First steps - play and planning

Dave's Tech Shop — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 16:56:33 GMT

My first step
My very first step was to just play with some blogs. I wanted to see how to create a blog article (also called a post or an entry). I had not blogged before - not at all. I work in the software field, and people all around me were blogging, but I was just too busy to give any thought to blogging. Before I even thought about getting deeply into blogging, I first had to get my feet wet by playing around a bit: just experimenting with no serious purpose.

In this article, I'll offer you an easy way to do that initial experimentation. And then I'll offer a single recommendation you should consider before taking the next step.

Even though my focus in Blog-HowTo.com is on the technology of blogging, this first article is not technical. This article offers some general recommendations.

Your very first step - experiment
I assume you are a capable and intelligent person, but maybe you have also been too busy to do any blogging until now. If you have never logged in as the admin of a blog before, then allow yourself a little time to just dink around with a blog. Don't set up your own blog yet. Before you do anything else, just take a blog for a test drive.

If you contact me (by leaving a comment below or by emailing me through the contact page of this blog), I will arrange to let you test drive a blog for free. I have set up a demo blog just for this purpose. I will give you an admin password so you can go in and create new blog posts, delete them and generally just goof around.

As I said, I did this goofing around before I decided to get more deeply involved with blogging, but doing so required a lot of effort on my part (including downloading and installing software). I think it will be helpful to let you get a taste of blogging without going through all that trouble.

My demo blog is a real, live blog. Your friends can see what you post if you want them to. If not, just don't give out the address and delete your stuff when you finish. Either way, a few minutes of experimentation will go a long way in furthering your understanding about what you can do with your own blog.

By taking my demo blog for a test drive, you can see what it's all about without investing any effort to set up your own blog yet. There is no cost and no commitment. This is an experiment on my part, so as long as people don't abuse it, I'll keep doing it in an effort to help others start blogging. At some point, I may discontinue this offer. We'll see how it goes.

The first step to your own blog - focus
In some way, shape or form, you need a theme. You probably understand why. I just want to make sure you recognize that the things you already know about the value of having a focus apply to blogging as well. The more well-defined your focus, the greater is your chance for success. You may define success differently than I do. But it doesn't matter if you want to blog for fun, recognition, community, profit or some other reason. If you have a clear goal with a well-defined focus, you put yourself in a better position to be successful -- no matter what your standard for success. I'm simply advocating that you do at least a minimal amount of planning before you launch your blog.

You have to know where you want to go before you can get there (or anywhere). That said, I recognize that even when we think we know where we want to go, we often end up somewhere else. I suspect that will be true for many of us as we start blogging. Blogging is relatively young and it is evolving rapidly. New opportunities are emerging at an exponential rate. Blogging may lead to things we haven't yet contemplated. My advice is to be focused yet flexible.

A short time ago, blogs were informal online diaries (web logs). People often blogged about anything and everything. That definition of blogs is rapidly evolving. Recently, certain blogs and bloggers have become very influential. Others have become very financially successful. Many of the top blogs have enormous readership. However, many of the original unfocused blogs have fallen by the wayside and their readership has dried up. That's why I recommend that your blog be focused.

In life, we know that people with no direction generally get nowhere. They often don't even have much fun. At the other extreme, people with a rigid focus also don't have much fun and don't get as far as they could either. When you start blogging, you need a focus, or theme or well-defined purpose. You also need to be flexible if for no other reason than the fact that the blogosphere is rapidly evolving. (The blogosphere is the online community of bloggers, their content, the readers and the content - in the form of comments on blog articles -- the readers create.)

Have fun and go with the flow, even if that means refining your original focus in the future.

As with every rule, there are exceptions to this one. A few blogs that the media describes as "unfocused" are enjoying success. However, I still recognize a well-defined theme in these blogs. When your blog strikes a chord with the readers you want to attract, then you have defined your blog's purpose well-enough, even if some people don't feel it is "well-defined."

Some people and some blogs will need more planning than others. I do think that even frivolous-appearing blogs would benefit from at least a minimal amount of planning -- because you still want readers to be able to find your blog and to come back for subsequent visits. (If you didn't, you wouldn't be interested in blogging.)

I'm encouraging you to define a focused theme for your blog. Do like you would for any other project - refine your statement of purpose until it is clear. But I am not telling you to apply what you may know from your work life in order to produce a sanitized mission statement.

Blogging is about your passion and your unique, individual self-expression. It's about your credibility. Get clear about what you want to say on a narrow topic but don't let any big-company thinking creep in. (Even the big-time, highly profitable blogs consist of just a few people -- and they often consider of just one person.)

If you are like me, you have many interests. You may want to blog about many of them -- even all of them. That's OK, assuming you have the time to do each one justice. Even if there are ten, fifteen or more topics you want to blog about regularly, you will still benefit from focusing. At this point, just pick one topic to start with. Later, I will show you how easy it is to create an additional blog. It only takes a few mouse clicks. But let's save that for later.

Multiple blogs - not now
Step one in blogging is about establishing one blog with one theme. I mention multiple blogs at this point only to explain why it is a possible option for later. If you are sure you cannot confine your expression to one theme, don't spoil your blog by throwing everything into it. Even if you use categories to organize your writing, you risk confusing your readers if you are jumping all over the map. A well-defined theme lets readers visiting your blog for the first time quickly understand what your blog is about. That helps encourage them to come back for a second visit.

For people who want to blog on many unrelated topics, I will show how easy it is to turn your first blog into multiple separate (or aggregated) blogs at a later time. Setting up one blog with one theme now will not limit the extent to which you can expand later -- provided you use the right blogging platform and do some of the other simple things I'll recommend here on my blog. I'll cover these steps in detail. For the moment, just focus on one blog with one well-defined theme.

Conclusion
Start off by playing and experimenting if you are completely new to blogging. Contact me if you want to test drive my demo blog.

When you are ready to start your own blog, come up with one theme and make it clear. Then proceed forward while recognizing that things will change and you need to be flexible. Most of all, have fun and stick to blogging about those things you are really passionate about.

Read the rest of my posts on Blog-HowTo.com where I will cover all the steps. In upcoming posts I'll discuss getting your own blogging software and getting an internet address.

Introducing Dave and Blog-HowTo.com

Dave's Tech Shop — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:29:38 GMT

Until recently, I had not blogged before - not at all. I work in the software field, and people all around me were blogging, but I was just too busy to give any thought to blogging. Obviously, that has now changed, as you can see! (I have several blogs now.)

In a short time, I have fallen in love with blogging. I love the ease of expression. I love the community. I also love the fast growth and new recognition that blogging is experiencing. I like seeing, and being part of, the rapid innovations that blogging technology experiences from having a lot smart people focused on it.

Blogging is getting a lot of my attention now, and Blog-HowTo.com is one example of that.

Blog-HowTo.com is a blog about how to accomplish blogging tasks - hence it's name. I will emphasize blogging technology, such as how to use blogging software and how to install blogging software. I will discuss the mechanics of how to blog. This includes all the technology-related things that come up in connection with blogging.

It doesn't matter if you are a computer novice or a seasoned technology professional, when you move into a new area such as blogging, access to advice from someone that has done it before can make things easier. I may know a lot about software development for certain types of web applications, but until recently I knew nothing about blogging. It oten took me a lot of effort to find answers to basic questions. That's why I set up this blog and that's why I'm writing these articles.

My goal is to explain the precise steps you will need to follow for each blog-related task. When it's time to blog, I will show you how to. As I said, I will typically focus on the technical aspects of blogging. One of the first things I will discuss is picking the right blogging platform. As time goes on, I will cover more and more advanced topics, but I won't ignore the basics.

I will also focus on giving concrete advice. For example, after extensive research I chose a particular blogging platform. I'm going to recommend that same platform to you. (It's open source and free, so don't worry.) By being able to discuss a particular blogging platform with you, I will be able to give concrete solutions. I will be able to show screen shots and specify exact steps. That will save you a lot of time and frustration.

When explaining the steps and offering solutions to common blogging issues, I will attempt to give enough detail so that anyone can follow along. I'll assume you are intelligent, but I won't assume you know anything about the topic at hand. Based on your feedback and comments, I'll fine tune my approach as we go.

It's going to be fun!

Dave

1. Prerequisites

First steps - play and planning

Introducing Dave and Blog-HowTo.com