Wanna Blog? Our Top 5 Lessons
Have you ever wanted to blog?
Most of you know we celebrated one year as bloggers on Wednesday! Some of the highlight's from our first year were shared in last week's post. We are often asked how to get started and what are some secrets of the blogging world.
When we started we didn't even know what it meant to be a blogger. You may feel the same way so let's start with a quick definition of blogging. Plain and simple, it's sharing your ideas with the reader. In more formal terms, Wikipedia defines it as a personal journal published on the World Wide Web. Bloggers use their blogs to share their thoughts, opinions, and life lessons through journal entries called "posts".
Roslyn and I have learned so much over the past year. We thought it would be cool to share our top 5 blogging lessons.
Wanna be a guest blogger for Double Portion Inspiration? More information coming soon..........Stay connected with us through Facebook or join the conversation on Twitter @doubleportionin.
Most of you know we celebrated one year as bloggers on Wednesday! Some of the highlight's from our first year were shared in last week's post. We are often asked how to get started and what are some secrets of the blogging world.
When we started we didn't even know what it meant to be a blogger. You may feel the same way so let's start with a quick definition of blogging. Plain and simple, it's sharing your ideas with the reader. In more formal terms, Wikipedia defines it as a personal journal published on the World Wide Web. Bloggers use their blogs to share their thoughts, opinions, and life lessons through journal entries called "posts".
Roslyn and I have learned so much over the past year. We thought it would be cool to share our top 5 blogging lessons.
- You Can Do It
- If we can do it, YOU can do it. If you've been intimidated by blogging in the past, take comfort in the fact that there are numerous websites, blogs and printed resources to help you get started. We will share some of our favorites later. With very little research but a determination to get it done, we started our blog. Just go for it! I guarantee you will learn a ton along the way through trial and error.
- Be Consistent
- Before you start blogging, make sure that you have an idea of how often you would like to post. On average we post once a week. We also attempt to regularly post on the same day of the week to maintain consistency with our readers.
- Blogger vs. Wordpress
- I don't profess to have the most technical knowledge in the world of blogging (there is still so much we don't know), so we needed a blogging platform that was user friendly and effortless to maintain. We've opted to use Google's Blogger as our platform. You can visit Blogger.com to set-up a FREE blog. Wordpress.com is also a great blogging platform. There are pro's and cons to both so here's a great blog post to sort it all out: Blogger vs. Wordpress.
- We opted for Blogger because of it's ease in set up. They have trendy designs and fonts to help you get started quickly and creatively with very little effort. Research your options before you start blogging. Once you select a platform to use, it can be cumbersome to switch.
- Subscribers & Comments
- It is important to allow readers of your blog an opportunity to receive your posts through their inbox and to leave comments at the end of each post. Instant interaction with your reader is one of the biggest reasons blogs are so popular. The engagement of your reader is vital to your blog's success. Involve them with questions, surveys or solicit their comments/feedback concerning your blog topic.
- The subscription is important because it allows regular updates to your blog to be delivered automatically via a web portal, news reader, or email inbox. Blogger uses Feedburner as their email subscription service. I love it because we are able to manage our subscriber list and keep track of our readers.
- Helpful Resources
- We read numerous blogs to stay up to date on the latest trends and technology. Here's a couple of our favorites:
Wanna be a guest blogger for Double Portion Inspiration? More information coming soon..........Stay connected with us through Facebook or join the conversation on Twitter @doubleportionin.
I really enjoyed this post. I've been writing and journaling for years and have always wanted transition to blogging. I've done some research, but this post really simplified things and placed good resources at my fingertips. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Hope for your comment and support of our blog.
DeleteLet us know if you have any questions. We would be happy to assist. Also remember that guest blogging for us is also an option to get started.
Blessings!
Thank you. Guest blogging sounds fun:-)
ReplyDelete