Initial Planning For a New Blog
There are some things that you need to think about whenever you start a new blog or decide to take an existing one in a new direction. In this article we'll be looking at topics such as the name of the blog, the topics that it will cover, your posting schedule and your writing style.
Picking a Name For Your Blog
The first decision to be made is of course the name (and domain) of your blog. There are general two choices - using your own name or using a name related to the primary topic of the blog.
If you will be using your blog to promote your own personal services or products then it can be be a good idea to name your blog after yourself as your blog name will always be relevant no matter how your work changes over time. However if you're blogging about a specific topic, and especially if you run several blogs on different topics it may be better to use a niche-related name and domain.
Deciding Upon Topics For Your Blog
Many people start their first blog in a rather broad way - blogging about anything and everything that comes to their mind and as such they cover lots of topics. This is not necessarily a good idea as the majority of your readers will only be interested in a small portion of your topics.
It is much better to spend some time outlining a small group of related topics to cover. You can then categorise your posts which makes it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for.
Setting a Schedule for Blog Posts
Often the advice to new bloggers is to make sure that when starting a new blog you publish a post every single day in the beginning. The idea behind this strategy is that more posts equates to more chances for people to find you. Whilst this might be true, very frequent posting may make it difficult for some readers to keep up with you.
In my experience it doesn't really matter how often you post or on what days of the week etc. The most important factor is that whatever schedule you set for yourself, you try to stick to it and remain consistent. There are very successful bloggers that only post once per week and their readers look forward to reading their weekly post.
One trend that I see with many blogs is that the blogger starts out enthusiastically by posting every day or even many times per day but over time he either loses steam, finds it too time consuming or simply runs out of stuff to say and then the schedule starts to slip and the posts become less frequent. This is noticeable to the reader and it does not look good!
Personally, I would suggest the opposite approach - start off slowly with a nice gentle schedule that you know you can stick to. Over time if you feel you wish to do more then slowly increase it but don't do it the other way around!
What Style of Writing Will You Use?
Your writing style is a slightly tricky area. Your writing is a reflection of who you are, what your opinions are, your values and passions etc. A blog is all about the writing and in my experience when bloggers do best when they write freely from the heart in their own unique style.
I would recommend that you simply write in whatever way suits you. Everybody is different. Some people are conservative in their writing, others like to use language as a shock factor, some like controversy, others prefer a dry factual style. None of these are right or wrong - simply be who you are.
Another consideration is post length. The only real factor that should have any influence would be your posting frequency. If you post multiple times a day you would expect your post length to be on average shorter than a blogger who just posts once per week. But other than that, simply post whatever feels right to you. Trying to expand on a short post or cut down on a long one can seriously stifle your creativity.
One thing to remember is that you can't please all of the people all of the time anyway so trying to modify your posting style to fit in with some idea of what your readers might like is an exercise in futility. At the end of the day some people will like your style and some won't. Those that do will hopefully subscribe and those that don't will not but that's just life and nothing to worry about! - 16655
Picking a Name For Your Blog
The first decision to be made is of course the name (and domain) of your blog. There are general two choices - using your own name or using a name related to the primary topic of the blog.
If you will be using your blog to promote your own personal services or products then it can be be a good idea to name your blog after yourself as your blog name will always be relevant no matter how your work changes over time. However if you're blogging about a specific topic, and especially if you run several blogs on different topics it may be better to use a niche-related name and domain.
Deciding Upon Topics For Your Blog
Many people start their first blog in a rather broad way - blogging about anything and everything that comes to their mind and as such they cover lots of topics. This is not necessarily a good idea as the majority of your readers will only be interested in a small portion of your topics.
It is much better to spend some time outlining a small group of related topics to cover. You can then categorise your posts which makes it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for.
Setting a Schedule for Blog Posts
Often the advice to new bloggers is to make sure that when starting a new blog you publish a post every single day in the beginning. The idea behind this strategy is that more posts equates to more chances for people to find you. Whilst this might be true, very frequent posting may make it difficult for some readers to keep up with you.
In my experience it doesn't really matter how often you post or on what days of the week etc. The most important factor is that whatever schedule you set for yourself, you try to stick to it and remain consistent. There are very successful bloggers that only post once per week and their readers look forward to reading their weekly post.
One trend that I see with many blogs is that the blogger starts out enthusiastically by posting every day or even many times per day but over time he either loses steam, finds it too time consuming or simply runs out of stuff to say and then the schedule starts to slip and the posts become less frequent. This is noticeable to the reader and it does not look good!
Personally, I would suggest the opposite approach - start off slowly with a nice gentle schedule that you know you can stick to. Over time if you feel you wish to do more then slowly increase it but don't do it the other way around!
What Style of Writing Will You Use?
Your writing style is a slightly tricky area. Your writing is a reflection of who you are, what your opinions are, your values and passions etc. A blog is all about the writing and in my experience when bloggers do best when they write freely from the heart in their own unique style.
I would recommend that you simply write in whatever way suits you. Everybody is different. Some people are conservative in their writing, others like to use language as a shock factor, some like controversy, others prefer a dry factual style. None of these are right or wrong - simply be who you are.
Another consideration is post length. The only real factor that should have any influence would be your posting frequency. If you post multiple times a day you would expect your post length to be on average shorter than a blogger who just posts once per week. But other than that, simply post whatever feels right to you. Trying to expand on a short post or cut down on a long one can seriously stifle your creativity.
One thing to remember is that you can't please all of the people all of the time anyway so trying to modify your posting style to fit in with some idea of what your readers might like is an exercise in futility. At the end of the day some people will like your style and some won't. Those that do will hopefully subscribe and those that don't will not but that's just life and nothing to worry about! - 16655
About the Author:
Caroline Middlebrook has been blogging in the Internet marketing niche since 2007 and her popular blog earns a 4-figure income every month. She teaches you how blogs make money and offers downloads of her free guides & courses from her website.
posted by KnowledgeableIdiot @ 1:04 AM
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