Concerns of beginning bloggers
What keeps beginners from blogging? Prior to holding my first “What, Me Blog?” informational teleclass, I surveyed the class registrants using the questions shown below. I’ll reveal answers of these aspiring bloggers in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, take a guess and see if you know the number one reason people hesitate to begin blogging.
Choose your #1 answer from the seven choices shown below.
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One key factor for a beginning blogger’s success
Picture yourself happily blogging along one day, a smile on your face, your fingers tapping away clickety-clack. Somehow, however, when you click “publish,” something goes awry and you have no clue how to fix it. Though I wish such scenarios weren’t true, such bugaboos are relatively common. This is why I strongly encourage some a few ALL bloggers to have great support to call on when they hit such a snag.
Support is key to your blogging sanity and success!
As a blog coach, I’m here for my clients when they encounter such problems. I can walk them through a fix or point them to other resources. In addition to someone you know personally/professionally, there’s another easy way to access competent blog support–use a blogging system that’s popular, dependable, and is supported by live, experienced human beings. I recommend WordPress to my clients for precisely this reason. Sure, things will go wrong from time to time, but when they do, you have a world-wide community of WordPress users to call on for help.
So, while there are plenty of blogging systems to choose from, why go with one that might leave you high and dry when you’re looking for a helping hand? Go with the reliable, easy-to-use, well-supported WordPress. And, while you’re at it, consider hiring a blog coach if you’re new to the blogosphere, so you’ll have someone to walk you through the process as you’re learning.
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Why WordPress is the best blogging platform
Blogging is designed to be easy, so don’t make yourself crazy when choosing your blogging platform. Here’s my simple, clear advice — Go with WordPress. For most of my clients–small business owners and solo professionals–I recommend that they have their own customized blog using the highly-customizable installed version of WordPress (This means you will install WordPress on your web hosting account.). Below are the reasons why I make this recommendation.
- WordPress costs you zero, zip, zilch, nada, rien! How’s that for an effective use of your business dollars?
- WordPress is intuitive. In my experience, it’s easier to find your way around the WordPress administration screen than it is to navigate any other blogging platform such as Blogger or Typepad.
- With WordPress, you have a world-wide support system. Every once in awhile, you’re likely to hit a wall with some feature that doesn’t work. Never fear, WordPress support is near. . . as near as the bottom of your admin screen where you can access user forums, where help, ideas, and solutions abound. If you choose another system, you may not be so lucky.
- Your blog can reflect the unique brand of your company. Having a distinct look and feel is crucial to helping your blog and your business stand out. Though WordPress does offer a hosted version of their system (available for no charge at wordpress.com), you can’t do as much customization which means your blog doesn’t seem as professional and this quality transfers over to your entire business. Check out my client’s blogs or my sites (I Do! I Do! Relationship Blog, LavenderLog) to see how unique each can look .
- You have complete control of your blog. If you want to add a feature, you can add it. If you’d like to take something away, you can do that too. WordPress offers you creative control and flexibility, which I think is incredibly important for businesses that are innovating and changing on a regular basis.
- Using WordPress makes you smarter. Yes, it’s true, you’ll gain IQ points when you blog with WordPress because you do need to learn to take full advantage of it’s power. Though my clients first feel a bit intimidated, after a walk-through of the system and a few tips, they begin to add plugins, try out different features, and generally start exploring all that WordPress has to offer.
So there’s my six cents worth. I’m a true WordPress fan. Just so you don’t have to take my word for it, however, I invite fellow fanatics to share why they think WordPress is THE tool of choice for business bloggers. Because I want you to get the full scoop, however, I also invite devotees of other blogging systems to share why they think their platform is better than WordPress.
Let the friendly discussion begin! 
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Planning AND flexibility are key to blogging success
Yes, think about who you want to attract to your blog, know your purpose for writing, be confident that things will work precisely as you envision them. . . then be prepared to have something entirely unintended happen. Sorry to break the news that even with the best planning possible, you’re still not queen/king of the universe!
Carson Brackney, has written a guest post over at Copyblogger called Falling in Love with the Unintended Audience which details his experience in attracting an unintended audience and how he responded to his unplanned guests.
Along with his story, Carson offers some advice on what you can do if you find yourself facing a different blog community than who you had hoped to attract. In addition to his great questions, I add these:
- Is it imperative to reach your originally envisioned audience?
- Are you enjoying your “new” audience and the community that’s building?
- Is the writing (and/or your overall blog) fulfilling for you?
- Can you find other ways to accomplish the important goals you have?
So, I hope this post has served you, my intended audience. And, even if I didn’t originally imagine you here at my blog, I welcome you!
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Blog comments — What makes you decide to chime in?
I was recently reading the comments to A litter and a question on Mandarine’s owner’s blog (Mandarine is a beautiful kitty). Most of the discussion centered around the question of what types of blog posts garner the greatest number of comments. Here are a couple of the commenters comments about commenting:
Lorelle wrote, “The reasons people might comment on this is not the length. In fact, length isn’t always a consideration in the decision to comment or not.”- Maria added, “Many times after reading your posts I have something to say, but I usually feel intimidated to comment.”
- Charlotte commented, “Sometimes I don’t have the energy to frame a good quality comment so I remain silent. I could sign in and say ‘thanks for the post; am still digesting it’, but I feel your posts deserve more than that.”
So now I’m wondering what YOU have to say. What type of post is most likely to get your comments?
P.S. I added a picture of my kitties because cat photos seem to attract all kinds of great attention.
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Three simple steps to planning your blog
Though you are not the world’s first blogger, you are traveling into the blogosphere in a way no one else has. The fact that there is not one formula for success, sometimes frustrates my clients. The good news, however, is that you can truly set your own path with the choices that fit for YOU and the people for whom you blog.
The Future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created–created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination.
~ John Schaar, Futurist
I think Schaar’s quote shows why it’s crucial to create a basic plan before diving into the blogosphere. You determine your destination, then you set about reaching it.
Specifically, I suggest that you consider these three things in your blogging plan:
- Your purpose — Why blog at all? What do you want to accomplish? Why is blogging important to you and your business?
- Your community – Who reads (or will read) your blog? What’s important to them? What will keep them coming back to your blog on a regular basis?
- You – Why are you the right person to create your blog? What are your passions and interests? What will need to happen for blogging to be successful for YOU?
So, even though there is not a set formula to follow to blogging success, I encourage you to consider what you want to achieve through blogging, what matters to your blog readers, and what will make the blogging experience enjoyable for you. Clarity about these three issues will help you chart the right course for you to take on your blogging journey.
Happy travels!
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Isn’t a business website the same as a business blog?
Good question, the answer to which likely depends on whom you ask. I personally think business blogs completely eclipse traditional websites and here are the reasons why.
- Blogs draw more potential customers to your business, because blogs are the sweethearts of search engines. If you want your business to get noticed a blog is like a big spotlight helping attract the attention of google, yahoo, msn and other tools. When you consider that approximately 60 million American adults use search engines daily (according to Pew Internet & American Life tracking surveys), being highly visible on these search engines is crucial to business success.
- Blogs will save your business money in the long run because you’re not dependent on web designers and other experts. Some individuals set up their business blogs all by themselves using free blogging tools like WordPress and the host of other no-cost plugins (additional features). If you work with a blog coach/advisor, chances are you’ll spend a few hundred dollars (depending on how much customization you want) to get your blog up and running. Compare that to a few thousand dollars to pay a marketing, branding, or graphic design firm to build a website AND maintain it and you can see that blogs are typically more cost-effective than traditional websites.
- Blogs help you build relationships with your customers, strengthening brand loyalty. Blogs are designed to allow for and facilitate two-way communication unlike most traditional websites that merely permit customers to talk back via a contact us page (whose messages may or may not get answered). So, especially if your business is service-oriented or you have a customer-centric business model, blogs are going to say to your customers, “We care about you. We want to interact with you and have a conversation.”
- Blogs make you a more knowledgeable business person because you need to regularly add new posts to draw people to you. With traditional websites, many companies post electronic versions of their print brochures and boilerplate copy that they rarely change. The result: they appear “out of date” or “out of touch.” As a business blogger, you want to stay abreast of new trends and know what others (companies and individuals) are writing about your company and your industry. So this investigative spirit helps you stay toward or on the leading edge because you’re out their looking for what’s new and what’s next.
So, there are four reasons why I believe that blogs run circles around there traditional website cousins. If you’d like to discuss how blogging can work for your business, drop me a line at shonnie (at) shonnielavender (dot com).
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Business blogs must serve a purpose
Blogging is so easy to do that many people jump right into it without much, or any, planning. If you’re blogging for your family and friends or simply want to post personal stories to satisfy your soul, this casual approach is fine. If you’re incorporating a blog as part of your business, however, planning is essential. . .and defining your purpose should be near the top of your planning “to do” list.
“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds: your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”
~ Patanjali, Indian philosopher
One way to identify the purpose behind your blogging is to ask yourself “Why am I willing to invest my time, energy, and creativity to this endeavor?” and write down all the ideas that come to you. Or, to ask the question in a different way, “What purpose(s) can blogging help me/my business fulfill?”
Though our minds tend to zone in on financial measures when we talk business, I encourage my business blogging clients to widen the scope of their inquiry to see if blogging holds a greater appeal. Though not all the segments of the Circle of Life (image at right) may apply, it’s worth your time to at least consider if blogging speaks to these other important parts of your life. Could blogging serve a purpose tied to your spiritual well-being or your relationships and feeling of community?
Regardless of the process you use to identify the purpose that blogging will help you fulfill, discovering your purpose will make you a better blogger because you’ll be doing so fueled by a deeper calling.
“This is the one true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. . . . I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. . . . I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
~ George Bernard Shaw
What’s your purpose for blogging?
