A Perspective on Blogging: Fear Me Not!
I've been blogging for almost 5 years now (off and on). Most of the time I do it for my own benefit. When I look back at previous blogs, I can tell exactly where I was in my life. It's amazing how something can tell you that much about yourself. I've done personal travel blogs, self-esteem style blogs and then this one, which I would say is a mixture of it all.
Most recently I've been doing research on blogging and how to make money writing and learning cool tips about being someone who writes. This is why my blog has looked differently than it has previously, I'm hoping, in a good way. Although I'm no expert, I have a few resources that I've found over the past few weeks that'd I'd love to share with fellow bloggers or aspiring bloggers-to-be.
WHICH SITE TO GO WITH:
There are a lot of options that you have going for you if you want to blog. Here's a few examples:
These are just some that I have heard of (and used previously) and are mostly used for personal use. If you're looking for something professional for your business, a quick Google search lead me to a few articles like Top 10 Best Website Builders where you can analyze for yourself the benefits of different platforms.
WHERE TO BEGIN:
Start with what you like to do and build it from there.
Consider these questions as you get started:
What do I want to blog about? (Big Idea of Blog)
What other topics can I write about underneath that Big Idea?
What is my authority on the topic? (In other words, why should they listen to you?)
Who will my audience be?
Am I ready to commit to blogging every day/week/month?
Remember it is a time commitment to blog. You have to be willing to put in the time and the effort to communicate with readers in an effective way. Otherwise, you'll lose them. Or, it will just be you reading it. Don't worry, I think we've all been there before!
WHEN DO YOU START:
Although I jumped into this before I might have been ready, I've been coasting on a learning curve for awhile. I would recommend starting when you have a few posts already written. Open up GoogleDocs or a Microsoft Word Document or Evernote or even a piece of paper and begin writing what you want to write about. Most of the time, people want to learn something from your posts, so begin your research on How to Craft A Blog Post and How to Increase Blog Traffic. Once you get started, you can always improve.
No blog post will ever be perfect, but make sure you edit before posting!
WHAT TO DO AFTER YOU'VE STARTED:
Begin learning more about what you're writing about.
--> The more you know, the more confident you will be about your writing and the better your posts will be.
Begin learning more about blogging.
Check out these resources:
-->Daniela Uslan's Blog- she has a lot of resources to help outline blog posts, in fact I learned about a lot of these other resources through her! Thanks a lot Daniela!
-->Coschedule Headline Analyzer- This helps you begin to see what headlines will attract people to your blog. Also, coschedule has great articles on blogging in general.
-->Canva.com- This helps you be able to edit the picture that you put with your work to have a logo, brand or just cool designs to help promote your website!
-->Hubspot.com- These guys have great marketing tips and solely blog related articles that help you analyze what content you have and how you are reaching your audience.
Join a blogging community.
-->Finding other people to encourage you and keep you accountable is priceless. I found that through Daniela Uslan, but there are many other places where you can get connected with a community.
Don't Give Up.
--> Unless you find that you've found a new direction, keep on writing. It will get better and you will always have something you can keep working on. I just found two great articles on 10 Blogging Tips For Beginners and 8 Mistakes Most Beginner Bloggers Make (And How To Avoid Them). Keep working at it and even if you've made these mistakes already, do your best to adapt them and make it better for the future. Your voice is important and you have something to say that is valued.
So go forth and do your dream of starting a blog. You'll learn a lot through it.
