So you like the idea of starting a blog?
Trust me, it is a great idea!
People start blogs for all manner of reasons, including:
- To make money
- Share ideas
- Learn new skills
- Meet new people
- Document their life, or certain aspects of it
- Sell products/services
- etc.
Before you start, you need to decide what to blog about.
Over the years I have created dozens of websites/blogs.
My main goal was to make money. Perhaps this is your main driving factor too.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to start a blog to make money. However, it is very difficult to do so with topics you don’t really have much interest in.
I had websites about all sorts of shit topics, just because I thought I could make money out of a particular subject.
Ultimately I lost interest in most of these sites, and the money they made for me, gradually declined.
If I can give you just one piece of advice, it would be this:
“Write about stuff you are passionate about”
If you aren’t passionate about the subject(s) you write about, you will find it extremely difficult to grow your blog.
Trust me, you do not want to spend your time writing about topics that don’t interest you. Life is too short.
Over time, you will lose interest, and your lack of passion will show in your writing.
Blog About Your Passion
“But I don’t have an interest or passion or hobby”, I hear you say.
Bullshit!
Everyone is interested in something. You just think it’s not exciting enough to write about.
There are people with very successful blogs that have massive readerships, writing about all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff.
Including:
- Lifestyle blogs (my favourite)
- Working Mums / Dads
- Health
- Fitness
- Sports
- Travel
- Finance
- DIY
- Housekeeping
- Animals
- Pets
- Children
- Cars
- Design
- Software / Hardware
- Computers
- Celebrities
- Beauty
- Fashion
- Films
- Music
- Entertainment
- Religion
- Science
You name it, you can probably find a blog about it!
This very blog is a result of me not having a real passion for any one thing. I am interested in lot’s of subjects, but am not driven by one thing in particular.
I gravitated to creating a Lifestyle blog – my life, the people I share it with, and my interests.
If you are reading this, you too have a life. So you’ve definitely got something to blog about!
Are You One of The Lucky Ones?
If you already have a passion, then your choice of blog is a no-brainer.
Write about your passion.
Not only will you have a lot of material to write about, your passion will be evident in your posts, and you will become an authority in your niche.
People with the same interests will find you online and your readership will grow.
You will enjoy updating your blog and watching it grow.
With increasing visitors comes more opportunities, and income (if that is your goal).
5 Ideas To Help You Get Started
Once you’ve found your passion, you need some ideas about what to write about.
Here are 10 ideas to help you:
1. Solve A Problem
People go online every second of every day, to research solutions to problems.
If you know how to solve or answer questions that people are asking, you will have a valuable resource.
It can be on any topic in any niche.
2. Educate
Not only do people want answers to questions, they want to learn. Teach what you already know.
Again, this is an amazingly simple, but effective method to build your readership.
If you have specific knowledge on a subject (or you can research it enough) you become an expert. People will seek you out for help and advice.
3. Entertain
I wish this was one of my areas of expertise!
Do you have a skill or ability that is entertaining? If so, you could do reeeeeally well online.
Just look at the millions of videos on YouTube.
Some people devote their entire time to filming their pet do stupid things! Sounds dumb, but many of these videos receive hundreds of thousands of views.
Their pet is their passion and they can think of nothing better than to film and write about them.
How could you entertain online?
4. What Are Your Favourite Blogs?
What blogs do you read? Why do you read them? What especially do you like about them?
By analyzing your own actions online, you might be able to ‘home-in’ on something similar.
There’s nothing wrong with copying the format of a successful blog. People borrow/use ideas from other blogs all the time.
Just don’t copy and paste other people’s material word-for-word.
5. Just Start
Often the biggest hurdle holding people back from starting a blog, is waiting for the perfect idea.
Don’t wait – just start.
The sooner you start, the quicker you’ll learn.
Blogging presents all sorts of challenges. Some will frustrate the hell out of you, others will make you feel you want to give up.
However, when this happens, there are so many amazing people out there willing to help you, motivate you and inspire you.
Surround yourself with these people, and you will succeed.
Conclusion
Starting a blog can be an amazing, liberating experience.
You can reinvent yourself online – be whoever you want – blog about anything you want.
But remember; whatever you blog about, do it with passion, or don’t do it at all.
Peter
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