Starting a blog?

[BigMama1]

Several friends have recently encouraged me to start a blog. I am a professional writer and some of my freelance clients and C kids horse publications, so I’m comfortable with that part and I have plenty to say.

There isn’t much coverage of my discipline in Canada so I think there would be interest but how do I know? Do I put us a few posts first and then start spreading the word? And how? Obviously Inwould let me my horsey friends know, but is it appropriate to share on horse Facebook groups that I’m a member of, for example?

I’m not looking to monetize this so it wouldn’t be a solicitation for advertisers, just raising the word and spreading awareness that it’s out there.

Any tips / suggestions from bloggers gratefully accepted!

[Libby2563]

I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t be appropriate to share on Facebook (caveat: I’m not on Facebook). People use it to promote their business and personal endeavors all the time! I’d probably wait after I put up a few posts and make sure the blog is clean-looking and well-formatted. Even if you’re not looking for advertising, a professional appearance contributes to the perception that this is worth reading, IMO.

I’m not sure there’s really a need to feel out interest before you start, since it costs you nothing but time. (Which of course is valuable, but I’d say better to use your time writing than doing market research on something you don’t even intend to monetize.)

Also, add a link in your sig line here, with a little blurb on your subject matter!

Good luck!

[Moosequito]

Definitely just start writing. Post each of your blog posts to your FB page and encourage/allow your friends to share it. In my experience, blogs often grow pretty organically that way.

Also, make sure in your posts on your blog that you include a lot of tags (for example: dressage, Canada, Canadian dressage, FEI, etc etc) so that when people Google those things your blog is one of the top hits.

[Scribbler]

I think if you are doing anything on social media, then you use all your platforms to cross-cultivate the others. As to whether you can mention it on FB groups, that depends on the rules of the group. If it’s a tack sale group, they might not want anything off topic. Otherwise, you just post some chat on the FB group and link to the blog website.

However, that will mean that your blog does not have even the pretense of being anonymous. The best blogs that I’ve followed have been anonymous, though I think an inner core probably knew exactly who the writer was. That however let the blogs be opinionated and personal with a bit more freedom than if the blogger had her own name on everything. So it depends on the content you are planning. I like to read amusing, well-written, self-aware stuff about people’s real experiences and opinions, not just news conglomerators of show results and scores. I like the fact that COTH has pen names.

The other thing people do is link their blogs to every other blog, so that the blog writers get aware of them.

[Altermyne]

[QUOTE=Scribbler;9009820]

However, that will mean that your blog does not have even the pretense of being anonymous. [/QUOTE]

my blog used to be public. I had a lot of followers, but as things in my life changed, I found privacy to be more and more important.

That said, I follow a lot of public blogs on varied subjects and am glad for them.

Big Mama I’d follow you too, I love your writing here. Post a link in your sig line to alert those of us who look for/at your posts.

[tmc]

I’m a blogger and my biggest tip would be to not worry about your followers and readers—they will come organically. You can share your posts on your personal social media platforms (or make new ones specifically for the blog, though I chose not to) and that will garner some attention from your friends and family, from there it can travel through word of mouth. I started out by just sharing my posts to my personal Facebook profile, twitter, and instagram and then created a Facebook page for the blog itself. I personally find posts being shared into Facebook groups annoying and a little attention-searching, but it will definitely get your some new readers and views. Good luck!

[MMacallister]

I am a blogger and a writer, I would say if you aren’t looking to create income from the blog, use wix.com or blogspot.com both are free and both can be converted to a more revenue friendly platform later if you change your mind.

Your own personal social media (FB, Twitter, Pinterest etc.) can be used to promote your blog as much as you want. If you are any groups, there may be limits. For example in most of my writers groups there are only certain threads I can promote my work. The same is actually true of my local horse FB group, even though my book is horse related, I can not promote it there.

It’s likely the groups you are a part of will not know the difference between income and non-income producing blogs, so that would be my only word of caution.

[Bogie]

Just start writing! The readers will come.

I started my blog about 8 years ago just for the fun of it. Never really did any promotion but have a sizeable readership. My blog posts are linked to Facebook and I know a lot of people read it there.

I prefer Wordpress as a platform. I find it more flexible than Blogger (and there are many free templates). I own my domain name but host on Wordpress so they take care of all the security/updates/etc.

Most blogging platforms today allow you to link to other social media platforms without much effort. I read several that have active Instagram pages as well as FB.

Have fun!

[ladyj79]

Now I feel crazy because I thought you had a dressage blog I just went to the other day! Now I’m wondering who that was!

[DrunkHouseguest]

If you are comfortable with the ‘soul strip’ every week, or day, or what have you, go for it.

If nobody picks it up and reads it, you can always go back to a regular journal.

I don’t like the idea of the oversharing, but on the otherhand, one no longer has to endure years of apprenticeships and internships to grow as a voice.

Start blogging away.

There are subtle things you can do - if you don’t losing your internet anonymity - and put links in your forum signatures and facebook pages.

After that, it’s a matter of word of mouth, I believe.

[Halt_Near_X]

You can pretty much pick a blogging platform and run with it. WordPress, Blogger, whatever–just try out different platforms and see which ones you like better. The biggest thing is to make sure they have a feature that will let you export all your posts so if you ever do decide to move you can take your content with you easily.

To get readers, you can absolutely post on FB groups to announce your new blog (if relevant and allowed) but be careful about doing something like posting every time you write a new blog post. That sort of self promotion can annoy potential readers who would be subscribed to your blog if they wanted to know about every new post.

You should also add your blog link to your signature and/or profile for any social media platforms you are on. It makes it easy for people to find you, especially if they like what you are posting on those platforms and want to see what else you write, but isn’t as overt as “I wrote a new blog post! Come read it!”

But when I was blogging regularly, I found the best way to get readers was to be one–I’d read and comment on blogs I liked, and often the bloggers and some of their readers would stop back by my blog. Some would start reading mine regularly. You become part of the community that way. I wasn’t the best at doing it, but there were dramatic differences in the statistics when I was actively reading and commenting and when I was just passively writing and letting people find me.

Don’t get too angsty about things like tagging your posts and thinking that will help your search engine rankings. Especially while you’re a new blog with zero internet authority… they really won’t. Write good content, use tags that will help you and your readers find relevant posts on your site, and the search engine rankings will come. With some very rare exceptions, you’re not going to get new readers from random internet keyword searches.

You will need to do some sort of promotion so people can find your blog, so just figure out what you are comfortable with and how much you want to do. And then, yes, start a blog and just start writing. Write frequently, write thoughtfully, and write authentically. Have fun!