Three Tips for Starting a Blog
Many of you know that Marish is a personal project I started to become a better writer. I knew that starting a blog wasn't going to be easy and I still have so much work to do before I have a professional and respected blog. I love everything about starting this blog and can't wait for the future. So much effort goes into something like blogging and most people don't even realize all that it takes. I thought I'd share some of the things I've been working on right now to get this blog moving forward. It isn't simply writing, posting or sharing. Those three things will only get you so far. Here's three tips for starting your own blog:
TIP #1: FIGURE OUT WHY
One of the major things I learned is that you have to find your "why". There has to be an overall purpose behind your blog to show readers why you're writing to them in the first place. This is probably the hardest part about starting a blog. I'm still struggling with it myself, even though I have posts up already. It's really hard to define your purpose at the beginning. After a lot of research, I've learned that if you just keep writing you'll figure out what you're best at and eventually discover the purpose of your blog. Having a purpose will give you direction and help you create meaningful content, so it's important to get it right.
TIP #2: BRAND YOURSELF
One of the ways to take your purpose and your blog to the next level is to create a brand. I think this is the most important thing to do in the beginning. Marketing yourself is all about appealing to your audience and getting them to remember you and love you. Having a brand makes you more memorable and easier to recognize.
It's important to sit down and figure out your brand right away. One trick I learned is to write down a list of words that describe you. Then write words that describe your purpose for writing or what you hope to share with your readers. After that, combine those two lists to create a huge word list you can pull from. These are all the words that represent you and your brand. You should shorten it and rearrange words to create a well-defined brand list. After doing this, write some goals for your blog and future post ideas based on this list. Stick to your brand image and purpose for everything you do. Knowing your brand and sticking to it will help your readers see who you are and what you have to offer much faster.
TIP #3: PLAN YOUR CONTENT
Content creation is probably the most difficult part about starting a blog. Writing enough to keep your blog full of readable material takes a lot of work. The best thing I've learned is to write ahead of time and schedule posts. This is especially helpful if you go on vacation or have a busy week planned. Planning your content ahead of time will save you a lot of time and energy in the long run. If you have a plan for your content, you know what you're writing about and when. There are hundreds of free worksheets from established bloggers to help you plan your content. I struggle to find topics all the time, so planning ahead helps me to stay writing and to have posts ready for you all. Content creation is what makes a blog. Be careful about your content and keep it inline with your overall purpose and brand.
If you're thinking about starting a blog, I suggest you do some research before hand. I did research throughout the process and have learned so much about blogging that I wish I knew before starting my site. Marish has a long way to go and now that I have some blogging knowledge I can hopefully grow my little blog a lot faster and a lot smoother. Always feel free to ask me questions or for blogging resources. I will most likely post some blogging resources later on to help out any new bloggies like me.
