Did you know blogging online began back in 1994? The first recognized blog was linkes.net. It was really a person’s personal notes on life. A very simple website was used. Since then millions of people have had blogs. Another hundred million+ people use social networking sites to blog like Twitter. Twitter is considered a micro-blogging that consists of short and frequent posts. However, you want to have great blog sites to get you started with blogging.
Table of Contents
Do You Want To Have A Fantastic Blog?
Guest blogging and sponsored posts have become increasingly popular in the past few years. Many bloggers find it difficult to compete with more content being published each day.
Today many blogging sites are multi-authored sites as one-author bloggers find it difficult to compete with more and more of them being published each day. Many bloggers participate in guest posting on other sites and sponsored posts to earn an income.
Of course, if you want to write quicker and better, you can use AI tools for that. By guest posting on other sites, you can make your blog more fantastic with the additional traffic and networking you gain from the guest posting.
Starting A New Blog
Starting a new site today offers you many choices. The best way to start is by having your own self-hosted site. Self-hosted means you own it. It’s your property. WordPress is the most popular site builder but today there are many more options for you.
If you choose a free blog platform like Blogger, Tumblr, or wordpress.com you do NOT own the blog. It can come down or disappear at any time.
Plan ahead as start your new adventure in writing online.
- Do keyword research
- Research the competition
- Pick a theme that is relative to your niche
- Decide on a domain name
- Find a logo
- Choose your plugins wisely, you don’t want too many to slow down your new site
- Write at least 5 posts in advance, even more, if you can
- Set up a schedule that you can stick to
- Set up your gravatar so you can comment on others in your niche
Hosting Platform Today
Having a self-hosted site means you pay to have it hosted on the world wide web. Which hosting service you pick is a very important decision. When I first started I choose a reseller – not good. I could not get in touch with the person who lived on the west coast when problems arose. (And with blogging, they will from time to time.)
As my blog readership grew I had to change my hosting for a bigger package. You have to be ready for that when you purchase your own blogging hosting package!
Domain Name For Your Great Blog
Another important decision in getting started to blog is the name you choose from your domain. You really need to do some research on this one. If the domain name was used before checking out its history.
Be sure when you register your name with GoDaddy, etc. that you do it for at least 2 years at a time as Google will like it better. If you renew your domain for just one year Google won’t take your website as seriously. You’d be known as a fly-by-night company.
Also, be sure to get alerts when it is time to renew your domain. I’ve found many of my customer’s websites down as they forget to renew their domain over the years.
Choosing Your Niche Topic For Your Writing
Today many experts believe you need to have a narrow niche. Blog websites that have broad topics are harder to generate traffic.
I learned this a few years back via Ryan Biddulph. He is the blogger that was a security guard in New Jersey who got downsized. He became flat broke. After being out of work for months he saw his girlfriend making money online.
He began the journey of his own writing and now travels the world as a blogger. I purchased one of his eBooks and realized that having a specific niche was one of the keys to a successful blog today.
Setting Your Great Blog
If you are not very techie online or with computers you may want some help with this one. There is a new great resource on how to set up a blog with step-by-step details by Neil Patel.
This is an easy-to-follow guide that I highly recommend you check out. I wish this informative resource post was around when I first started my first website.
Generating Traffic To Your Website
This may sound easier to you but in reality, it is not so easy. It takes time and patience. The biggest key to generating traffic to your new fantastic blog is to network with other bloggers. I cannot stress this one enough.
You must reach out to other bloggers and share their posts too. One cannot survive blogging alone on the world wide web. Here is a great post on how to generate more social shares for your posts. This post truly shows us how we must collaborate with other writers and social influencers.
Guest blogging is a great way to generate new traffic to your own site. People who never knew you existed may find out from their other favorite blogs when you do a guest post on it. Guest blogging also helps build up your authority in your niche.
Continuing To Write On Your Great Blog
To continue to write you must love what you blog about. You have to be passionate about it or you will not write month after month, year after year. So many people do not continue to write after just 1 year. They quit. Learn some tips to come up with blog ideas in 30 minutes here.
New bloggers lose the desire to write or were not generating income. Do not write just for money. It will not work. You must love it. The money will then follow.
Blogging here even helped me write a tribute to my mom’s funeral. I never had done anything like that before. Therefore, I’m sure blogging gave me the courage to do it.
Refreshing An Older Platform
You may have been blogging for years now and want to refresh your own blog. Make sure that the platform is mobile-ready. People today are on mobile devices more than ever before, even in their own homes.
People are reading online on their phones or tablets. The desktop is no longer the number one method of being online today. Check out Google’s mobile-ready test here.
If your older site is not mobile-ready that is the first thing you need to update.
Keep Your Site Simple
Many older sites have too busy sidebars and ads. Keep it simple. The simpler the site is the easier it is for readers to read your writing when they land there. I love seeing websites with white space to make for easier reading. Of course, having too many ads and pop-ups may turn your readers away fast.
You can also consider changing your theme. There are many new WordPress themes coming out daily. If you are unsure how to do that hire someone to do it for you.
If you are to transfer from something like Blogger to WordPress you may need help with that too. Don’t be afraid to try or ask for help to make your website the best.
If your website is too busy the readers will leave quickly. Check your bounce rate and make adjustments if your bounce rate is high. You can check that and many more things via your Google analytics and webmaster tools.
Both will give you insights into what parts of your articles and pages may need adjusting.
Finally, having great landing pages for visitors to land on to purchase your eBooks or other products or services is key to having a successful blog now.
Updating Is Not Always Easy
Some updates to a blog can be easy to do – like changing the website color or eliminating elements from the sidebar. Other updates like a new theme can be more complicated and you may need to hire someone. If you are blogging as a hobby have fun with it!
Don’t be afraid – just be sure who you hire really knows what they are doing. You don’t want to end up with many broken links and a negative SEO impact. When you outsource your difficult tasks you can then spend more time writing and networking.
Thus, that will help you to continue to write year after year. Blogging is hard work but if you love it you will enjoy it!
Your Turn On Starting A Great Blog
Have you started your first one yet? If you have been writing for some time have you refreshed your website or individual posts? I’d love to know more in the comments below.
She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 11 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
You can purchase her eBook about Twitter on Amazon.
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Awesome post. I think having a great blog lies in the blog owner updating it’s blog with new content often. One common struggle for blog owners is the issue of website traffic. I understand the dilemma, but I’ve found that blogs take time to grow, and that traffic will come the more you post, and the more you implement traffic strategies on a weekly basis.
Hi Randall, yes it really takes time for the blog traffic to grow and grow. One must have a lot of patience and dedication. Thanks for coming by on this one and have a great day.
Hi Lisa
Thanks for the information. Wow, it surprises me, don’t know the first blog was on in 1994. So long ago.
Generating traffic to a blog is crucial. Guest blogging, forum commenting, blog commenting and many more ways. Doing so requires patience, it’s not hard, but it takes time.
Hi Ryan, Welcome to Inspire to Thrive. Yes, imagine back in 1994 🙂 I’m glad you say it takes a lot of time, it certainly does! I may not have started if I had known but then I got hooked. I think many would not start if they knew all the work involved. I do so many bloggers come and go over the years but the ones that love it stay with it. Thanks for coming by and have a great rest of the week Ryan.
I launched a tech blog which is my main blog from now. I used to niche blog and now, I’m trying to build something that stands out and matters. Thanks for your great share.
Hi Joe, good luck with your new blog. I did see your post in the review of laptops. I’m looking to get one by years end so I did bookmark it. Thanks for coming by and welcome to Inspire to Thrive.
wow 1994, I wasn’t even born yet. lol. meanwhile I have a blog, though it’s on blogger, has reasons to be there. I had be glad if you gave me tips to boost my search engine viability
.
Welcome to Inspire to Thrive Onome. I glanced at your blog. I think your sidebar is a little busy. It does look good for a blogger site but it’s best if you get your own domain and hosting. Self-hosted is the way to go if you want to stick around. I had a blogger when I started too. It was messy transfering but others have done it okay. How old is your site? It does take time to get visibility on the search engines. Do you have Google analytics hooked up? That will help you too and webmaster tools.
Starting a blog is simple but the difficult is to maintain it. Getting traffics and ranking on Search engine is no longer easy
Thank you for sharing this wonderful tip.
Hey Lisa,
Your tutorial is really an informative one about creating a blog……… choosing topic of blog is really important as many people get attracted towards title and make assumptions according to that. Your article guidelines will really help many beginners to be a successful blogger.
Thanks for sharing..
Another great post, I’ve bookmarked this blog and read it often when I am free.
If there is anything that I’d like to improve on this blog it is the color scheme. Although I love the header, but a lot can be improved via css.
COming back to the post, I love the post, another great post from your side.
I loved the point about webhosting as web host pays a crucial role in the success of the blog.
Thanks Rachit, oh yes web hosting can make or break any website. It’s very important to have a reliable host and one that you can reach 24/7. Love to know what you’d suggest for the color scheme. Have a great day!
Hello Lisa,
Great post I guess, you’ve covered all the aspects of blogging and its newbie friendly to. Seems like I’m gonna share this post with my friends who wants to start a new blog.
Welcome to Inspire to Thrive Osho. Thanks for coming by and I’d appreciate any shares you can do. I always do try to keep the posts here newbie friendly 🙂
Hello Lisa,
That was a informative post. And yes, choosing a perfect domain name is very important.
I have seen, many newbie bloggers either start blogging about everything or select a wrong niche.
From wrong niche I mean, a niche with no room for growth or a niche about which they have no knowledge or interest at all. That’s why many of the new bloggers lost interest in their niche or ran out of ideas, after some time. So we should choose our niche topic wisely.
Anyway, have a nice day.
Cheers!
Hi Pankaj, welcome to Inspire to Thrive. Yes, that is important too. I’ve been toying in my head about changing mine lately. I can’t imagine starting a blog on a topic I had no interest in. One could never blog month after month like that! Thanks for coming by and sharing your input on this post Pankaj. Have a great rest of the week.
Hey Lisa,
This was a great write up for crafting a blog.
I think the most important part of this was when you mentioned having a niche blog. Being too generic, unless you have a multiauthored blog, will result in not having a lot of targeted traffic.
You not only want targeted traffic, but also maintain return visitors to your blog. This is key, and in some ways a big challenge for a lot of people. With consistency and keeping an eye open for what content positive effects your traffic, you can definitely have a successful blog!
Thanks for sharing Lisa! Have a great weekend!
Hello Sherman. Thank you, I learned about the niche mostly from Ryan Biddulph and Sue Anne Duleive. I bought Ryan’s eBook on it and decided to narrow mine down more 90% of the time. I stick mostly with Twitter and occasionally do other posts on social media, blogging and SEO. Having all 3 topics all the time was just too much for me and my readers.
You are welcome and thanks for your input and for coming by Sherman. Have an awesome weekend 🙂
Hi Lisa !
As you have said that there are million of blogs already created. But only few continue to blog only because most of the blogs I go to have the same content like:
how to use social media
how to market online
etc, its just an example. I think blog articles must be teaching some new things. And if everyone stops blogging about how to make money online than it would be better, because there are hundreds of experts out there who have already explained this area in much details.
So I always hope there is something new to read.
Have a good day.
Regards
Hi Usman, you are right – there are millions of blogs out there and many do not continue to do so year after year. It’s more work than many realize and only a few make good money at it. One has to really love it to do it year after year. Thanks for your input Usman and for taking the time to comment on this one. Have a great weekend!
Hey Lisa,
That’s a wonderful write up about blogging – you have covered the essentials, I must say (including a brief history – smart!).
In order to blog consistently, one must love the topic – and I can so much relate to this.
I once started a blog on a niche that was totally alien to me, and after a few months, I just couldn’t create content or connect with the readers of my blog. I felt so powerless and guilty.
I deleted that blog soon enough. Among the various things that we consider when starting a blog or a business, one thing to seriously consider is our own passion on the topic 🙂
Thanks for the wonderful share.
Jane.
Hi Jane, thank you. Oh yes, if you don’t love your topics it can be very hard to blog for any length of time. That’s what happens to many that just blog for money. They cannot continue to do it. And it’s okay to take a break, many bloggers feel so guilty when they need a break – sometimes it’s their kids or parents that need help and they just can’t do it all. Readers understand and I’d rather they take a break before shutting down completely. You are welcome Jane and thanks for coming by and sharing your blogging story with us!
Hi Lisa, you just shared a great source of information about blogging. I just discovered your blog and I love this topic. Thanks for the encouragement. This has a huge significance mostly in online businesses. Glad to learn some techniques from you.
Hi Zia, welcome to Inspire to Thrive. So glad you discovered my blog and hope to be of help to you. You are welcome Zia and hope to see you back again. Love to know more about your online business too!
Blogging has become a prominent activity on the internet. And creating quality content is a hot topic to discuss, individuals, professionals and even small businesses have started blogging over the past few years. The information available on the internet is more or less coming from the blogs all around the web.
Hi Aini, welcome to Inspire to Thrive. Oh yes, blogging has become a must for small and large businesses. Content marketing is high on the marketing agenda’s today. People are looking for information online and blogs surely do provide that. Thank you for coming by Aini on this one and have a great day!
Hello, Lisa
A random blog post about the futility of blogging impacted me so adversely, I quickly lost heart and totally stopped blogging. Not only did I stop, I was constantly assailed by all sorts of ensuing negative emotions – I doubted, I disbelieved, I was disheartened, I retreated back into my shell and let the grass grow under my feet – for almost 10 months!
I was afraid too, and felt like a failure (still feel that way, actually).
Then Glenn Shepherd recommended reading through your blog – and I literally perked up, Lisa! I could happily spend hours here – it’s hard to quit browsing your valuable content. I’d need to be super-disciplined here, with timer set (repeatedly) to pull me away, hahaha!
How weird, rather, divinely provident – that for my very first visit, I should land on your post about “What happened to Blogging ….”
You hit the nail on the head, Lisa – to continue to blog, we must love what we blog about. I started blogging about 15 months ago (in the internet marketing area) and gave up too soon – perhaps I hadn’t dug deeper into what my passion really was!
Perhaps my experiences were overwhelming and not overly positive! I started with an affiliate marketing program and was encouraged to use the free hosting by the program provider. Unfortunately there was absolutely no support for their free hosting and being a non-techie person, that was a real disaster! I’ve since changed to another program that gives us great support, and have switched over to Hostgator, like you!
Like you, I too made the mistake of not choosing my domain name correctly. I’ve made special note about renewing for 2 years, as you suggested!
So now I’ll have to Update to a new blog name, a new theme, and may need to hire someone for all this techie stuff!
Thanks for this post and the amazing value you give throughout! I’m so glad I plucked up the courage to comment – I’m normally a quiet, shy person. With Glenn Shepherd’s encouragement, here I am! Not for an ulterior motive though, but genuinely just to learn from you – you are undoubtedly an expert, besides being an amazing value-giver!
Hi Susette, welcome to Inspire to Thrive. Oh yes, blogging can be quite overwhelming at first. I started with a blogger blog (free) and when I finally after a year or so made the switch to WordPress it was a technical nightmare. I sure learned a lot and now hire someone whenever I have a technical issue brewing. Mayura from Mayura4Ever is my go to guy. ( http://www.mayura4ever.com/p/services.html ) I’m glad you also saw the renewal for at least 2 years. Google will think better of your blog or website. It has always amazed me how many people forget to renew their domain name. Maybe they changed their email address or something.
I’m still shy with the promoting of my content but I realize I must do it and am working on it now. I don’t think shyness and blogging go together 🙂 Because of blogging I was able to do the eulogy at my mom’s funeral a few years ago. The words came to me easy (from blogging) and I made it through.
So hopefully blogging will help you overcome your shyness Susette. Wouldn’t that be a great benefit as well?
Thanks for coming by and have a great day and weekend ahead.
Lisa! I feel so honored and privileged that you responded to my comment, AND visited and commented on my recent blog post. It gave me renewed enthusiasm to continue!
Hahaha, yes – you’ve come a long, long way if you were ever shy before blogging! I’m taking serious note of your observation that shyness and blogging don’t go together. I’ve got to pull up my socks here, change my personality, or just be plumb brave!
My deepest sympathies on the loss of your mom a few years ago. I’m sure she tremendously appreciated your eulogy from her special place up there!
I love your friendly, approachable, happy-go-lucky personality, Lisa! You have a natural knack for instant, warm engagement with your readers. You make me feel wonderful and happy that I connected with you and overcame my fear and shyness.
Thanks again, Lisa.
– Susette
Hi Susette, aw, of course I had to check out your blog 🙂 You don’t appear shy there at all. (Though I would add a picture on your about page or somewhere on the site so people can see who you are – it helps authenticate it and I don’t see your social handles)
So glad I added some enthusiasm to your blogging. We all can use more of it at times. Thank you for that on my mom. You are welcome Susette and glad I could be of help. Do have a great rest of the week and don’t be shy 🙂
Hi, Lisa; It was interesting to view the very first blog from 1994. I didn’t even get a PC until Dec. 2008, so am way behind the game. That said, blogging has been a great learning experience and I even pulled off setting up a new responsive theme. Unfortunately, the mobile usability needs improvement, but one step at a time. Despite conventional wisdom, my blog will remain niche-free as I have too many interests to narrow it down. Then again, it’s not a business blog, so that’s not so crucial.
Hi Debbie, Oh wow, that’s interesting about your not having a PC until 2008. You had to learn so much. And look how far you have come Debbie – you should be very proud! Oh yes, only one step at a time for sure, that is true with anything. I really like your new look of your blog Debbie. Great job! Thanks for coming by and for your input on this one. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Comprehensive post, Lisa. Keeping it simple is really important. And I second the need for making your blog mobile ready. I’ve been blogging for almost 10 years now. Smartphones have brought on a major change in the way blogs are viewed.
Hi Chicky, welcome to Inspire to Thrive. Oh yes keeping it simple also helps on mobile. I do not like when I’m reading posts on mobile and the pop ups will NOT go away! Very annoying. And the pop-ups come at the end too. I used to use them for a short while but could not keep them as I really did not like them on others posts. Thanks for coming by and have a great weekend.
Hi Lisa, just discovered you! I followed a link from Hussain Omar’s blog to here. I have been blogging since 2006, so I am relatively new to blogging, just over 10 years now. I love my blog, although it has changed a bit from the start up. I went with a free blog first (I guess we probably all do), then bought my own domain name in 2009 and developed from there. One of the big mistakes I made was when I had a time with no time for my blog, I bought a lot of PLR and re-wrote it minimally and published as posts. Of course it is almost all duplicate content, so I do need to look at that and re-write those posts. Something that will take a lot of time!
Enjoy the journey!
Hi Mandy, welcome to Inspire to Thrive. New? You are an oldie compared to most being in blogging for 10+ years. I’ve seen so many bloggers come and go in the six years I’ve been doing it. Even my reader based has changed a lot over the years. I did that too with Blogger and it was quite the challenge switching to my own self-hosted blog. I’m thinking on that too – redoing some old posts and putting new fresh info into them. It will surely take time. Thank you for coming by Mandy and hope to see you here again. Have a wonderful day and week ahead.
You covered quite a bit of ground Lisa, I am sure it will help many people.
I remember when I first started blogging, long time back, Moveabletype was the system to use. Think I even paid like $97 for it. Boy have things changed.
You sure are right, it’s work to build a great blog, or a blog that can be great. I think the biggest problem is that it takes so much time to promote. I think people give up because of it. Maybe because they don’t see results fast enough? The big money doesn’t roll in.
Blogging is not my main model, so I don’t blog enough. Have not refreshed it, but do try to improve my content, try to make it more interesting. Always room for improvement. 🙂
Hi Ron, how did that Moveabletype system work? Yes, promoting a blog does take lots of time and/or money. It’s not easy especially if you spend a lot of time creating the content. I know that is my own issue here. Yes, many bloggers lose patience before they can reach any level of success, sad – but true. Thanks for coming byRon and providing some interesting input on this one! Have a great rest of the weekend.
Good stuff. You touched upon something I mentioned in a video I did where I said it’s hard to compete with those multi-author blogs, but I was talking about the big ones like HuffPo & Medium. Still, the independent voices will always have a chance to stand out if they can reach the right audience.
Probably the only thing I don’t, or won’t do is change my theme all the time. With 5 blogs and knowing how much maintenance they take (as you know about my mobile speed stuff lol), along with not having any kind of idea what I might want or like other than what I have now, it’s just not happening. It’s kind of like that woman I’m married to changing the living room around every couple of years while my office has been the same for 11 years lol
Hi Mitch, thank you. Those massive blogs are indeed hard to compete with but not impossibe. I’m with you – I haven’t completely changed my blog’stheme in 5 years but have updated some of it here and there. Why mess with it if it works right? I just like changing the colors up from time to time on the social buttons and such. I’ve also cleaned up my sidebars a lot to keep it simple. And elimianted ads that only distract readers. Thanks for coming by Mitch and I’ll have to read that first blog piece of yours from September 🙂 Happy October!
Hi Lisa,
Nice little post, great to see how blogging came to be and the intricate things involved to make a great blog work well.
It can be completely overwhelming at first for newbies I think, so much to learn and things change and evolve constantly.
Despite everything involved with blogging, it’s meant to be fun, and I think blogging over the years has become a little bit too serious at times.
You can have a great blog, you can blog for a purpose and provide value to help people, and increase business exposure and all the rest of it, but I think it should still be fun.
Have a great weekend Lisa.
Regards – Fabrizio.
Hi Fabrizio. Thank you. Oh yes, newbies can easily to overwhelmed but if they can enjoy most of the tasks they can make it last. I think that is key to keeping a blog for a long time, having fun as well as helping others and eventually making money too. Thanks for coming by and for your input Fabrizio. Enjoy your weekend too!
Hi Lisa,
I am very much curious about narrow niche blogs. Even I see a great advantage on traffic driving as well as user-friendly to have such blogs. And I truly wanted to try that.
And on another point, you made about the domain expiry date, I thought domain age matters and expiry date never came into my mind. Thanks a lot….
Have a great day and enjoy the journey of blogging.
Hi Ugyen, Welcome to Inspire to Thrive. So many of the long time expert bloggers claim staying with a tight niche helps. I’ve been trying here for about a year now. Oh yes, those do matter to Google and their in charge of SEO juice, right? Most of it anyway.
Thanks for coming by and taking the time to comment here.
Hi Lisa,
You definitely shared some great points here. It’s easy to get a blog started, learning how to drive traffic and connect with other bloggers but if ther is no passion or love for their niche, I can only assume it would be a short lived blogging career.
I agree with having multi-authors. Like Harleena mentioned, it frees us up to work on other projects and it gives our visitors a chance to read other points of view within our niche.
Thanks for the great tips! Hope you’re having a great week so far!
Cori
Hi Cori, that is so true, you can start one but can you continue and do all that comes with it? If I knew what I know now I may have never started. I sometimes say “Ignorance is bliss…” lol. You are doing that too now right with the multi-authors? Has it helped you a lot? Thanks for coming by Cori and enjoy the rest of your Wednesday.
Hi Lisa,
I like this blog post about blogging. Well of course I do…It’s my favorite niche! So true, if you want to blog, you have to love it.
Blogging does require a lot of work and can be a labor of love. If not, well…there are other things online one can do.
You have brought out wonderful points here, especially taking an old blog post and re-doing it or updating it and of course, guest posting.
Thanks so much,
-Donna
Hi Donna, glad you love it too! It certainly is a lot of work. I have to do more of that updating here and just read how to do it in WordPress so date shows up automatically and increases your SEO juice. All good stuff, right? Thanks for coming by Donna and hope all is well your way.
Hey Lisa,
Blogging has quickly become one of the most popular ways of communicating and spreading information and news.The internet is exploding with growth right now. More people than ever are online. This explosion in growth means more potential readers for your blog. In short, there is no better time than today to start blog. If we’re part of a business, company or organization, our blog should be related to the product or service which we provide, or the cause we promote.
The visitor who lands on the outdated or irrelevant information will hit the close button and move on to other options. We just lost one valuable visitor who could have become our reader or even our subscriber. It is important for us to realize that at any given time, there may be an entire different group of audience reading and scanning social media networks.
Editing the posts with new ideas. Trends and interests of audience keep on changing with time. We need to add some interesting and new facts to our older posts and this will give new life to our existing content in the eyes of search engines as well. Eventually, thanks for sharing your worthy information with us.
With best regards,
Amar kumar
Hi Amar, thank you for that valuable input here. I just read something after posting this how updating old posts can greatly help your blogs SEO and readers love seeing updates. I have done some updating here and there on this blog but didn’t update the date in WordPress. I just added it to the post. Now I will do a real update 🙂
You are also correct about older readers leaving the businesses, etc and no longer reading your blog. I’ve had a big churn here ovet the past year.
You are welcome and have a great day Amar.
Hi Lisa. I clicked through to this post from your comment on Lucep on the Pagespeed Insights post. First of all, I really like your title. “What Happened to Blogging and Having a Great Blog?” somehow connects with me, and I don’t get that often, even though I read a lot of stuff on the web all day. Secondly, I like many of your suggestions, including guest blogging and keeping your blog simple. You can have all the bells and whistles you want, but a simple page with useful and interesting content is what people really want to see. Good post all in all, and I’ll be coming back to read more posts and be a part of the conversation here on your blog.
Blogging is one of the best ways to build relationship with readers and love the background of blogging it’s definitely interesting.
Hi Lisa,
Happy to see you blogging about blogging! 😛 You have shared some very great and valid points for getting started with blogging. I know I have tried to quit many times and just can’t bring myself to do it. I just step away for a bit and come back refreshed. I’m a huge fan of self-hosting as well as, WordPress.com. WordPress.com has changed over the years, added upgrades, and if you follow the rules there is almost 99.99% sure that your blog won’t be removed. Self-hosting can be so very overwhelming for bloggers and unless they have a good mentor or learning course, they may get too frustrated and give up.
Anywho……. I remember my old blog and having contributors. It was a great way to add more value to my blog and attracting a larger audience. Definitely great ideas!
Thanks for sharing with us!
B
Hi Brenda, LOL – I figured it is related to tweeting as blogging on Twitter is considered micro-blogging. I know you love changing it up. Glad you stayed blogging though. I’d love to know their rules on the FREE WordPress.com. Yes, it was overwhelming for me when I started this as a self-hosted blog but with friends like Mayura, Yourself and others I learned a lot. Now when I get frustrated I hire out a few tasks here and there. Yes, I remember that Bren as I was one too. Do you still have contributors on yours today? You are welcome. I appreciate your coming by and adding input to this one Bren.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the shout out!
Narrow that niche. Big time. I see folks on Quora and Warrior ask how to tackle multi niche blogs. Do doctors try to become lawyers at the same time? Nope. They specialize, devoting their attention and energy to 1 task/niche, and where they devote their attention and energy grows steadily over time. I had so many niches on my old blog and struggled to stay afloat but things came to me easily when I created Blogging From Paradise because I chose to do 1 thing well.
Now if I publish a post it’s 100% related to sharing smart blogging tips. I may work in – OK I WILL work in LOL – my travel images and sometimes stories because this aligns with my brand, but it’s always smart blogging tips.That core message helped me land features on neat blogs. Specializing wins again!
Thanks again Lisa 🙂
Ryan
Hi Ryan, You are welcome and so deserving! I love your analogy between doctors and lawyers, great way to visualize it for us. Yes, your eBook really taught me that – narrowing the niche – and I am slightly off topic but Twitter is a form of micro-blogging. Is that ok to occasionally stretch the niche along the way? Hope you are having fun on the island.
Yep Lisa, definitely think it’s OK to stretch a bunch more on Twitter since it’s a micro-blog and fast-moving content source 😉
Thank you Ryan – appreciate that!
Hi Lisa,
Even though blogging may seem over saturated and crowded there is always room for more excellent bloggers. It is easy to get started and with a consistent approach you can grow your site and your audience.
Having multiple authors is a great way to share ideas and gain/give exposure.
I like the way you used Twitter to gather opinions for this post. Such a simple way to interview.
Hi Neena, I believe that too especially after seeing so many quit blogging after a year or more. Always room for more to begin. I do think it can help grow your site as you can spend more time networking. Thank you – I love embedding tweets and helping others grow their Twitter exposure and growth as well. Have a great rest of the week Neena.
Hi Lisa,
That’s a pleasant surprise!! I didn’t know you’d asked me this question on Twitter for a post 🙂
Well yes, when we need to diversify and widen our horizons, there is absolutely no harm in making changes to invite guests over to your blog or tuning your blog to a multi-authored one. This gives us time to work on our new projects as well, which you’d soon know of – and work carries on with my new blog as well. Having a variety of voices of course, adds to the benefit of your readers.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena, I do that sometimes. I see you didn’t mind 🙂 Thank you. Yes, it would be hard to other things without the help of others. Variety is the spice of life, right? You are welcome and you too, hope things are going well there for you Harleena.
Hey Lisa,
Having a great blog isn’t a piece of cake. You have to work hard enough to make people learn from you. There are many topics for blogging we can’t even count.
I like what Maria has said. It’s always good to have a multi-author blog with different viewpoints.
Thanks for bringing this up.
Have a great day.
~Ravi
Hi Ravi, that is for sure! Blogging is really hard work. Yes, Maria did have a different take on that question, loved the answer. You are welcome and I appreciate your coming by Ravi. Enjoy the rest of your week.
Hi Lisa,
I love this topic. It’s interesting to see what motivates people to offer guest blogging. Thanks for reaching out and glad I finally got a chance to respond to your tweet.
Thanks Ileane and you made it by to be the first to comment too 🙂 Can you offer any other tip you didn’t see? Have a wonderful day!
Lisa, did you ever see my response on Twitter? The tweet you have embedded in the post doesn’t show my response. Can you please take a look?
Thanks!
Hi Ileane, no. I looked yesterday with advanced search and could not find. Are you sure you replied to me? Thank you for inquiring.