GUIDELINES TO STARTING A SUCCESSFUL BLOG
It seems that everyone and their brother are
bloggers at the moment, but few are truly
successful. However, when a blog has 100,000
subscribers or more, what might have started
out as a bit of a side interest can become a
full-time job and a great way to earn money.
So how do you start a successful blog?
Be passionate about what you are blogging
about
Although a blog might be successful at some
stage in the future, and make money, it’s
unlikely that you will make money out of
blogging if money is your sole intention.
Becoming a blogger isn’t really a business
decision – you have to have something to say
to be a blogger.
Let’s say, for example, you start up a blog
about the web hosting industry because you
have noticed that web hosting is an internet
intensive industry where few businesses have
a physical storefront and they need internet
advertising to reach consumers – a blog
about web hosting must be a winner, right?
Wrong.
To get to the place where people want to visit
your blog you have to have content they
might be interested in reading, and to get
that, you either have to know or learn about
the web hosting industry.
Now, imagine getting into the web hosting
industry just to make money from a blog.
While the component parts of web hosting are
fascinating to many, for others they are not.
Imagine trying to learn the differences
between the different aspects of web hosting
if you weren’t especially interested in them!
Cloud computing, shared hosting, managed
hosting, SSD hosting, VPS, SSD VPS, Managed
SSD VPS – if you didn’t have a genuine
interest in the technology it would prove a
soul destroying task to try to write about this
industry.
So, before you consider becoming a blogger,
consider – do you have anything to say that
you genuinely care about?
If the answer is ‘no’, then it’s not for you.
Sharpen your writing skills
If you can’t write well, then you have a
problem. There are a number of online
courses that will enable you to sharpen your
writing skills.
Edx has some free courses that take you
through the basics, and of course, there are
some paid courses. Skilledup gives you the
details on some good ones, but there are
numerous available, and which one is right for
you is going to take some research.
Know your audience
Will your audience use American, British,
Canadian, or international English?
Will your visitors be hardened pros or
complete newbies?
For instance, will that web hosting blog I
mentioned before be explaining the basic
ideas behind cloud computing, or will you be
catering to a group of people who are going
to need more complex information.
When you know the audience you are
targeting, you get a much better idea of what
you need to write to keep your visitors happy.
Learn about the blogging technology available
to you
There are a number of Blogging platforms
available to you that will cost you absolutely
nothing. Blogger.com is the best known and
probably the original blogging tool.
It launched in 1999 and was purchased by
Google in 2004 so it has a solid pedigree.
There is very much a ‘Blogger’ community and
as a solution it has a good number of
features - you can share posts with other
Blogger users, for instance.
WordPress is though one of the most popular
solutions with Bloggers and its online version,
WordPress.com , offers free blogging accounts.
Joomla.com is another free option. Some
though believe that to be truly successful a
blog must be free of the restrictions of a free
blogging service. If that’s the case with you,
you will need hosting.
To acquire hosting essentially you rent space
on a web host’s server for as little as $2.50 a
month and in return you get a fully
operational blog.
Being away from free platforms you have
more choice regarding what your blog can do
and you can add modules to provide your
blog with greater functionality.
In addition, there’s more choice regarding the
look and feel of your blog – you can use free
and paid themes make your blog look just
right.
The advantage of paid hosting is if your blog
takes off your web host can upgrade your
account and give you more resources to manage your visitors.
Buy a cool domain name
You aren’t going to get anywhere with a name
like www.myblog.blogger.com . To have any
chance of success you need your own domain
name, and these can be purchased easily
starting as little as $10 per year (depending
on the extension you use - .com, .net., blog,
etc.).
One advantage of Blogger.com is that you can
use your own domain name with your account
free of charge, while WordPress.com charges
$13 per year to use a custom domain with
your account.
If you have your own hosting, most hosts are
able to sell you domains, but if not, there are
literally thousands of domain name registrars
your can choose from. GoDaddy is one of the
biggest.
Do some research
You are new to blogging and you need to see
how others are achieving what they achieve.
Take a look at the big boys , but also look at
the interest group blogs. It goes without
saying that you should look at blogs that
cover the exact area that you will cover (if of
course they exist).
Now.... WRITE!!!!
If your blog is going to be successful, unless
you have found an absolutely unique niche in
the market, you are going to be up against
some of the most dedicated and disciplined
people you would hope to meet writing the
same thing.
You are going to have to write something
regularly – and if every day can’t be managed
then at least every week.
The most successful blogs put something out
at least TWICE A DAY!
What you write must be valuable to the
people who read your blog for them to want
to come back – if it’s meant for
entertainment, then entertain. If it’s meant for
education, then educate. There can be no half
measures.
And blogging doesn’t mean just rehashing
what’s on other blogs. If you want a genuine
readership you are going to have to offer
something original – something they can’t
find on other blogs. In such a crowded
environment, that’s a particularly tough
challenge.
Harness the power of social media
90% of the time I don’t turn on the computer
and tune in to my favorite blog. Most times I
am doing something I need to do on my
computer and I receive a notification that my
favorite blog has added its latest content to
Facebook.
This makes Facebook important to bloggers
but Twitter and networks like Instagram are
also useful. Social networks are a great way
to pick up an audience.
When 100,000 people follow your Facebook
page, then things are heading in the right
direction. But it’s not just as simple as just
adding your latest blog posting to your social
network accounts.
For example, when you add something to your
Facebook account, it is roughly only seen by
10% of those 100,000 followers – even less
than that actually.
To really reach your fans, you may have to
‘Boost’ posts and that is going to cost you
some money – not too much but enough to
put you out of pocket.
You can get plenty of online courses to help
you get over the social network hump, some
are free, others offered by people like Podium
provide courses at cost that lead to
certification.
Note your users’ comments
Key to successful blogging is people engaging
with your content and leaving comments.
Some might be kind, others not.
Develop a thick skin and extract as much
useful intelligence from every reader’s
comments as you can. You visitors will pretty
much tell you the direction you should be
heading in.
Don’t give up
It can take you 10 years to be an overnight
success and unless you put in the spade
work, you will never get there.
As a new blogger you are learning your trade.
When you have mastered your trade, anything
might be possible, so have faith and keep up
the good work!
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