Something that seems to make people shy away from blogging is that they "don't know what to write about" like a successful blog can only be run by someone who has a really interesting life. Not true.
A blog is only as limited as your creativity. You don't have to write anything. You can use it as a medium to post pictures you take every day. Or even videos.
Web serials or web fiction are other popular blog styles. If you don't think your life is interesting enough to write about then make up some fictional characters. Each post can be the next installment in your story.
Review things if you have lots of suppressed opinions. Tell the world what you thought about a TV show you watched or a book you read. With ebooks and self-publishing changing the entire book industry, reviewers are highly sought after by emerging authors.
If you're good at something make a how-to blog. Explain the steps and explained what you learned from the last thing you created.
A blog doesn't have to be a journal of your personal activities. It's a medium. A way of sharing your ideas with the world.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Monday, November 4, 2013
Non-Techie Blogging: Getting Started
Amazon
Apple
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
Smashwords
Sony
A short startup guide for those that know next to nothing about blogging. This manual will give an overview on large-scale concepts that the average non-blogger does not know but needs to understand in order to run a successful site.
This manual is approximately 4,200 words.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Monday, September 2, 2013
Making a Static Website with Blogger
I wanted to make a "hub" author website where people could connect and find links to all of my work. After considering/toying with my options I decided to with Blogger. The only downside to Blogger is that the end result will not look as sleek as some other design engines such as Wordpress or Joomla.
For me, this was an acceptable tradeoff. And the result so far is this: http://www.authoralaingomez.com
So certainly not the swankiest looking website but I'm pretty sure I've seen worse. I plan to eventually improve the site with a custom designed header and whatnot. I do feel like the information I wanted to convey is clear and easily found. It's also really easy for me to update which was important.
My first step was registering a .com domain name with GoDaddy. I feel like that alone goes a long way in making the site feel less blog-like. Even if you're using Wordpress, people will immediately assume they landed on a blog if they see a mysite.wordpress or a mysite.blogspot.
To keep it feeling more like a website, I limited the number of posts that appear on the home page to one. So that eliminated the trademark blog look of scrolling down to older posts. I went to the post layout and and got rid of a lot of extra information like post date and post author. I also removed the about me and blog archive gadgets that come standard on a fresh Blogger blog. I do want people to know who I am but, again, I felt like these looked a little too blog-like.
Instead, I replaced the about me with an about page. I also stripped out all the ways to subscribe to the blog and replaced it with the subscribe by email gadget. I called the email subscription a "newsletter" but really all they're getting is my latest post.
The rest is pretty self-explanatory. I made sure to include html buttons of all the ways I wanted people to connect with me on the sidebar. Again, the purpose was to make a website, not a blog. I didn't want my audience to spend hours sifting through old articles (blog). I wanted them to have a way to find my stuff (website).
For me, this was an acceptable tradeoff. And the result so far is this: http://www.authoralaingomez.com
So certainly not the swankiest looking website but I'm pretty sure I've seen worse. I plan to eventually improve the site with a custom designed header and whatnot. I do feel like the information I wanted to convey is clear and easily found. It's also really easy for me to update which was important.
My first step was registering a .com domain name with GoDaddy. I feel like that alone goes a long way in making the site feel less blog-like. Even if you're using Wordpress, people will immediately assume they landed on a blog if they see a mysite.wordpress or a mysite.blogspot.
To keep it feeling more like a website, I limited the number of posts that appear on the home page to one. So that eliminated the trademark blog look of scrolling down to older posts. I went to the post layout and and got rid of a lot of extra information like post date and post author. I also removed the about me and blog archive gadgets that come standard on a fresh Blogger blog. I do want people to know who I am but, again, I felt like these looked a little too blog-like.
Instead, I replaced the about me with an about page. I also stripped out all the ways to subscribe to the blog and replaced it with the subscribe by email gadget. I called the email subscription a "newsletter" but really all they're getting is my latest post.
The rest is pretty self-explanatory. I made sure to include html buttons of all the ways I wanted people to connect with me on the sidebar. Again, the purpose was to make a website, not a blog. I didn't want my audience to spend hours sifting through old articles (blog). I wanted them to have a way to find my stuff (website).
Monday, August 5, 2013
Monday, July 1, 2013
How Many is Too Many Blogs?
Lots of people like the idea of blogging. Sometimes it's difficult to get started but once you do it's easy to get hooked. Blog post ideas lead to more blog post ideas. Your blog is doing well and before you know it you find yourself wondering if you should start yet another blog.
I know this type of person exists because I happen to be one. I also know that I am nothing compared to many professional bloggers (people that make a living off of blogging).
Why even start a separate blog? Why not just blog about anything you feel like on one blog?
You could. No one is stopping you. However, a blog that covers a wide range of topics is going to have a hard time attracting traffic. If you want people to read your blog, your posts must remain focused. Magazines sell because they cater to a specific audience, not all audiences. A blog is no different.
Ok, so you're staying focused and you're going to start another blog. You're tired of only blogging about new recipes you've tried and now you want to blog about funny cat pictures you've seen. Now what?
Before you hit the start new blog button (which is surprisingly easy to do), stop yourself and consider for a moment if you could talk about your new topic over an extended period of time. One really good post idea does not make a blog.
Now consider that if you start a new blog you are literally doubling your post writing commitments. If you want to keep up with your current blog and get a new blog started, you need to double your efforts.
If this still doesn't sound like it will be an issue for you, go for it! The important thing is not to overextend yourself. If your current blog is doing well and you want it to continue doing well you can't neglect it for newer, shinier objects.
Yes, it is possible to adjust how frequently you post and not have a blog suffer. How much flexibility you have depends on the topic you're writing about. Non-Techie Blogging, for example, covers "evergreen" content. In other words, the material will be applicable for a long period of time. I could schedule this post to appear at any point in the year and in will still be relavant. Evergreen content has more flexibility. Topics that are time dependent are less flexible. Politics or media would be a good example of this. If you wait too long, the issue you're discussing may no longer be relavant.
Point being, you need to know your audience and you need to be clear about your blogging goals if you want to increase readership. Having more blogs can help alleviate boredom or writer's block but it's also more work.
I know this type of person exists because I happen to be one. I also know that I am nothing compared to many professional bloggers (people that make a living off of blogging).
Why even start a separate blog? Why not just blog about anything you feel like on one blog?
You could. No one is stopping you. However, a blog that covers a wide range of topics is going to have a hard time attracting traffic. If you want people to read your blog, your posts must remain focused. Magazines sell because they cater to a specific audience, not all audiences. A blog is no different.
Ok, so you're staying focused and you're going to start another blog. You're tired of only blogging about new recipes you've tried and now you want to blog about funny cat pictures you've seen. Now what?
Before you hit the start new blog button (which is surprisingly easy to do), stop yourself and consider for a moment if you could talk about your new topic over an extended period of time. One really good post idea does not make a blog.
Now consider that if you start a new blog you are literally doubling your post writing commitments. If you want to keep up with your current blog and get a new blog started, you need to double your efforts.
If this still doesn't sound like it will be an issue for you, go for it! The important thing is not to overextend yourself. If your current blog is doing well and you want it to continue doing well you can't neglect it for newer, shinier objects.
Yes, it is possible to adjust how frequently you post and not have a blog suffer. How much flexibility you have depends on the topic you're writing about. Non-Techie Blogging, for example, covers "evergreen" content. In other words, the material will be applicable for a long period of time. I could schedule this post to appear at any point in the year and in will still be relavant. Evergreen content has more flexibility. Topics that are time dependent are less flexible. Politics or media would be a good example of this. If you wait too long, the issue you're discussing may no longer be relavant.
Point being, you need to know your audience and you need to be clear about your blogging goals if you want to increase readership. Having more blogs can help alleviate boredom or writer's block but it's also more work.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Wordpress vs. Blogger
Due to my involvement with a writing group I belong to, I've become quite a bit more familiar with Wordpress as of late. For those of you new to the blogging world, there are two major (free) blog hosts that seem to consistently dominate the heap: Wordpress and Blogger.
Well, I apparently can't commit to just one so I freely admit to being a switcher-back-and-forther. The general consensus between the two hosts is that Blogger is more user-friendly while Wordpress is more customizable.
This is sort of true. Sort of. If you've never blogged before both platforms are going to have a learning curve. I also feel that the general consensus is somewhat flawed because Wordpress is only more customizable if you switch over to the paid version.
To help you decide which is for you, I decided to make a more detailed list of what I like and don't like about both. Keep in mind that this list is only of noticeable differences. I'm not going to list things that I like that both platforms have. Also keep in mind that I am only comparing these two platforms.
So here it goes:
Wordpress
- Overall, the blog will look sleeker.
- You have the ability to make a static site (like a regular website, not a blog)
- There aren't a whole lot of free themes (the way it looks) to choose from.
- If you're using the free version, there's not much about the theme you can adjust (so you're stuck with default fonts, colors, etc.)
- You can automatically have your blog send new post updates to a Facebook fan page
- Lacks the ability to upload pictures from your computer and place them in your sidebar(s). Requires you to get your image from an online URL.
- Dashboard that you use to make blog changes is not user-friendly at all (this is coming from someone who already knew how to blog).
- Spam filters are really good at default setting.
- Can look sleek but takes a lot more work.
- Dashboard is far more intuitive.
- Requires you to find a third-party program in order to send updates to Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- Owned by Google so easily syncs with other Google programs such as Google+.
- You can adjust just about anything you want with your free blog (background, colors, font, tab sizes, etc.).
- EasiER to monetize. Google AdSense is already built in.
- As the blog ages, you get lots of spam comments. Can be avoided but requires some tweaking with the security settings.
To sum up: Even after becoming comfortable with both platforms, I find I still prefer Blogger. The only real advantage Wordpress has is the swankier vibe. But overall I find myself annoyed with how limited the free Wordpress blog is. If you want to pay the small yearly fee, however, the number of Wordpress options does increase. But I think it's saying something that you have to pay money to get features that Blogger already offers for free.
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