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Writing a Blog





hybrid_x

Banned
Jun 28, 2011
2,225
have something meaningful to say in a specific meme / subject group. update once a fortnight. don't push it in peoples faces. do it for yourself and your enjoyment of writing, not for money. use blogger or wordpress. buy your own domain.
 


vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
27,867
Ask TLO, he may or may not have made much money but he has gone large thanks to his food blog.
 


hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
61,094
Chandlers Ford
have something meaningful to say in a specific meme / subject group. update once a fortnight. don't push it in peoples faces. do it for yourself and your enjoyment of writing, not for money. use blogger or wordpress. buy your own domain.

Good sound advice.
 


Buzzer

Languidly Clinical
Oct 1, 2006
26,121
I've had my blog for about three years now and get about 200 hits a day from it. I wouldn't expect to make any money from it unless I was getting a few thousand hits a day or more so I've never bothered with sticking adverts on mine. I find them intrusive and off-putting for a small blog so I like to keep mine clean from that. I use Blogger because it's a nice easy format to use but I know that the blogs that arty types or those that are more essay based rather than hot-linking music videos and streams prefer Wordpress. I couldn't tell you which one is better or not but Google own Youtube and Blogger so it's all integrated for you. Sticking embedded code is a piece of cake whichever blog you use though. And both have lots of pre-designed templates that you can use and tailor yourself. And find your own in-house style (font type and size, upper/lower case, the way you name each entry) and stick with it.

Another thing Google have done is make it very easy for you to have your own domain name and still use the Blogger functionality. It's worth considering if you fancy a more bespoke blog name something like blogname.com rather than blogname.blogspot.com I presume Wordpress have the same sort of thing.

And as for advertising my blog to the outside world I've found a couple of things absolutely invaluable. There's some free tools that automatically post to Facebook and Twitter every time I make a new blog entry. The Facebook one obviously just informs my friends but the Twitter one you're going out to the world. It might be worthwhile setting up a Twitter account specifically for your blog and give it a name to identify what your blog is. Then start following Twitter accounts of both your subject matter and your target audience and you'll gradually build up a ready source of new material for your blog and also followers interested in the subject matter. And probably best to stick to whatever your blog is about with that Twitter account. You can follow whoever you like though, of course. I get a real buzz when sometimes a band or musician pick up on my blog entry and mention it on Twitter or contact me via the blog.

With regards to updating it, I wouldn't really know if there's a right or wrong number of posts per day/week/month. I can go without posting for a week and then get a mad rush on and post 5 in one night. Best of luck with it, the above is just my experience and my blog is very small scale and specifically music so might not all be relevant.
 




Goldstone Rapper

Rediffusion PlayerofYear
Jan 19, 2009
14,865
BN3 7DE
Some excellent advice on this thread. Regarding the frequency of posting, I think it's best to choose a regularity that you think you could be maintaining in a year's time, and start with that.

Lots of blogs start posting five articles a day and then run out of steam shortly after. Or they post once or twice a week for a month and then drop off to a post three months later. It's just slightly disconcerting for the reader.

And choose an identity for your blog and stick to it. Again, it's a bit disconcerting to read a blog that's about the Albion one day, the Champions League the next, and then has a review of a Swing Out Sister gig the day after.
 


bluenitsuj

Listen to me!!!
Feb 26, 2011
4,304
Willingdon
I have just set up a blog this week through wordpress. Very simple. I have a website so needed a blog really. Blogs are indexed by google so for me is just to help try and get higher in the search engines.
I have linked the blog to my website, and also have widgets on the blog for Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and Pinterest. This helps people easily share your items or follow you.
I have also linked the Blog to Twitter, and Twitter is linked to my facebook page.

Another useful program is hootsuite. All your social media on one page. Write one post that will go across all social sites with one click, and you can also schedule posts for the future.
 








albionalex

Well-known member
Feb 26, 2009
4,511
Toronto
As has been said, do it for enjoyment. No point slogging through writing something just because you feel you have to.

Always proof read before you post. Spelling/grammar mistakes are to be expected but if a piece is poorly written (and/or there are constant mistakes) it will put people off from reading it.

If you plan to showcase it to potential employers, make sure the content is appropriate as they may well read it.

I use wordpress and have found it be easy to use, although I use a simple layout and haven't really tried anything too technical.

Good luck!
 


albionalex

Well-known member
Feb 26, 2009
4,511
Toronto
As has been said, do it for enjoyment. No point slogging through writing something just because you feel you have to.

Always proof read before you post. Spelling/grammar mistakes are to be expected but if a piece is poorly written (and/or there are constant mistakes) it will put people off from reading it.

If you plan to showcase it to potential employers, make sure the content is appropriate as they may well read it.

I use wordpress and have found it be easy to use, although I use a simple layout and haven't really tried anything too technical.

Good luck!
 




Goldstone Rapper

Rediffusion PlayerofYear
Jan 19, 2009
14,865
BN3 7DE
As has been said, do it for enjoyment. No point slogging through writing something just because you feel you have to.

Definitely this.

At the same time, I'd say to the OP: be aware that even the most enthusiastic blogger will go through different spaces; sometimes the words flow, sometimes you hit writers' block, sometimes you are on a high as your page views are jumping up, or people you value are praising your articles, or you may experience a blip in enthusiasm for your blog or its subject matter.

The main thing is to do what it takes to work through all of that, and understand those periods of 'what's the point?' are usually temporary. And if they're not, think about what you have to do with your blog to make it exciting for yourself again.
 


Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patreon
Jul 23, 2003
33,818
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade
I've got two (in my sig) both relatively new and wrote a parenting one before that for 18 months. Both are on free Wordpress. The hits on the Albion one vary from 400 to about 20 depending on the post so like Buzzer I haven't tried to make any cash from them.

If you do find it really taking off then go self hosted. This will allow you to post sponsored reviews and competitions that will make you a few quid (and I do mean only a few) or get you some treats off the sponsors. However PRs will want to know your unique hit rate and will tend to spam you with totally irrelevant requests. Luckily I'm completely unable to write what someone else wants me to and therefore ignored all the requests I got to the old parenting site but a lot of people are able to do it and get a better lifestyle as a result.

And as everyone else said join twitter.
 


MJsGhost

Remembers
NSC Patreon
Jun 26, 2009
4,410
East
Good advice all round on here.

Also, don't forget to drop the blog link (e.g. norecipeman.com) into online conversations whenever possible in the hope of snaring new readers. But try norecipeman.com not to make it too blatant norecipeman.com or hammer it home too norecipeman.com much.

I'm not sure how I stumbled across it, but I just had a nose around your blog. I really like the concept and agree with the sentiment. Good luck with the book launch!
 



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