Deciding to blog is a tough decision isn’t it? What subject should it be about? What kind of posts should you write? Should you go it alone or get it hosted for free at a blogging site?
Blogging isn’t the easy job some people think it is. It can certainly be rewarding, enlightening and enjoyable, but the hardest part is definitely getting it going in the first place.
Equally as Hard
For some reason creating a blog isn’t generally seen to be as hard as getting a website up and running. But in reality it can be equally as hard. You might not be selling anything directly from your blog – you certainly haven’t got lots of product pages to worry about – but you do have to think about all the same design aspects when you are creating a blog, and you still have to think about updating it regularly and optimising it for the search engines and so on.
When you think about all that, it’s small wonder that it’s easy to put off creating a blog for quite a while before you actually get around to taking the plunge. It’s also very important to make sure that you do get it set up exactly as you want it before you publish it for the whole world (hopefully) to see.
Creating a Blog
You might find it easier to plan what you aim to achieve from creating a blog before you actually do it if you really are hesitant about making the leap. Do you want to build up a big readership and then funnel them across to your website to sell various items to them? Do you want to monetize the blog itself? Do you simply want to provide good value by creating a blog that imparts good value to its readers?
Once you have the basics in place, you might find that creating a blog becomes a much easier process.
About Sean Rasmussen
Having built a couple of blogs now I can highly recommend them. There are all sorts of options so you can play around with them. You get the look of it just how you want it.
A lot of the operations can be automated.
It is a lot of fun but hard work as well. For me it’s the perfect combination
Hi Gee
My first couple I got really caught up with themes and headers and columns and colours – so much to look at! Now that I have sorted worked out the feel of my blogs – it is a lot easier and quicker to set them up so that I’m not sweating over the small things.
Also deciding which plugins and widget placement for the first time can also take a lot fo time!
Hi Sean,
I think that wordpress is the best place to start when you’re wanting to create a blog. They offer a lot of support and advice and you can get a blog up and running pretty easily.
Creating a blog is easy (thanks to wordpress) – maintaining it is hard
I had to learn it’s one thing to have a great idea and another to write 1-2 interesting articles about that topic every week. Cricky. But I am getting there
Hi Renee,
I completely agree with you. Getting the blog up is the easy part. It’s everything else I have to do that gives me problems. I’m always having trouble posting consistently.
Not to mention making time for building backlinks, building relationships with other bloggers, building an email list, maintaining web 2.0 pages, creating an e-book … The list of things to do is never ending. I have so much work to do.
Hi Sean,
Ideally I would like to have a popular blog that will direct traffic to a sales page or to an affiliate product. As others have said a WordPress platform is good and easy to get started with a blog. You are correct also in saying that the hardest part is getting started.
Making that decision on what’s the best subject to blog about can take time and consideration.
Hi Sean
When I started out last year with making my blog, I had an idea and started to build it and it is still at that basic level as it has been a work in progress.
Since being part of this competition I have been exposed to so much information (a bit in overload at present) but I can see so much potential with blogs now that I really want to plan it out so I can attract traffic and SEO and then monetise it.
Like Jill, I will have one affiliate’s product link on it (IMPOTY and YOTA) and I will build it up from there. I am really keen to do that and am looking forward to it.
Hi Sean,
I was surprised at just how easy it was to start a blog, the hard part is knowing what to blog about.
The next blog I start will have had so much work done before I even think of publishing it, that it will be the Best, as now I know a lot more about getting it right first.
If you’re still hesitating about creating a blog then here a few other thoughts.
1. Decide in advance what you want to do with your blog. Online journal, marketing, vanity blog, etc. Remember, you’re the one who’s going to have to write the material.
2. Have an idea as to how you want it to look. Check out the themes that are available for “prettying up” your blog.
3. Consider one of the sites that allow you to set up a free blog. Actually try it out to see if this is really what you want to do.
4. Check out and set up accounts on social bookmarking sites and social networking sites so you can promote the articles in your blog after you write them.
Just a few more things to think about when your first sticking your toes in the big blogging pond.
Hi Don
Thank you for the extra information and summary on how we can make it easier to set up a blog.
I struggled with the first one and am still working on it but now I really feel that subsequent blogs are going to be much easier and fun as I won’t be sweating the ‘small stuff’ and will feel moe relaxed about it.
I always thought that I wouldt have the determination to keep a blog going – just becomes one of those things which fall by the wayside – but being able to schedule is a great function in wordpress.
I dont have a problem with not have ideas – my problem is having TOO many ideas and being able to write about them all when I only seem to have 24 hours in the day. I would love to have hudnreds of blogs going with great information…..outsourcing is obviously the key, but you still have only so many hours!