I just started this week. All excited and a ball of fire right now. I am sure at some point I will calm down. But for now the creative juices are really flowing. Should I not just publish as I write? I am writing close to one a day. What is a normal frequency for publishing work? All my friends are probably too nice. If I wanted someone to review my work objectively. Someone who would not feel the need to just be nice. How would I go about doing that? There are plenty more questions I have. And I have been trying to educate myself. I just dont see an answer to these two questions. I am really writing for fun. In the past I just save the stuff I do in my drafts folder ( actually about 17 drafts away from having more than what is in my spam folder) and forget about them. At some point I, of course wouldnt mind making money. But for now I am more interested in the fun aspect and building a following. Thanks in advance for any advice Sincerely Bryan
Let me answer your second question first. I believe frequency depends primarily on your audience. If you have a blog that posts daily jokes or workouts... then daily is important. I think most blogs once a week once you have some established content. Your first question: Publishing as you write I think is ok. It depends on the standard you set for yourself. I normally write something and automatically save it to a draft and revisit it after a day or two. I repeat that a couple of times and generally come up with a product I am pleased with. There are a number of useful resources here. I hope that helps and good luck. btw... what is your blog?
Thanks for the quick reply. I should probably release one or two a week then. That sounds right. I imagine once the "new" wears off I will slow down a bit. I didnt know if it was ok to link to it. Just remove if its not. Here it is. http://gillywacker.blogspot.com/ Thanks again
I viewed your blog and it looks terrific. Good start. I noticed it is on blogger. I will say that is actually where I started out too. I quickly moved to a better platform. One with more options and flexibility. I highly suggest that you move to WordPress. The platform itself is extremely easy. But the power lies with all the third party plugins. The functionality is crazy expandable. Secondly, I would move to a self hosted website. Get yourself a domain name and some web space. I did a quick post on domain names and hosting here: http://www.blogstartclub.com/get-domain-name-hosting/ (I can't sell domain names yet) I am not sure if I can post my own site either. I'm scared. but it does look like you have some domains available: http://www.domainsbot.com/d/gillywack WordPress has an amazing plugin called wysija (what you send is just awesome) or MailPoet. It is a fully functional newsletter program that is simple and very powerful. I suggest getting something similar so that people can "sign up" on your site. Good job Team Gillywack. Let me know if I can help in any way. And maybe I can put you on my Blog Spotlight.
thanks, that means alot coming from someone in the biz. I noticed a lot of post here with similar suggestions about getting away from blogger, recommending wordpress. I was just kind of forcing myself off dead center. This blog is something I have wanted to do for awhile now. I may take both those suggestions (wordpress and domain name) tomorrow. I have a hard time pulling myself away from writing though. Really not looking forward to getting into the nuts and bolts part of blogging.
With a little bit of work you can prepare things in a way that will make your future writing experience, as well as reader's experience, more enjoyable. I am here to help with anything you may need.
I think several posts a week at the beginning is the best way to go. It allows you to build up a good archive of posts, and will help newcomers discover what you write about, how you write, and whether they're interested in your writing. Then, as time goes on, you could post once a week for the regular visitors who know what to expect when they come to your blog. As for getting reviews — encourage visitors to comment. Comments provide immediate feedback. Although not everybody who reads a "please comment" message will proceed to do so, those who do will either leave criticism you should take into account or compliments that will motivate you to continue doing what you're doing, because you're doing it well. Generally, you'll be able to know how good your writing is when you get a stable audience. If, through your analytics, you see that people return to your blog and the bounce rate isn't high, you'll know you're doing something right. However, don't get discouraged if the numbers a low at first. Blogging takes time and effort.
I try solicit opinions when I share the blog. What is happening is I am getting opinions (all very good) PM style or in my FB links. That leaves the comment section looking like a baron wasteland. I dont really know if that has an effect on the long term performance of the blog. I think it may. I have been looking into the wordpress stuff. Right now it seems a little overwhelming. Now I am not a complete Newb. But am clearly not as advanced as what apparently most bloggers. And to be honest I'm not looking for an IT degree. I really just want to write. But at the same time extra money wont go to waste. And ultimately it would be a fantasy to earn a living so I could spend more time with my kids especially with my daughter who has special needs. So I do want to do things in a thoughtful way that would at minimum, lay a foundation for generating some income. There are a couple of other things that I am investigating today. A word counter: I was thinking about submitting a guest blog to some of the sites that are in my nitch. Most of those that take guest blogs have word count mins. Copyright: Much of, even the stuff I joke about. Is supported by research or peer reviewed studies. I would like to display some of the Charts or graphs that are available. But I dont want to get bogged down with a lot of back an forth correspondence. When I am inspired to write something. I typically do it quickly while I am in the moment. I am afraid I will get derailed with the details and implementation of supplying these link's or visual aids. Thanks again you all are very helpful Bryan
It seems you’re serious about this and, as far as I can tell from your posts here you actually write quite well. That’s great. It might not come to you immediately, but I wouldn’t be surprised if soon you’d be making some extra money on blogging. I wish you the best of luck. Getting comments via PM or through FB isn’t bad. Yes, comments on your actual blog would be better, but as long as you’re getting some sort of feedback, it’s all good. If I were you, I wouldn’t let copyright get in the way of writing. You said you write approximately one post per day. I suggest you use that to your advantage. Slow down your posting rate a little, but continue to write every day. Add anything you want into the drafts as you’re writing. The diagrams, graphs, charts — just add it all. Then, use the time created by not posting every day by going through with the needed correspondence. First of all, if you cite your sources, most people won’t have a problem with you using their graphs. Secondly, you are probably going to have a higher chance of getting approval if you’ve already written something. Do you see my point? Write as you would if copyright didn’t exist, and then save everything as a draft and make correspondence secondary. That way it doesn’t put pressure on the actual creative process. Would you mind sending me a link to your blog in my PM? I’m interested in seeing some of your writing.
Hey Bryan! Congratulations on taking the wise decision to build a blog so you can earn from doing what you love. Building a successful blog online is the best investment you can make. But you will have to do it the right way and have a lot of patience with the process if you really want to be successful at it. There is more than just writing, blogging and making money like that. Yes you can make money blogging about anything but after you have built a solid foundation online. I would say that the key is in the marketing you do for your blog but I can't never forget to address how important the quality of your content is as well. When it comes to building a successful blog online that will earn you money every month - it will be more about the consistency and the right steps you take with the entire process. Especially when you are completely new online. You will need to get the blog off the ground and create a snowball effect with the traffic you build up - once traffic is getting you more traffic - that is when you can start writing about whatever you want but always with a valuable message for your readers. As you write more for your blog, learn and understand how everything works with a blog online that makes money - then you will start improving the way you write and you can really become a great Article Author Online. There is a lot to learn before you jump in. My best advice would be to learn what you need to get started and enough to get you started right away. Then just take as much action as possible to get the ball rolling. How often you publish posts on your blogs will depend on how new you are and how new the blog is. If you are very new then I would recommend you to blog as often as possible. Blog on a daily basis if you can. Or at least 3 to 5 times a week. You need to also consider the Quality of your Blog Posts as well. If every article you publish is very unique and valuable to the internet users, then with the right marketing to it, that is all you need to do every week. Remember that Quality will always be better than Quantity. You can publish 3 very valuable and unique blog posts every week if you want. You want to make sure each one of your blog posts brings a unique solution to specific problems in your niche. Once you learn how to bring something no one else has brought to the table or even something not too many have shared online. It is all about how much value you are bringing to the internet users online. This is how you have the best chance to make a lot of money with the content of your blog. There is a lot more I could talk to you about when it comes to building a blog that can earn you money every month. It is all a process and it takes a very especial type of mindset to make it happen. Just to let you know where you can find more valuable information for anyone looking to build a blog online .... I'm working on a brand new site where I will share exactly what I do personally to build a successful blog online; http://theblogger.secrettips.org/ I hope the information I share and the information you find here helps you accomplish your goals! I wish you the best success in your online journey! CHeers!