Guide to Starting a Blog for Beginning Bloggers

It seems each time I stumble through StumbleUpon I notice many abandoned blogs. While I don’t know the circumstances of why these blogs have been forgotten, it leaves me wondering if the blogger got overwhelmed. Perhaps they did not have the tools they needed to build a successful blog or the time to keep it going. Whatever the case, I decided to write an article teaching the right tools to writing a blog. Good luck and I’m sure your blog will be wonderful!

1. Sign up for a free blog service

First, there are several blog sites which you could consider the home for your new blog, most of which are free. A popular one is Blogger, which gives the user a template to use on their blog. However, with most blog sites, if you are familiar with HTML then you can upload your own template. Since Blogger is owned by Google, all blog posts will automatically be indexed into this search engine. In contrast, Livejournal is a journal service where users can create a free online journal. Similar to Blogger, users can upload pictures to accompany their blog posts. Users can also read several other journals so they keep up with their friends.

2. Find a niche for your blog

The next step to starting a blog is finding a niche, or something that drives your passion. It’s not going to be hard to find several blogs on your niche, but don’t let this discourage you. There’s one thing the rest of these bloggers don’t have and that’s your fresh ideas to the subject. For instance, you may be interested in starting a cookie blog. You might submit a cookie recipe every week or once a month and invite readers to submit their pictures of the recipes. Or you might invite a reader to do a guest post on your blog of how their family came to have their delicious cookie recipe.

3. Be consistent and accurate in your writing

It’s best to keep a consistent schedule when you have a blog. For instance, let’s say you plan on blogging three or four times a week. If this is your goal, consider it more of a work goal instead of a hobby. This goal will keep your loyal readers coming back to your blog to read more of your content and will give them an idea of when it might update. Also, consider being accurate when writing blog posts. This could be anything from checking grammar and punctuation to checking facts in research. The fact that you’re writing a more trustworthy article will be appreciated by your readers.

4. Market your blog

This step is important if you want others to find your blog. The most popular blog search engine is Technorati, which is free for members to post and comment on blogs. Furthermore, Technorati has blogs in the entertainment, technology, sports and politics categories. Submitexpress.com is also very popular in the fact it submits your blog link to over 70 major search engines. Among these included search engines are Google, Yahoo! and Dogpile. Furthermore, advertise your link for your newest blog post via the status box on Facebook. This is a great way to attract new readers to your blog that may not read it otherwise.

5. Read other blogs in your niche

It’s wise to read blogs in your area of expertise if you’re going to write blog posts on those topics. For instance, if you’re a health expert, you might enjoy reading The New York Times Health news page or health news on another news outlet. All of these webpages have RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds which can be added to your blog roll, which appears on the front page of your blog. It’s a good idea to be very specific in which blogs you add to the blog roll because this will affect the theme of your site. Furthermore, if you comment on the blogs you added to your own blog, they may add you to their list.

6. Place your contact information on the blog

Those fans who love your work are going to want to contact you to see where they can read more. Be careful in what contact information you place on your blog. Don’t put your home address or phone number. However, do include an email address where you can be reached. You may also want to include your social network contact information such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+. Furthermore, include other places where your writing can be found. Please remember that too much information can be a dangerous idea. By no means should any information such as credit cards of a driver’s license appear on your blog. It sounds silly, but I have seen it on some blogs.

7. Respond to all comments professionally

Readers like their opinion to be heard, whether it is a positive or negative comment. Your job as a blogger is to not take these comments personally but respond as professionally as possible. Otherwise, you may offend a reader and they will follow the cardinal rule of bad customer service. That is, they will tell ten people of their bad experience; those who have a good experience only mention it to one person. Also, don’t make them feel ignored or they may stop reading. If you notice a drop in your blog views, it may be that a handful of readers have left. Treat each reader like they’re best friend and they’ll be loyal to each post you write.

8. Know your audience

It’s important to know who exactly your audience may be before you start writing your blog. For instance, if you are writing for African American teenagers, you may want to choose a topic that interests this group. Furthermore, if you are writing for businessmen or businesswomen on Wallstreet, your language may have to be more tight and specific. The audience of your blog holds expectations for you, the blogger, to write at their reading levels. While it’s impossible to meet everyone’s needs, just focus on the main topics of your blog and being accurate. That’s mostly what most readers expect anyway.

9. Don’t forget the gadgets

Some gadgets seem to make a blog look cluttered, but it’s these gadgets that help your readers navigate your blog. For instance, most blog services have an RSS gadget which you can add directly to your blog. This allows the reader to subscribe to your blog through RSS reader software such as Google Reader. Another popular gadget on Blogger is a gadget called “Subscription Links” which gives readers the option of subscribing to your blog on your website. There are also gadgets such as Google AdSense, Twitter Updates and Social Networker which will bring more traffic to your blog.

10. Ask for help

There’s countless bloggers within your niche. If your niche is scrapbooking, Google scrapbooking blogs and add them to your blogroll. When you run into a snag with your blog, email the other blogger and ask them for ideas to get you going again. You never know if you’re going to make a new friend. Furthermore, if you’re not the greatest at HTML, some other blogger in cyberspace might be able to offer some assistance. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people; it could work out for the best.


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