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Getting Started in Blogging

Setting up a blog is easier than you may think and it's free.

What is a blog? Think of blogs as a public journal. Unlike a personal journal that includes specific topics ("posts" in blogger language) and your specific thoughts about each topic ("entries" in blogger language), a blog provides far more. As a public journal, you encourage others to post their thoughts about specific topics and to participate in an ongoing conversation about the topic via the web. Imagine a single entertainment channel that provides the benefits of a newspaper / magazine, interactive individual messaging (IM), interactive chat forums, radio broadcasting, and television broadcasting all in one. Blogs are the convergence of several communication forums.

What are the benefits of a blog? Blogs provide the following key benefits:

  • Voice - With the expanding use of blogs, anyone can post their thoughts about anything so that everyone hears. Wow! The average person is given a worldwide stage with an open mic. Your voice is heard.
  • Information - We can learn from others and get feedback from what other like-minded people or people we respect think. We can learn directly from others by hearing their experiences first-hand.
  • Real-time - There is no waiting for new books to emerge or conferences to attend. You can get the latest thinking and insights in real time. Blogs bring the benefits of IM or Chatting forums to a focused topic discussion.
  • Ease and Simplicity - Maintaining a blog is simple and automated. It is as easy as using a desktop word processor. You don't have to understand web site programming or maintenance. If you can type you can maintain a blog.
  • More than Words - Unlike a personal journal that is primarily in written form with one entry a day, blogs include written comments, pictures, audio, and video.

How do I get started blogging? Start simple. Consider doing the following:

  1. Read our tutorial on blogging and podcasting. Click here to download a copy.
  2. Setup a free blog account on Blogger.com (blogger.com is Google's free blogging program). Blogger is more than adequate for getting started. Simply go to www.blogger.com, watch their short tutorial, then signup for a free account. You will be blogging in minutes...really!
  3. Consider using advanced tools. After you get comfortable using the basic features of Blogger.com, you can explore the use of more advanced tools (e.g. use of desktop blogging programs like Windows Live Writer, blogging via your cell phone directly to your blog, posting pictures from a personal photo album directly to your blog, etc).

Any tips to improve my actual blog posts? A post is an entry to your blog. Here are some practical tips to help improve your posts:

  1. Frequency - Consider making at least one post per week.
  2. Length - Keep posts to 3 paragraphs or less (1 to 2 is best). If you need to go longer, split the post up in to a series of posts over several weeks or hyperlink to a longer article on your web site. The most significant thing that keeps readers coming back to specific blogs is the practical insight per word. In other words, the more relevant and practical you can be in the shortest number of words equates to the best posts. Many bloggers monitor 50+ blogs and simply do not have the patience to read more than a few paragraphs.
  3. Topic - Consider staying razor focused on a specific topic (or a limited number of topics). The broader your topics the more diluted your message.
  4. Single Thought / Simplicity - With only 3 paragraphs or less to work with, you simply don't have the real estate or the attention span of the reader to cover more than one simple thought. Consider breaking more complex issues (e.g. "the 5 biggest mistakes we've seen planters make in marketing...") into a series of posts. Skip the 3 point sermons.
  5. Get Linked - Connect with other bloggers and get your blog listed on their blogroll (a listing on a person's blog that identifies the other bloggers they are watching). Also consider submitting your blog to blog search directories. This is done in a similar manner as submitting web pages to search directories.
  6. RSS Feed - Include an RSS feed on your blog. For more information about RSS feeds, click here to read our tutorial on blogs, podcasting and RSS feeds. RSS feeds allow other people to more easily find your blog and to monitor its contents.