Some advice blogs about blogging often give to their readers is to plan in advance, to research and to analyze the situation in their field before starting a blog.
That might be wise advice but I see many cases where the new blogger takes that advice a bit too far.
Some spend weeks on research, on planning, on the design and other small details. Weeks without writing, without marketing, without connecting to the audience, without building a name.
Don’t plan your blog, just do it
The best advice I can give you when starting a blog, is just do it! If you have a passion for something, if you feel like blogging about that passion, just start doing it. Get a domain name that you feel fits best, install WordPress.org blogging software, and start writing the best articles you can with the most valuable advice you can give.
That great blog design, that cool header logo, it is not important at the point in time when you are just starting your blog and when you have no content and visitors. When I started this blog back in late October 2008, I just did it without much planning. It did take me couple of hours to find a perfect domain name but other than that there was not much time spent on analyzing or researching.
Start simple and build from there
I started very basic, very simple. I got the domain name, I installed WordPress and I used a free WordPress theme without any manual customization and I also just used the header image that came with the free theme. I did not think too much about the small details. I just wrote, wrote and wrote even more. And of course, I went to StumbleUpon, I went to Twitter, I commented on other blogs, in hope of actively getting some visitors to my new blog.
There will be time to make your blog look cool and unique. My switch to the premium WordPress Thesis theme, the customization of my blog design, and my blog logo header image… that just started coming along the road some two months after I started the blog. All that happened while I blogged and it happened naturally with the progression of the blog.
Forget all the details, just blog it
So what my point is, forget all the details now, get the basics setup and start writing content and get the message about your blog out there. After a while, if your blog grows, the natural progression will be to improve the design and the technical part of the blog.
Dreaming about building a large blog readership, dreaming about building a name for yourself is not enough. To give life to your blogging dreams, you must start doing it now!
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{ 28 comments }
Sage advice Marko. I have a tendency to over analyze things, but with my blogs (I’ve got 3) I pretty much just jumped in. Now I’m going back and learning the ropes but I’m having fun with all 3 blogs.
I don’t have enough time to post on them regularly yet and I’ve gotten behind on updating the plugins, but I’m writing my stuff and learning as I go.
I figure that any major mistakes can be repaired along the way.
Shalom
LoneWolf
@LoneWolf – Definitely. Learning while doing it is the best you can do.
@M Wilson – Maybe I’ll have to write couple more motivational articles at some point. There is really nothing to fear, and if you never go for it you will never get anywhere with it.
@Mish – I agree. Start basic, start small, put things you know in practice and learn and improve while doing it.
@Gerald Weber – This seems to be theme in many comments. Just start doing it and see where it’s going to take you…
@Jutta – I am glad my blog is helpful to you. All the bets luck with your blog.
@Hen Asraf – Reading a lot, including reading comments on blogs, works best for me whe nneeding to find inspiration for new articles.
Many would-be writers are held back by a fear of rejection. They don’t want to risk being “wrong” so they don’t put their content forward.
If more people were to take your advice and “just do it”, they would find their skills sharpened by the exposure. I agree with your post – don’t lose brand-building time by planning every possible move forward.
Thanks for this great post, this is so inspiring. With my blog, I started thinking so much about everything that it overwhelmed me. Took me a month before I came up to my final layout. For me, the best thing for a newbie to blog about would be their daily ideas and experiences. Then as time pass and as the blog entries increase with consistence, then he/she could start conceptualizing a blog that would benefit a larger audience. Putting things to practice as early as possible and not having to wait for a bigger idea to land down right in front of him/her would be a good start. It can actually help to analyze how much time and effort he could give today that could reflect how much he could stand the flow if time comes he/she hits the goal.
It’s a lot better to start working from small steps and find yourself still maintaining your blog rather than starting from big ones and then decide later on to shut down your site because you couldn’t impress your audience’s or much worse, the basic of it all, you no longer meet your own expectations.
Marko,
You know what this advice not only makes a lot of sense, it also reminds me of when I started my SEO/SEM business. I was working for a local search marketing firm after being in the support and then sales department they were not paying me what I was worth so I decided to start my own Search Marketing Company. I didn’t know much about SEO/SEM at the time but I did know how to sell the service. So I decided to hang my own shingle, made a few sales and then learned the rest along the way.
Thanks for the encouragement. I have played around with different blogs, a post here and there for a few years. Last year I got more serious about it, and posted more often. For the moment I still see it as “practicing.” Part of if was and maybe still is not being too perfectionist, and therefore too hesitant to write something that might not be perfectly worded and researched. Recently I have started to think more about what my focus and niche is. We’ll see how that goes. In any case, I have received a lot of good ideas from your blog, even if I don’t comment every time.
Great advice there! What I’m having troubles with though is finding topics to write about. I mean I have a passion, and I have a main subject… Though I can’t find specific topics to write about.
Great post there, retweeting!
For most new bloggers, getting started and taking that first step is often the hardest one. They wonder if what they write will sound stupid, or if they are just wasting, their time, because why would anyone want to hear what they have to say anyway. This is a thoughtful approach to instilling confidence in budding writers.
Absolutely! Just DO IT.
I wish I’d started blogging months earlier. My blog is just the creative outlet I’ve been needing for years now, I can’t believe I spent so much time being ambivalent about it. I’ve only been online for three weeks and my traffic is shooting skyward.
I also run the Thesis theme, and I’m so glad I do. It is just so user-friendly and flexible, and there is a great community surrounding it.
Aspiring bloggers, don’t waste your time with free themes, get Thesis. You will not regret it. That yellow banner above, click it and get started now. Don’t wait. Don’t flip-flop. Make your blog happen.
Hey Marko,
I find your posts really valuable for info. I’m new to the world of blogging and have used yours and others blogs to help me get started. I’ve just finished this post: (hope I’ve done that link properly!), which may interest you on how I’ve gone about getting started and the results to date.
Thanks,
Lou_geek
Wow, this is very timely for me because I am trying to build a blog and I am getting very discouraged and they advice I’ve received has been about not doing it half way and really making sure I have it put together properly before I let anyone come to my blog. I’m getting frustrated because I’m having such a hard time implementing the ideas I have in my head into the blog – and I’m talking about the format/theme. As far as content – I could start spewing that out at any given moment. My goal is to get a lot of subscribers to my blog and to make some money doing it. Because of this I’ve been encouraged to have everything set up perfectly before directing anyone to my site.
I have the domain name, etc.
thanks for this – something to think about for sure
If I may respond to Judy…you should just hold your nose, squinch your eyes and jump in. Do not wait until you get the perfect theme to bestow your vision upon the world. While you are waiting for it to come along, time passes and your great work sits on a shelf and no one sees it. I tend to look more at the content of the site than the design. Sure, the design is what first catches your eye, but I have a feeling you can come up with snazzy headlines that will be just as eye-catching as a cool theme. Big bold words will get noticed quickly. Witty, eloquent headlines that burst out at the readers’ eyes as soon as the page loads will, I am sure, suffice while you are waiting for the ultimate theme. No one should ever wait to start putting their thoughts and ideas out there. Time is only passing, and each second we lose because we are procrastinating for whatever reason is a second gone that cannot be reclaimed. You really have to learn as you go in this area. I am always learning something new. Look at this venture with excitement instead of anxiety. We are all doing our dream job, right? I think it is way harder to do karoake. At least we are not asking you to sing it, ha ha! Come on, Judy…we are waiting to see what’cha got.
Great comment Trina!
Richard Branson’s words “screw it, let’s do it” could have been the title of this post. Don’t wait for it to be perfect (people do not care if it is perfect or not anyway). Just start it, make it public today, work on it, spread it out to people in your network, get feedback, continue working, learn, improve, and do it all over again.
Great Advice! Glad I found your blog!
Great advice !! Always think and think and we lost the time to be more active to go to the next step , sure !! don t thinks just action…
Excellent advice, and following your advice I’m thinking strongly of moving to the Thesis Wordpress theme.
However, I think the most important benefit of “just doing it”, is that when you actually start writing and planning, many other ideas come into your head which provide additional material for content and new strategies for promotion.
I have recently started my own site, and what I’ve noticed is that when I started looking for what’s going on around me in my sector, that I found lots of new ways to write about my subject that I never would have thought of before.
Keep up the good work.
However, one area of advice which I think would be great, is to provide some specific advice on how to promote blogs in specific niches that aren’t just about “how to get financial freedom through an online business”.
@Masked Financier – Thanks for the nice words! Yes, I find it the same. I have now written more than 100 posts about blogging and I constantly seem to be getting new ideas and inspiration, just because I am active in the field.
I think many of the promotional methods I have written about like guest blogging, commenting on other blogs, joining Twitter and StumbleUpon can be used for any niche. It is just about doing some research into which are the biggest blogs in that field, is there a discussion forum in that field, and in general where do people from the target audience hang around when online.
If you give me an idea for a niche, I might do some research on it and write a post on what exactly I would do in the situation. Sounds like a nice topic for a post.
That is certainly one way to do it. I can’t say that I have taken the same approach, but there is nothing wrong with just jumping in. With a lot of luck you will actually have time to make changes to the layout after you write great content, market the blog, read others blogs, researching, etc.
Any specific method could work or not work for any individual, some might be more of a hands on, look at the guts as they learn type of person.
Good to see some contrasting ideas.
@Ben – Thanks for the comment. Of course, everyone should try out what works best for them. This post was inspired by me seeing many bloggers just “wasting” their time doing design etc for months, even before launching a blog that ends prematurely anyway as they lose the interest in it. Note that using theme like Thesis really makes it simple and easy to change your design without down-time etc.
Months? Yikes. I agree that that might be a bit too much time for design and other items when there are so many options out there for that.
I was so glad to read your words “Don’t plan it, just blog it! That is what I did, jumped in and started a very, very basic blog page. At first I thought I had made a mistake by not “researching” first. I have found by just having the basic blog, I can research and learn the things I wanted to include and have had a blast learning. I have ideas, good tips and a plan in my head…now to put it to good use. I have far to go, but with the help of people like you I will grow and learn! Thanks!
That’s so true Marko!
I was analyzing too hard before I even started with my blog,but you definitely won’t know unless you try.
I think it’s true. The best way to approach blogging is just do it.
It will take shape as you go. The problem with planning everything and spending ages setting it all up is that you may well change your mind about it down the track. For instance, you might start a blog about eBay, say, and tailor it for that. Then you find a more lucrative and enjoyable field to blog about, which renders a lot of that initial work worthless. Also, you might even get stuck with a dodgy host, or one that suddenly goes belly up.
I’d say it’s a good idea to not just get cracking on one blog. Start a few, and see which one becomes the most successful. Then focus on that in particular.
This is ‘somehow’ true. For me definitely I agree but again like what you’ve said most bloggers always advice people to devise a plan.. It’s pretty exactly what Shoemoney is telling his readers, don’t plan for it, don’t strategize with it, just implement it…
Nice advice Marko, as always your article is very useful, keep up the good work, so i can keep learning how to blog.
See you.
I'd like to know what the writer thinks of this.
I have been interested in blogging and online business for the last couple of years (lets say 3) I know a lot about blogging, social media and online marketing etc…In some cases I have put this knowledge to the test but nothing exists as of now.
I have been considering starting a blog on blogging. However, I feel that it will be tough to gain some credibility and authority within that niche given I have no real tangible website that I can prove myself on. Although I am confident in my ability to offer quality content consistently.
Also another issue that bothers me is that I am a teenage actor in my national country and I am on television quite frequently. I fear that launching into blogging would almost “type cast” me career wise. So my long winded question to you is
How do I blog with credibility and authority with little proof to prove so? And how do I juggle my passions for online and offline work in a way that won't hinder me in either?
I would to know what you think and thank you in advance.
Adam
I would just recommend to blog about something that you do at first, blog about the thing you are popular about, the thing you are experienced in. Then later, when you have more experience, you can move into blogging about blogging.
Very inspiring! I’ve put off my blog for so long… Thanks for the wonderful advice.