Initial Planning For a New Blog (Caroline Middlebrook)
Feb 25, 2009
When embarking on a new blogging project there are a few things that you'll need to think about early on. What are you going to name your blog? What topics will you blog about? How often will you publish posts? What kind of writing style will you use? In the remainder of this article I'll look at these questions more fully.
What Will Your Blog Be Called
Unless you have already started your blog, one of the first decisions you need to make is what you are going to call it. There are usually two broad choices to start with - whether you will brand the blog after your own name or pick something that is more related to the topic.
If you are branding yourself with the intention of marketing your personal services then naming your blog after yourself is a great move as you will always be able to use it to promote what you. This is especially useful if you're not sure what direction your blog will move in over time. But if you are building a blog around a specific topic which may not be part of you long-term then you may be better off with a niche-related name and domain.
Choosing Your Blog Topics
Many people start their first blog in a rather broad way - blogging about anything and everything that comes to their mind and as such they cover lots of topics. This is not necessarily a good idea as the majority of your readers will only be interested in a small portion of your topics.
When it comes to writing your posts you will be able to organise them into categories which makes it much easier for new readers to find your posts and its easy for them to see at a glance what your blog is about. When you just post a mish-mash of posts on all sorts of topics that are not really related then it can be more difficult to turn a one-off visitor into a regular subscriber.
Coming Up With a Blog Posting Schedule
A common trend amongst new bloggers is to start out bursting with enthusiasm. Indeed, much of the advice around tells you to blog as much as you can - at least every day if possible. Whilst more posts do in theory give you more chances to be found in the search engines, there are many readers who suffer from information overload and simply cannot keep up with busy blogs which leaves many of your posts unread.
To be honest it doesn't matter so much what your posting frequency or schedule is, as long as it is consistent. There are some blogs that post only once a week and do very well as they readers look forward to that weekly post and others that find that they do best when publishing multiple short posts every day. Every blog is different.
Another danger with trying to post too much, especially in the beginning, is that you may not be able to maintain your pace. You may run out of ideas, find the time committment to be too much or simply burn out and if you start posting less and less, this looks bad and it looks as though the blog is dying. Many readers will unsubscribe when this begins to happen.
It is much better to start out with a much gentler blog schedule and see how it goes for a few months rather than over-commit yourself at the beginning and then burn out a few months down the line. My recommendation would be to start conservatively and then increase it gradually if you feel the need - not the other way around!
Do You Have a Particular Writing Style?
Some people suggest that you alter your blogging style to fit your target audience but in my experience I find that it never works to try to blog in a style that is not uniquely you. Your blog is a reflection of you - your thoughts, your findings, your interests and passions.
I would recommend that you simply write in whatever way suits you. Everybody is different. Some people are conservative in their writing, others like to use language as a shock factor, some like controversy, others prefer a dry factual style. None of these are right or wrong - simply be who you are.
Similarly, I see people asking questions such as, how long should my posts be? This again is down to personal style though it is perhaps influenced by your posting frequency. Short, snappy posts may be best if you post very often but if you only post once per week you'll probably want to publish something with a bit more substance!
One thing to remember is that you can't please all of the people all of the time anyway so trying to modify your posting style to fit in with some idea of what your readers might like is an exercise in futility. At the end of the day some people will like your style and some won't. Those that do will hopefully subscribe and those that don't will not but that's just life and nothing to worry about!
About the AuthorCaroline Middlebrook has been blogging about Internet marketing since 2007 and her popular blog generates a 4-figure revenue-stream every month. She teaches you how blogs make money and offers downloads of her free guides & courses from her website..