A blog is the free sharing of information and ideas surrounding your point of view and expertise. Successful blogs allow you to connect with your prospective clients and become a trusted authority on a particular topic. Once you become a trusted authority, you’re able to build and reinforce your brand through the blog and increase your rankings among the search engines.
So, where do you start if you’re interested in blogging?
1. Name: You definitely want to think long and hard (if need be) about the blog’s name, tagline, and content direction as you don’t want to change any significant piece of branding once you begin to retain readers. One of the most important first steps is to research your domain name and ensure it’s not already registered.
2. Hosting: Once you are ready to begin creating content for public consumption, you’ll need to host your blog. There are so many hosting options, including WordPress.com or Blogger, but I decided to use Weebly.com when I built my website and blog. Weebly makes it possible to create a content-rich website in minutes, and the best part is that the drag and drop website builder makes it incredibly simple to create a professional blog with zero technical skills required.
3. Design: Once you decide on a blogging platform, you will utilize its templates and themes to create the look and feel of your blog. Your blog may contain great content but with poor design, you will turn away potential readers and lose entire audiences. Ensure your design is appealing, engaging, and clean.
4. Content: Before you share your blog with the world, draft five or six pieces of content. Taper that content across several days and stick to a publishing schedule so your readers get into a habit of consistently checking your blog for new content. Consider publishing content in different types of formats, including audio, video, and infographics to break up the monotony of text content.
5. Share: Not only should you share each piece of new content with your friends, family, colleagues, prospects, clients, and vendors, but you should also make it simple for your readers to spread your content across their network. Make it easy for them to do so and enable share buttons after each post.
What are some other helpful tips to start blogging?
