What is a blog?
If you want to start a blog, then you should probably know exactly what one is. If you don’t, then it’s a bit like a kid trying to ride a bike without actually knowing what a bike is.
Do you have an idea in your mind of what a blog is? Does that idea involve anything that looks like running a business? Be honest with yourself, does it involve making decisions that impact your profits, doing customer research, registering as an actual business?
If not, then you’re probably thinking of a hobby blog. A hobby blog is what you do if you’re bored and have some spare time to write. Because you like writing.
You can also like writing and start a business, though. That type of blog is really another name for a business. A blog business.
If you’re here to make money, then a blog is a tool to build a presence online, engage with your audience and convert them to paying customers.
How you go about those things can vary a lot. But as long as you understand what a blog is and why you’re starting a blog then you can make informed decisions about how you do it.
If you think a blog is a place to write your random thoughts and sit back to watch the visitors come from afar, then you’re going to get a rude awakening one morning.
It’ll be in about 6 months time when you think you’re doing a great job, your writing is getting better and your family tells you how good your blog is.
Then you look at the traffic and the numbers tend to be about the same as the members of family you ask to look at your blog.
No-one cares (other than those family members, although if you pushed them on it they might admit it).
So, what is a blog again?
It’s a place to bring people to help them solve problems that you are in a position to solve. It’s a place to grow a community of fans that love what you do and how you do it. It’s a place to take these fans on a journey from the first touchpoint to a point where they trust you and buy stuff from you.
It’s not one specific thing, it is whatever you need it to be to achieve those things above.
So, how do you start one?
How Do I Start One?
Good question. I’m glad you asked.
Remember I said, only about three sentences ago, that a blog is whatever you need it to be to bring people in, grow a community and turn them into trusting customers.
That’s all well and good, but you need something tangible, something that you can get your teeth stuck into.
It can start with what you like doing, seeing, playing with, places you like to go, people you like to see, problems you like to solve. Anything can be turned into a business. But if you actually like what you do then that is the key aspect that can turn a business into something really successful.
You don’t need to know how to create a website to start a blog. I’ll tell you how to do that at some point, but you can start by finding out what you want to be known for.
Then you can start writing about it.
Or creating videos.
Or just taking pictures and making notes on them.
A blog can start on a simple platform such as Medium.com (writing about it).
Or start a YouTube channel (videoing it).
Or start an Instagram blog (taking a picture of it and making notes on it).
The business aspect of blogging is all in your motivation to make money out of it. There is always a way to do that, you will find a way, I will always be able to help you find a way.
Start with an idea, experiment with that idea in a simple way and then build on that idea with all the tactics that turn an idea into a business.
But, Really, How Do I Start One?
Oh, you want something a bit more solid. Something that you can just follow step-by-step until you have a successful, money-making blog?
This is the point I should direct you to my all-singing-all-dancing guide to starting a profitable blog that will make you money in 30 days.
Oh, that is coming, it really is. But right now, the best way to start a blog, I mean a blog that’s a business, is to start creating.
Find a platform you like (such as the ones I’ve mentioned above) and start writing, videoing, photographing. Get used to being a creator because that is the hard part. You can set up a site, you can automate social media, you can write to other bloggers to get in front of their audience.
But if you can’t create anything good then nobody will stay to spend money with you.
Get good at creating and then work out the details later.
If you still want a sneak-peek at what those details might be, here’s a quick run-down of how I would start a blog business right now, this second (because I like to think I’m getting good at the creating part already!):
- Find the niche subject that is interesting to you, popular enough to make money from and not overly-saturated.
- Create your brand with a name, colours, consistent message and website.
- Set up a method of capturing emails from your visitors.
- Use low-hanging-fruit methods of promotion (Pinterest, low-competition keywords, a network of blogging collaborators).
- Create content every day, even if it’s only half a blog post that you finish the next day.
- Create a minimum viable product that will solve a problem for your audience.
- Find affiliate programs that fit into your niche and create content around these products.
- Put it all in a pot and bake in an oven at 360°F (180°C) for …
All those things are tactics that you can pick and choose from as and when you need.
If you want to set yourself up in the right way, with the knowledge and skills that will make you wildly successful in the short, medium and long term then I recommend you learn from the best blogging books for beginners.
This is a list I made from the books that have helped me the most in my blogging journey.
They are not ‘how to start a blog’ books, they are far more useful than that. They will help you create, help you introduce good habits, help you become more productive and help you stand out.
Then you can start learning the tactics.
From me, I hope!