8 Tips For Newbie Bloggers

Sep 16, 2007

Are you starting a new blog or you have a blog you think is quite new (you can define a new blog as having very few posts and near to no traffic — just like this blog)? You may find the following 8 blogging tips useful:

1] Be clear about the blog topic

Don’t start a blog just because all of a sudden you’ve come across this great idea. Be sure of what you want to publish and if that thing interests you because since blogging is a regular affair, unless you have lots of interest (and a lot to say) you are going to run out of steam very soon. In theory this is no big deal, but if you continue this string of behavior you’ll grow a disenchantment towards blogging and conclude it is not your cup of tea. Take your time, do your research, and gather your material. Have ideas stored for say, at least a couple of months.

2] Use a suitable blog publishing software

There are many blog publishing software available on the Internet and most of them are free. Take for instance WordPress. You’ll need to download the latest version and then upload it on your server, under your own domain name. Even if you are not comfortable with installing your own copy of WordPress (many hosting companies these days give you one-click installation facility) you can use WordPress-hosted blog at Wordpress.com, at Blogger, or numerous other websites. My recommendation is that you should publish your blog under your own domain name so that you have control over your content and you don’t have to comply with the editorial policies of the blog hosting websites.

3] Use a good blog editor

These days I’m using Windows Live Writer to create my blog posts and I’ve become a big fan of this so-far-free blog editing tool. Creating blog posts should be enjoyable and easy, so use a tool you feel most comfortable with, even if it is a text-editor like Dark Room.

4] Post regularly

By regular I don’t mean publishing 3-4 posts daily (you can do that if your posts are very small, Twitter-like). If your posts are not very long and not very research-oriented then try to post once daily. In case it takes lots of effort then you can even post on a weekly basis. But try to be regular: these gives people lots of stuff to link to, lots of stuff to read, and it gives the search engines lots of pages to index and rank.

5] Make your blog posts search engine friendly from the start

This will save you lots of time later on. Use proper headings, highlight your crucial phrases and use the appropriate anchor text whenever you link to internal and external links. Define blog post titles that contain your keywords or key phrases. Make sure your blog publishing software create search engine friendly URL when your post is published.

6] Comment on other blogs

Commenting on other blogs (related to your blog) generates targeted traffic and helps you increase your network. When people read your comments on other blogs they become aware of the existence of your blog. Regular interaction on other blogs also gives you new blog posting ideas. It also encourages the blog publishers to visit your blog and leave comments.

7] Reply to comments on your blog

When people leave comments on your blog they are seeking a conversation or a feedback. Give that to them and they’ll come for more. If you don’t respond they’ll think you are only interested in playing your own horn and you are rude. This reminds me…I need to reply to a few comments myself.

8] Link to other blogs

Link to other blogs or their blog posts from within your blog posts. This sends them trackbacks (and these trackbacks create links) and encourages them to link to your posts too.

These tips are a start. You don’t have to follow them at the outset but you’ll get a head start if you do.

Technorati Tags: blogging tips, tips for blogging, new blog, starting a blog

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10 Responses to “8 Tips For Newbie Bloggers”

Edward Dowd
September 16th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I agree with all points on list. I’ll have to check out that Window’s Live writer. Anyway, I think the most important one which so many bloggers have trouble doing is the first point you made, pick and stick to a topic. Too many people think people will follow a blog that wanders aimlessly from football, to technology to music. People need to expect something in order for them to come back.
Amrit
September 17th, 2007 at 4:27 am
Yes, Edward. And this often becomes a big dampening effect.
CheapDomain
September 18th, 2007 at 11:16 am
wow! nice post and great tutorial! Thanks!
Simonne
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:56 am
Hi, I’ve got a quick question for you (and may be an idea for a new post): why do people need to use a blog editor? I usually write directly in the Wordpress editor, and I never felt the need to use something else. As I encountered a lot of bloggers who use editors, I’m sure I miss something here, and I’m curious to find out what.
P.S.: I like your blog layout very much. I wsas impressed by your attention to details
Amrit
September 23rd, 2007 at 5:35 am
Hi Simonne.
A great question in fact, and I’ll surely write a blog post on it in a couple of days. I’ll notify you whenever I do it.
Thanks for the encouraging words about the blog.
Simonne
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:24 am
Thank you! I already subscribed to your blog, so I’ll know for sure when you’ll post that
adri
September 30th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Thanks for your info, I am also newbie on making blog some time difficult what we want to write,may be you have any idea
Gigabytes
October 9th, 2007 at 7:55 am
I have tried 2 blog editors which are not so great, I am still looking for a good editor. I will check the live window writer.
Adam Raymonds
January 7th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Here’s something for Newbie Bloggers:
One major problem with Newbie Bloggers is that many of them are also SEO Novices. Thus, though you may have great content, you may not be doing things properly to get your page a good ranking with the search engines.
Luckily, there are programs that can improve your Search Engine rankings without you knowing much about SEO.
For example, there’s a software called RaSof (available at http://www.RaSof.com). According to James Brausch, the creator of Rasof, “RaSof can help improve your Search Engine ranking by 40%”.
RaSof analyzes your site and suggests different ways to increase the ranking of your pages.
Another useful software (from http://www.Nemeas.com) is Nemeas — a Site Ranking software. Nemeas rates your pages, and shows where your page stands in relation to other pages.
Using these programs you can increase the ranking of your pages in the major search engines. And they are so easy to use that you don’t need to know too much about SEO and all that.
So, I’d recommend you try softwares like the above (to begin with). Then, as you learn more about SEO, you could further manually tweak your pages to make them go even higher!
Stronghold Crusader Extreme
April 1st, 2008 at 10:36 am
6] Comment on other blogs This part i found useful for myself, since never thought about it earlier