A Brief History of Blogging
Many people are still confused over what constitutes a blog over a website. Part of the problem is that many businesses use both, integrating them into a single web presence. But there are two features of a blog that set it apart from a traditional website.Blogging is popular because it works as a marketing tool and makes money. But blogging isn't all rainbows and unicorns in the world of online income. Before starting a blog as a means to make money or to promote your existing business
How to Start a Blog
The good news is that starting a blog or adding a blog to your existing site is relativity easy and affordable. There are free blog options such as WordPress.com and Blogger, but to retain control and professional image, consider investing in a domain name and hosting, and installing WordPress or other content management system on your host. Most webhosts offer this.
Once your blog is up and running, you need keep it active with new content to grow your business. While your blog can compliment an existing business, it's also a great way to add additional income. You can promote other companies' products and services in affiliate marketing. You can offer advertising or feed ad networks on to your blog. If you have a service business you're promoting with your blog, you can create your own information products to compliment it.
1. Get ideas from your audience
Create blog posts that answer the most interesting questions from people you engage with on social media
This can be a great way to gather ideas of what topics people would most like to read about, which will help your blog grow! One of the best ways I’ve seen this in action is through blog comments or Tweets. In one example, here on FastCompany a lot of people requested a post that features more women entrepreneurs.
2. Understand your audience
Understand your audience better than they understand themselves. It takes a lot of upfront research, and often means being a member of the very tribe you’re trying to lead – but it pays off.
A great technique for doing this is to simply ask your readers first on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn with an engaging quote. If people respond well to it, than this is probably a great topic to write about. An example for this comes from Andrew Chen who famously “tests” his blogpost ideas on Twitter first.
And so does Joel here at Buffer. Take this example from a recent Twitter post of his, where he simply tweeted one quote to see how well people liked a topic before he blogged about it.
3. Write for yourself first
Write for yourself first & foremost. Ignore the fact that anyone else will read what you write; just focus on your thoughts, ideas, opinions and figure out how to put those into words. Write it and they will come.
4. Build your email list
Start building your email list from day one. Even if you don’t plan on selling anything, having an email list allows you to promote your new content to your audience directly without worrying about search rankings, Facebook EdgeRank, or other online roadblocks in communication
5. Love your existing readers
Love the readers you already have. A lot of bloggers get quite obsessed with finding new readers – to the point that they ignore the ones they already have. Yes – do try to find new readers but spend time each day showing your current readers that you value them too and you’ll find that they will help you grow your blog.
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