Seven Important Questions to Answer Before You Start Your Own Blog

I love blogging like crazy! And I know you love it too! Now that you have made up your mind to start your own blog, the question is: are you sure you really want to start your own blog? Well, to help you go into blogging with the right information, take just a few minute to consider some of the important questions below. Why? It will help improve your chances of getting on the right track. I know what makes blogs successful, and I want to help you make the right decision. At the end, you will discover if blogging is right for you, and some practical tips on how to make your blog successful.

1. Are you a self-starter or a baby-blog killer?

Everyone is blogging! You decided to join the bandwagon. It was so easy creating your blog, using WordPress or Blogger or TypePad in a matter of minutes! All that required very little personal initiative, didn’t it? If blogs were automated to update themselves, it would have been so easy all the way, from start to finish! But life is hard. And so is blogging. The same principles apply. You give birth to a baby today. If you don’t feed it, it soon dies. Many blogs have died and many are still dying on a daily basis. Why? It is because the blog owner was not a self-starter, but a baby-blog killer.

You need a lot of self-motivation to get your blog running just the way you dreamed it – lots of posts on a regular basis and a lot of traffic with a healthy money-making avenue from the click-ads. There are millions of other prospective bloggers thinking the same way, but probably only a few hundred are prepared to be self-starters. Blogging was never an easy way out. But if you have passion for blogging and you have a plan through which that passion and energy can be channelled, blogging is for you! Whether for your entrepreneurial adventure, as a business application or a serial blogger, you are welcome to the world of blogging!

2. Do you really enjoy writing?

The world of blogging is all about authoring and maintaining a blog, or posting articles on an existing blog on a regular basis. Writing is the heart of blogging. You can’t run away from writing! If you must blog, you must write. So, before you join the blogging bandwagon, be sure you are prepared to keep adding posts to your blog regularly. If you intend to have a personal blog centred on your hobbies and interests, be sure you create the relevant web pages first, with at least some posts to start with. But if your plan is to run what is known as a “how-to” blog, it is advised you have not less than 50 articles on your niche market before you launch it. With time, you will have a growing number of posts to engage and sustain the interests of your audience.

If you begin to find it too demanding as your blog gradually grows, you can invite some of your competent colleagues to send their articles for publication. You remain the blog editor, deciding what is publishable and what is not. Quality and relevance in terms of topics related to your niche market are very important considerations. Never compromise standards to “accommodate” a friend or monetise your blog. A true friend will admire you, and the money will come to you when you do things right! Why do you think successful blogs are really successful? Quality standard in blog content and consistency with niche market blog all the way. Little wonder the search engines can’t take their eyes off them!

3. Are you Internet savvy with some interest in the technical aspects of the web?

Don’t get scared already! In reality, if this was really required to be a successful blogger, it is very likely many successful blogs today would never have opened business! Just like having a creative flair, it is not a do-or-die affair. Having genuine and sustainable interest in how the web really works gives you added advantage in the blogging world. There is so much to learn out there, even for professional bloggers. As a blogger, you will always come across web languages like HTML which is gradually changing and advancing with time, web design based software, web tools and applications such as plug-ins. These can be very useful to you, helping you make your blog more functional, while keeping your budget low.

It’s perfectly fine if you can’t handle these yourselves, if you have good company to show you how you can go about them. Most of the blogging sites like WordPress.com, Bloggers, TypePad all have great easy-to-use features that will make your blogging experience a simple, smooth and fun-filled ride! Of course, IBBS is also at your service anytime!

4. Do you enjoy reading other people’s write-ups or blogs?

One thing is to know how to write, but the more you read the more you can write. Reading other people’s write-ups and blog contents can help you improve on your own writing – both in terms of quality and volume! Yes, you sure do love volume, don’t you? You need to know what others are writing. Not just any other, but really successful others. Blogging is all about writing and communicating skilfully and effectively in an engaging manner.

Study a successful author of a book closely. It is very likely that reads more books in his professional writing career than the ones he has authored. It is the same with successful bloggers. So if you want to be a successful blogger, read thrice as much as you write! No, it doesn’t slow you down. Rather, it helps you work faster! Try it and you will discover that it actually stimulates you’re your imagination and improves your productivity, sometimes serving as raw material for your original and fresh content. Today, stop gazing at your ceiling – just read up something in your niche!

5. Do you have a creative mind?

Blogging requires fresh and original content on a regular basis. The implication of this is that you have to keep writing and posting interesting aspects of your niche constantly. It is true we are in an information age. One side of the coin is that there is so much information on the web like never before. But on the other side of the coin, this also means that the web is increasingly getting cluttered.

Creativity, although not a must-have to be a successful blogger, it gives you the advantage to process information in new ways. It will help you develop unique content and high traffic because your blog is different from the rest. 

6. Do you have a Never-Say-Die Attitude?

You can be sure that most successful blogs today did not become successful overnight. Typically, unlike websites, blogs need constant attention. You must aim at posting on a daily basis or at least on a weekly basis. Blogging requires energy and time, a lot of discipline and consistency over a long period of time. It is natural that when you start your new blog, traffic will be slow at the initial stage. You must develop a tough skin by not letting low traffic come weigh you down.

Focus on your long term goal while you concentrate on scoring the goals on the short-term with your strategies mapped clearly out. The reward will come. It just depends on your efforts. Never let the hunger for the traffic distract you. Many blogs have failed and continue to fail today because they became inconsistent along the line, changing their niche market time and again to get the traffic by all cost. Ironically, they end up losing the traffic they already had, and still fail to impress new catches.

7. Are you still interested in starting your new blog?

If you got to this part of the article without jumping from the top, it is highly likely you will be a successful blogger! The self-starter in you made you visit this site to source for the information you need to get started. And if the questions 2, 3, 4 and 5 didn’t discourage you enough to abandon this article, it means you really have that all-important never-say-die attitude in you! Without any doubt, you will be a very successful blogger! Just remember to link IBBS on your homepage on your way to the top of the blogging world!