1. Advertising
    y u no do it?

    Advertising (learn more)

    Advertise virtually anything here, with CPM banner ads, CPM email ads and CPC contextual links. You can target relevant areas of the site and show ads based on geographical location of the user if you wish.

    Starts at just $1 per CPM or $0.10 per CPC.

Need help starting a blog

Discussion in 'Blogging' started by JasonLS, Feb 13, 2016.

  1. #1
    For a little over a week I have been trying to start up a blog. My problem is that my blog needs to cover multiple different topics and everything I have read says you should only have one. I am an Artist, I am planning to hike the Pacific Crest Trail next year, I am overweight, and I am in poor health. These are the areas my blog will cover. But I can't find anything that tells me how to work with all of these topics at once. I can find numerous examples for one but not all. As if bloggers who have hiked, or a planning to hike, the PCT are in perfect health. So how do I write about all of these at once? Where can I go to help me find a writing template to organize my thoughts and topics for weekly posts?

    On a side note, is it normal or customary to spend your first post talking about what your going to blog about in the future? Or do I just surprise my audience week to week?
     
    JasonLS, Feb 13, 2016 IP
  2. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

    Messages:
    28,487
    Likes Received:
    4,456
    Best Answers:
    123
    Trophy Points:
    665
    #2
    I'd probably split into two blogs. 1 for your professional life as an artist and one for your personal life. They can cross reference. People do, sometimes, want to know more about the artist whose work they've bought but I wouldn't want a warts and all familiarity myself.

    So on your personal blog you might have 10 posts about a training camp, nerves before, events during and recovery after but on your professional blog you might just have 1 post saying you'd been and what esoteric, arty things you liked and how it's good to down tools and expand your life experiences kind of thing.

    And yes, on both I'd have an introduction post (mirrored in the about me page) with you intentions etc.
     
    sarahk, Feb 13, 2016 IP
    ssaxena07 likes this.
  3. PoPSiCLe

    PoPSiCLe Illustrious Member

    Messages:
    4,623
    Likes Received:
    725
    Best Answers:
    152
    Trophy Points:
    470
    #3
    However, it IS perfectly possible to distance those two subjects from eachother within the same blog. For instance, having the professional/artist pages be the main focus, and have a second link, in the menu, for "personal profile/blog" - if this hike is meant as a combination of both personal growth and artistry, you could even make that a separate page, where you then post everything related to this trip - again with links to and from the different parts of the site. The easiest way to do this would be using something like Wordpress, and post stuff into different categories, which is then limited on the front page, personal page and walkabout - that way you can do all the maintenance and posting from one login, and just differ where you post it.
     
    PoPSiCLe, Feb 15, 2016 IP
  4. GAdsense

    GAdsense Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,247
    Likes Received:
    60
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    140
    #4
    Hey Jason, Warm welcome here!
    For a better blogging experience, I'd suggest you to use Wordpress. Here's how.
    I've just completed writing a 3000 words post about How to Create a Blog guide for knowing more about everything related to Wordpress from a complete newbie standpoint.
     
    GAdsense, Feb 20, 2016 IP
    ssaxena07 likes this.
  5. NatashaVall

    NatashaVall Banned

    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    28
    #5
    Hey Jason. the best thing you can do is doing blogging by choosing which niche having related with your hobbies, profession, or your real life. that will make you enjoy when creating contents for your sites.
     
    NatashaVall, Feb 27, 2016 IP
    Aditya Thakur and blubloc.annm like this.
  6. Ilmi

    Ilmi Member

    Messages:
    5
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    33
    #6
    Hey Jason, yeah splitting is probably the best option.

    Alternatively you could write about your journey to the Pacific Crest Trail hike. Not seeing the Art and being overweight part as two separate things, but elements that you use to tell your story. The end goal is making that hike, and your blog could be about how you are preparing for that mentally as well as physically. This is probably much harder, and might confuse the readers if not done well, but it might be more interesting for you to write :).
     
    Ilmi, Mar 9, 2016 IP
  7. techlynch.com

    techlynch.com Member

    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    31
    #7
    Out of experience I have found out that the more streamlined your content is, the easier it is to rank and make your blogger popular. This means focusing on a niche. I have a blog that centers on Blogging Tips. It aims to help new bloggers set up their blogs properly and develop quality content. You can check it out at and see whether it will be helpful :)
     
    techlynch.com, Apr 24, 2016 IP
  8. mimi morah

    mimi morah Greenhorn

    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    21
    #8
    I totally agree with you.

    Different people blog for different reasons. I've actually seen a fella who blogged about his job, about his day, about his this and that and it pretty much worked out well for him. If you want to start such a blog where you post random things, then you have to post what you like AS WELL AS what other people would like to read about.

    If your random blogposts would help someone's life, then heck! Why not continue for the fun of it. But if you have profit making at the back of your mind from this kind of blog, that's a long long long way to go you know. That's why people usually advise that you look for a particular niche to focus on, especially if you want to make some money off it as some point. A particular niche also helps people to know that okay, your blog is about this exact thing, so they can be certain that they're visiting your blog to find a particular solution for a particular problem, or coming to read about a particular thing.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 24, 2016
    mimi morah, Apr 24, 2016 IP