Every so often I get an email from a reader who just started blogging and who wants my advice. Which is funny, really, because I feel like I’m the one needing advice.
And yet, when I think about it, I have learned an awful lot in my short time blogging… much of it the hard way. So I’ve decided to share some of this hard-earned wisdom so that some of you can learn it the easy way.
Here are the five major topics that I’ll be covering over the next few weeks. As I post, I’ll link them up here.
1) Branding yourself. (No, I don’t mean branding in a scorchy, hurty sort of way. I mean the marketing kind of branding)
2) Protecting yourself and your family. It’s not fun. It’s not glamorous. But, unfortunately, it is important. Especially for the “mommy blogger” genre, privacy, safety, and security are topics that bloggers can’t afford to ignore. In this section, we’ll talk about strategies for being prudent without taking all the fun out of blogging.
3) Establishing a readership. Without a readership a blog is really just a journal, right? And yet, at times, finding and keeping readers can seem nearly impossible. In this topic, we’ll cover;
- Building a readership through networking
- Basics of seach engine optimization
- How to convert one-time visitors to repeat readers
4) Finding balance in blogging. You remember your life, right? Come on, think really hard. It’s true, blogging has a way of taking over and sucking the life right out of you. Which is why it’s important to come up with strategies, checks, and balances to keep yourself sane.
5) Taking it to the next level. Ah, the golden egg of blogging. We read about Dooce, who purportedly supports herself AND her entire family through blogging. How does she do it? We wonder. And, more important, how can WE do it? In this section, we’ll discuss strategies for taking your blog to the next level.
© Jenny Blackburn. All Rights Reserved.
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Catch more of Jenny Blackburn’s humorous anecdotes on being a mom, a woman, and a whole lot crazy at Absolutely Bananas. If you have questions, anecdotes, or topics for “On Blogging,” email jenny[@]seattlemomblogs[dot]com.
I’m totally looking forward to this Jenny. Thanks for taking the time to put it all together. YOU RULE.
(Also, I can’t be the only one freaking out about Dooce making 45K A MONTH. Please, sign me up for that gig!)
I will be following this with great interest. I appreciate you sharing what you know-just like I used to tell my kids, “you are a good sharer!” So thanks.
I just started blogging, and this is sooo the information I’ve been looking for - can’t wait!
Yikes… I just found all my personal information by typing one of my web domains into that site… not my blog since I haven’t bought the domain yet… scary stuff. Thanks for the information!
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