How to Get Your Blog Off to a Good Start

From this point out I’m going to assume you all are #2’s. If you have no idea what that means, read the inaugural blog post!

Ok, so you’ve set up a blog and now you want to build an audience. This is the part where my friends, family and, yes, even my landlord, tend to ask me for advice. Before we set about what I do or don’t (think I) know about this, let’s get our expectations straight.

1. Audiences aren’t going to develop overnight. Virality is rare and usually is associated with cats doing weird things or flash mobs doing the “Harlem Shake.”
2.  It’s going to take you a little while to hone in on what makes you worth following.

So with these things in mind, my opinion is that at first, at least, you should blog to get into your stride. What exactly are you writing about? You should decide that. Most blogs have a “schtick” whether it is clearly stated (i.e. Bariatric Foodie, “Play With Your Food”) or implied (as in my friend Melting Mama who does general life commentary/advocacy and reviews utilizing her raw sense of honesty). It may take a few blog posts to decide what you want to talk about and what your schtick is. During this time, don’t worry so much about promoting your blog.

If you are looking to build an audience to monetize you might also think about the look of your blog. You need not spend a bunch of money fancying up your blog. There are some very nice templates out there. You might consider investing in someone to create a header for you that can double as your Facebook cover photo/Twitter profile image. This creates a unified look that brands your blog.

You might also consider (if you’ve not done so already) buying a URL. It’s so much easier to communicate your own URL than the one your blog platform gives you. If your blog name is available, snag that. If it’s not then either abbreviate in a way that’s easy to remember OR do something else associated with your blog (for instance if Bariatric Foodie had been unavailable I might have gone with playwithyourfood.com).

Now that you have a look of sorts it’s time to wrap your head around an important concept in blogging: content. By content I mean whatever it is you are trying to build an audience around. Shopping tips, recipes, running advice, general life “isms,” whatever. This is your content. Don’t think of content as blog posts. Blog posts contain content. Think of content like the good stuff people are going to want from you.

Here are a content-related habits you can start now to make things easier down the line:

• Tag every post. (Vocab: a “tag” is a keyword that you can use to categorize posts that are alike. Like for my blog, I could use a “protein shake” tag to organize my protein shake recipes). This makes things easier for you and your readers to find (if you make your tags visible on your blog).
• Get out of the habit of using cutesy blog post names. If you’re a true beginner you’re not even ready to go into SEO (search engine optimization) yet but I will say that the more ambiguous your blog name, the harder it is for search engines to connect you with people who might want to read what you want to say. If your blog post is about how not to end up in traction after running a marathon, consider naming it “How not to end up in traction after running a marathon.” Yes, it’s plain but it’ll work to your favor.
• Learn the writing process. Most writers (by nature or force) follow a pattern of writing. Your first draft is almost always garbage but you have to get it out in order to get to a good draft. From that first draft you can either re-draft or edit. Then you should look everything over a final time to make sure it all sounds good. Do this and you'll have good content that people want to read. 

And in keeping with that a few general habits that will have you writing for success on the web:

• Don’t use paragraphs that are more than five lines long. Ever. If you can keep it to three lines.
• In general don’t use any more words than you have to.
• Write as if you are speaking to a fifth grader. That’s not an insult to your readers but that’s the age of comprehension that works best for internet writing.
• Speak in your own voice. Don’t try to be academic. If people want academics they’ll read a journal or newspaper. People read blogs because blogs are written by people. So try to stay true to your voice. If you’re a jokester, incorporate humor. If you’re sarcastic, a few wry quips. Whatever makes you, you — write that way.

So in summary, here’s are my general tips for starting a successful blog that you’ll eventually build an audience around:

1. Just blog at first. Figure out what you have to offer and start writing about it. Don’t worry about promoting your blog right off the bat.
2. Give your blog a look and feel with a nice blog template and header.
3. Set up any social media pages you intend to use, although you won’t promote them until you have content.
4. Create content. Content is the “good stuff” people will want to come to you for.
5. Learn your own voice and start using it. Find out what makes you unique.

There! That’s a lot of stuff for one blog post so I’ll stop there. I think 10 of you read the inaugural post. I’m impressed! I personally don’t care if 10 or 10,000 people read this blog. My goal is simple: I had to figure this stuff out for myself. I don’t want anyone to have to flounder the way I did.

BUT if you are liking what you’re reading or have questions, please leave a comment. I’m happy to go over anything you want to talk about.

So you wanna start blogging?

I'm gonna start out by saying I'm no Darren Rowse. I'm not Seth Godin or any of those mega-blogging stars that make millions of dollars off of their blog. I don't have millions of followers. In fact, in the world of blogging, I'm probably pretty small potatoes.

But let me tell you what I do have: I have a small audience that is highly engaged. I have blog posts that perform strongly YEARS after they've been written. I have built a social media presence that is thriving and growing. It's not uncommon for my Facebook postings to get more than a hundred responses, which is actually pretty impressive given the size of my audience.

It's also not uncommon for my Facebook posts to keep performing days and even weeks after they are posted. All indications point toward the fact that people actually seek out my blog page on Facebook and the top search term used to land on my blog is my blog name which means this: people come to my site not just looking for A blog, they come looking for MY blog.

But I think the thing that qualifies me to write a blog about blogging is this. I'm still learning! I'm getting better at what I do. Each day I have a new realization, a new discovery or, at the very least, come to acceptance on some classic blogging truth against which I'd been rebelling up to that point.

I wanted to start this blog because I see a lot of people out there trying to blog. Trying being the operative word. But as many other things in life, blogging falls under what I call the Yoda clause. "Do or do not. There is no try."

So what do you do? That's what this blog is gonna be about! I'll start out by sharing what I've learned so far. Then I'll just report out what I'm learning along the way. I don't contend that I'm always right. I welcome healthy debate. But what you'll always get from me is the truth as I see it. I am a professional writer by trade (yes, I actually collect a paycheck for writing) who is also studying to be a professional marketer. So I'll also bring any advice I pick up along the way.

Well then. Now that I've done the tap dance let's get started, shall we?

The first thing you need to do is decide WHY you want to blog. Yep. Right here, right now. In my estimation there are two core reasons anyone would want to blog:

1. Just for yourself/your close circle. And if that's the case, this blog might bore you to tears.
2. To build an audience for any number of reasons.

You #2's have a variety of reasons why you want to build an audience. Perhaps to push your personal agenda. Maybe some of you want to make money. Perhaps others want free stuff or notoriety. 

Only you know why you want to blog but I will say this. If you are a #2, or even think you are, notice the words "build" and "audience." That's your task. You can write all the compelling content you want and if there's nobody around to read it, you're not going to be satisfied. And I hate to break this hard truth to you but I must rip the band-aid off early: nobody is going to think you're as great as you think you are. At least not without some convincing. And that takes a lot of effort, a lot of learning and, alas, a lot of time. 

So, why do you want to blog? If you are a #2 be prepared to make a time and effort commitment. Few things worth doing are easy. But if you want to build an audience - and I mean really build an audience - you can. And I'm going to help you!

I think that's about enough for one post. Stay tuned for future posts which I will TRY to do with some regularity although with two jobs, two kids, two pets, studying for my master's degree AND running a successful and growing blog that might be a challenge for me. But I love a challenge, don't you?