Posts Tagged ‘Blogging for Beginners’
How To Write Your First Blog Post
Just like starting an essay on a subject of your own choosing, writing your very first blog post can be a bit mind-numbing for folks. After all, you are getting on this amazing journey, and you don’t know how to start the conversation. It’s easy to pretend that you have been in the business for years, but that approach usually doesn’t work. So how do you write your very first blog post. Here are a few ways that have worked for me:
- Ice Breaker: Whether you are going on a blind-date or to a business networking event, getting conversations started with others could look daunting on the paper. Folks are so stressed about what they are going to say that they end up saying nothing of value at all. But most professional speakers tell you that breaking the ice is one of the best way to get a lengthy conversation started. Your first blog post tell a lot about your personality, your tone, and sets the expectations for your users. Bringing up a fun fact or an interesting question can right away engage your readers. Doesn’t work for everyone, but depending on your niche, it could work very well for you.
- Introduction: you can use your very first post to introduce yourself and your ambitions for your blog. This is the most typical first post for most bloggers. I have used this a lot, but you need to make sure you do this right. If you choose to go this route, you need to make a lasting first time impression. Talk about what’s important to your niche. Remember, you blog is about them not you!
- Cryptic Message: believe it or not a few folks have had success using cryptic messages as their very first blog posts. Things that just absorb people’s attention and make them want to see what is next for you. Again, doesn’t work for everyone.
- The Bold Approach: this route is my favorite. You raise a controversial topic and lean on one side to get readers involved. Let’s say you are writing a blog about abortion rights, and you claim that women should have no right when it comes to abortion. That could start a fire. But keep in mind this approach could backfire on you. So make sure you don’t offend anyone (not on purpose anyway).
You can combine all these approaches in one as well. Personally, the introductory post has worked the best for me. You first post is not going to be you best post. It’s your way off breaking the ice and starting your journey. Don’t stress to much about it. But at the same time, don’t underestimate it’s power. Good luck.
Automated Wordpress Blogging Made Easy
WordPress has quickly become the most dominant blogging platform used by most professional and amateur bloggers. Of course, it does help that it’s easy to use and free. It is quite astonishing the number of businesses that have been started using WordPress or WordPress Mu. So if you are planning to start a blog, then you can’t go wrong with WordPress (don’t forget to check Wordpress’ hosted version as well).
Now, what to do if you don’t know any HTML? I have talked to many people who are interested in blogging but are afraid to touch anything technical. I guess people just give up because they come to believe there is no way they can learn how to setup or run a blog because it’s too technical. Guess what? There is nothing too technical in 2008. There are millions of tutorials and forums that you can go to get answers to almost any question you might have (technical or non-technical for that matter).
W3C Schools is a great place to start learning about any web related technology. Whether you are interested in learning PHP or JavaScript, you can pick it up on W3C Schools. Playing with the examples should give you plenty to work with your WordPress blog.
Setting up WordPress is easy and only takes about 5 minutes. You can pretty much get a hosting account from DreamHost or HostGator and put the files on your server in about an hour (registration of a new account takes about 30-45 minutes). Once you have setup your WordPress blog, you should:
- “Pimp your WordPress Blog” With Plugins: WordPress is an extremely effective blogging platform because of the community that is behind it. Like every other Open Source software, WordPress has a lot of passionate followers who contribute to the platform on a daily basis by writing PHP snippets and plugins. You should download the plugins that will help you automate things and let you focus on running your blog (I highly recommend All-in-One SEO).
- Get a decent Template: once you are up and running with WordPress, you can either look for free themes or get a decent premium WordPress theme for your blog. I personally like the latter as you will have a more unique look and you can always graduate to custom-designed themes once you are making decent money from your blog (I use PremiumThemes).
- Get Cracking: I would think that by the time you have chosen your blogging platform, you have somewhat an idea about the niche that you will be going after. Planning is very important when it comes to blogging. You want to have a clear picture where you start and where you intend to go with your blogging efforts. There are blogs out there that are here and there (the author gets up in the morning and talks about the movie he/she has watched the previous night). That approach could work if you are an extremely sophisticated marketer, but for most beginners it will be difficult to make a successful blog with that approach (read “no one cares what you had for launch“). Brainstorm, plan, and get going. Remember, slacking off is the best way you can turn a successful idea to a miserable effort.
What Else To Do If All Fails?
Now if you feel doing all the above is tough and overwhelming, you can use tools such as WordPressDirect. WordPressDirect is an automated blogging system that allows you to install blogs and manage them from one location. All you have to do is provide them with your hosting account. You can also use the free hosting services that they provide (though I don’t recommend that). WordPressDirect does come with a couple of hundred themes that you can use to get started. You can also insert your Google Analytics and Adsense code to auto-insert them into your blog. WordPressDirect also finds content for you based on the keywords you choose (from YouTube, eZine Articles) and even posts them to your blog, so in essence this service hand feeds you until you are ready to graduate. I don’t recommend this service to advanced bloggers, but beginner bloggers can get started with this service fast. So if all fails and you have no idea how to get going, give WordPressDirect a try.
With all the above tools, there is no reason not to blog. If you have a passion, you can and should have a niche blog. It’s about finding the right niche and start cracking!
If you are an experienced blogger, how did you get started with Blogging? What were your challenges? Please share your thoughts.
