Blogging for beginners

Apr 18, 2007

A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who maintains a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in chronological order with the most recent additions featured on the front page. To put it as simply as possible - a blog is a type of website that is usually arranged in chronological order from the most recent 'post' (or entry) at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom.

Blogs are usually (but not always) written by one person and are updated pretty regularly. Blogs are often (but not always) written on a particular topic there are blogs on virtually any topic you can think of. From photography, to spirituality, to recipes, to personal diaries to hobbies - blogging has as many applications and varieties as you can imagine. Whole blog communities have sprung up around some of these topics putting people into contact with each other in relationships where they can learn, share ideas, make friends with and even do business with people with similar interests from around the world.

Blogs usually have a few features that are useful to know about if you want to get the most out of them as a reader. Let's examine a couple briefly.

Archives - You might look at the front page of a blog and think that there is not much to them. A few recent entries, some links to other sites and not much else. However it's worth knowing that there is a lot more going on under the surface, just like an iceberg and this is called an archive.

As you add more current posts the older posting begins its journey down the page until it disappears from it. This is not the end of its life however, because it goes into the 'Archives' of the blog. It sounds like a dusty dark place but it's really just like a filing cabinet that is easily accessible. You can read the 'archives' at the 'archives' or 'categories' section. There you will see links to all old posts which you can access.

Comments - Not all blogs use comments - but most do. The blog is not a monologue but a conversation. You can give feedback on what is written by simply clicking the 'comments' link at the bottom of each post. This will take you to a little form where you leave your name, email and a link to your own blog if you have one as well as your feedback, comment, critique, question etc. Try it now.

A great way to learn about blogs is to read a few. Leave some comments, ask questions and bookmark your favorites.

An even better way to learn about blogs is to start your own.

Step 1

Choosing a topic

What are you interested in?

While it might be tempting to start blogs based on what other people are interested in or what makes commercial sense there is little logic in starting a blog on a topic that you have no interest in. There are two main reasons for this.

Firstly if you want to grow as a popular and well respected blog it can take considerable time and you'll need to take a long term approach to building it up. As a result it's well worth asking yourself 'can I see myself still writing on this topic in 12 months from now?' If you can't I'd suggest finding another topic.

The second reason is that you readers will quickly discern if you are passionate about your topic or not. Blogs that are dry and passionless don't tend to grow - it makes sense really as no one wants to read something that the author doesn't really believe in.
Is the Topic Popular?

While the blogger's interest is important it's not enough on it's own to build a popular blog. Another crucial ingredient is that people WANT to read information on the topic you're writing on. The law of Supply and Demand is what most business students are taught in their first semester of studying economics and it comes into play here also. You might be interested in your topic but unless others are also you'll always have an uphill battle in building a highly read blog.

Of course keep in mind that you are writing in a medium with a global audience of many millions and as a result you don't need a topic that everyone is searching, just one that some people are searching for because even it's something that even a small percentage of people have an active interest in it can be a lucrative area.
Is the Topic one that is growing or shrinking?

Also keep in mind that popular topics change over time. Obviously it's great to get on a topic before it becomes big rather than when it's on the decline. This is not easy to do of course but predict the next big thing that people will be searching for and you could be onto a winner.

Get in the habit of being on the lookout for what people are into. I constantly ask myself 'what will people be searching the web for in 6 to 12 months?

Keep an eye on what people are into and what the latest trends are. Do this online but also keep an eye on TV, magazines, the papers and even the conversations you have with friends.
What competition is there?

One of the traps that some bloggers get sucked into when choosing a topic is to go for the most popular topics with no regard for the competition that they might face in those markets. The chances are if you have identified a niche that you think is 'hot' at the moment that someone else will have also. Its demand and supply coming into play again - for any level of demand for information on a topic there will only be a certain number of sources of that information that will be needed on that topic.

The web is becoming a more and more cluttered place and sometimes it feels that there are no niches that are left open to blog about. While this is true in some of the more popular topics - remember that you don't have to go for the topic that everyone is searching for. In fact sometimes it's some of the less popular topics that have little or no competition that are the best earners.
What is the competition neglecting?

This is a great question that is obviously related to the last one on number of competition. It attempts to find 'gaps' that are not yet filled. While your competition might have the advantage of an established audience, you have the advantage of flexibility and can position your blog very quickly to fill a gap in the niche that you might observe - in doing so you create a sub-niche within the larger topic.
Will you have enough Content?

One of the key features of successful blogs is that have the ability to continue to come up with fresh content on their topic for long periods of time. Conversely, one of the things that kills many blogs is that their authors run out of things to say.
Are there Income Streams on the Topic?

If you are interested in earning an income from blogging you will need to also factor in some investigation on whether the topic that you've chosen has any obvious potential income streams. As I've written previously, there are many ways of earning money from blogs - however the problem is that not every topic is going to be suitable for every potential income stream. For example, contextual ad programs like AdSense and YPN work really well for some topics but hardly earn anything from others. Similarly some blogs do fantastically out of affiliate programs (the key is to find affiliate programs that match your topic closely) and others are better suited to impression based ads (those with high traffic levels).

It's unlikely that you'll find the perfect topic on all of the fronts above. While it would be great to find a topic that you're passionate about, has massive demand and no competition - but the reality is that most topics that you come up with will have at least one weakness to them. Don't let this get you down - there comes a time when you just need to make a decision and start blogging. The key is being aware of what the weakness is so that you can work to overcome it.