Blogging for the Beginners

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author

Day 2: 

There are as many types of blogs on the internet as names in a baby book. The most common, by far, are personal or niche blogs. These cover a gambit of topics including, healthcare, family, travel, book reviews, writing and cooking (to name a few).

Cow Pasture Chronicles has evolved into a blog mostly about writing, tips and resources, and a place to share my stories and on occasion an opinion piece.

images-14When I began blogging more than three years ago, I knew little to nothing about how to blog. Along the way, however, I’ve picked up a few tips I’d like to share.

  1. Determine what type of blog you want – personal, business, or niche (a themed blog).
  2. What’s the main topic?
  3. What do you want to be known for in the blogging community? Expert, Reviewer, Personal blogger, or reporter?
  4. Choose the 3-4 main topics you plan to blog about.
  5. Research the best platform for your blog. WordPress, Blogger (Google’s), and tumbler are some of the most popular.
  6. Research your top competitors. What do you like about their blogs?
  7. Decide how much time and effort you want to put into your blog. Do you want to write content weekly, daily or whenever?
  8. Select the name of your blog carefully. Consider what your blog is about, who your target audience is, and whether you want to make it into a brand. You can read more about selecting a name here. How To Come Up With A Blog Name: 10 Effective Ways To Choose a Name For Your New Blog  from Successful Blogging

Want to know more about starting a blog – check out these articles. Blogpress has an excellent post, 3 Quick Tips To Start A Blog The RIGHT Way, and of course, WordPress support is my go-to resource. There you will find video tutorials on just about everything.

It’s by no means all the things you need to know. Developing your blog is an ongoing process of learning, but I hope this will help.

How long have you been blogging? What type of blog do you have and how did you come up with the name?

I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story and look for me on Facebook at SheilaMGood,  Pinterest,  Bloglovin, Twitter@sheilagood, and Contently.

 

32 thoughts on “Blogging for the Beginners”

  1. Been doing this for just over two years. My first blog, Thoughts from the Front, was a place where I put my struggles with life and has morphed into my personal place where I post my non fiction works or thoughts. A Flash of Fiction was birthed after and is where I post all my creative fiction and poetry. It’s a play on the term flash fiction, because almost all the pieces are under 1000 words.

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  3. I pick my blog names based on what I want to write about on that blog. My writing used to be called My First Book because it was about getting my first book published.

    Then when that happened, I changed the name to The Five Year Project, because I’m seeing how far I can get as a writer in five years.

    When I started, I found blogs I thought was big and asked them for advice on how to grow my blog. (And then I followed that advice.)

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  4. Wonderful blogging tips. I wish someone had shared them with me when I first started blogging. I felt like such a fish out of water and made so many mistakes. I continue making mistakes, we all do, but those beginner mistakes, were whoppers. Tips or guidelines like yours would have saved me hours of frustration and humiliation. Thanks for visiting me during the challenge. I will most definitely be stopping back by your blog. You have a new friend.

    http://melissasugarwrites.com

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    • Melissa, thank you. I look forward to conversing with you more in the future. And, no worries. I think many were in the same boat when they started out, including me. It is an ongoing learning process. That’s where a good community of bloggers comes in and I’m glad you’re going be part of mine.

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  7. Oh, blogging! I started WriteOnSisters with Robin about 3 1/2 years ago. It was her idea, actually. She was the driving force behind getting a blog started! There were a couple other ladies blogging with us at that time, and we didn’t have a mandate except “blog about writing.” As the blog evolved, it became clear that writing craft posts were the most popular, so we focused more on that.

    As for the name… uh, Robin? She came up with that too! 😉

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    • Heather, I love the name. My sister and I also started out about the same time. The name of mine came from my experience as a young girl climbing the fence of the Cow Pasture behind our house. It was there I did all my writing, thus the name. BTW, I Love your site. Thanks for stopping by and jumping into the conversation.

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  8. I have been blogging for just over a year. I knew nothing about blogging when I started. It has been a great journey though and the thrilling ride continues. Honestly, the best part of it all, is meeting all the really interesting people. I am always going on about what my “blogging friends” are doing. I am sure my family becomes quite tired of hearing about it, but I don’t care.

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  9. I just started my blog, Ink & Stitches – The Writerly and Creative Life of J.H. Winter, back in February, but I feel like I’ve hit the ground running. I had done a lot of research before beginning so that I would have knowledge of: what other bloggers are doing; which blogs are easiest to read structure-wise and why; what type of content is out there for the things I was hoping to write about; how often to post; and the list went on.

    The blog came into being because I am a writer of Middle Grade and Young Adult Fantasy, and I want to eventually publish non-fiction books on creating amigurumi as well. Especially for non-fiction publications, you need a following (you need to show you are an expert after all), so I set out to create a blog to teach people everything I know related to the arts of: writing, illustration, crocheting, and crafting. My theme for the blog as well as for this challenge is: Artistic Variety. I have begun creating a brand with the name as well and away we go.

    This was a great post! You have a great blog of your own here. I’m glad I found it through participating in this challenge 🙂

    Julianne
    http://blog.jhwinter.com
    @jhwinterauthor

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    • I wish I had done as much research before starting but then I’m pretty much a panster most of the time. Had I done so I might have changed the name but then it has special significance,so I don’t know. Thanks for the kind comments. I think you have a great blog.

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  11. I didn’t”t I have any of this kind of information when I started my blogs. I knew that I had things that I wanted to talk about, for example giving my Viewpoints, researching people who have made imprints in our world or finding my voice in writing my short stories, books and non fictional stories but I didn’t think I could get all of what I wanted to do in one blog, so I have ended up with seven blogs which is okay with me.
    I enjoyed this post and learned something new.
    Shalom,
    Patricia EverythingMustChange

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    • I understand completely. There is a way to import your other blogs into WordPress. I have a tab at the top that will take you to my older blogs. You can also link them if you want. Check out WordPress support for how to do this. Thanks again for your contribution to the conversation.

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