Blogging: Create a Blogging Plan

Blogging is easy to start. Sites like www.blogger.com, www.wordpress.com, or www.typepad.com allow you to create professional-looking sites with little to no technical experience. But before you start pouring out your soul and clever words ask yourself "why am I doing this?" After all, you can also blog readily at MySpace or LiveJournal. But even there, ask yourself "why am I doing this?"

What is My Purpose for Blogging?

Be honest with yourself. Do you want to do this as a hobby and post pictures of your family to share with relatives and friends around the country or globe? If so, that's perfectly fine. Or do you want to make money blogging? That's understandable as well. But either way, you have to really ask yourself "why am I doing this?"

My wife blogs, but she doesn't know it. Silly her. She journals on our laptop about each day's stresses and joys of being the mother in our family of 4 adopted children, 2 guardians, 1 grandchild and 4 dogs. Her purpose for writing each post, in a Word document, allows her to process our daily grind as a family.
The more clearly you know your purpose for blogging, the more able you'll be to create content for your readers.

My purpose is to make money! Yep, even when my wife rolls her eyes at me. I'm looking at blogging as an income source and a way to begin displaying my marketing background, my writing background, and my life as an adoptive dad. I knew when I started I would have to learn a lot. And I've gained many new technical and web skills during my almost 2 months of serious blogging. Oh, and the money? My purpose right now is to create quality content and attract readers and I know the income will follow.

Your purpose for blogging may be to make money - but not from the blogs themselves. Rather, you can display your credentials and attract people to your store, product, service or consulting firm.

What do YOU Want to Say?

I emphasize what do "you" want to say because there are hundreds of thousands of blogs being created each week. Okay, millions. Wordpress actually states the number of new blogs created in specific time periods. My bet is most blogs will become virtual ghost towns because they weren't well-planned and they were started on impulse. I will bet about 45%. There's a reason I use that percentage but I won't digress now.
My "Hey, Don" blog at Don Biz Blog is becoming a source of tips and how-to info related to 4 or 5 specific topics with a different theme each week. During mid-June, another site linked to me and I discovered it was a woman in Philadelphia who has done quite an impressive web site and blogs using almost the same themes! But she's not me and I'm not her.

We both have our different personalities. I'm treating "Hey, Don" as a source for creating feature-style or human interest articles, drawing on my journalism background. So what makes you different from the other millions of blogs existing? Ask yourself, "why would someone read my blog not just once, but two or three times?"

I had a wonderful compliment from the creator of The Hip Mom MySpace place to say she really liked my blog and she would be a frequent reader. I will ask her what she likes about my site and what brings her back.

I see myself as a writer who enjoys interviewing "the experts." I hope that comes across in my blog.

How will You Produce Quality Content?

I believe you should launch your blog with about 3 - 5 original posts in the first day or two if you're wanting to start off strong. Then, post once a day. After that, post a minimum of 3 - 5 times per week. Your content should be targeted. Readers need to know what to expect when they visit your blog and why they should return.

Do you plan on writing all your own content? Do you plan on writing brief posts and linking to other sites? Try to think that through at this stage.

How will You Design?

Okay. I'm not a designer and it's painfully clear when youmy blog.
However, I'm not terribly unhappy with it. I knew I wanted to teach myself some basic design and using such a user-friendly site was fine with me. But design also means placement of links, text and ads if you monetize your site. Fortunately, you do get to play around with the site after it's up. But start with a pen or pencil and paper to lay out your site. There is a helpful design article available at Pro Biz.

Who is Your Audience?
Blogging is sharing your thoughts, feelings or expertise. It is offering information and/or entertainment. Who do you envision reading your thoughts? What do they look like? What are their hobbies? What do you want them to do once they arrive at your site? What action do you want them to take - read and comment or buy a product from your site? Is it clear?

How will You Attract Readers?
In college, my classes included short story writing. In fact, literary author Michael Chabon was in a couple of my classes at the University of Pittsburgh. Sorry, I had to drop a name. A roommate asked me, "would you keep writing even if no one reads it?" Okay, I'll write for God. But He doesn't need to click on to my blog. But that's an important question and it does go back to your "purpose" for blogging. I won't go in to the many ways you can attract readers. However, if you write a clear theme, develop quality content, and post sincere comments to other blogs then the readers will come over the weeks and months to follow. You can use many of the strategies you'll also find in the AC forums on promoting your content. Develop a MySpace and YouTube accounts with links to your blog. You just want to make sure you're attracting the readers you're talking to.

Blogging success when it comes to making money is all about attracting a high volume of targeted traffic. The more page views then the more advertising dollars you can command or the more paid clicks you'll generate on the affiliate programs. But if you're blogging is a hobby then - ah, we're back to your purpose again.

Relax. Have Fun and Enjoy Learning.
Serious blogging is work. Writing to simply express yourself and have an outlet for the world to see some posts and friends to see others is therapeutic. You can do both. If you're not blogging to become the next celebrity income earner then that's okay. Either way, pause to ask yourself "why am I doing this?" then jump in again and keep blogging.