Blogging has become one of the most popular ways of communicating and spreading information and news with others. It’s also a great way to express yourself and set free your inner person. Long before now, we used diaries to pen our thoughts, experiences and day to day activities; some of those activities are private and some are what we wished others could just read about us. But it would have been a difficult task showing our diary to all our friends for them to see that new entry we just wrote.
I know there are lots of blogs out there, but yours can still stand out; you can still command your own audience and readers, all you need is to start. Blogging will make you a better person, because you are now responsible to a whole lot of people, and a better writer because you are now writing more often than before. I agree we all cannot be writers, but if you can tweet; you can write.
Most of us believe writing is very hard; an arduous task that requires a lot of brain power. Maybe that is true but you sometimes tweet 10 times in a day and if your tweet has 140 characters which is the maximum you can type, posting such 10 times in a day would make you have 1400 words on twitter. So, imagine if you wrote that and post it on your blog. You could even make money from blogging someday, which in my opinion is the best thing that can happen to a blogger.
So, I have some tips for you today if you want to start blogging or you have been thinking about it forever but you don’t know how to go about starting one. However, note that these tips are for beginners or people who think blogging is so hard. If you are already a pro, you might just help add some other tips not mentioned in this post.
1. Choose a Platform:
I started writing few years back and my first platform was my Facebook wall. I would make FB posts and then tag all of my friends. As time went by, I moved to other platforms and I am currently thinking of moving to yet another. So, as a beginner, you need to choose your preferred blogging platform, (free –blog platform preferably) learn how to use the different available themes, most of which are free, and then you are on your way to becoming a blogger.
2. Write for Yourself
After getting a platform, learn how to write for yourself, at least for the time being. Don’t be too conscious of people reading your blog. Just focus on your own thoughts, your opinions and your capability. Ignore the fact that anyone else will read what you write; all you need is to figure out how to put those things in your heads into words. Just know that the more you write for yourself, the better your writing becomes, and the more people will key into your style of writing.
3. Identify Your Audience
As you continue writing, you will have to narrow down your audience by deciding which topics you want to write on and who you want to write for, this is most times determined by which subject(s) you are most knowledgeable about; your comfort zone. When I started writing, fiction was comfortable for me, so I stayed writing fiction for about 8 months, and my audience naturally came to me. Most of them are my personal friends and business partners today. So, when you identify the kind of audience your writings attract, you would know how to develop your general content.
4. Grow Your Blog; Gather Ideas
Next step is to grow your blog, make it bigger. One way of doing this is to gather ideas of what topics people would most like to read about; when you write what they would love to read, your blog will grow automatically. You can gather ideas from your social media accounts, interact with your friends and followers on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn with an engaging quote or topic. If they respond well to it, write about it and watch your blog grow.
5. Write Catchy Headlines
Your content might be great in no time, but no matter how great it is, if you have wacky headlines, it won’t count for much. First timers to your blog have a split second to decide if they should click on your post or not, and your headline will make them decide. Your headline should also be concise as it is very essential in making it easy and desirable for people to share your post. Keep your headlines simple, powerful, useful and bold. If you don’t know how to word your headline, ask for help from someone who knows.
6. Be Consistent
Consistency is one of the most important things that bloggers tend to forget. Losing your traffic is actually much easier than it is to build it up, so you have to find a way to post consistently. It doesn’t have to be every day or every other day, but you must have a pattern. Your readers must know they will find something to read whenever they visit your blog. The temptation to abandon a blog is very huge, trust me, but if your plan is to start a blog and be a blogger, you have to be consistent somehow.
7. Realise it Takes Time
The web is a big, noisy and “over-saturated” place and unless you’re willing to invest a greater period of time than others especially in blogging, you’ll find success nearly impossible. If you’re seeking a quick path to recognition or a very quick return on investment, blogging is the wrong path for you. Just do something else, like bunkering maybe; but if you plan to invest time in your blog and you constantly improve yourself, you will achieve something remarkable.
About the author: Chris Bamidele is a passionate and unapologetic Nigerian, who believes in God and humanity. He is a writer, blogger, and an aspiring Television Director; and an optimist to the core. He blogs at www.chrisbamidele.wordpress.com and tweets @Chrisbamidele. He currently lives in Lagos.
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This article was first published on 15th October 2014
chris-bamidele
Chris Bamidele is a passionate and unapologetic Nigerian, who believes in God and humanity. He is a writer, blogger, and an aspiring Television Director; and an optimist to the core. He blogs at www.chrisbamidele.wordpress.com and tweets @Chrisbamidele.
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Blogging has become one of the most popular ways of communicating and spreading information and news with others. It’s also a great way to express yourself and set free your inner person. Long before now, we used diaries to pen our thoughts, experiences and day to day activities; some of those activities are private and some are what we wished others could just read about us. But it would have been a difficult task showing our diary to all our friends for them to see that new entry we just wrote.
I know there are lots of blogs out there, but yours can still stand out; you can still command your own audience and readers, all you need is to start. Blogging will make you a better person, because you are now responsible to a whole lot of people, and a better writer because you are now writing more often than before. I agree we all cannot be writers, but if you can tweet; you can write.
Most of us believe writing is very hard; an arduous task that requires a lot of brain power. Maybe that is true but you sometimes tweet 10 times in a day and if your tweet has 140 characters which is the maximum you can type, posting such 10 times in a day would make you have 1400 words on twitter. So, imagine if you wrote that and post it on your blog. You could even make money from blogging someday, which in my opinion is the best thing that can happen to a blogger.
So, I have some tips for you today if you want to start blogging or you have been thinking about it forever but you don’t know how to go about starting one. However, note that these tips are for beginners or people who think blogging is so hard. If you are already a pro, you might just help add some other tips not mentioned in this post.
1. Choose a Platform:
I started writing few years back and my first platform was my Facebook wall. I would make FB posts and then tag all of my friends. As time went by, I moved to other platforms and I am currently thinking of moving to yet another. So, as a beginner, you need to choose your preferred blogging platform, (free –blog platform preferably) learn how to use the different available themes, most of which are free, and then you are on your way to becoming a blogger.
2. Write for Yourself
After getting a platform, learn how to write for yourself, at least for the time being. Don’t be too conscious of people reading your blog. Just focus on your own thoughts, your opinions and your capability. Ignore the fact that anyone else will read what you write; all you need is to figure out how to put those things in your heads into words. Just know that the more you write for yourself, the better your writing becomes, and the more people will key into your style of writing.
3. Identify Your Audience
As you continue writing, you will have to narrow down your audience by deciding which topics you want to write on and who you want to write for, this is most times determined by which subject(s) you are most knowledgeable about; your comfort zone. When I started writing, fiction was comfortable for me, so I stayed writing fiction for about 8 months, and my audience naturally came to me. Most of them are my personal friends and business partners today. So, when you identify the kind of audience your writings attract, you would know how to develop your general content.
4. Grow Your Blog; Gather Ideas
Next step is to grow your blog, make it bigger. One way of doing this is to gather ideas of what topics people would most like to read about; when you write what they would love to read, your blog will grow automatically. You can gather ideas from your social media accounts, interact with your friends and followers on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn with an engaging quote or topic. If they respond well to it, write about it and watch your blog grow.
5. Write Catchy Headlines
Your content might be great in no time, but no matter how great it is, if you have wacky headlines, it won’t count for much. First timers to your blog have a split second to decide if they should click on your post or not, and your headline will make them decide. Your headline should also be concise as it is very essential in making it easy and desirable for people to share your post. Keep your headlines simple, powerful, useful and bold. If you don’t know how to word your headline, ask for help from someone who knows.
6. Be Consistent
Consistency is one of the most important things that bloggers tend to forget. Losing your traffic is actually much easier than it is to build it up, so you have to find a way to post consistently. It doesn’t have to be every day or every other day, but you must have a pattern. Your readers must know they will find something to read whenever they visit your blog. The temptation to abandon a blog is very huge, trust me, but if your plan is to start a blog and be a blogger, you have to be consistent somehow.
7. Realise it Takes Time
The web is a big, noisy and “over-saturated” place and unless you’re willing to invest a greater period of time than others especially in blogging, you’ll find success nearly impossible. If you’re seeking a quick path to recognition or a very quick return on investment, blogging is the wrong path for you. Just do something else, like bunkering maybe; but if you plan to invest time in your blog and you constantly improve yourself, you will achieve something remarkable.
About the author: Chris Bamidele is a passionate and unapologetic Nigerian, who believes in God and humanity. He is a writer, blogger, and an aspiring Television Director; and an optimist to the core. He blogs at www.chrisbamidele.wordpress.com and tweets @Chrisbamidele. He currently lives in Lagos.
