Monday, November 30, 2015

Four Tips for Successfully Starting a Blog

In November, I had the opportunity to travel to two awesome conferences. Iowa Corn graciously sponsored me to attend the AgChat conference. You know when you have followed bloggers for so long that you really feel like you are real life friends. Well I finally got to meet a lot of these "online friends" and guess what? We really are friends!

The second conference I attended was one I actually spoke at, Future FarmHer. This was an awesome conference for high school and college aged women who are interested in a career in agriculture.

During both conferences I got to share tips on how to start blogging, but I also learned a lot from the other attendees. These were my take aways.

1. Don't let naming your blog paralyze you. I have heard the story one two many times. You think and think and think on the perfect blog name. A month goes by and still no blog, that turns into six months and then a year, and you still haven't started blogging. Katie Pinke of The Pinke Post shared she really didn't spend too much time thinking of her blog name, and it has nothing to do with agriculture although agriculture is a theme she talks about quite often. Once you do think of a name check out other social media platforms to make sure it is available. For example I am Crystal Cattle on everything - twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Periscope, Facebook, etc.

2. Blogger or Wordpress. Still lots to debate over this. If you want to monetize your blog you'll eventually need to do a self hostess Wordpress blog. In the meantime this is my advice. Find a friend that can help you and see what they are using. That way if you have questions you'll have someone that can help you out.

3. Build Up Content Before Launching. This piece of advice came from Cristen of Food and Swine and I thought it was one of the best pieces of advice I have heard. How often do you see someone announce their new blog, you read the intro post and then there is nothing else to read. Publish a few posts first, and then have people come check you out. That way when they are on your blog they will get a feel for your content and hopefully come back for more. Also, I try to write a few blog posts at a time, and then schedule them out over the month.

4. You have to talk about your blog so they will come. You can't write an amazing blog post and except people to find it. You need to email the link to your friends and family. Tweet it out. Post is on Facebook. Pin it. These things will drive traffic back to your blog.

Do you have a blog? What are some of your tips? Or have you been thinking about creating a blog. Leave me a comment, which I doubt you'll do because most people who read blogs are lurkers ;) However, if you want to email me and chat let me know! You can find all my contact information in my About section.



5 comments:

  1. Good advice! You should add a fifth bullet - whenever you comment, you always leave your name and blog address - I imagine that drives traffic too. :)

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    Replies
    1. That is a great idea! Now you should leave your blog address ;)

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  2. I've had my blog holyknollies.blogspot.com for awhile yet, but always love to read these tips on how to improve it! Thanks!!

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  3. Good quality photos of the blog topic - people remember photos! Brian. bcagriculture.com.au

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  4. Good info for new bloggers. I would also add be consistent in posting. That's what I've always heard.

    www.midwesternatheart.com

    ReplyDelete

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