If you don’t have a blog, or if you already have a blog but it’s a tad on the lame side, this is your lucky day. Starting a good blog has never been easier.
Phase I: Content & Audience
Before you hop into decisions that involve terms such as FTP, PHP, WYSIWYG, and FAIL, it’s critical that you think about your blog’s identity.
What do you want to blog about? Let’s say that you want to blog about technology. That’s a pretty broad topic, so you might want to narrow it down (for example, you might decide to focus on mobile phone technology or video game technology). Once you narrow down your scope, a few more questions arise.
What unique perspective, insight, or experience do you bring to the table? Sticking with our technology blog example, you’d be silly not to acknowl¬edge that there already exists a gaggle of tech blogs with more staff, resources, and readers than your little startup will possess. If you’re not convinced that you can bring a fresh take to the conversation or occupy an unfilled corner of the blogosphere, it might be time to reevaluate your blogging plans before you even get started.
Who will read your blog? The answer to this question has everything to do with your blog’s focus. If you’re going to start a personal blog to chronicle your daily thoughts and adventures, your readers will be comprised of your friends and family. It’s unlikely that a lot of strangers will stop by your blog to see pictures of your vacation and listen to your rants about waiting in line at the post office, but your friends and family will love it. However, if you decide to blog about mobile phone technology, your readers will likely be strangers who’d rather you skip the personal stuff and just deliver the latest news about the Palm Pre.
A blog’s content and audience have a symbiotic relationship—each is dependent on the other. Do your best to figure out how the content and audience of your new blog will take shape and fit together, and set your expectations accordingly. Try to put together a realistic definition of what success will look like for your blog so you have an idea of where you’re going and what you’re working toward.
Phase II: Platform
Once you’ve solidified the conceptual side of your blog, it’s time to look at actually launching the thing. In my experience, your choice of blogging platform is an important one. If you find yourself wanting to switch platforms a year or two down the road, you may be surprised by how prohibitive and frustrating the process can be.
What is your web development IQ? If you’re comfortable setting up a domain, uploading a few files via an FTP client, and occasionally tweaking a few lines of code, there’s no question that hosting your own blog via an installed blogging software (WordPress, for example) is the best way to go. In fact, I’d bet that most of your favorite blogs—in terms of design and content—are powered by WordPress. The self-hosted blogging platform route gives you a ton of control over the location, look, and layout of your blog, allowing you to customize to your heart’s content. As an added bonus, platforms such as WordPress have robust user communities that readily provide tech support, design templates, and plugins. Even if you’re not a certified web genius, you can probably manage WordPress’s “Famous 5-Minute Install” (available at codex.wordpress.org) or find a hosting provider (such as GoDaddy) that will install WordPress for you.
If your web development IQ is admittedly low, that’s nothing to be ashamed about. Just know that you’ll probably be more comfortable on a hosted blogging platform such as Blogger (www.blogger.com) or TypePad (www.typepad.com), or a WordPress blog hosted at wordpress.com. For each of those three options, getting started is remarkably simple. Sign up for an account, choose a good name and location for your blog (e.g., mobiletech.blogspot.com), look through the available theme templates, and launch.
Phase III: Post-Launch
What now? After your new blog is up and running, revisit Phase I as you attempt to generate ideas for posts, series, and recurring features. It’s also helpful to establish a posting frequency (once a day, once a week, etc.) so that both you and your readers can get into a rhythm. Beyond that, try to build the best blog you can by being consistent, interesting, and informa¬tive. Establish a rapport with your readers by inviting feedback and discus¬sion. Engage with other bloggers and thought leaders in your area by linking to their writing, responding to their ideas, and interviewing them about their work.
If all goes according to plan, your blog will progress toward your defi¬nition of success in due time. If not, go back and reexamine your goals and your execution to see if you can figure out where the train went off the track. If that doesn’t work, you could always try something other than blogging—maybe you’ll find your true calling in Twitter, podcasting, or crocheting.