Go to WordPress.com and sign up for an account. The registration process isn’t all that time consuming (you’ll be ready and set to go in less than ~2 minutes). When you register, your domain will be something like: yourname.wordpress.com. That’s ok for now. The point here is to get started!
Just Do It!
The general school of thought says that you have to put a plan in place:
- What’s the blog about?
- How often will you post?
- How will you make money?
- How will you promote it?
Yes, those are all great questions. But sometimes, over-planning gets in the way of execution and progress. The sooner you start putting your thoughts down and publishing them in the digital space, the sooner you’ll start to understand the technology and it’s potential.
Your Digital Self
It’s great that you’re on networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Trulia Voices, etc. But nothing quite showcases your knowledge and personality like a blog. A blog helps you share the knowledge, insight and personality that makes you unique. The biggest challenge anyone has is that of determining how to stand out in a crowded marketplace. A blog is the perfect vehicle that allows you to demonstrate your uniqueness.
Don’t Know What To Say?
You’re a smart person. You have something to say. If your passion is real estate, talk about real estate. If you’re into paint-balling, talk about paint-ball. If you’re into horses, talk about horses. The point is, everyone has something to say about something.
Getting Started
Don’t worry about hosting and design (at least not yet). Your objective here is to focus on content and voice. On building a community and determining if this is something that you’d like to do over the long-term. If you find that it’s something that you really enjoy, then you’re ready to rock out with a design of your own.
Don’t Worry About Comments
Keep writing. Keep publishing. Stay focused and persist. People won’t always comment, that’s ok. It doesn’t mean that they’re not reading. Find ways to share your blog and your content with more people both on-line and off-line. And remember, it only takes one.
What are you waiting for?
What’s your blog’s url and what’s your blog about? Drop a note and a link to it in the comments. I’d love to see what you’re doing 🙂
Seth Godin & Tom Peters on Why Blogging Still Matters:
PHOTO CREDIT: schmeegan
Great post!
I agree.
Just do it!
It is very important for blogger to first think about the topic of the blog. The topic on which he will convey for several years.
Coming up with a blog for a short time period is not going to help you.
I'm not suggesting you start a blog on a topic you don't know/understand for the heck of it. I'm suggesting that one simply put their thoughts down and start to publish in order to gain a familiarity with how this all works.
Yes planning is important. But too often, people get caught in the over-planning process and then fail to execute.
Completely agree with this. I had been writing a newsleter for ages and puttin off starting a blod, despite lits of people asking when I was going to do it. So you (and Nike!) have a great pint – just do it. Today.
Kate: it feels good once you get it off the ground and going. And a sense of accomplishment comes with taking the first few steps. Usually, that's just the type of momentum someone needs to get movin'!
Hi Ric
The only thing that I would advise the start up blogger to get right….. is the domain name.
Buy a domain name which contains your key words but it still short and easy to remember.
Get it right from the word go and you won't have regrets later.
Keith: I totally agree with you. A good domain name is important. But I often tell people to shoot for memorable as opposed to something long-winded and keyword rich. Personally, I think that memorable wins out.
I agree with the wordpress recommendation. When I first looked at it in comparison to blogger it seemed too dense… there seemed to be so many options etc …but I persevered and now it just makes sense and the layout is more appealing to me, which encourages me to get online and post & poke around with settings. I'm into my music, so I think that I will create a blog around that next- I have a few ideas for monetization, but like I'm finding with hubpages, that doesn't matter to me too much as long as I'm enjoying it.
Owen: Blogger is great for the non-techy. It's easy to drag and drop lay-outs. For some, that's all that's needed. Ultimately, I need WordPress is more powerful and flexible so it'll forever win my vote.
Glad to here it's your choice of platform as well 🙂 Good luck on launching your music blog! What's it's up, feel free to drop in and share it!
I agree with the wordpress recommendation. When I first looked at it in comparison to blogger it seemed too dense… there seemed to be so many options etc …but I persevered and now it just makes sense and the layout is more appealing to me, which encourages me to get online and post & poke around with settings. I'm into my music, so I think that I will create a blog around that next- I have a few ideas for monetization, but like I'm finding with hubpages, that doesn't matter to me too much as long as I'm enjoying it.