Before you start a blog

Greg is a Slovenian tech journalist, writing articles about social media, linux and open source for the tech magazine Software Power. He also maintains his own web productivity blog at www.internetling.com.

Let’s face it. We’re in 2008 now, and blogs are still der Kreplach! If you ever encountered an obstacle in your life, you’ll know planning is important. The same concept applies very well to bloggers. If you’ve just decided to lauch your great new blog, don’t do it yet.

Stop.

Think about it.

You want to be a succesful blogger, right? You want people to read your posts. So here are some neat tips to get you started.

How well do you know your topic?
Passion is a very important asset for bloggers. It provides inspiration. It makes your blogging easier and more fun. Don’t forget, in order for a blog to get popular, you have to sustain a certain level of quality. You probably know that a blog needs a lot of time to get a solid reader base, so blogging for money just won’t work. Oh yeh, making money online and Tech are not the only available topics. Teher are people with good blogs about lifestyle, fien dining, papercraft, writing. Choose a topic you like, then find a market for it. It’s a big Internet.

What do you want your reader to see?
Visit one of your favourite blogs. What attracts you? What do you like about it? Is it the nice header, the big headlines or maybe the juicy RSS button? Learn from the masters and copy them, there’s no shame in it, really.

What about your posting frequency?
At my blog, i decided to post 4 times an hour. Blogs like Zen Habits found out (through extensive experimenting) that it is much better to write - when you feel like it. Write daily only if you really have time on your hands to write posts which are going to attract readers. Posts with content - make readers content.

Do you want to make money?
Quick warning here: a blog’s monetization potential is medium compared to other website types. By writing alot of quality content for a long time, you’ll be able to get some money using Adsense or similar CPC ads. You can also try other forms of monetization, just experiment a little before you decide. Do not overwhelm your blog with ads, especially if it’s a fairly new blog. Community comes first

Are you a good writer?
You don’t have to be. Lots of people are scared that their grammar will make the visitors have less respect for them. My mother tongue is not English, and I know I make mistakes, but with every post my grammar gets better. So don’t worry about it, blogging is great grammar exercise!

Do you know any other bloggers?
If you do, you have a great base to start from. Try to find a related community. Your blogger friends are normally also every passionate about their topic and will happily exchange a link or comment on your blog in order to share some traffic. Bloggers are a very tight community, and most have only benefited from this fact.

Now you’re ready to start your brand new, ubercool blog. Don’t give up, write like James Joyce on heroine, and send me the link.

Good luck!

That Blozzz is a cool blog that has an interesting view on life. The author’s (Tom’s) motto is of life gets you down say “that blozzz” and move on. He offers topics that are intriguing and thought provoking. They range from living on a farm to earning money online,

One of his better posts is a Basic Blogging Guide. Tom makes it simple to understand and a great guide for someone starting just starting out. He gives details that the person who never had a blog will understand. It tells how to get a blog started on free hosting all the way up to paid hosting. He has other interesting posts about webmaster related topics. He also has other interesting topics about Google and more.

Tom also gets a bit into his own life with stories about raising chickens and living on a farm. He is a stay at home husband so he also discusses earning money on the Internet. If all this was not enough, he also writes reviews on Wii games and other products that he owns.

The blog is well worth a visit and you will find something for everyone on his blog. I love his outlook on life and that is why the site is well worth looking at. If you like his blog, leave some comments to let him know you are enjoying the articles. Stop by and visit and enjoy all the interesting stuff that Tom writes about.