Blogging 101: Plan And A Vision
You have decided you want to start your own blog, but dont know where to begin. In this series I am going to teach you how to get a blog started, from the planning stages, right through to picking a good stat tracking application and announcing your blog to the world. Let’s get started!
The first thing you need to do after deciding you want to start a blog, is ask yourself these questions:
- What am I going to write about?
- What is my target audience?
- How often am I going to blog?
When answering the first question, take into consideration how much you know about certain topics, and what topics you are interested in and love. Generally the best thing/s to write about are things you really enjoy.
Your answer to the first question can highly effect your answer to the second. For an example if you are writing about emo music, your target will be teenagers and the early twenties. If you are blogging about photography, your audience widens. Personally I try and keep to four main topics, Apple, Photography, Productivity, and Blogging. Most of these go hand and hand into each other which helps me interlink posts and keep a general theme.
How often you are going to blog is a big question. You cant expect people to keep loyal to reading your blog if you blog for seven days in a row, then leave it a week before your next post, then 3 days before your next. Routine is a key. Pick a date and stick to it, weather it’s once a day, week, or month.
After you have answered all of these, then you can move on and get stuck into the next stage which we will cover in the next installment - picking your blogging platform.
#1
SamAt last, I’ve been looking for some basic teen tips to starting up a blog for a while now. This will have to be one of my New Years Revolutions!
#2
Smaran → smarandayal.com
Nice 101 post, Glenn. If I only someone had written something similar in 2004 when I started the ultra-lame blog, Still Simzz. Thank goodness that I shut it down before I violated some international treaty of good writing.
#3
DeathAxe → blog.deathaxe.net
Seems like those posts will help me. Cool idea Glenn!
#4
Josh → maconlyreview.wordpress.com
Great post Glenn, I’m hopefully going to learn a lot from this and it’s going to help my blog.
#5
Joe Jacobs → macfreak.wordpress.com
Sweet post!
It fits perfectly with me right now. I may already have a blog, but I plan on launching a new one quite soon and this helped!
#6
Ralph Dagza → ralphdagza.com
Nice work glennnnn
#7
wphI’ve started to make a blog about 3-4 times now. I think I’ll follow your tips this time.
#8
Indraneel → imindraneel.wordpress.com
my blog currently sucks and nobody reads a non-hosted blog, so i’ll follow a successful blogger’s tips. Thanks Glenn, but beware, you may have created some frankensteins with this series!
#9
Steffan Williams → www.steffanwilliams.co.uk/blog
Hopefully these posts will be of use to me. Many times I’ve started blogging just to give up some few weeks later.
I’ll certainly be listening to any advice you have to give out!
#10
Dustin → web.mac.com/dustin.cook
Thanks for this post Glenn. I’ve been thinking about starting another blog (my first one is just what I’m doing day to day while I’m travelling and racing) but I haven’t gotten around to it. This post will help me out a lot.
#11
Shreedhan → appleication.com
Giving your own take on what ProBlogger does? Nice, how many mre of these have you got planned?
#12
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
In the Blogging 101 series, there will be a minimum of five articles.
#13
Arjun Muralidharan → www.cupofchai.com
I’m interested in how you do it, as I just started mine (so you’re late haha) and am eager to see what I DID and what I should’ve done, or still can do ;-) .
#14
Mike Rundle → 9rules.com
Great post! Nice to see that header on the top btw, very snazzy ;)
#15
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
Thanks for the kind comment Mike. Glad to see you liked the inclusion of the 9rules graphic. When I think blogging, I think great content which means 9rules :-)
I’m sure you will enjoy the rest of the series.
#16
tomnook10 → web.mac.com/tomnook10
Cool! I really have wanted to start a blog, and these articles will really help…THANKS SOO MUCH!
#17
Taylor → www.taylorsblog.com
Hey Glenn,
Awesome article. I really need some help on blogging. HEHE. Can’t wait.
Later
#18
zzap → zzaps.com
Next installment? Can’t wait!!
#19
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
Tomorrow morning.
#20
Joe Jacobs → macfreak.wordpress.com
Well, this post motivated me to move away from MAMP and actually get mysql, PHP, and appache up and running.
I’m getting so pumped!
#21
Smaran → smarandayal.com
@ Indraneel: Mine is a WordPress.com hosted blog and a lot of people read it.
“In the Blogging 101 series, there will be a minimum of five articles.”
You’re so professional, Glenn. I could never be like that. I’m just spontaneous and right what I feel like in the moment.
@ Joe: What’s MAMP?
#22
Alex Suraci → www.mynimalistic.net
MAMP = Mac Apache MySQL PHP, it’s something you can download to easily manage your own server. Well, technically it’s a combination but there’s an app you download that does the same thing, and uses that name.
#23
Smaran → smarandayal.com
Oh, interesting!
So by easily managing your own server you mean running it off your Mac?
#24
yannic → yannicwalter.de
hmm I have a MAMP config on my mac as well.
I use it for testing my wordpress based layouts and for developing PHP stuff.
It’s like XAMP for windows ( a friend of mine runs a server on his computer via DynDNS)
#25
Jay → www.myspace.com/kreia
Boing…
#26
Josh → maconlyreview.wordpress.com
It seems everyone is complimenting this post, and for good reason. I’m taking a few days away from writing for my blog to really focus on what I want to do with it
#27
Stefaan → www.istm.be
Great 101. Looking forward to read the next installment!
#28
Smaran → smarandayal.com
MAMP sounds really interesting. So it’s a database setup that you run locally on your Mac, is it?
#29
Michael → www.themaczone.net
Looking forward to this series. I’ve been running a mac-related blog over at Orble, but I’ve been thinking of starting a personal/tech blog on my own so I’ll be sure to check these out as you have new posts.
#30
Teddy → www.truebastardteddy.com/blog
I’ve never heard of MAMP until now either. I’ve manually installed PHP and mySQL on my Mac for development purposes but this sounds like an easier alternative.
#31
yannic → yannicwalter.de
@Smaran:
Yes it’s Apache and MySQL. It’s nice because it comes with a handy “software” where you can start Apache/SQL by simply clicking. You can also configure Apache without editing the conf file manually.
#32
Alex Suraci → www.mynimalistic.net
Yeah, it’s run locally on your mac. The widget you can get for it is very handy. F12 -> click “Start Servers”.
#33
Henry → vaguelyinteresting.com
I also have a server on my mac for testing web stuff. Makes things so much easier.
#34
DeathAxe → blog.deathaxe.net
I can’t wait to see the deployment version of MAMP.
#35
Steffan Williams → www.steffanwilliams.co.uk/blog
Oh, cool! That MAMP thing looks really good. I’ve never been one for configuring things like that, so I’m quite glad you (@ Joe Jacobs) mentioned it!
Should make my life easier.
#36
Henry → vaguelyinteresting.com
I’m wondering about 9rules. Is there a list where you can sign up for them to check out your site?
#37
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
Henry no, you have to wait for a submission round which they have a few of each year. The last one just passed, so dont expect another for months.
#38
Henry → vaguelyinteresting.com
Damn. Too bad. Well, I guess it gives me time to work on my blog.
#39
Josh → maconlyreview.wordpress.com
I think 9rules inclusion could do wonders for a blog. I just missed out on the last round with my old blog and it would of really kept me writing. Hopefully we won’t have to wait long for the next submission round.
#40
Henry → vaguelyinteresting.com
I have a question. I have heard about this blog tagging game. How does it work? Does it really help a blog?
#41
Taylor → www.taylorsblog.com
@ Henry:
Well, someone has to tag you. I got tagged. You can read mine and it will explain a lot:
http://taylorsblog.com/index.php/2006/12/28/blog-tag/
or Glenn’s:
http://www.glennwolsey.com/2006/12/23/blog-tag-5-things-you-didnt-know-about-me/
#42
Henry → vaguelyinteresting.com
Cool. So basically you have to know someone with a popular blog or someone who got tagged. It’s a really cool idea.
#43
Taylor → www.taylorsblog.com
Yeah.
#44
Are You New to Blogging? | Fighting to Stay Awake → thefightspot.com/2007/03/are-you-new-to-blogging
[...] Wolsey, Blogging 101 - I, II, III, IV, [...]
#45
Glenn Wolsey : Blog Archive : Boost Your Blog Readership In 4 Steps → www.glennwolsey.com/2007/03/23/boost-your-blog-readership-in-4-steps
[...] chosen a domain name, launched a blog, and decided on a stat tracking application - now’s the time to put Mint [...]
#46
TrendBites » This isn’t Your Mother’s Blog → trendbites.com/this-isnt-your-mothers-blog
[...] of them… A shout-out to ChrisG.com for his blog, and especially on Flagship Content. And Glenn Wolsey for helping me set this blog up and his about blogging series, and Darren Rowse of ProBlogger [...]
#47
ava → myspace.com/MagicStarER
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
#48
Grant → www.grantmc.co.uk
I run WAMP on my pc, very good for web development!
#49
Tasos → 1997-honda-st1100.toyotaantwerpen.cn/nissan-owners-manue.html
Interesting…