If you are here then you are probably wanting tips on how to start a blog.

Blogging is not the easiest of tasks to accomplish and should be treated like a hobby not a required task. That is not to say that you can make posts randomly and not work on it. Here are my tips when starting a blog:

Content:

Content is the key ingredient in making a successful blog that kills the others. Before writing any topics, you should decide on what your blog should be about. What you are going to want to do, is think of something you enjoy or have great knowledge on. This topic should be aimed at a certain group of people, you should also take the amount of traffic (visitors) it might get into consideration. Make sure you do not copy or take other peoples post/articles and post them as your own without permission from the author. By this, i don’t mean you can just take an article and add “This is not my article/post” at the bottom. In the posts you make, you should not include information that the reader doesn’t need to know. A problem with many of the blogs today, are that they “babble” on too much and the reader leaves the page without taking a deeper interest into a blog.

Different Types of Media

A reader may get board with your blog because you only use the text format to put your point across. You should experiment with other types of media, for example:

. Video

. Images

. Live Streaming

Give User Control:

It is always good to make the readers/users feel special when they are on or using your blog. Give your reader something to do on your blog that may benefit them in some way. Some blog providers (example: Wordpress), allow your blogs users (if chosen by you) to make a post on your blog or edit some from the past.

Advertising:

There are two main ways that you can get some traffic by advertising, the first is search engines and the second is physical medium.

Search Engines:

If you are not indexed by the major search engines (eg. Google, Yahoo, Ask etc..) you will find that traffic to your site is minimal. If you are making posts daily then the SE (search engines) should automatically index it. Make sure you use “tags”, this will allow the search engines to rank you more for the keywords that you choose. For example if you take a home/garden blog then a few tags could be “home”,”home and garden”, “plants” etc..

Physical Medium:

This is a more expensive option, but does gather great results. Some examples of physical medium are:

.Passing out flyers/leaflets

.Billboards

Any form of wide public advertising distribution is usely a great way to get traffic. Just print off your medium and get it out there, add a link to your site in a big font and the reader is bound to try it if they like your content.

Choosing the right design:

All blog providers will have a set of templates for you to choose, although you may find that some 3rd party companies provide them aswell. Usually they are free but the more advanced templates will require a little cash, to compensate for the creators efforts. Make sure you choose a template that not only looks the part but links directly to your content.

When to post:

In the blogging industry, the more you post, the better ranking on search engine you get. My advice is to post at least once a day and the post should be at least 250 words. This will not only get you good rankings and lots of traffic, this will also give you lots of time for your life without being addicted to your computer monitor.

External Social Sites:

This is more aimed at the future, but when you create a blog, you should think about signing up for accounts on other social networking sites (eg. Twitter, Facebook , MySpace etc..). Create a page or a box in the sidebar called “Social Me” and include links to all your social network accounts. Post updates on your accounts about the site and your users will “Friend You” or “Follow You” to keep up-to-date.

Giveaways/Competitions:

This may become too expensive if you do it too often, but do a giveaway around once or twice a year to spice up your blog and get the readers coming back again to check whether they have won.

Youtube and Video Sharing Sites:

This sort of ties in with the other media section but is generally focused on wide spread video. Every so often take one of your posts and convert it to a video. For example if you made a post about “How to use Photoshop” then do a screen capture of you explaining and showing them what to do. This will help your users understand what you are talking about and guide them along the way. Always include a link to your site in the sidebar, but never post them in a comment (it will be removed and marked as spam).

Don’t “Over do it”:

This is a huge no for any aspiring blogger. Make sure you don’t post too many times or you will over load your readers with information. Basically, just try not to think about it too much or your efforts will overpower the reader will result in your traffic returning to minimal levels.

The Right Name and Domain:

Just like most things in life you won’t get anywhere without paying a little. You will need to pay for hosting and a domain (not a subdomain). This is vital or Google and the other search engines will ignore you. Choose a domain/name that suits your content and does not contain too many characters (i recommend a maximum of 15). Always try to get a “.com” or a “.co.uk” domain because these rank the best.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization):

Just because you are on the major search engines doesn’t mean you are going to millions of views. When you are first indexed (listed) you will be nearly at the bottom of the list. To get higher you will need to complete and sustain a process that is called SEO (Search Engines Optimization). The best way to accomplish this, is to pay a “SEO Freelancer” who will do all the work for you. The problem with doing this work yourself, is that it is very advanced and would take years to learn.

Offer something unique:

You will probably agree that most people won’t visit a site if it does not stick out from the crowd. For example if you create a blog about cooking, you will need to offer some important recipe that nobody else can. The general idea is to do something completely different, however if you are creating a blog about something that is already on the internet then offer something new and fresh.

RSS Feeds:

These are very easy to do and can be used to help your readers. All it is, is an icon on your blog that when clicked allows the user to subscribe to your feed. This means that they get all of your posts and content directly to their RSS reader easily.

Account Creators:

If you become very popular you might want to add a sign up form onto your webpage to give those users that like your site a bit of extra control on your blog.

Tag Clouds/Archives:

These are optional for your blog. They generally show what people are searching for the most and what posts you have made recently.

Related posts:

1. Making Your Blog Search Engine Friendly
2. Making Your Blog Mobile
3. “Why have I lost my rankings?”
4. How to make thousands! [Free Report]