BlogWritingCourse

So you have been thinking about starting a blog.  Everyone is doing it, right? So why shouldn’t you??

Well, maybe you should, and maybe you shouldn’t.  Here are some questions to ask yourself if you have been considering joining the blogosphere lately…

1. Do you enjoy writing?  If the first answer that comes to mind is…”I’d rather have bamboo shoots stuck under my fingernails!!”, then possibly blogging is not for you.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.  Maybe you don’t enjoy writing because you haven’t found something you enjoy writing about yet. If that is the case, see the next question…
2. Do you have something you are passionate about?  If there is a subject, concept, idea, or hobby that you just can’t get enough of, then you just might be the next big blogger.  That’s because having a deep interest in a particular subject is one of the key ingredients of being able to write a blog that others will enjoy reading.  People can “catch” passion.  Even if you aren’t the best writer in the world, but you are passionate about what you are writing about, you can often create a successful blog.
3. Are you willing to take risks?  Are you willing to try new things?  Experiment?  Learn?  Even more importantly…are you willing to fail?  If the answer to these things is a resounding “yes”, then you might be ready to jump headlong into the exciting and uncertain world of blogging!
4. Do you enjoy networking?  One important thing to remember about a blog is that it is NOT a diary.  A blog is meant for viewing and interacting with.  That means that in order to build a readership for your blog, you have to do more than just write it and hope people will come.  You have to network with other bloggers and online personalities in the field you are blogging about.  If you like to keep pretty much to yourself on the world wide web, then blogging may not be for you, but if you are a natural chatter, commenter, and messager, then you already are halfway there to creating a community around your blog!

If you answered each of the above questions with a resounding, “YES”, then you could be a strong candidate for starting your very own blog.  I would suggest that you take our free pre-course, “Intro to Blogging” to help you get your feet wet and help you make the final decision about whether blogging is for you.

Yes.  Yes, in fact I did say a FREE blogging course.  BlogWritingCourse.com is proud to offer new or potential bloggers a free introductory course into the world of blogging.  That means that if you have been entertaining the idea of starting a blog, but felt that you really didn’t know where to begin, then we have a course for you!!

Intro to Blogging is a fun and interactive automated course to help you get your feet wet in the blogosphere.  There are a series of videos, short readings, and interactive exercises which you can take over a week or so, taking perhaps a total of two hours.  During this time, you’ll discover:

- how easy it is to blog

- what the basic lingo (vocabulary) is

- some basics about online safety

- whether blogging is something for you or not

Don’t let a lack of knowledge intimidate you from starting a blog or even taking a blog writing course.  By signing up for and taking our free pre-course you know what it’s all about. You’ll understand the lingo. You’ll know how to stay safe online and you’ll know how to create and promote your own blog.

Join the growing number of bonified bloggers who have gotten their start in blogging right here - - at BlogWritingCourse.com! 

I did NOT jump on the bandwagon of the Julie and Julia craze during the book stage of the process.  I was one of those pop culture Cinderellas who arrived VERY late to the ball and didn’t know anything about this story until I saw it on a movie trailer.  But WHAT a trailer!  I was immediately hooked and simply knew I HAD to see this movie when it came out.

I’m a movie theater snob, however, so I did not go see it at the multiplex, but rather waited until it was showing at my favorite fine arts theatre where you can order wine and dinner with your movie and enjoy every last delicious morsel in the most leisurely of ways.  What better way to watch Meryl Streep and Amy Adams create on-screen magic??

What is really interesting is that even though I had the general idea that this movie was about blogging, I in no way realized just exactly how blog-centric it was going to be! It was a delightful surprise - - especially because the story seemed to take place during the germinal stages of blogging when growing a blog audience was probably even more exciting than it is today.

But the best thing about the movie?

It reminded me that there is no subject too specific - - too specialized to blog about.  And that is great news because it means that ANYONE can start a blog. 

That’s right.  You have a rubber band collection?  Blog about it.  You dream of becoming an opera singer and you are tone deaf?  There’s a blog in that.  You are Jimmy Hoffa’s biggest fan?  Go for it!  You knit booties for kittens?  Hey, so maybe it’s not my thing, but I’m sure there are plenty of kitty-lovin knitters that are anxious to hear about your exploits.

Bloggers aren’t born, they are made.  From the diversity of the human spirit.  From the melting pot of ideas that swirl around our heads and are aching to get out.  Maybe you don’t need to blog through Julia’s entire cookbook, but I’d wager there is something on your mind. 

Today could be the day that YOU become a blogger.  Why not???

Until next time,

If you would like information on how to start your own blog, check out the free online blogging course at BlogWritingCourse.com.

Every blog deserves a good tagline . . . you know, that great line of text that seems to sum up what your blog is about in approximately ten words or less.  Often, a tagline is the first thing you really notice when you visit a blog for the first time.  Sometimes, it helps us make the choice of whether to stick around and read more, or move on.

I did some surfing through blogland recently, and tried to compile a list of random taglines.  Here they are, in no particular order:

• Musings of a Mom of 3
• The Unholy Marriage of Blogging and Writing
• A Conservative’s View of the World from the Heartland
• An Ordinary Layperson Stumbles Toward Sainthood
• I’ll be here the rest of the week
• Everytime I try to go where I really want to be, It’s already where I am
• I am a girl in college that thoroughly enjoys music, friends, and Disneyland
• Promulgations on a life spent in graduate school
• Prepare to be Educated and Entertained!

So if these were the taglines of blogs you were visiting, which ones would make you say, “Hmm. I’d like to know more” and which ones would have you clicking your “Back” button?

Taglines have a function  - - they are the welcome mat of your blog. So, it is important to create a tagline that makes new readers want to stick around and get to know you and your blog a little better.

To find out just what makes a strong and effective tagline, and many other tips and tricks that will make your new blog attractive to readers, why not sign up for our eight-week blog writing course, Blogging 101?  This course will guide you step-by-step through the process of creating, designing, writing, and building traffic for a blog that is all your own. 

Or if you feel you aren’t ready to jump into blogging with both feet, you might want to try out our free Blogging Pre-Course, to help you get comfortable with the terminology and basics of blogging.  That way, when you are ready to create your own tagline, you will already be way ahead of the game!

Here at BWC, we have just successfully completed week two of the  Blogging 101 course.  This time around we have 18 students enrolled, and this is an eager and diverse bunch of learners!

Some of the students are absolute newbies to blogging.  This course is their first attempt to cast their line into the waters of the blogosphere, and they are doing swimmingly!  In two weeks time, many of them have decided on their theme, settled on a title and a tagline, and even have their new blog registered with a blogging host.

Others in the course have been around the block a time or two, and have already created and set up blogs on their own, but are looking to make improvements to the look and feel of their blog.  They also want to know more about how to build their readership and possibly even make money with their hobby.

The great thing about both groups is that they are willing to learn from one another.  The course members are quick to provide support, advice, and positive criticism to each of their classmates as they work through the process of creating or improving their blogs.  The collaborative aspects of the Blogging 101 course are what sets it apart.  No amount of blogging books or websites can substitute for the one on one interaction and feedback you receive in a course such as this one. 

If you have been considering starting up a new blog, or improving on one you already have, why not try out our free pre-course or go ahead and sign up for our next 8-week session of Blogging 101.  If you are going to blog, you might as well learn the fun way!

Stay tuned for more updates on our current session of Blogging 101 and other info on starting and maintaining a blog.

I’m not exactly a MySpace kinda gal, so the idea of using social networks to draw traffic to my blog has been something I “would get around to one day.”  But when that day never came,  I decided it was time to figure out how to come to terms with the whole social network phenomenon. 

Fortunately, MySpace, Facebook, and Friendster aren’t the only games in town, and in fact have spawned a whole new generation of social networks.  Sometimes it feels like everyone is starting their own social network.  But the upside of that is that social networks are much more specialized now.

So, if you are writing a mom blog, for instance, you can join a mom blog social network (of which there are many!).  With these smaller networks it is easier to get to know folks better, and to find other people with similar interests who might be interested in following your blog, and visa versa.  The more specific the social network, the more likely you will be to find like-minded blog readers, and you are off and running…

Granted, just belonging to a social network doesn’t guarantee that you will automatically grow your blog readership.  But there are some things you can do to encourage fellow networkers to drop by your blog.

1. Form a relationship.  Take time to get to know specific people within the network.  Find a few people you feel a connection with, and show your interest in them by messaging them, commenting on any posts they make, and visiting their blogs, if they have one.  Social network friendships often lead to reciprocal blog buddies as well.
2. Get involved in discussion boards.  Becoming a familiar presence on the boards can go a long way toward getting people interested in knowing more about you, especially if you have interesting things to add to the discussion.  And don’t forget to add your blog address to your signature so that it shows up on each board post.
3. Talk about your blog on your profile page.  This is the place of first (and sometimes last) impressions in a social network, and people aren’t going to spend more than a minute on your profile page, so make sure that your blog gets good advertising here, and that you make it easy to link to.
4. Display your RSS feed on your profile page.  Most social networking sites have built in RSS widgets that will allow you to display blurbs from your most recent blog posts on your main page, so definitely take advantage of this feature.  One of your post titles or subjects might instantly capture a visitor to your page and then you have an instant blog visitor as well. 

For more great advice on starting a blog and building traffic, why not sign up for our free blogging course?  This online course will help you go from blogging newbie to confident blogger in no time flat.  So what are you waiting for??

In tough economic times, every penny counts, right?  Some of you may have been wondering if you could make money from blog writing.  It is definitely possible to make money blogging, and one of the most popular ways is through affiliate marketing.

At its most basic, affiliate marketing is simply promoting a product or service on the web using a special link.  For a blog, this would involve either direct advertising, reviews, or posts about this product that readers would click on. 

Some affiliate programs pay you just for that click.  Others require that those readers purchase the product through your link, and then you receive a percentage of commission off of that sale.

Amazon.com is probably one of the best known affiliate programs.  They have a multitude of ways to promote themselves via your blog.  One is by simply creating customized links to their products on your site.  Another is by displaying Amazon banners on your blog. Amazon has also created many different widgets that you can highlight in your blog sidebar.  They even have recently created the ability to embed a professional looking online store right within your blog.

But if you are thinking of blogging about a particular topic, it might be more applicable to choose affiliates that are relevant to your blog theme.  For this you might want to search through some of the many online affiliate directories to discover affiliate programs you are interested in.

No matter what type of affiliate you choose, the important thing is drawing traffic to your blog.  No matter how many affiliate links you have within your blog, if there is no one to click them, they won’t be doing you any good.  So creating a quality blog that has a steady readership is a must.

If you would like to find out more about creating a blog, and growing an audience, sign up today for our free online blogging course.  This course will give you valuable information on designing a blog, writing quality content, and building traffic. 

You can make money with affiliate marketing, and we would like to help you get started, so sign up today!