This post is for those who are just setting out to create their first blogs. If you are looking for blogging advice, then you have definitely come to the right place. I have been blogging for some time now, and feel that I am qualified to guide you in your attempt to add your voice to the millions that already exist on the internet. In any case, here are a few tips that will help you start a blog;
Find your inspiration/motivation
The first important thing that you need to do, as a beginner blogger, is find your inspiration. This may be something personal, such, as an example, as the desire to wax lyrical about the virtues of your pet goldfish, which you have named Spider. You may also be inspired by the fact that you are now jobless and are looking at some other source of income. There is no end to the things that can inspire you to start a blog.
The good news is that without inspiration, you probably won’t go anywhere with your blogging attempt. Okay, perhaps that’s not such good news. In any case, according to the New York Times, up to 95 percent of every blogging attempt gets abandoned after a short while. That is, indeed, a staggering figure, which, considering the number of blogs that exist across the planet, could very well translate into hundreds of millions sites, lying orphaned within the vastness that I s the internet.
Why people give up on blogging: They are not inspired
I believe that the majority of these people who abandon their efforts after only a few posts do so because they are not really inspired to carry on. The internet is big, and your effort probably won’t even make a pinprick ripple within the vastness. Most people perceive this after a short while, and they give up!
You should get me right here, however. I am not saying giving up is essentially bad. Indeed, I have a blog of my own with Blogger that I have long since abandoned. I can’t even remember the name of the thing now, but I know that it still exists because my AdSense earnings account shows that I have made a staggering $0.23 since around 2007 of so! The figure is a bit surprising, considering that I only have one or two posts on the forgotten and abandoned blog.
Freedom
Anyway, the beauty of blogging is that you can do whatever you wish to do, whenever you wish to do it and no one will question you. If you feel inspired to write one post in ten years, or maybe a hundred in ten days like me, it’s all up to you. (That didn’t turn out so well, but that’s a story for another day.)
The whole point here is that you should determine what you wish to achieve before even creating your blog. Are you looking to annoy your close relatives with your posts (they are invariably forced to read whatever it is that you write out of politeness), or are you, like me, going to take the world by storm with thought provoking, technology articles?
Choose a subject/niche that you are familiar with
The second tip that will help those who are looking to start a blog is that, whatever you do, do not write about things that you are not familiar with. Learning, of course, is always a good thing, but it can make you abandon the whole process, if you are not careful. As an example, my blog, Network Bees, covers technology news, trends and advice. I chose to concentrate on articles that relate to modern computer technology, despite the fact that there are some heavyweights out there, simply because that is a topic with which I am very familiar with. I love computers, web hosting, gadgets and everything else tech, and wouldn’t want to write about anything else.
Blog about the things that you love, or hate
That brings me to the third bit of advice; beginner bloggers should only concentrate on the things that they love; or hate the most. Contrary to what most people think, hate, apart from love, can be a great motivating factor and can inspire you to create world class articles.
As I have already mentioned above, I have a love for computers and everything tech. As a result, I don’t have to struggle to create any of my posts. In fact, I can write loads of articles about the various aspects of computing without even having to carry out any research.
That was one of the reasons why I launched this blog by writing a hundred articles in around 15 day. I had set myself a lofty goal, but I knew that I could do it, because I was going to be covering the things that I love the most. Concentrate on the things that you like or hate, and the whole experience won’t turn into a painful chore.
Let me repeat; if you are going to start a blog, write about those things that you love the most, lest it becomes as cumbersome as your day job.
You can always learn new things
This point contradicts the one that I have just written above, but there it is! You can always learn to love new things so do not restrict yourself. You can even learn that you love things that, previously, you did not know that you were partial to.
As an example, I carried out a freelancing experiment through Upwork a few months ago. One of the first clients that I got asked me to write on a wide range of Digital Marketing topics, all of which I had never even heard about. (I come from an English Literature background and had never even thought about Digital Marketing, one way or the other.)
Because I had already made the commitment to do the job, I set out to research on Email Marketing, Facebook Marketing, A/B Split Testing and many more topics.
I was soon in love with the topics, some of which are covered in by this current blog. In fact, not being afraid to tackle a new topic provided me with the kind of ammunition that I have been using to try and make this blog a success.
I am aware of the fact some of those who are looking to start a blog may not have the luxury of writing about the things that they love. Let me repeat, you can always learn new things.
Be Persistent
Persistence, you will hear if you ever ask around, is the key to every successful blogger’s story. That is very much true, whatever your motivation for setting out in the first place. Things will get rocky at times, but you need to keep writing. It is only by doing so that you can find your rhythm.
As an example (the examples, somehow, keep coming back to me), I personally set up to start a blog that was going to have 100 high quality posts of at least 1000 words in length. As mentioned earlier, it took me about half a month finish all the posts.
The work was terribly hard, but I was determined to stick to it, even when it meant that I was getting only a few hours’ sleep on some days. I almost gave up a couple of times. However, each time I told myself that the next post would help me move forward with my dreams. It helped that I was writing on topics that I am familiar with, but it was still an almost terrible experience.
In case you are wondering about my own motivation, here it is; One day I looked into the folders on my desktop and discovered that I had written 33 articles for one client, and about 60 for a couple of others on Upwork. If you know how freelancing works, you will know that as soon as you submit the work and the client released the money, you lose all rights to the things that you have worked on for so long.
Why not, I asked myself, create my own blog, on which I could use my writing skills. I am not saying that I have anything of particular against freelancing. What I am saying is that I created this blog, not only because I love writing and technology, but also because I needed to do something that would work for me, and not for others.
In any case, I almost gave up, as I have already mentioned, a couple of time. What kept me going was persistence, even when I was at a distant two articles out of a hundred. Whether or not the persistence will pay off, we will have to see, but this is something that I am going to stick to.
Do you know that it takes about six months for a site to really begin ranking well on Search Engines. So, at the time of writing, most of the articles on this blog were not even close to being ranked.
Be a little crazy
In order to start a blog and succeed in your endeavors, you do need to be a little bit crazy. Network Bees was, I have to admit myself, borne out of such a brand of craziness. I could, I supposed, have written one post before launching my blog. However, I decided that I was going first write a hundred articles and, on a single day, post them all onto the internet. That’s pretty crazy, right?
Well, before you start clapping and ululating, I do have to admit here that things did not turn out as I had expected. That was largely due to the simple fact that I was learning WordPress and took a lot of time to get things going. Posting and editing also proved to be much more difficult, which meant that I ended up publishing the articles about three every single day.
Don’t Be Social Media Shy
Another bit of advice that I am going to give to those who are looking to start a blog is to never be social media shy when it comes to your blog. We all know of people who, surprisingly enough, are still reticent about using Social Media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. That should not be you.
What you need to know is that you should never concentrate simply on writing world class blog posts, while doing nothing about promoting them. Getting organic search engine traffic takes time, and you need to do something to, in the meantime direct people towards your blog.
Tell your friends about your blog through social media, and they will also tell their own friends. You can even create paid Instagram and Facebook campaigns to get yourself going! Believe me, once you start being serious about your blog, visitors will start trickling in.
Need to speed up your computer? Why not read this article. Or this one, if you wish to learn more about malware.
It takes time
Now, and this is where most beginner bloggers falter, you need to understand that success takes time, when it comes to blogging. You are not going to start a blog and take the world by storm with a single post! Neither is that going to make you into a millionaire. Ask any of the successful bloggers out there, and they will tell you that they have been around for five, six, or even ten years!
Despite the fact that I have launched my site with a 100 high quality articles, I have no illusions. It takes time for anything on the internet to be discovered and it will take time for tangible results to begin creeping in. However, I am not going to give up because…well, I have 100 posts already. Why not write a hundred more?
Start a Blog: Here is a great Host
Here is a final, final tip. Wish to start a blog? Ours is hosted by InterServer, and the company has turned out to be one of the best web hosting companies in the world. Should you wish to join us, you can get the first month for free (well, almost), by clicking on the link above.