Have you Considered Starting your Own Blog?

Most people are good at something. Some are even expert at something. Have you ever thought about sharing your passion with others? And wouldn't that be a great way to start 2017?

Perhaps you knit, or you're an avid gardener or skier, or you refurbish dolls, collect vinyl records, teach piano or refurbish houses. There are thousands of people out there just like you who might be interested in what you have to say. Why not start a blog to share your knowledge and experience? You could give it a cute name like The Daily Knitting or Today's Downhill Run.

So how would you get started? There are dozens of solutions to choose from, but I personally like Blogger.com, which is a Google solution. I think it's easy to use, and it gives me lots of free stats. Also, my posts are picked up through organic search, which is important. Not every blog offers those services for free.

I built my website in Wix (lynnrussowhylly.com) and that module offered a blogging tool as well, but I found that the stats weren't as robust as Blogger at the entry level. To get the best stats, you have to pay for them.

I launched my first blog, LYNNSIGHTS, on Blogger.com about 8 years ago. So when I decided to start Always Write a few months ago, not only was I familiar with it, but I liked the experience I've had. So back to Blogger I went. I did consider WordPress, since it is the most popular tool, but in the end, I decided to stay with what I was familiar with.

To make your decision about where to host your blog, you could do a Google search for "blogging tools." I just did that and right at the top of the list I found this great article, Top Blog Builders for 2017.

Once you've decided to start a blog and you've chosen the service you want to build it on, creating the layout is easy. The service you choose will have many available templates to choose from. When choosing a template for your blog, consider how well the colors, fonts and layout align with the subject matter you are writing about. For example, for Always Write, I chose a template with a wall of books as the background.

Altogether, your decision process should flow like this:

Decision 1: Decide to write a blog
Decision 2: Choose a site to host your blog
Decision 3: Choose a name
Decision 4: Choose a template
Decision 5: Write!

Once you are up and running, you should consider whether you would like to earn money from having advertising (Google AdSense) on your site. I do it, but I don't write enough to make significant money. To really make money, you've got to write every day, and your posts have to go viral. But if you're committed to your blog as I am, It's worth considering. Here's where you can find information about Google AdSense.

Finally, my last piece of advice to you is don't overthink the writing. You do want your writing to be succinct, free of typos, and well written. But you only need a couple hundred words per post and they should be in your own conversational tone. Remember that this is your voice, so be yourself.

Happy writing!

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.