New Blog Biz - Five Steps to Success
Congratulations on your new adventure! Since you have just made the decision to start blogging ( or already started ) then you’re potentially unsure if you have done everything needed to do to get the ball rolling. This post is designed to get you started with your plan. I need a map before I get into my car and drive to another city or state and you will need one to accelerate your blogging success.
The only map for blogging success or any business in general, is the map you design within your mind. The most important thing any business or entrepreneur can do is to create a vision, the ultimate goal that you intend to achieve. This vision needs to be clear and consistent.
Step 1 - Get a piece of paper and a pencil and write down all the topics that you might be interested in writing about. While going through this exercise don’t discriminate or make decisions just write everything you can think about that you might like. After you’ve created this list, you can start eliminating items by asking a simple question: Are you passionate about this subject, or just interested?
This is important because you’re more likely to stick with something that you are passionate about than something that you are not so passionate about. This holds true even if it happens to be something that you maintain extensive knowledge about, like you current profession. It should be something you really enjoy like your favorite hobby or sport.
Step 2 - Sign up for all the major social networking and promotional sites. Sites like Digg, Technorati, Stumbleupon, Furl and many others will provide a platform for advertising your favorite articles (posts). Check out socialposter.com, a great tool, for a comprehensive list.
Step 3 - Select your blogging platform and hosting provider. I personally use GoDaddy.com hosting but his may depend upon your budget and the amount that you’re willing to commit to financially. Your long-term vision may play into this decision and you might wish to invest into a expensive hosting provider. I would recommend reading through some of the other blogging boards and related posts about quality hosting providers.
As far as I am concerned Wordpress is the only content management system (CMS) you should be using for your blog. Under the covers it is the same as most CMS choices, and leverages mySQL, Apache and PHP to provide a flexible and easily managed platform.
Step 4 - Find a good word press blog template. Something simple and clean and easy to manage for starters. I actually like Justin Tadlock’s stuff on themehybrid.com but there are countless others out there that are good. Ask around and find one that fits your personal style and needs.
Step 5 - Practice, practice, practice. Practice your writing, creating catchy titles (important) and get good at doing it. It is important to learn how to grab your audience with a good title (that is probably why you are here or not here reading this). The title of your post is what will determine whether or not someone chooses to read more or move on when looking at RSS feeds, digs, or stumbled articles. Careful observation of your own web habits will reveal this fact.
Summary
This five step process just barely scratches the surface of what needs to be done, but it is a start. Of these five steps the first step is definitely the most important, make sure that you are truly passionate about whatever it is you’re doing. If you have other checklist ideas or if you feel that my steps are irrelevant or off base, please feel free to comment on this post. Your feedback is welcome!
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Comments
Wow! Your blog is like a breath of fresh air! I am new to blogging and was really searching for places to learn how to blog ‘correctly’, if there is such a thing. One great piece of advice that you’ve given is to have a passion about whatever your blogging. I see the importance and agree it has to be number 1. I’m still confused about much of the language/terms used (this is where my screen name fits nicely! lol ) but it’s coming…slowly. Thanks for having a passion to help those of us that need a bit of hand holding through the process. Keep up the good content. I definitely will be visiting often. God Bless!
Linda
Great article, I like it