I have had a variety of friends over the years and every time I get around to showing them a website/blog I started, they say "You can do this because your life is interesting, no one would read my blog." That's where they are wrong! My life really isn't any more or less interesting than their lives would be. The trick is, I cherish my thoughts and like to let all of them out through my hobbies. That's all, nothing so intensely interesting to it.
Since, all my friends wonder in amazement at the "interesting" life I live, I decided to create a post guiding them to create their own blogs. One of my friends is really looking for an easy way to blog and keep it updated so I'll share some blogging tips as well!
- The Story: Every blog has a story or idea that becomes the purpose of the blog. Your story doesn't have to be mind-blowing. Actually, it doesn't even have to be a story, it just has to describe what your blog will mainly be about and/or why it was started. For example, I needed a website of my own where I can showcase all my social network accounts and projects and so The Eternity Journal was born. That's my story.
- Give Your Story a Name: This is something I am terrible at. I have changed my blog's name a thousand times. I'm very indecisive with that aspect of my blog and hopefully my current blog name is one I will still love years from now. That is what you have to do. You need to find a name that you know you will be able to live with for the whole lifetime of your blog as well as it's afterlife. (Keeping in mind that your blog name may still appear on the internet even after you decide to delete it). So how do you choose the perfect name that fits your blog's story? You experiment. It's the best way to get a feel of what you blog name would sound like and look like all over the internet. Browse through blogs and conduct a list of names that you'd like and see where you can fit your name or your personality into. For example, if you like a blog called "In the Middle of Love", you can personalize it to "In the Middle of Amy's Life." Now you have created a whole name that fits your blog and is entirely yours, you see? Keep experimenting until you find one that you think you might want to keep.
- Find a Place for Your Story: This step takes a bit more research than thought. There are plenty of blogging services that you can use to showcase your blog, but finding which one is right for you is the tricky part. The service I use for this blog is Blogger, although one of my blogs, It's Technologic was created through Wordpress.org. I have tried several blogging platforms before and in my opinion, each service has it's own community of bloggers and trends that the other service does not. In my case, I used Tumblr for quite a while as a blogging platform, but blogging about my life on a service that solely relies on media was a terrible idea. Then I switched over my personal blog to Wordpress.com. I hated it. The service itself is great, it's so great I use the professional version for my technology blog, but the community on Wordpress was too sophisticated for me. Plus, with a free blog on Wordpress.com there aren't too many customization settings to create the perfect personal blog. I moved on to Blogger and was pleased with all the blogs I had discovered and the community that came along with it. Not to mention, all the customization I want! Blogger was the perfect home for my personal blog and Wordpress.org became the home for the professional/techy side of me.
- How Will You Showcase Your Story? Now that you found your story, gave it a name, and a home. Think about how you can showcase it. For instance, my blog is in one word about me. It's about my interest in business, technology, writing, and my love of life. Therefore, you'll find posts about how my small business is going, some technology thoughts I want to share, and a narration of my life's moments through writing and photos.
- Update and Promote Your Story: Your blog is all setup! Now all you have to do is keep updating your blog with posts that showcase your story and promote it! Send it to all your friends, write your blog URL on all your social networking accounts, and let other people know your unique and personalized story is live!
- Research Blogging Platforms such as Blogger, Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org. Google it, check out their features from their website, or check out this article I wrote titled "Which Blogging Platform is Right for You?" on my technology blog.
- Remember what you are blogging for (your story, your purpose). It will help you write.
- Don't write a post because you haven't updated your blog in a while. Write a post because you have something to say. Blogging wouldn't be fun if it was just another thing on your to-do list.
- Include links to your social network accounts on your blog and include your blog link on your social network accounts also. It's just an easy way to get connected with your readers while gaining new ones.
- Go to BlogLovin.com for some blog inspiration.
- Represent who you are and you're blog will be perfect!
xoxo,