Blogging is a medium that millions of people relate to. Platforms range from the early stages of LiveJournal to the more elegant WordPress, to the image-based Tumblr platform and beyond. No matter where you go, it seems that bloggers are taking over.
All the hype, celebrity gossip, and exposure makes it hard not to want to be a blogger. So if you’re ready to try your hand at the blogging life, here are five tips to help you along.
Pick a Topic and Roll With it
The most important part of starting a blog is deciding what you’re going to be blogging about. What interests you? What could you spend the rest of your life writing about or documenting? These are the questions you need to ask yourself before starting a blog, and whether the answer is celebrity gossip or current news, once you have your topic, you need to roll with it.
Be Social Media Savvy!
A blog is nothing without support from other platforms on the internet. If you already have a personal Twitter or Tumblr account, set them to private and set up new accounts that relate more closely to your blog topic. This way, you can use those platforms to market your content and make it available to a wider audience without revealing your personal life if you don’t want to.
Be a Good Writer
Before you put that first post up on your shiny new blog, proof read it. After that, have someone else proof read it. The more you refine your writing, the better. If your’e writing about celebrity news or the latest entertainment stories, read up on that type of content and study the style of writing. If you’re really committed to creating a strong writing presence, then you could even go take a writing class at a local community college. The better your writing is, the more readers you’ll have.
Enhance Your Content With Photography
Solid blocks of writing are great for building up a portfolio, but people aren’t going to pay much attention without some visuals to grab them. Include pictures in your biography and information section, as well as interspersed throughout your content. Investing in a quality camera is always a good idea. The better the images, the more attention they’ll get.
Update your Content Frequently
Whether it’s celebrity gossip or baked goods, you need to set a schedule for updating your content and follow it. If you start a blog and fall off the map six months later, there was no point! To gain a solid reader base, you need to be prepared with new content at least one to three times weekly. Not only will it keep your audience interested, it will keep you sharp!
Starting a blog isn’t difficult; maintaining a blog is the hard part. Domain names don’t cost too much money, so if you purchase one now for use in the future, it will give you time to prepare for when you actually want your blog to launch. There’s no reason to be afraid to try it. Get out there and get after it!