How to Blog, Part 1 – Choosing the right idea for you and your blog is critical to its success

Blogging can be a fun way to express yourself, connect with an online community, or maybe even generate a little additional income. Blogs are quickly becoming more relevant too, while traditional print mediums like newspapers are seeing gradual declines.

It light of this, not to mention the growing trend towards social networking, it’s a fantastic time for you or your organization to start blogging. However, before you go jumping on the bandwagon, I should mention that the world of blogging isn’t all rainbows and lollipops. In almost every case, they require a lot of effort and perseverance on your part in order to flourish. Developing a “successful” blog depends on your ability to produce consistent, quality content. That last part’s important so I’ll say it again. Developing a “successful” blog depends on your ability to produce consistent, quality content. That is, great content attracts people and keeps them coming back. Furthermore, in most cases, your ability to create valuable content depends on what you know personally. For instance, I could probably write all day about my experiences as a skier, but I wouldn’t have a clue what to say if I started a blog about knitting. Which brings us to part 1 in this “how to blog” series.

When choosing an idea for your blog, be sure to choose something that you’re knowledgeable about

It’s important to choose a topic that you’re familiar with in order to be able to create valuable, long-term sustainable content. Successful blogs are typically run by people who are either very knowledgeable and/ or passionate about the things they write about. Visitors come to recognize their blogs as valuable resources where they can find more info about topics that interest them on a regular basis… I hope you keep coming back to read my blog because you find it interesting too!

Avoid the “dark side” of blogging

When I say avoid the “dark side” of blogging, I really mean avoid the temptation to run a blog just to try and make money. From time to time, I come across blogs that have more ads on them than decent content, or the author clearly chose a trendy topic he/she knows little about. Your readers are a lot more clever than you think, and if you haven’t chosen a topic that you’re passionate about (money aside), it will become easier for them to spot the longer you carry on. Your readers will begin to pick up on your lack of interest, and loose interest themselves.

Refine your “Niche” over time

There are several blogging references out there that toss around the word “niche” quite a bit. Many of them tell you to keep your blog’s content focused on one very specific topic or niche. It’s been my experience that this type of advice typically comes from bloggers in competitive markets, already saturated by several similar blogs. In an attempt to differentiate themselves, they narrow down their content to a specific topic within a topic. For example, solely blogging about triangle shaped widgets, instead of widgets in general.

Refining your niche to that extent isn’t necessarily bad advice if your blog’s going head to head with lots of similar sites. Or perhaps you’re just crazy about triangle shaped widgets. Being specific might help you grab a piece of the pie too with regards to people performing narrow searches online.

But if you ask me, the happiest, most successful bloggers out there are the ones who afford themselves with a little variety. Instead of blogging about one particular brand of skis, I’d rather blog about different brands, my personal experiences, the places I stay when I’m skiing, etc. Not only will variety help keep things interesting for you personally, but it also increases the pool of topics from which you have to write about. Gauge your own success as you go, and don’t worry too much about how specific your blog is until you develop a sense of what works. If your blog develops a strong following in a particular area, then gradually cater to those interests accordingly.

So in summary,

1. Blog about something that you’re knowledgeable about or really interested in,

2. Don’t do it just for the money. Choose an idea that you’re passionate about,

3. Afford yourself with a little variety when it comes to writing, and worry about carving out your niche later on.

Check back soon for Part 2 in the series, as well as some other interesting content on the way!