This post was guest blogged by Ruben Ricart of Frusketing.
I remember the buzz on blogging a couple of years ago and just like the modern day Twitter phenomenon, no one truly understood it’s true purpose.
I’m guessing folks reasoned that if you’re not a professional writer, or interested in keeping an online journal then you truly have no business running your own web log because after all a blog is the descendant of the online diary and folks would reason as to why would you want to expose your private affairs to the world wide web; especially during a time when the web was under scrutiny by folks that lacked confidence in its potential due to the fears and stories rolling around the news.
In 2001 blogging was becoming more popular among the masses and voila fast forwarding to a couple of years later we have over 60 million blogs in the world wide web and it’s quite evident by now that if you don’t have a blog then you probably should get your brain in gear and launch your own; it’s not that difficult and the opportunities that arise from blogging are endless.
In case you’re still doubting its potential then I’d like to share some facts from a study conducted by “ComScore Media” in which they found that “Blogs are redefining how people experience the web and, in many ways, have helped precipitate the shift towards user-generated content on the Internet (otherwise known as the Web 2.0 movement).”
This is a movement that you need to take part in, but if you expect to make money from blogging then there are some basic rules you need to follow. Blogging is a full time job, it’s not a get rich quick scheme, and most importantly it’s not easy. This is a pretty basic guide but even those that have been blogging for a long time need a reminder of the fundamentals of blogging your way to success.
Do you know what a blog is? No it’s not a trick question. I’m serious.
A blog is not necessarily a money making vehicle, a blog opens up the doors for the possibility of making money online, however, you have to understand that in order to get there you have to build the bridge there by understanding that a blog is simply a communication medium,it’s where you write your thoughts, opinions, words, blurbs on a variety of subjects related to your chosen niche, as you build this one stop source the benefits will follow – the ideal thing to do is – think content first, and income later.
What’s the recommended blogging platform?
If you’ve been doing it for a while then you probably already know that most bloggers are installing “WordPress” on their own domains and blogging off of WordPress but if you’re just beginning to blog then you should make your life easier by choosing one of the free and less complicated blogging tools like Blogger, or even WordPress.com – if you plan on using WordPress in the future under your domain then I would recommend blogging on “WordPress.com” so that you may become familiar with the dashboard and admin panel of the software.
Are you blogging about something you’re confident in?
The ideal topic to blog about is a topic that you’re interested in, a niche that you have quite a bit of knowledge on; there is always a market for making money in every niche, you just have to find it. A clear example of this is one of my recent projects; I found a niche that was pretty open. This market did not have a lot of competition because folks believed there was no money in it so I had to take the challenge on and prove to myself that money can be made over time in any market as long as your educated in the niche and consistently pumping out good content, at the end of the day if you don’t make money from the actual market, you can make money as an Internet marketing consultant assuming that you’ve done a good job and that you can prove to your prospective clients that you were able to build an online presence by using online marketing techniques.
Are you spell checking?
I have to admit that one of my biggest pet peeves is finding a blog post with more than three spelling errors; it’s not that hard to spell check your articles before posting them. Remember that you are writing and expecting to establish credibility as a writer and professional blogger so I would hope that you take the time to run “spellcheck” – you don’t have to be a great writer, but spell check does this for you so unless you are purposefully misspelling your words to drive traffic you should be “spellchecking”.
Are you scheduling time on your calender to write your blog post?
Successful Blogging is related to consistency and quality content. Make sure that you have a posting schedule in place for your blog articles so that your readers see that you are consistently writing for your market. This will encourage your readers to come by often for your most recent contributions and in no time your reader following will increase. I would recommend that if your starting out you have already written your first 3 to 4 articles and continue to be ahead of the posting timeline so you do not fall back – of course there will be days when you will post about current events and random thoughts but these are exceptions; start off on the right foot and find the time to write your post ahead of time.
Interact with your fans
Most bloggers commit a major mistake, and this mistake can cost them. They ignore their readers by not replying to their comments. It’s evident that the feedback/comment function of these blogs are there for your readers to leave comments for you in regards to the articles you have written so it does not hurt to reply to your readers if they ask a question or make comments that warrant a response. – DONT IGNORE YOUR READERS.
Social Interaction in the Blogosphere
It’s okay to step outside your blog and visit another blog, even if they are in the same market. You have to consider the fact that you can learn from other bloggers that have more or even less experience then you, no one is an expert at everything so refresh your mind and read other good quality blogs and leave comments if you feel the need to respond – other commentators will probably follow the link automatically left with your comment and if they find your blog interesting you may have earned a new fan.
No one can do this alone, and interaction is what you need – step out the blog and get the word out there about what you got to say.
There are plenty of other tips associated to blogging, but these are some basic, fundamental and can even considered common sense but there are some experienced bloggers that would benefit from these tips because it will remind them of a few fundamentals.