MindThe Beginner

..That is the question is it not? Why would you blog? Why wouldn’t you? There seem to be more and more blogs every day, it’s a virus spreading on the internet. Starting up a bog is easy, you just get an account at wordpress and voila you can start writing about anything and everything. Perhaps you even get some readers who can help you and comment on your reading…  and if you’re REALLY lucky you get so many followers that you become an expert of sorts. More and more bloggers however seem to be in it only for the money. They read all these fantastic stories about making huge incomes on blogging. But is it realistic to expect your blog to get there? If you’re lucky you might make a buck or two but that is not the reason to start a blog. Blogging is hard work and it takes a long time to get readers. If you want to, you can get there however and have a tiny second income from it. Be realisic about it but don’t forget to dream.

There is a long way to go however. A way that takes you past a lot of hurdles and setbacks. For the beginner I’ve identified two major ones:

1. The actual writing
2. Getting people to read it (and comment)

For me personally, the first hurdle isn’t a hurdle. I aways find something to write about and with the upcoming problogger 31 day challenge I’ll probably get even more ideas. But that second hurdle is a major one. How do you get people on your blog and how to you provoke them into commenting and in doing that helping you with your blog. I read somewhere that out of every 100 readers on your blog, only one will comment. That’s 1% of your readers. But what if you have only about 4-20 readers a day? How do you get comments then? Patience…

Is a blog all about the comments and the statistics? As I’ve talked about before this is a beginner’s trap you should be weary of. Again the solution is simple, write for yourself and write consistently. Readers will come over time when your writing inspires people and offers a certain level of quality. Keep writing, above all keep writing and when you least expect it, your blog wil grow if that is what you want.

If you can answer for yourself what you want from your blog that’s the place to start. Set goals and work on them, one step at a time.

What do you want from your blog and how to you plan to get there? Tell me all about it please.