There are some things that you need to think about whenever you start a new blog or decide to take an existing one in a new direction. In this article we'll be looking at topics such as the name of the blog, the topics that it will cover, your posting schedule and your writing style.
What To Call Your Blog
When writing a blog, the first question you need to consider is whether the blog is primarily centered around your own writing or a specific topic. Many bloggers name their blogs after themselves such as 'Betty Boop' and others will name their blog based on the topic such as 'Cat Grooming World'.
If you are branding yourself with the intention of marketing your personal services then naming your blog after yourself is a great move as you will always be able to use it to promote what you. This is especially useful if you're not sure what direction your blog will move in over time. But if you are building a blog around a specific topic which may not be part of you long-term then you may be better off with a niche-related name and domain.
Choosing Your Blog Topics
Many people start their first blog in a rather broad way - blogging about anything and everything that comes to their mind and as such they cover lots of topics. This is not necessarily a good idea as the majority of your readers will only be interested in a small portion of your topics.
When it comes to writing your posts you will be able to organise them into categories which makes it much easier for new readers to find your posts and its easy for them to see at a glance what your blog is about. When you just post a mish-mash of posts on all sorts of topics that are not really related then it can be more difficult to turn a one-off visitor into a regular subscriber.
Deciding on a Posting Schedule
A common trend amongst new bloggers is to start out bursting with enthusiasm. Indeed, much of the advice around tells you to blog as much as you can - at least every day if possible. Whilst more posts do in theory give you more chances to be found in the search engines, there are many readers who suffer from information overload and simply cannot keep up with busy blogs which leaves many of your posts unread.
In my experience it doesn't really matter how often you post or on what days of the week etc. The most important factor is that whatever schedule you set for yourself, you try to stick to it and remain consistent. There are very successful bloggers that only post once per week and their readers look forward to reading their weekly post.
One trend that I see with many blogs is that the blogger starts out enthusiastically by posting every day or even many times per day but over time he either loses steam, finds it too time consuming or simply runs out of stuff to say and then the schedule starts to slip and the posts become less frequent. This is noticeable to the reader and it does not look good!
A much better idea is to start off with a gentle posting schedule (you wont have many readers at the start anyway) and if you feel that you want to do more, to increase it slowly over time. Don't do it the other way around!
What Is You Writing Style?
Your writing style is a slightly tricky area. Your writing is a reflection of who you are, what your opinions are, your values and passions etc. A blog is all about the writing and in my experience when bloggers do best when they write freely from the heart in their own unique style.
I would recommend that you simply write in whatever way suits you. Everybody is different. Some people are conservative in their writing, others like to use language as a shock factor, some like controversy, others prefer a dry factual style. None of these are right or wrong - simply be who you are.
The only area where I might suggest that you alter your default style slightly is that of post length. A blog that is publishing 10 posts a day would probably do better with shorter, snappier posts than a blog that is publishing only once per week.
You can never please all the people all the time anyway so trying to change your posting style to suit one particular group is futile. The people who like your style will hang around and those who don't will go elsewhere. This is the simple truth and it's not something to worry about at all! - 15433
What To Call Your Blog
When writing a blog, the first question you need to consider is whether the blog is primarily centered around your own writing or a specific topic. Many bloggers name their blogs after themselves such as 'Betty Boop' and others will name their blog based on the topic such as 'Cat Grooming World'.
If you are branding yourself with the intention of marketing your personal services then naming your blog after yourself is a great move as you will always be able to use it to promote what you. This is especially useful if you're not sure what direction your blog will move in over time. But if you are building a blog around a specific topic which may not be part of you long-term then you may be better off with a niche-related name and domain.
Choosing Your Blog Topics
Many people start their first blog in a rather broad way - blogging about anything and everything that comes to their mind and as such they cover lots of topics. This is not necessarily a good idea as the majority of your readers will only be interested in a small portion of your topics.
When it comes to writing your posts you will be able to organise them into categories which makes it much easier for new readers to find your posts and its easy for them to see at a glance what your blog is about. When you just post a mish-mash of posts on all sorts of topics that are not really related then it can be more difficult to turn a one-off visitor into a regular subscriber.
Deciding on a Posting Schedule
A common trend amongst new bloggers is to start out bursting with enthusiasm. Indeed, much of the advice around tells you to blog as much as you can - at least every day if possible. Whilst more posts do in theory give you more chances to be found in the search engines, there are many readers who suffer from information overload and simply cannot keep up with busy blogs which leaves many of your posts unread.
In my experience it doesn't really matter how often you post or on what days of the week etc. The most important factor is that whatever schedule you set for yourself, you try to stick to it and remain consistent. There are very successful bloggers that only post once per week and their readers look forward to reading their weekly post.
One trend that I see with many blogs is that the blogger starts out enthusiastically by posting every day or even many times per day but over time he either loses steam, finds it too time consuming or simply runs out of stuff to say and then the schedule starts to slip and the posts become less frequent. This is noticeable to the reader and it does not look good!
A much better idea is to start off with a gentle posting schedule (you wont have many readers at the start anyway) and if you feel that you want to do more, to increase it slowly over time. Don't do it the other way around!
What Is You Writing Style?
Your writing style is a slightly tricky area. Your writing is a reflection of who you are, what your opinions are, your values and passions etc. A blog is all about the writing and in my experience when bloggers do best when they write freely from the heart in their own unique style.
I would recommend that you simply write in whatever way suits you. Everybody is different. Some people are conservative in their writing, others like to use language as a shock factor, some like controversy, others prefer a dry factual style. None of these are right or wrong - simply be who you are.
The only area where I might suggest that you alter your default style slightly is that of post length. A blog that is publishing 10 posts a day would probably do better with shorter, snappier posts than a blog that is publishing only once per week.
You can never please all the people all the time anyway so trying to change your posting style to suit one particular group is futile. The people who like your style will hang around and those who don't will go elsewhere. This is the simple truth and it's not something to worry about at all! - 15433
About the Author:
Caroline Middlebrook has been blogging about Internet marketing since 2007 and her popular blog earns a 4-figure revenue-stream each month. She teaches people how to make money blogging and offers downloads of her free ebooks, guides & courses on her blog.
