Bretts Marketing Bytes

So you want to create a blog but are not sure how to get started? Like any venture, blogging requires a plan to be successful. Below you will find 7 simple steps to starting a blog.

1. Decide what to blog about. This is a a difficult task for most people, but can be really easy if you can answer some basic questions.

a. What are you passionate about?

b. What could you talk about for hours?

c. What do you know about that others do not?

If you cannot answer any of these questions, then blogging may not be for you.

2. Narrow it down . OK,  So you have answered the questions above and you know what you want to blog about. But you are probably asking yourself, isn’t everyone already blogging about that already? Why would someone read my blog over everyone else’s? These are all valid questions and can be very discouraging to most, but to be successful at blogging you should narrow your topic down to a niche within a niche. For example; if you decided to blog about  Smartphone’s, narrow it down to the iPhone, even take it one step further to a specific software for the iPhone or a specific use for the iPhone like photography. The more niche your blog is, the easier it will be to get and maintain readers.

3. Reader Demographic. After you have narrowed your niche down, you should think about your reader demographic. What is your target audience? Male, Female, Average Age, and technical level. All of this is important because it will help you decide on topics to write about. What I mean by technical level is how well versed your readers will be in your industry. For example; my demographic for this blog is people who are new or have a moderate level of internet marketing experience and are trying to promote their businesses through the internet. You should know your demographic before you begin blogging.

4. Setup a posting interval. This can be very tough because a frequent posting interval requires a lot of time. Make sure you set a posting interval that works for you. Some companies will even have multiple bloggers to help manage time. For new bloggers, I would suggest once per week. For more advanced bloggers, I recommend three to five times per week.

5. Decide on a technology. If you do not have the ability to implement a blog onto your existing website, then you can use one of the many free tools out there. I recommend wordpress.

6. Start writing. Write a few articles to get ahead. You should always have a surplus of articles ready to go in case you get busy.

Where to get ideas. First off, as I said in the beginning of this post, if you are going to blog, you should be passionate about what you are writing. That means you probably do a lot of research on this topic. Use your research skills to come up with good ideas for content.

7. Post your first article.

That’s it. Good luck

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