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How to Write a Blog in 10 Easy Steps

General — By Trisha-admin on December 18, 2008 at 6:01 pm

So you want to write a blog. Great, First step is done.

Every month I have a few people randomly email me and ask me how to write a blog, oh great, blogger of this blog. (heavy sarcasm). I really am not a great blogger, but I thought I would put together (insert drum roll here) MomDots Tips on How to Start a Blog so I can refer people back here instead of typing this up monthly. This is a mixture of getting a blog rolling and starting up your traffic and presence on the web.

1) Ask yourself, why do you want to have a blog? Having a goal in mind going into writing a blog will help define which service you want to use first and foremost. Picking the right platform for your blog in the beginning, will save you some heartache down the road in transferring . To learn more about blogging sites and features, please visit my other article Blogger Vs. Wordpress to find out what which you should set yourself up with. Research the features you believe you will need and the blogging software you believe you can understand. There is no point in getting frustrated right off the bat on a program you cant figure out.

You can also get a blog at:

2) Goals. Is your blog for personal or professional reasons? Are you using it to keep in touch with family or friends, connect with others like you, share your opinions on products and life? Are you using it to promote your business or product? Do you want to be a professional writer? Outlining why you have stepped into the blogging world will help you define where you are going and what you should expect of yourself. While there are no definite rules in blogging, avoiding blog burnout or “writers block” can make blogging more enjoyable.

  • Personal Blogging: For personal blogging, you can focus on experiences you had throughout the week, funny kid sayings, pictures of your family, recipes, ideas to hang out with your spouse or children and shopping tips. Try to mix it up so you don’t get bored  too much and your readers keep wanting more and more. There is no rule to how many times a day. From updating 3-5 times a week to 3-5 times a day, blogs run the gambit of too little content to too much content. We run our blog with a LOT of content, but that is because we have a lot to say. Your blog should be a reflection on who YOU are. If you are a quiet person or a person that only wants to divulge when you have something you want feedback for, then writing a few times a week is fine. If you are someone that is a chatty Cathy, its ok to talk all day if you want. Remember, its YOUR blog. There are no rules. Finding a stride that works for you, will make you feel good and your readers know what to expect. I once didn’t update the blog for a few hours and got a call from a friend to find out if I was “ok”. That should tell you how much I blog.
  • Professional Blogs: Bloggers that blog as part of their online store or business, should consider blogging about a product at least once a week, to assist in google rankings for your store, and keeping your keywords current. It also helps your customers know up and coming products, specials, sales, and you can interact on a more personal level. If you let your blog go too long without updating content on a professional side, Google spiders slow up the crawling and your store can drop in rankings. Try to also share and link up with stores that sell products that are of interest to your customers. Not only is this a great way to cross promote each other, but to assist your customers in finding the right products for their needs. If they trust you as a go to gal, they will keep coming back, and revisiting your store over and over again

Blog what you KNOW and what you LIKE. People will enjoy reading what you have to say if you are passionate about it.

3) Content is key (like cash is king!). Having good content that catches the readers attention is a MUST. While not every post you write can be the one that makes people stop and stare, creating a connection with your readers is important for long term stability on your blog. When you are writing a blog post, try to add links to the places and items you are speaking about. Allowing your reader to be able to experience what you are talking about, makes for a more conversational post. It also helps your google PR ranking (which can raise your searchable content as well as assist you in future advertising and review opportunities online). Always try to leave your post with a question. If you do not have something that is a WOW factor, the reader may read and move on. But by asking a question, you engage in a conversation that can bring out other points and start a back and forth dialogue.

4) Post length. There are many varying opinions on how long a post should be. I personally believe it should be long enough to get your point across. Don’t get caught up in “is it too long or too short” if you haven’t said what you intended to write as it is. I see blogs that write hilarious snippets and long informative posts all day long. Both are valuable. If shortening a blog or review will leave your reader hanging, its better to be informed then to cut it off. But if writing on and on is just for writings sake, don’t bore your reader and keep it simple.

5) Keep motivated and excited about your blog. This is one of the biggies. Its very easy to go into and open a blog with full intentions on what you want for it. But you can experience burn out easily. When I feel a writing spurt, I may write a few posts at one time and save them in my drafts for times I feel like not writing. Its also good to have some ideas in your back pocket for when you feel burnout. A few ways to connect with your readers when you feel low on content are to:

  • Run A Contest
  • Invite another blogger on your page to do a guest article
  • Blog hop till you feel inspired
  • Run a Poll
  • Write a web series (how to do: x, y, z)
  • Get with other bloggers and run a blog party
  • Look through your old posts. You can visit posts that clearly readers took to and loved and try to open a new topic in the same category, perhaps writing about some points your commenters made, or you can open a post that had little to no comments and put a new spin on it.
  • Join MEME days online (we participate in Wordless Wednesdays)
  • Write down your ideas when you have them. We have an “idea” page here to assist you as well.

6) Make your blog personal. I find text ultra boring and monotonous without pictures or videos from time to time. Ok, Im lying. If I don’t see personal stuff in posts, I get bored really quickly. Staring a computer all day can be painful, so try to illustrate your ideas with photos when you can. VLOGGING is also a great way for your readers to really see who YOU are. They are more likely to connect with you as a person, then as a website, if you are talking on camera. If your embarrassed to be on camera…my advice is to get over it. Being real and unique is part of what will make people want to read what you have to say.

7) Visit other blogs. Having a blog is a lot like having a one sided conversation…until you know who is leaving you messages, it can be very lonely and random. Take time to interact with your visitors by talking back to them in the comments, writing posts that you believe they would like, visiting their blogs and commenting (conversation back), and emailing them directly. Many blogs have a set up where you can email directly from the comment your visitor leaves behind. Our blog is not set up like that, so we utilize a forum to get more personal with our blogging buddies, but you can set up your blog that way and it can be very convenient to let your readers know you read their comments.

8 ) Join social media groups. Building a blog does not mean automatically that you will have visitors. Its not “build it and they will come”…its more like build it and drag them over. You can do that by meeting people, connecting online, visiting other blogs, creating useful content for readers to link to, linking to them, and otherwise being involved in your blogging community. It also doesn’t hurt to attend a few blogging  conferences and keep a business card on you. HA!

Some places to find other bloggers are:

9) Sign your blog up with Technorati and Alexa right off.  They help “rank” your blog. While this may not be important to you, you may change  your mind in the future and its better to already have them recording then starting late in the game. This will also help you see who is connecting to your blog. Join up with a statistics counter as well. If for anything, it tells you where your users are coming from so you can thank your link backs. Woopra, sitemeter, or statcounter are commonly used.

10) Get a blog banner made so you can advertise your blog. There are two ways to be advertised by other bloggers…a link and a banner. Many bloggers put their favs in a blogroll and many put up banners, which house a tiny piece of who you are. There are lots of places to get a banner done, but we do suggest you get one. You can contact:

Places to advertise your blog:

Well, I could go on and on so I am going to make a point to stop here.  I hope

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that helps the few of you whom contact me a month and ask me how to start a blog. I’m certainly no blog expert or professional, but with some research, I am sure you will make your blog fun and successful for you.

~Trisha

PS Past articles from MomDot that may help you

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