My 5 Pieces of Advice for Beginning Bloggers

About month ago one of my twitter followers asked me what would be my 5 advices for a beginning bloggers. Now I don’t know why he pulled the number 5 :).

When it comes to blogging, I’m still figuring things out for myself. I still make tons of mistakes.

But I have kept at it for three long years and for one-hundred-thirty-two posts (including this one). There’s obviously a lot more I can learn about blogging, but I definitely have a few thoughts I can share.

@domainsflow what will be your top five advices for a blogging beginners?

— Jibu Elias (@jibuelias) April 25, 2013

1. What Do You Like?

Choose a subject you enjoy! This is your blog and subjects you write about should be something you can really sink your teeth into.

If you don’t enjoy the subject, you’re not going to learn more about it.

Make sure whatever subject you choose, it’s something you participate in and happily learn more about whenever given the opportunity. This also ensures that you post regularly so your readers are more engaged.

2. What is Current?

When you’re choosing a subject, make sure it fits today’s world. It is your page and it’s your business what you write about, but if nobody wants to read it, then you’re not going to build your audience very quickly, if ever.

Instead, find out how your passion relates to the current market. If you can marry the two with the right keywords and still get to talk about what you enjoy, then you know you have the perfect match.

3. Make a Schedule You Can Live With

It’s easy to get caught up when you first start your blog and set up a demanding writing schedule. However, if you want any kind of balance, you need to set up something that fits in easily with your other responsibilities.

This keeps you from feeling harried or rushed about getting your posts out on time. It also makes sure you can gather plenty of great info first.

If posting once a week, use the full week to get great tidbits, little anecdotes and anything else that adds value. Put it all together and your readers will look forward to it every time.

4. Use the Freebies

Before signing up for any expensive commitments, try out the free sites. Use the free trials, apps, blogging sites to figure out your blog.

I personally read Copyblogger where I find great tips about creating content and copywriting. Copyblogger is actually success story where simple blog is turned into multi-million dollar business.

Once you decide which tools you like working with, posting with and using to include items of fun on your blog, then you can start making some decisions on what to pay for. Don’t let enthusiasm drown you in debt before you’ve made any money–if profit is your goal.

The value of these free trials and sites is that a blogger can learn how the blogging world works and how to interact with other sites before they fully commit with their wallet. This kind of education is well worth taking the time to experience and will eventually make your blog even better.

5. Blogging is Not About Perfection

One of the main attractions of having a blog is that you don’t have to have a Harvard degree to write it.

The casual, informal tone allows for mistakes that are immediately forgiven by your readers. In fact, they may endear you more to them because it shows you’re an actual person–not a machine.

Don’t feel pressure to put out the “perfect” post at the “perfect” time with zero errors. That is not what the blogging world expects and should not be your immediate focus.

Relax, have fun with it, and simply share some great content with your readers. They will appreciate you, appreciate the material and most likely become readers for life if you just share yourself with them.