A lot of people would say that
blogging is easy and anybody can be a blogger. In a sense they are right but to be a successful blogger, one would need a lot of hard work, passion and commitment. What I am meant with successful is that your blog has lots of readers, reached the people you intended
the blog for, and your blog providing relevant information that people need. Having a blog that has a generous amount of traffic has a lot wonderful bonuses for the blogger like ad income, fame, or your own set of groupies or disciples. But it is not going to be instant. Just like in real life, you have invest a lot of time, training, and research to become an expert in something.
For me, here are the first few steps that you have to take to start your own blog:
1. Self-
Evaluation - You have to ask yourself, what do you want to write about. If you are person who has a wide range of interests, it is time for you to limit it to the most important ones. You can't be a jack of all trades on your first blog. It must be about something that you are passionate about or at least something related to your work or talents. For example, you love gadgets? you could start a blog about the latest gadgets and how does it stack up against the competition or how does make your life easier. Love music? Blog about your favourite artist and how you love or hate the new album. There are so many things you can write about specially if the
topic is close to your heart. Passion is one great ingredient towards a successful blog. Do not think yet about audience and other people because you might be surprised that there are other people out there who are also interested, let say, about green bugs, warts, or that mindless game that you are addicted to. So, start with something that interests you.
Do you have a topic in mind, already? Here is the next step.
2. Write something about your chosen topic. Use your
word processor. Compose your thoughts. Just imagine you are writing your first writing homework
in English. It might be difficult at first but if your really love the topic, it is not really that hard. Start writing the reasons why you love the topic your blog is all about. From there, your creative juices start to follow. I might not be a masterpiece yet but do you anyone who creative a masterpiece in the first try?
3. Find a blogging platform. If you do not have background in
HTML or
Web Development, that will not be a problem. You can start with free
blog platforms like
blogger.com or wordpress.com . These two sites are just like your word processor. They can offer you custom layouts plus you can name your blog although it has an extension like blogname.blogspot.com.
4. Name your blog. You can make it catchy or you can be obvious. It is your choice but just don't make it too long or confusing.
5. After joining a blog platform and naming your blog, it is time for you to make your first post. You can just practically cut and paste the draft that you made and post in the blog's post creator. Usually you just the new post button and viola, the platforms "post processor" comes out. It has control like what you seen in MS Word. Easy, isn't it? How did your first post look like? Let me see, post my in the links in the comment section.
The start is always the hardest but I know you can manage it. If you have questions or if you want to add from my tips, feel free to comment. Have a great day blogging! #blogON
