Intro to Blogging for Beginners

It has been so many years now since I originally started blogging. I have had some success, but I have laid some real stinkers along the way as well. I have made so many mistakes and have had so many set backs, I totally stopped counting.

What it all really boiled down to was I was refusing listen to what I needed to hear. I expected instant gratification and generally speaking, that will not happen, even with the internet.

When I first started blogging, I started with free platforms like free wordpress, blogger, and live journal. They all have their goods and their bads. For me, I found that I like blogger the best, as far as free blogging is concerned. And being a cautious person by nature, I would recommend you start with a free blog as well.

There are two major hurdles to overcome with blogging. number one is patience. It will take time for anything you put on the internet, to become noticed by anyone. If you can put this into some sort of perspective, it will make more sense. There are hundreds of millions of web pages, and you want people to find yours 5 minutes after you publish something. I know you do, I was there. I am still there, but I have become a realist with this. I know it takes time, and it takes patience to blog.

And the second big hurdle I have, as will most people, is just the sheer quantity of writing you will have to do in order to generate any kind of real traffic. Usually you will need a minimum of 100 posts on a blog before you really will see any kind of traffic. This is hard. Again, think about what you want to blog about, do you have enough information in your head to come up with 100 different and unique posts. Most likely you don't, but as you go through the process of blogging, ideas will come to you.

I don't say this to discourage you. I say this because I want people who have never blogged, and who assume that they will start a blog, and become a millionaire, to understand, that doesn't happen every day, and it usually doesn't happen overnight either.

It is like anything you do in life, if you want to succeed, it will take a bunch of effort on your part, but if you put in the effort, and if you show the patience of a saint, there is a chance that you can become a popular blogger, and maybe even make some money as well.

This section is completely redone for 2017. I have definately changed my mindset when it comes to blog traffic. And while I may not have the fastest way, I am comfortable enough with it. I know I am not being devious or improper, and at this point in my life, that matters more than instant gratification.

Let me start this by saying, this is a free blog, and it is a very casual approach. If you are looking to be rich next month, this is not going to do it for you. This is a slow ramp up, and being it is a free blog, it does not get the attention I would give to a primary blog. I call these niche or micro-niche blogs.

One of my more recent blogs was started just a bit over a year ago. I wrote posts on it Daily for about three weeks. When I would finish a blog, I would post it on my Google +, I would also link it on may Facebook, and I would tweet about it. Nothing more, nothing less. I also use all three of those accounts regularly, so I am not just someone who spams their personal online stuff, it is a good mix.

But after about three weeks, I tapered back and only wrote on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. I did that for another three weeks, using the same Google+/Facebook/Twitter approach.

After the 2 1/2 months of writing, I back off again, to only writing once a week, until I have about 50 posts, then I ramp down again. As of now, I try to write about once a month.

But, also after the first 2 1/2 months, if people like what you have written, you will get an occasional like, or re-tweet, or plus, and these occasional acknowledgements go a long way in improving your blog traffic.

I think the most important thing to remember, is, this needs to be as natural as possible. It is frustrating some times, but if you keep at it, you will eventually get people to visit your sites. If you build it, they will come.

We begin with topics

Topics, or keywords and phrases are the foundation to which your blog will be built. Building your blog around a very specific topic is going to be the key to a successful blog. Success of course will be relative to your topic. But a true way to weigh success on the Internet is by achieving first page on the search engines for your primary keyword.

For those of you who do not know, Keywords are terms that Google uses for establishing ads, and classifying websites. These terms are based on uncountable hours of research on the search engines part to determine search engine usage and terms. And there are many tools out there to help you establish good keywords and phrases.

But as a "beginner blogger", there are some very critical issues to consider when deciding on your primary keywords and phrases. And I of course would recommend you read my blog to learn those, or to read my other hubs within this grouping to learn more about that topic.

The second biggest thing to understand is posting

There is an art to writing blog posts. And it runs much deeper than just being a quality writer and writing something compelling that people want to read. Every single blog post becomes another page to your blog. This means that it should be related to your primary keyword, but can also include secondary keywords that, although relate to your blog, offer the possibility of driving new traffic via unique keywords.

On top of that, it is important to remember a very important element to your posts. And that is visual stimulation. Not many people out there have the ability to maintain concentration when they are staring at a wall of words. Remember to add pictures to your post that break up the monotony or add something to the topic. Or just offer the reader something to laugh at. People respond well to visual stimulation and you will be more likely to keep a reader if they find your blog visually appealing. Add pictures, add graphics, give readers some polls. All these things can make the reader feel a little more involved.

Blogging can be a business, but it isn't easy money, or a get rich quick business. At least not for most of us. Some people find lightning in a bottle, and they can take off over night, but for most of us, we have to continually work at it, and chip away, until one day, we realize that we are making actual money, and it is happening fairly regularly, every single month.

Not every idea works. I have had quite a few stinkers, and I am still having them. I have learned to cut my losses though, and even though I have all this time wrapped up in something, the moment I realize it just isn't working, I move on to the next thing. That alone has made a huge difference in my income.

I hope some of what I have said will help you in your own en devours. Blogging can be a tough road, but it can be very rewarding as well.