So You Want to Start A Blog - Before Your First Post

Last week I had the opportunity to talk with a friend about starting her own blog.  She was a little unsure if she should start one, what platform she should use and where she should even begin.  I had so much fun sharing what I have learned over the past year with her.  Then I realized there is so much to know about blogging that I might have overwhelmed her!  I started to write down what I know about starting a blog and the things I wish I knew before I started writing.

Being a teacher, and a former English teacher at that, my brain works in steps and directives.  Knowing that every person is different I acknowledge my way is not necessarily the best way or your way.  With that, it is a way, and a way that I wish I would have taken when I started blogging.

Six things to do before you even write one blog post.

 Determine Why You Want to Blog

I would actually be really interested to know why most people start blogging.  I am pretty sure they have a friend who does too or they read blogs on their own, maybe they started with celebrity blogs or business blogs.  I started blogging because I had to for my teacher credential program.  We had to write six blog posts about our student teaching experience and share them with our supervisor from the university.  I knew about blogs, but rarely read them unless it was a friend's blog which were usually updated once a month.

After I blogged about those six topics I forgot about blogging.  Then I picked it up again in response to a mission trip I was on that was being blogged about.  I did not want that blog to be the only voice from the trip so I set out to share my voice with others.  I then fell in love with writing and sharing my story with others, but quit again.  Then a year ago I remembered my blog and decided to write a few posts to see if I wanted to pick it up again.  From that point I was hooked and have blogged at least 4 times a week since.

I want to blog because I like it. I like sharing myself with others and letting them learn from me while I learn from them.  I think the bottom line is you need to find a reason you like blogging or writing.  If you do not like it you will not stay with it.

Ask For Help

As I mentioned above I am sure most new bloggers have at least one friend they know who blogs.  If not I am even more sure that they read a blog.  No matter what type of blogs you read there are real people behind the screen that are willing, and usually love, to help others.  Do not be intimidated or afraid to ask for help.

Last Wednesday I had an incredible bloggy evening.  I was a part of Erin and Helene's Happy hour hangout deal with Katie from The Florkens and all of the ladies were super kind and a treasure chest of information about blogging.  They shared what they knew about being successful and seemed happy to help others be successful too.

That night I had another Skype date about blogging.  This time with Shelby from The Shelby Lens.  I have known Shelby for like five or six years and used to work in the youth group while she as in high school. She emailed me and asked if I would talk to her about blogging.  Of course I said yes and I had a great time telling her all the reasons she should start.  I might have even said "Everyone should start a blog!"

All that to say, bloggers usually love blogging and love sharing what they know with others, duh, I am writing this post for crying out loud!  Don't be shy send an email or a tweet.  The worst that could happen is they can not do it and then you can move on and ask someone else.  If you want help or want to ask some questions you can email me at ericajacquline@gmail.com or tweet me  @ericajacquline.

Read Lots Of Blogs

So this one is not very sophisticated in the title, but it is so important.  In order to know what kind of blog you want to write it is important to know what is out there already.  Do you want to write the exact same thing as someone else?  NO.  Can you write on the same topics but bring a fresh spin, heck yes!  There are so many different ways to be a blogger, but it is helpful to know what is out there already and what you are going to do to let your voice be heard amongst the thousands who are doing the same thing you are.

Choose a Blog Name 

I don't know why but this was so hard for me!  I swear this is the third name this blog has had and I am sticking with it even if I hate it.  I actually liked my old name So Much Sunshine, but it was easily hacked and used for other blogs and apparently girls in their 20s that live in cold areas like to have Sunshine in their title.  Maybe it makes them feel warmer, I don't know… You can actually read about my most recent blog name change here.

My advice for you while choosing a name, take a few days with it.  Don't just type the first thing that comes to your head because it will be in your url for a while.  Brainstorm a list of names and then try some google searches to see if there are already blogs or websites that have that name or something similar.  I was playing with "Becoming Erica" for a while, but then I googled it and there was a TV show called that.  No matter how big my blog got I would be competing with that show in google searches forever.

Try and find something unique that you can live with or just use your first and middle name, apparently that works for some people.

If you are worried that your blog name sounds cheesy, don't worry it does.  I think apart from a body of blog posts almost all blog names sound cheesy.  Just own it, go with it and don't apologize for doing what you like.

Also check to make sure the url you are creating is simple and makes sense with your blog.  When i first started www.somuchsunshine.blogspot.com was taken.  So what did I do?  I made my url www.ericajtsunshine.blogspot.com  Confusing and hard to explain what it was when people asked about it.  Put some thought into this one, it will stay with you until you go to GoDaddy and buy your domain name.

Choose a Platform 

So there are many blogging platforms out there that you can choose from.  I am not going to bore you with which one to pic because you can do a google search and find like 2323523y4923 articles on it (is there a y in that number?  Yes there is).

Instead I am just going to tell you to start with Blogger.  It is free, it is easy to use, you can reply to comments through email (that is huge when you are first starting out), it comes with a little community already with other Blogger bloggers, and it is easy to export if you ever want to move to self hosted like Wordpress.org.  Give that some time though.  If you are not going to stick with blogging do not dish out the money to move to a self hosted blog.  You can read my views on that topic here.

Also do not start a Tumblr if you want a "professional" blog.  You are not 13 anymore and you probably do not want 13 year olds readers being your only audience, and if you do I see a Dateline episode in your future.

Write a mission statement for your blog

I actually did not do this until two weeks ago after Erin from Living in Yellow mentioned how helpful it was in that hangout I mentioned above.

A mission does not have to be a crazy long thesis or manifesto.  Rather, take a few moments and think what do I want my blog to be about and what do I want people to gain after reading my blog.

Your mission can evolve and grow as you as a writer evolve and grow, but it is good to have a purpose when you sit down to blog.  If you do not have a purpose I think you will get tired of blogging very quickly.  Maybe I am wrong, but the blogs I love the most are written with a clear voice and mission.

My blog mission is threefold: to find joy throughout my life, to write about what brings me joy, encourage others to find joy in their life and share it with others.

Does that always happen when I blog?  I do not think so, but it has totally transformed the way I see my life unfold before me.  An incident of getting a little dog poop in a neighbor child turned in to an all out laughing-stock when I thought of how I could share it with you, which you can read here if you feel like it.

No matter what you do have fun with it.  I really do believe that everyone should blog.  Everyone can determine what they want to blog about and how much time they want to invest in their blog.  One of the things I love most is your blog is whatever you want it to be.

If you are just starting a blog or are thinking about it but feel like you are so far behind remember that every blog started out like yours.



Come back next week for another post on what to do once you start your blog.

Also if you are so inclined here is some info for my friends who just started blogs this month. They are already sharing some great stories.  My friend Kati is blogging over at Embraced and my friend Shelby is blogging at The Shelby Lens.

For all you bloggers out there what would you add to this list or change?  What is something you wish someone told you when you first started blogging?