If you use the internet to look up anything chances are that you have probably come across a blog or two. Now some of you may think that blogs are lame things that nerd write because they have no social lives, but they are actually a good way to get information out and share ideas with other people that share your same interests. So for the people out there that are interested in blogging her is my little blogging for dummies.
The first step is to develop a theme for your blog, a purpose behind your writing, but probably even more important than that is something that you will be able to sustain over a long period of time. I can’t tell you how many blogs I have seen that have not been updated in a more than a month or two. Sometimes the people writing them simply don’t have the time to sit down and write a new post but more often than not it is because they simply run out of things to write about. The best advice that I can give to anyone that is new to blogging is to pick something that is interesting to you. Doing this will give you a lot to write about right off the bat because chances are that you already know a lot about the topic. Even better than that though is something that you are not only interested in but something that you are actively involved in or are around frequently. This will allow you to have a continuous flow of things to talk about so your blog doesn’t shrivel up and die.
After you have you topic you have to tackle the problem of coming up with ideas for posts. Well, if you have followed my previous advice this should not be very hard at all. Just pick a relatively new event that is associated to your topic and right what you know about it. For example, on my paintball blog I right about new products that are coming out on the market, new fields I have visited, and I also write about my experiences in games.
Now when you start writing your blog there are a few different approaches you can take. Different approaches work for different people. Some people know there topic very well and can simply sit down and bust out a post in no time; sometimes it is not that easy. Sometimes you get put in a position where you know what you want to write about but you just can’t seem to figure out how to write it or even where to begin. One of the best things I have found is to just get up from the computer and walk away. No, not forever, just go do something else and get your mind off the topic. Then come back later with a fresh mind and hammer it out. If that doesn’t work then I have found that it helps to do a little research on what you want to write about and see what other people have to say about it. Now I am not saying go out and steel other people’s idea, but sometimes when you look at other stuff about the topic it will help jog you memory.
However, when writing your blog it is also a good idea to include outside information from other sources. It will help your writing and make your blog more credible to outside readers. Outside information can be anything you want it to be. It can be an article from a magazine or a newspaper that you reference. You can also reference other people’s blogs which will also help in getting you more enveloped in the community. Just make sure you give credit where credit is due and everything will be fine.
So now that you have your blog off and running you may be sitting there wondering why nobody is visiting your page. You may not be doing a very good job of catching people’s attention. A really good way to do this is to write about fresh news. No one wants to read a story about something that happened a long time ago because chances are they already know about it. If you write about new stuff there are going to be more people interested in it and more people looking for more information about it. If there are more people looking for information about something the higher the chances are that someone is going to come across your stuff.
Another very important part of blogging is the ability to connect with your audience. Because when it comes down to it, you could be the best writer on the face of the planet. But if your readers do not like what you are writing you will not survive very long in the community. You have to observe the other people in the group and get a feel for how things work. You can’t just come into a community on a complete tangent and expect them to change their habits just for you. You have to flow with them and you should be accepted with ease.
Now if you think you’re a little rebel and you don’t want to conform to what everyone else is doing there is a way to make yourself stand out of the crowd and that is your voice. Your voice is the way you want your words to sound to your audience when they read your blog. You can make your voice humorous and entertaining or you could make it serious and direct. Your options are almost limitless. You blog voice can be any voice you would use in everyday life, or even one that you wouldn’t.
In the end when you are writing your blog do make sure that you pick something that interests you and something that you will be able write about consistently. Do use information from other sources to back up your posts. Do develop a voice and use it to help connect with your audience. Don’t try to write about something you are completely clueless about. It will just make you look like an idiot.
No comments:
Post a Comment