Thinking about Blogging? Let's Get Started.

Tweet

Blogging. Why the heck do people do it anyway? It takes time and makes you want to pull your hair out thinking of something, ANYTHING to write about. Aggravating, isn’t it?
If you are thinking about starting one, DO ask yourself what you expect to get out of it. A few reasons could include:

•    I’ve always wanted to write.
•    I want to share  something I know about with like-minded people
•    I want to establish credibility in my field
•    Just need a place to vent
•    Write? Are you kidding me? I really want to share something visual:
               Videos
                Photos
                Examples of my art 
•    Someone is talking me into it; they think I have potential
•    I need to practice somewhere before I write that book

Obviously, some of those reasons are more valid than others.  So you’ve decided it’s a go. Blogs are free and fairly easy to set up with a customized look. Check out Google Blogger (blogspot) or Wordpress (the free version), two of the more popular sites. Both are fairly intuitive; not too difficult to upload.

Subject matter. What are you passionate about? Cooking, camping, or perhaps you want to review all those wonderful books you read?  The important thing to remember is that YOU are the subject matter expert; much of what you write will likely be based on your knowledgeable opinion. If someone gives you flack about that, hey, it’s all debatable.

The tricky part: Getting it down on paper. Oh! I need to WRITE today. Good luck with that. Forcing yourself will cause brain freeze, without the delight of downing a Slurpee. Try to write when an idea comes to you, or at the very least, write a few sentences as soon as possible so that when you’re ready to start writing, the initial idea has been retained. Sorry to say, but there’s been so many times when my bright ideas have vaporized into thin air, because I never documented them. Poof.

A bunch of bananas: If you’ve written about one subject fairly quickly and you’re feeling mighty pleased with yourself, why not dig in and peel off another one while the creative juices are flowing? You’ll find that this is a great practice. However, if you do tend to write about recent events, this concept won’t work so well, but why not have a couple of more generic subjects that don’t need to be as timely for posting during those times when you’ve hit writer’s block? The important thing to remember is to keep posting consistently. One post in April and seven in May is not a good idea; try to keep the keel even.

How often must I post? Well, that’s up to you of course. Start out with one or two posts a week until you feel comfortable. This is NOT easy to do, unfortunately.  I’m nodding my head with you, because, yes, I have been a slacker in the frequency department. However, if you want to get noticed, you have to have content. And content IS the most important thing.  More on that later…

This is Part 1 of a 4 Part Series. For Part 2, click here, Part 3, click here, and Part 4, click here.