9 Tips for Starting a Blog

So you want to start blog? Awesome! Here are my suggestions for getting started.

Painting above: Writing Desk c.1914 by Olga Rozanova

I've blogged on and off for ten years, with lots of online publishing on other blogs/sites in between. Along the way I've learned a few tricks on how to keep momentum up with posting, and how to generate lots of good post ideas quickly. Divided neatly into do's and don'ts below, I also identify some common traps that trip up first time bloggers and how to avoid them!

Painting above: Lady in Pink (the Artist's Sister Anna Rozanova) c. 1911 by Olga Rozanova

DO

...queue up posts to keep readers interested

This is my number one tip! Don't tell everyone you are starting a blog, do exactly two posts, and call it quits. I've seen this happen a lot of times in my social circle and frankly, it's a drag and flaky (*clicks unfollow*). Plus, if you start a blog later down the line to which you really commit, people might not follow it because you proved to be a flaky blogger already.

A lot of blogging platforms like Blogger, Wordpress, have built in scheduling tools, use them! If you have six posts ready and done, space them out so you are posting at regular intervals.

...expand on you other social media posts

One of the easiest ways to think up content for blog posts is to go through your own social media for inspiration and ideas. Think of it this way: they say to write what YOU would read. By extension, what you are posting about elsewhere on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram is a curation of events/issues YOU care about.

For example, if you post a rant on Facebook, give yourself the space to expand about it on a blog posts, add resources, pictures, etc. Alternatively, check your Instagram; if you loved your recent weekend getaway, make it a review of where you stayed! Include a link and review to your lodgings (if applicable), restaurants you dined at, shops you stopped by, parks you enjoyed, and if you took any public transit and learned some tips along the way, share them!


...write offline until you are ready to go public with your blog

Connected to my first point, there are couple ways you can do this to keep up momentum and your readers' interest. 

First, did you know that you can make a whole blog but keep it totally private, viewable only to yourself, and not even find-able by search engines? You can! Keep your blog offline until you're confident, then flip the switch and go public!

Second is good old fashioned word processing before posting. For this blog, I wrote out drafts of all my posts privately on my computer first THEN I made the actual blog, and pasted this little store into posts, added pictures, etc. A bonus for going this route is that your work/posts are backed up in a second location (i.e. somewhere other than your blogging platform)

...embrace recurring columns and shorter posts

Not every post needs to be a revelation of new content, nor does it need to be especially lengthy.

For example, say you want to start a food blog, but you only have five recipes that are tested and ready to post. No worries! Consider posting reviews of your favourite cookbooks, kitchen tools, or even 'listicles' (say, your top ten favourite breakfast recipes, your favourite local food vendors, tips for hosting a dinner party, suggested food-and-booze pairings, etc). 

I recently took a cooking class on making fresh pasta. The man running the class has been a professional chef for decades. I was keen not only to learn the recipe at hand (fresh pasta!) but I wanted to know where in Vancouver had the best fresh pasta, what his favourite home made pasta sauce was right now, and what his favourite brand of dried pasta was. I also wanted to know where you can get pasta-making machines in the city. If he was looking to be a blogger, recipes included, that is five different posts! It just goes to show that your chosen focus can be quite versatile and still on topic.


...mine your photos for inspiration

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? 

Say you post a picture of a beautiful sunset you caught on the lake. Here are three examples of post ideas you could pull from that one picture:

Did it remind you of a song or book? Post a list of poems, songs, or even a quote from a book about sunsets! Or, if you are a writer or poet, share your own poem!

Was it a beautiful picture but in reality you were being eaten alive by mosquitos? Post about your best mosquito prevention tips and tricks and caring for bites after the fact.

Are you a photographer? Post tips about how to take a good picture in sunset lighting conditions!

...go to the trouble of downloading pictures and then uploading them to your blog

This is super practical. When you are looking for pictures to add to your blog, don't merely 'add via link' or whatever similar method your blog platform offers (I know it's temptingly easy). Take the trouble to download the picture, resize as you see fit, and upload to your blog for usage.

This is good for a couple reasons, the first being stability. Links move and change a lot, and the best way to ensure your image sticks around is to save it properly and upload it to your blog's database. 

The second major reason to do this is for quick recall--links get lost, our download folders get busy/messy. If the images are stored on your blog, you can find all blog-related images that much more quickly if need be. Make sure you adjust the file name to what it is, where you found it, etc, if possible (again, this is for your own sanity).

Painting above: Moderne Movie Theatre c.1915 by Olga Rozanova

DON'T

...get hung up on design

...because you can always change it. I don't know about you folks, but for me, some of my favourite blogs and websites have very simple home pages that haven't changed in years. I could care less because much like you, I'm not there to admire the home page on a daily basis, I'm there for the content.

So many blogging platforms have free blog design templates that look super pro and with minimal adjustment can be customized to your taste. But again, don't get hung up on it, in my experience, this is a very common trap for people--they get so distracted by designing their blog and tweaking the template, they lose energy and don't even bother posting. 

For example, with this blog, I posted a bunch of posts first, and for a near-daily basis for two weeks after, I was tweaking something on the design every day. Did any of you notice? Probably not!

...worry about views, comments, and PR

Get good at blogging first. If you are constantly promoting your blog but not actually writing anything of substance, you will lose your audience.

Another way to think of this--if you are blogging because you love to cook and want a quick way to share tips, recipes, and ideas with your family and friends, then focus on that. Don't worry about what some rando thinks. You are blogging as a hobby and a way to connect with loved ones, you're (probably not) doing this for a living, so views and comments don't matter as much at all.

A side note about blogging for a living-- if you are thinking you can just launch your first blog and get internet famous, please read Insight: The Surprising Truth About How Others See Us, How We See Ourselves, and Why the Answers Matter More Than We Think by Dr. Tasha Eurich first.

...repost without permission OR make damn good and sure you give credit where credit is due

If you are using someone else's image, or quoting their words, always link back to their blog or social media channels AND ask permission to re-post where possible.

Make sure you do the same with pictures. If you are posting a pic of you and your friend canning pickled beans, make sure you get your friend's permission to post a pic of them! Same goes for family members- do not assume that just because you're family or close friends that you can use their image publicly or have tacit permission. 

Always, always ask, ESPECIALLY if you are posting pictures of minors and children. For example, I ALWAYS ask my sister if I can post pictures of myself with my niece and nephew on my personal social media channels. Be gracious if the person says no. They don't owe you content for your personal blog.