Welcome back! In our last conversation, we discussed choosing the topics you’ll blog about. This time, we’ll start discussing writing for your blog. In this post, we’ll concentrate on the initial posts for your blog, and how often you’ll be blogging.
Those First Posts
Oh Boy! You’ve got your blog set up, you’ve picked an awesome template, you’ve got some great plug-ins installed, you’ve decided on your topics, and you’re hyped and primed to post. You sit down, open your post editor, and don’t have a clue where to begin. Welcome to your first case of bloggers block. We’ll discuss how to battle bloggers block another time. Right now, I’ll just give you some starting places. As The Sound of Music said, “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.”
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Welcome back. In our last conversation, we talked about setting up your blog, and the themes and plugins avalible. This time, we’ll cover niches and whether or not you want to specify a niche. Let’s get started.
What is a Niche?
A niche is almost like a keyword for a blog. In essence, it’s the one specific thing your blog is about. Niches can either be broad (“Computing Blog”), or narrow (“Graphic Design Software Blog”). The niche defines your blog. Just about every pro blogger out there has a defined niche for each of their blogs. Therein presents the problem for amateur bloggers.
Niches vs. Generalities
Pro Bloggers have Niches. There’s a Digital Camera Blog, an Adsense Blog, a How to Make Money Blogging Blog, and there’s probably even an Graphic Design Software Blog (actually, there are several Digital Camera, Adsense, and How-to Blog blogs). Every pro blogger out there spends time exploring and defining the niche for their blog. We, however, are not pro bloggers.
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My apologies to those reading my RSS feed. I installed a plugin, the other day, to monitor stats. Unfortunately it had two fatal flaws. First, it – evidentally – hasn’t been working (I seriously doubt I’ve only gotten one hit in six days). Second, it apparently broke my syndicated feed. I’ve removed the plugin (BAStats), and have re-synched the feed (hence the sudden influx of ten posts you never knew existed). My apologies for that.
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Google Holiday Logos — Check out Google’s holiday logos for 2005. They’re really cute, this year!
A new standard is rapidly being established to identify syndicated content. That’s right, folks, people are making a standardized feed icon. Read more about it at feedicons.com.
Technorati Tags: syndication, feed+icons
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Welcome to the next installation of the Amateur Blogging Series. Last time, we discussed external blogging, and choosing a blogging client. In this conversation, we’ll be discussing installing and setting up your blog. Now, most people will be sitting there going, “well this is simple. I just install, and go.” Well, you’re half right. It’s perfectly okay to simply install and go, but remember, there’s a lot of customization and functionality you can fiddle with.
Remember, it’s always best to get everything set up, and steady, before trying to bring in a lot of readers.
So.. Let’s get started.
Installing Your Blog
We’re going to assume, in this part, that you’re using a blogging system like WordPress, or Moveable Type. If you’re using a hosted blogging solution (like Blogger, or TypePad), then you need only create an account.
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Welcome my new tenant in the rent-my-blog series,
Troll Baby.
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What can you tell me about the holiday of Festivus? – Ever wonder where “Festivus” came from? It wasn’t created just
