Wednesday 2 July 2014

Tips for beginner bloggers.

Starting out a blog can be quite challenging at first. You are essentially a whisper at a rock concert. What will you write about? Who will read it? Well, here are a few tips that I believe to be true:

Firstly, don’t ever think that you will become the next big thing overnight. It doesn’t happen. Particularly if you are writing about stuff that people can read about everywhere else. 40k falls under this category. There are endless blogs on 40k, and you have to ask yourself what makes yours so special? Well, the real answer should be “nothing.” At the end of the day, you should be writing about what you want. Don’t think you have to be writing articles on the latest tournament builds, or leaking images of upcoming releases to gain readers (it will help exposure, but isn’t required). There are plenty of blogs out there that haven’t leaked a thing and have 500+ followers.  Gaining views is about writing content that makes sense and isn’t made up. Don’t write posts about topics you have very little knowledge about. There would be no point in me trying to write a post on Warmachine, because it would be rubbish and those viewers who read it wouldn’t come back. Stick with what you know and you will get there.

Secondly, DO NOT overload yourself. If you can aim for one post a day, then great. However, like most working people, you will find it very difficult to get in one post a day, let alone every second day. Consequently, it is best to aim for 2-3 posts per week. If you want to knock out a number of posts in one session, use the scheduling function to cover you for a few days. That way you don’t have to keep logging back in and out. 

Thirdly, get yourself onto as many blog rolls as possible. For blogs on wargaming, I would go with Faeit212’s blog roll, as well as Talk Wargaming. Furthermore, you will often find that many blogs (such as this one) have their own blog roll that you can get onto by simply emailing or dropping a comment about it. This is marketing 101, you can’t get your product out there if no one knows about it. 

So, in a quick summary:
Write about what you know.
Take it easy.
Get your links out there.

I hope this helps anyone starting out a blog, don’t be discouraged if three months down the track you still haven’t received a comment. Stick with it and you will enjoy it.

7 comments:

  1. Definitely some great tips there. Blogging is about inspiration, not perspiration. The most fun part about the whole thing is...... you get to feel like you are talking to yourself in the corner of some massive dark room called the internet. This is why sites like mine started the BlogExchange to help turn the lights on.

    Good stuff Crazy424

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  2. Nice post, I think another one is to take joy in the small victories.
    For me its been things like my First follower, reaching total 2000 views .etc

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    Replies
    1. Congrats mate. It can only increase from here on!

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  3. Definately a great post.
    A good tip someone gave me, "you have to invite people to you blog,
    If no one knows about your blog, how will someone find it ;)"

    Another tipp is to be prepared for negative comments, they WILL come!

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  4. I think tip 2 - Scheduling is the single biggest reason why I'm still blogging. nearly 4 years on, every other day [mostly]. Preparing posts in advance and not trying to make something up on the spot is the key to sticking at it.

    I may consider dropping to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday rotation though as I find weekend posts receive som much less attention. I thought folk would have more free time but it seems most hobby geeks are actually out doing stuff, unlike myself who is glued to the PC.

    So I think if your starting 2 or 3 posts a week is a good start and commit to 6-12 months and see how you go. I said to myself I'd stick it for a year as I didn't want to be one of those blogs that started and then died and I'm still going...

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  5. I'm amazed by how everyone finds the time. My most jarring realization is just how fast everyone paints/builds/posts in the blog world. I'll paint two purity seals, and someone else has finished half a hive fleet.

    I've tried to adjust my schedule to give me larger time gaps between days, so I can actually produce something more then a short post...but maybe that's also an issue...don't go berserk trying to fill tons of space.

    I also found, if you can start a joint blog with friends, it can help motivate you. Thanks for the tips!

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