Reviewed by Tama Bloch, RD, LD People from every walk of life keep an online personal journal, otherwise known as a blog (short for Web log). These bloggers post personal opinions and advice about everything from balancing personal and professional life to surviving the trials of parenthood, hoping to share this information with loyal readers every day. Whether you want to share your unique view or help others learn, here are some tips for starting a blog of your own.
- Browse for blogs that interest you. Search for blogs about topics near and dear to you, and see what people are saying. This can help you find your own topic and start thinking about how you'd write about it on a regular basis.
- Find a subject for which you have a passion. Blogging is a great way to speak your mind without facing the fear of public speaking. Your passion will help motivate you to write and will make each entry more interesting for the reader.
- Identify your audience — personal or private. If you want others to learn from you, they can find your blog in an Internet search. If your blog is more personal and private, you can choose to make the blog visible to only family and friends chosen by you.
- Get a head start — write the first 10 entries now. Publishing a blog is fun, but it takes a serious time commitment. Alleviate the pressure of getting started by writing ahead. You'll be better prepared to regularly post and get an idea of what's involved in maintaining the blog.
- Plan to post on a regular basis. If you stop writing, people will stop reading. People will only come back if they can count on regular, fresh content. If the wait is longer than once a week, your faithful readership may dwindle.
- Blog with friends, family, or coworkers. If you maintain your blog with three or four other writers, you'll have more motivation to stick with it and more time to develop your own posting. Over time, it can become a small personal support network for everyone involved (especially if you all share a common goal). Partnering also helps the blog stay fresh and on schedule by adding new perspectives and peer motivation. If three other people share the responsibility of writing the blog, you only have to contribute your own posting once a month.
Google™ provides some great tools to help you get your blog started. Google Blog Search can help you research your favorite topics, while Google Blogger provides the building blocks and tools to begin posting, all for free. Start writing today, and express yourself.