Take the Blog Leap! It feels great in here!
I don’t know about you, but one of the only people in my group of friends who keeps a blog. My friends say it’s because I’m more tech-savvy or internet-savvy than they are, some even say it’s because I have a big mouth and I eventually need to find new people to talk to. Maybe they’re right, but most likely they’re not. I started blogging because I wanted to learn. Plain and Simple.
So, do you want to learn? Do you want to interact with like-minded people who can help you professionally and maybe some times, personally? Then let’s start laying the foundation of what you need to do to get ready for the blogosphere:
1) Find Blogs of Interest and Subscribe - I’d suggest going to Technorati and doing a search for your interests, whether it be business, sports, politics, relationships, hollywood gossip or commentary on world news. Once you find these blogs, use a RSS Reader (What is RSS?) and subscribe to them so you can get a feel for how they deliver their messages.
2) Practice Blogging on hosted blog services like Blogspot, Typepad or Wordpress - Don’t get too used to it as I’m not a big fan of serious bloggers putting their blogs up on hosted blog services because in the long run, you don’t gain as much as you could in terms of potential market exposure. Get used to writing about your interests and create a schedule that you are comfortable with. Don’t forget to learn how to post links and photos on your blog. The layout of an article is very important and I would suggest looking at high quality magazine’s to see what I’m talking about.
3) Don’t be afraid to ask for help - Getting started with a blog can some times be very difficult. I never could have got this blog off the ground if it wasn’t the help of some really knowledgeable people who gave me hints on plug-ins, offered post ideas and/or contributed to my blog by writing a thought provoking comment. I’ll be more than happy to help, so go ahead and ask me first if you’d like.
At the end of the day, the blogosphere is a great place to express your opinions and share your experiences with people from around the world. No one’s going to say anything if it’s not for you. You never know until you try, so get out there and just do it. Then let me know so I can subscribe to your RSS!
Good Luck!
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I never really understood how in depth this whole “blogging” thing really was. I started out just to see what it was all about in relation to traffic building. Then all of sudden, I was hooked. From the social media to the monetization of your site, it definitely was a HUGE learning curve. Now that I’m in, I am definitely in for the long haul. It’s funny how you find sites too. I believe I nabbed your RSS feed after reading about your site getting hacked on John Cow. Been one of the 378 ever since.
Gary, you’ve gained a new subscriber here. Great content on your blog. I agree too..biggest mistake I’ve made in blogging is sticking with blogspot rather than self-hosting, but for money’s sake it seems to work. Keep up the great work here..
thanks for the compliments monetizer . . . i think you could always start another site in the background and switch it when you’re ready . . if you did it once, you can do it again!