So You Wanna Be a Blogger?

Before you decide to unfold a section of your life or your personal belief system to the entire free world, take a minute or two, or a day or week, and think about why you want to venture down this trail, what you hope to accomplish. The reason I say this is because why you want to blog and what you hope to do with your blog will ultimately determine some of the facets about your blog later on. Not that you can’t change your mind-we are talking about the internet afterall. But, it’s a good idea to give some thought to what you are wanting to say, do, or tell people before you get started. It can save you some headache later on.

I think the two biggest thing to consider up front are:

1.) What do you want to blog about?

There are many types of blog genres, and there are many people (don’t ask me how they do it) who run multiple blogs. I call these people bladdicts.

• Personal blogs: blogs about family, life, kids etc
• Political: Where blogging really started
• Travel: blogs about how to travel, where, with kids, with pets, or without either.
• Reviews: blogs reviewing everything under the sun
• Blogging: blogs on how to blog
• Photography Blogs: Blogs that show case various types of photographs.
• Diary/Journal: Personal thoughts, your own online journal.

2.) Why are you going to blog?

This is so important to consider up front, I should probably move it to the top of the page. Many people start blogging because they’ve heard they can strike it rich online. The reality is, most bloggers are not making a living off of blogging alone. It doesn’t mean it can’t happen, it just means it might take awhile. Don’t quit your day job just yet. Think about why you are blogging. Some themes and blog hosts are better suited for blogs designed to make money than those designed to let your grandma see photos of the babies.

There are other things to consider as well before you get started, I consider the two above the biggest issues to consider before you put mouse to blank screen. You might also, before you start, think about:

• How often will you post? Daily? Weekly? Whenever you feel like it?
• What type of privacy do you want? Photos, or no photos?
• Do you want to attract the world, or limit the blog to friends and family only?
• If you have an outside employer, what will you do to draw the lines between blogging and your job (so that you don’t lose the latter.)

These are all things that I think are important issues to mull over in your mind ahead of time. Afterall, if your first post is about how you hate your job or your boss or your neighbor, and you fail to set up your privacy settings, you might be without all three of them.

Blogging is not a static process, even as a hobby, and do it decently. You should plan on having some sort of regular postings, even if they are only once a week. Not only does this get you in the habit of writing, it will keep your readers coming back. And you should be willing to comment and be commented on. Does it sound like blogging is more work than a hobby? It certainly can be, which is why I say don’t jump in unless you know what’s in the water you are jumping into.

One question that I see frequently is: “Do I need to know computer programming to blog?”

The answer is no, but it certainly helps. As I’ll discuss later, there are millions of themes and blog designs ready to go. But it helps if you know how to tweak, install, and troubleshoot. Don’t let that stop you though if you are a total computer-code newbie. There are just as many blog forums to assist as there are blogs-someone will help you, and you’ll learn in the process.

The last thing I want to say is, whatever you choose to blog about, make it something you are passionate about. My blog is about my family, but really it’s about my journey as a working mom with teenagers. This is something I am passionate about: supporting working mom and parents with teenagers. So I don’t care if it’s birds, cars, religion or gardening-if you decide to make this a hobby, make it something you are passionate about and what to share with other people. I promise, it will make the process a lot more interesting and fun on your end.

If you are already blogging, FEEL FREE to use the comments section below to give feedback on how and why you got started and share advice.

If you’ve gone over all of these things and you are ready to jump into the blogging waters, check out the page I’ve written on the various blogging platforms and how to choose.