Do you have a great idea for a blog that you are itching to get off the ground? Not sure where you should start?
Don’t worry – that is a common situation to be in. And it’s why you should focus on planning ahead, so your blog gets started on the right foot and has a strong base from which to develop in the future.
The first point to consider is the basic idea. Does it have enough mileage to provide plenty of material for future blog posts? If you are struggling to come up with even half a dozen good ideas then you might want to think of another subject. It should also be something that you have a solid interest in. You will be writing about it for what could be a long time, so make sure you like it!
Once you have decided on your idea, it’s a good idea to plan how you will develop it. When you start writing regular blog posts you don’t just want them to be jumbled up together. Come up with some ideas for categories that you could put them in. This will help you to develop your blog over time, as well as prompting ideas for future blog posts.
Think about whether you want to monetize your blog as well. It will take time for this to come to fruition, but it is worth doing because it will bring in some rewards for your hard work. Google Adsense is just one way of doing it, but you could also become an affiliate for some products that your readers could be interested in.
But the most important part of creating a successful blog is TIME. No blog has ever become successful in just a few days, or even a few weeks. If you want to earn some real money from your blog, you need to be ready to put the work in first.
The good news however is that once you have set everything up and your blog has gone live, you can devote perhaps just a few hours a week to promoting it, adding to it and getting fresh streams of traffic.
And after a while, it will take on a life of its own.
Dear Harvey,
I have a band that I want to create a blog page for. This is very useful and has given me some great ideas on how to get my blog off the ground, but do you have anymore information that’s more advanced?
Many thanks
Alanah
Hi Alanah,
Thank you. I haven’t written anything myself that is more advanced, that will hopefully be something for the future.
A couple of sites I can recommend;
http://www.betterbusinessblogging.com/
http://www.debbieweil.com/
Also, a couple of things I found on a Google search
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/lt_blogyourband2.htm
http://www.cyberfret.com/business-career/lance-trebesch/creating-a-successful-blog-for-your-band/part-1/index.php
Hope that helps
Harvey
The greatest issue I have with blogging is that I tend to get really sporadic at it, I will go 4 weeks and not post then all of a sudden I am posting 4 or 5 things a week, to me I feel that I do not have the “content” to write about or that I am busy in other areas, after reading what you have said maybe I should schedule some kind of timeline of writing my blog, I use Morning coffee addon for firefox – I think now I realise I should be scheduling to make at least a couple of posts a week, regardless of what I need to say. I think the initial mistake I made in setting up my own blog was to base it purely as a newsletter. Thank you for the tips they are greatly appreciated
Hi Paul,
I think this is one of the biggest problems for many blogs. In my opinion, posting regularly is as important as the blog content. Readers need to know when you are going to publish new things.
Depending on the blog software you are using, there should be a schedule plugin, this will automatically publish posts for you in the future, on the dates you specify.
Regards
Harvey
Hi Alanah,
I am a Blogger i have 4 business Blogs.I know loads of Great Stuff. I get 1st page ranking on Google email me and I will help you get yours up and running.Free. email me andI will send you some Good info.
Sincere Kind Regards Montana