that there are articles that discuss issues affecting the black gay community including mental health and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In the article “National HIV Testing Day: Who cares?” the importance of HIV testing and HIV prevention is discussed. Articles like these are important because they educate our community, promote social change, and empower us.
Blackgayblog.com
Blackgayblog.com is another intellectual blog for gay & bisexual men. Paul Boakye, is the owner of this blog. Paul is an older, mature guy so you can expect content to be informative and educational.
On blackgayblog.com you’ll find articles about civil rights, sexual health, racism and homophobia, and issues impacting the black SGL communities. In his most recent article, “Male rape” the unspoken scream'” it’s mentioned that rape cases among LGBTQ persons go unreported due to shame and embarrassment. One of my favorite articles is “Famous Black Gay Couples”. The article highlights gay relationships and gay marriage within the black gay community. The writer of the article gives examples of successful black gays in the entertainment industry and in the black church.
Wrap up
Creating and maintaining a blog is difficult. There are a lot of mistakes you will make along the way and will face a lot of hardships. But if you remain consistent and maintain a positive mindset you will excel as a black gay blogger and become the next black gay influencer.