So you know you want to start a blog but you’re not sure how to go about it. Here are five easy steps, and a few good tips, to make the process quick and easy.
#1 Choose your niche. What’s your blog going to be about? You may want to do a bit of keyword research here. If you already have a business, then your blog will be related to your online business and those keywords, however, you can still narrow your blog niche.
For example, if you have an online business on dog training, your blog could be about positive reinforcement training, about housebreaking, or even about a tangent topic like feeding your dog – because health is important to training.
#2 Choose your platform. WordPress, Blogger, Typepad and Moveable type are only a few of the options. You can also explore the blogging platform your website host offers. Analyze and compare each platform to find the one that best meets your needs. Many people choose WordPress because of its easy to use nature and the ability to customize your blog.
#3 Create your blog site. Depending on the platform you’re using you will either be working with the template and customizations offered or you can have your blog site designed by a professional. There are thousands of templates, some paid and some free, available by WordPress developers and they’re easily customizable – you can get an original WordPress blog.
#4 Choose your blogging schedule and blog. How often are you going to blog? Create a realistic schedule and stick to it. Remember that even if you decide you’re going to blog once a week, you can always blog more. Blogging less than that isn’t recommended. Blogs are active sites and people expect frequent content updates.
#5 Drive traffic. Once you feel comfortable with the number of posts you have on your blog and you’re happy with the way it looks, it’s time to drive traffic to your blog. Social networking, PPC, registering your blog with relevant directories and commenting on other related blogs helps drive traffic.
Starting a blog isn’t the difficult part, the tough part is deciding to actually start! Visit Blogelina’s Blogging Video Tutorials to learn more about what a blog can do for you.