New Blogger Checklist
Starting your first blog? There are a lot more to it than it seems. A lot of new bloggers don’t realize the effort that’s required and give up once they do. To avoid this, be sure you know what you’re getting into and plan everything out. Today’s post isn’t about blog designing or anything, but the three most important things you need to have before you begin blogging. Here they are:
- Time - Blogging takes a lot longer than people think. Apart from the writing, there’s still comments to be replied to, promoting to do, and other blogs to keep up with. A lot of new bloggers underestimate the time it takes to maintain an active blog and give up early on. Avoid this by knowing what you’re getting into.
- Patience - Success takes time. One great article won’t always win over the potential subscriber. A consistent flow of useful information does. You need patients and persistence for writing regularly to become successful.
- Passion - If you have it, passion will show up in your writing. Blogging is going to be a drag if you don’t care enough for whatever you’re writing about. Play it safe and choose a blogging topic that you know and love.
Fellow-blogging-readers, what else do you think you need to succeed in blogging?
The most important thing, though most people seem to forget that when they are starting a new blog (and I know I did back in 2001 when I started my Livejournal :P ), is something to actually write about…
There ARE people out there that really manage to simply write about their daily life for years (and even keep it interesting!), but most people just stop after a few weeks - or even days.
(On a side note: passion sometimes makes up for time. I’m just wondering how long it can do that… ;)
Yes, something to write about is a must. Even though there are some great writers out there who could write a thousand-word article about absolutely nothing, you should settle on a somewhat specific subject for your blog that you have knowledge about.
Thanks for your comment, Ben.
I’ve been blogging for about a year, but really trying to put some effort behind it in the last few months. One problematic factor is definitely time, it seems like blogging literally eats time! I love reading everyone else’s posts and there are so many good sites and so much to absorb it can be a little overwhelming. I need an extra day in the week - blogday!
Same here, Lucinda. Time was the first thing on the list when I started writing this post.
And I think Blogday would fit nicely between Monday and Tuesday.
You need patients and persistence, and need to lern how to spel. (I know, everyone makes mistakes, lol).
John, thanks for your input. Very true.