Preparing a Blog Hunt: The Master Plan
Our host today is Joseph Adediji. If you're interested in getting in front of the readers of Site Sketch 101, check out our guest posting invitation here.
Are you thinking of starting a blog? Or do you want to create another blog? Or do you already own a Blog?
If you answered yes to any of the above question then this article will help you to develop a master strategy for creating your dream blog.
Just like you need various traps for catching fish, bear, rabbits and any other animals, you will need various strategies for creating a successful blog. There are, however, a few steps that are the same no matter which forest you are hunting in.
Getting Started with the Hunt
Decide what you want to Catch:
Find your Niche
Just like in any other hunt, the first thing you need to do when starting a blog hunt is to decide what exactly it is that you are trying to catch.
It is very important that you have a clear idea of the kind of blog you are trying to create. It will be your foundation for the whole blog creation process from start to finish.
Here are a few Questions to help you figure out what you will be hunting for:
- What is my current career field?
- What kind of Activities do I enjoy doing the most in my Daily life?
- What are my Interests and Hobbies?
You answers to these questions will help you to find topics you should create a blog about.
Prepare your Traps
As a hunter, once you know the animal you want to hunt, it’s time to prepare you traps.
As for bloggers, when you have found your niche, its now time for you to prepare your blogging equipment. You will need a few key items to succeed in creating your perfect blog.
Here is a list of things you should get before starting out:
- A laptop Computer or better still a Desktop Computer (Desktop is what I use).
- A web hosting service and a domain (You may try Godaddy, Bluehost or HostGator).
- An Internet Connection.
- A network of people who could potentially help you in your endeavors. This is easy. All you have to do is read from top blogs in your niche.
- Register on social networks especially Facebook and Twitter (I don’t believe much in G+, IMAO).
Set up Your Blog/ Trap
Now that you may have prepared your traps, its now time to set up your blog.
Setting up your blog is quite easy; you can easily install WordPress automatically from your hosting Cpanel in just a few minutes. Virtually all host company have a Cpanel, you can access it usually through www.cpanel.yourdomain.com or www.yourdomin.com/cpanel.
After installing WordPress, the next thing to do is to find a suitable theme. For beginners, a free theme might just do the job for now, but finding a perfect free theme is a little bit difficult, but all you have to do is keep on experimenting with the free themes until you get a suitable one or until you get a premium theme like the Genesis Framework for Your Blog.
Content and SEO
After you have done your blog set-up and you have that lovely theme installed, the next thing to do is to start writing articles for your blog, and don’t just write for writing’s sake. Write quality and unique content.
Content creation is not an easy task especially for beginners, but I believe practice makes perfection. The more you write, the more writing become easy for you.
There is no way you will start a blog and not write junk post at your early blog days. I have some on my blog too. I wrote them when I was just getting started and I was much more eager to get content on my blog. But the most important point of this is that you should be improving your writing.
You can learn a lot of writing tips at Problogger and Youngprepro.
After writing articles and hitting the publish button you need to do a bit of search engine optimization in order to get targeted traffic to your blog. For more on this, you can read the post 6 Powerful Tips for Promoting Your Blog for Free.
Finally
The joy of a hunter is to catch the prey or animal he desires, just like the joy of a Blogger is to build that great blog.
I know these tips will surely help you to kick start your blogging career.
Just for reminder all you have to do are:
- Decide what you want to catch: Find you niche.
- Prepare your Trap: Get the necessary Equipment.
- Set up your blog.
- Create content and search engine optimize.
Ava Jae said:
Social networking, in my opinion, is one of the most important (and most effective) ways of driving traffic to your blog, especially if it’s a new blog.
I signed up with Twitter and developed a small base before I started blogging, so I had some readers almost immediately, which was a huge help. Of course there are tons of other variables and things you can do to get more blog traffic, but that’s an entire post (or series of posts) on it’s own.
I’m trying to learn SEO optimization now. It seems, like everything else, it requires a fine balance, as too much SEO makes the reading clunky and too little doesn’t attract search bots. It’s just another skill you have to learn, I suppose.
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Joseph said:
Social Media is a good Source of Traffic especially Twitter.
SEO is not what you can learn in a day, you have to keep developing yourself. SEO tactics obviously changes rapidly.
Ryan Critchett said:
Cool way of putting all of this! The hunt. I like the defined approach to starting a blog. It’s definitely practical. On the other hand, I also very much so like the non practical, jumping right into something you’re passionate about kind of approach. But I guess that works better with seasoned veterans, who can mentally compute all of these steps without definitive writing them down!
Either way, neat post.
Joseph said:
Thanks for you comment Ryan.
I believe passion is very important in blogging, without passion it will be hard for you to sustain your blog. You may get tired of blogging within 6 to 8 months if you dont have the passion for you blog niche.
Though some cases are exceptional.
Noel Addison said:
Hi there Joseph! Your post is very informative and fun to read. I love your creativity.
Joseph said:
Thanks for the Compliment.
Rakesh Kumar said:
Before using my present blog i had started 2 blogs but they failed due to lack to topics. But i have learned so much from them and still yet going to right way.
Joseph said:
Choosing the right niche or topic is very important in your blogging career, if you chose the wrong Topic then you are on the path to failure though you can always adjust your course.
Server Experts said:
For me surprisingly Digg has worked much better than Facebook and Twitter
Gary Riding said:
Having a clear idea about the style and intent of a new blog is essential. Knowing why you are writing makes the content creation so much easier.
I enjoyed the metaphor, it is very witty – though, as a vegan, I shall now have to flog myself.
Chad Nicely said:
Good pointers. I think something else you need to consider. It’s not so much a matter of “If you build it they will come”.
You need to first make sure what they are building they are already looking for.
Cheers!
Chad
Barry Wheeler said:
I like how you describe this as a “trap”. Isn’t that really what we are all trying to do?
Get people to come back over and over and over again? Build a relationship and eventually convert them into some revenue?
Procrastinating Dev said:
Content is king. If you have crappy content it doesn’t matter how good your design is, how much you blog or how many people you connect with, they won’t stay or come back.
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Larry Lewis said:
I’d rather use the analogy of being the wise owl sitting on my branch welcoming all visitors who seek some inspiration and knowledge. There referrals will bring me more visitors. So as long as the bird trapper doesn’t come and snare me, i’ll be here for quite a while yet
david k waltz said:
Our local news station ran a blogging contest – entering these types of things can be helpful in attracting some readers.
Cheryl said:
As a newbie blogger, thanks for all the great insight. I still have a lot to learn, but at least I know I’m headed in the right direction.
Tiffany said:
Hi Joseph,
You are right, the tips you shared will definitely be a great help to kick start a blogging career. All I can say now is that a blogger should always enjoy what he is doing and should not forget to connect to his network which includes his blog visitors.
Johnny Web said:
I like your section on nailing down a niche – one thing I’d add to it is that it’s always wise to check the number of searches and amount of competition in choosing a niche. nice guide.
Mark said:
Genesis framework? Is that what you use for your blog? It kinda looks complicated to use.
AstroGremlin said:
Wow, the basics boiled down to the essentials, clearly explained. Nice job, Joseph. Had to figure these steps out with a lot more reading!
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Mike Averto said:
Hey Joseph,
I’ve recently started a blog for my company and have had some trouble deciding what to post. I like the way this is written. It is the hunt for leads and I need to set a trap to catch them.
This post made me consider what I “want to catch” vs posting just any content to the blog.
Neil said:
Have been reading your comments Ava Jae, i am in the same boat as we say,i am trying to understand the SEO, and i am just starting out on this, its just going to take a little time to learn, and how to set out everything.
Abid said:
A well defined and a precise guide to setup your blog. I remember when I start my 1st blog I messed up several things and that was not a success initially but later on realized what could have brought me great results and most of the points are covered in your post which I had been thinking to setup and run a sound blog but quite lately.