So you heard enough about blogging and want to start a blog. You have a wonderful blog idea and you want to share it with the world. You are thinking it’s going to be fun and that it is going to be a great way to have more flexible time, and maybe even make lots of money all by doing and sharing what you are passionate about? All of that sounds good. But, let me tell you this, starting a blog is not that difficult and once you learn how to do it you can start a new blog in few minutes. The hardest part of blogging is maintaining it. So, before you embark on the idea of starting a blog about something I want you to make sure you consider few things.
Why Do You Want To Start A Blog?
Yes, ask yourself why do you want to start that blog? Is it because you heard everyone has a blog and you want to have yours? Is it because you heard a lot of bull shit stories people making money from blogs and you think you have to get a share of that wealth? I say it is wrong to start a blog based solely on the idea of making money or just because your friends have and you want that too. The best blogs are those blogs that were set up to share something valuable. It is value that people want not some bull shit blog that has no value and which is bound to die after a while.
I am a subscriber of outspoken media and I really like what Lisa Barone said on her post “Why I Hate Bloggers”. To learn more you have to read the entire post but these few words stand out…”If you’re going to start a blog in 2009, for God’s sake, be interesting”
What Is Your Blog About?
Exactly! What is is that you want to blog? Is it to show people how to make money blogging, politics, sports, economics, a better solution to the pollution? If you define the main idea of your blog then you are helping yourself find the answer to the next question which is…
Whose Your audience?
Blogging can be anything. Blogging is kind of a dairy (remember web+log) and you can keep it private and no one else can know and learn that it exist except yourself and those that you want. So who is it that you are writing for? Is it young or old people, musicians, children, parents or all of them? It’s important to think about the type of readers that you want to have and write for. Knowing whose your audience then you tweak your writing style to suite them and maybe even make them cry, laugh, smile, or inspired.
How Committed You Are?
Just as anything else in life there is a learning curve with blogging and you are going to make a lot of mistakes and that might discourage you from continuing what you just started. You should not let that worry you because with no one has succeeded without trying and making mistakes. That’s why once start that blog you have to stick to it for some time.
Time – Do you have It?
Blogging, just as any other business, requires a lot of time. A little bit of tweaking here and there sometimes takes you more then an hour. If blogging was as simple as just writing a post and publishing it then there would be no problems. You have to be prepared to set aside plenty of time for blogging and especially if you are a beginner and are short of money and thus rely on your strengths alone to do everything starting from installing wordpress, installing plugins, themes, tweaking your blog, designing your logo, seo, marketing your blog… everything. I did not say this to discourage you and to make you forget the idea of blogging. But, sincerely you are realy going to do a lot of things and that requires time.
Although starting a blog is not without challenges, having a blog is an experience of learning and sharing and, why not, earning! So, go ahead learn how to start a blog and start it. Hope I have covered enough ground for the beginners? What do you think is there anything else that should be considered before starting a blog?