I started posting on this blog during COVID when we were all locked in our homes, and it forced us to be more introspective. But the truth is, I had a semi-successful blog well before this one.
This was me back in 2020 when I started this blog.
I created a site called TheWritersBlockParty through Blogger in 2011 as a mission to cure writer's block and recruited some of my writing buddies to contribute. I posted on all things writing and pop culture on that site right through 2018. You can still find it here. It has its fair share of comments on there, which I'm fairly proud of.
Back in the day, I also contributed to my friend Eric and Rob's pop culture blog Primary Ignition through WordPress, which appears to have been taken down.
I was the editor-in-chief of Pounce Online, Eastern Illinois University's magazine, in college. It has since been discontinued, but it served as a spot to feature human interest and pop culture stories that the Daily Eastern News was not able to print within its eight to twelve pages.
Anyway, I know Internet users have evolved to want to see more videos or photos in their feeds, but I have always been partial to the written word. I miss the days of MySpace over Facebook, where you could post long blog entries, and people would comment. Alas, gone are the long blog entries and like buttons and hearts have taken their place.
That doesn't mean that there isn't still a place for blogging. As a writer, I need to stay fresh in my craft. Sharing my work with an audience is half of why I write. Readers are as essential in this process as I am.
So, how do you write a blog? There are days when I try to figure that out. In fact, if you look at the time stamps on my posts, you may notice there are days when I publish regularly, and there are posts that are spread months apart. That doesn't mean that I'm not writing or editing. I'm just not doing so on this platform.
I think there are some main things you want to consider when blogging.
1) What are you going to blog about?
*As a teacher and a writer, I mostly blog about those fields. That's what I know, and that's what I feel that I can give back to the world. Further, an audience will come to my site expecting to see posts in those areas. However, I may write about sports, travel, or pop culture at times too. I realize this goes off my main topics, but at the end of the day, writing is writing.
2) How much time do you want to dedicate to your site?
*Some people's blogs serve as their main source of income; thus, they must keep them up almost daily. During COVID, I did this for months. But while raising two young boys, teaching, and writing books, it's hard to put in the work here. Something has to give. So, if I can post on this site here and there, I'm fine with it.
3) How are you going to promote your site?
*Again, this kind of goes with my second point. How seriously are you going to take your site? As an author, it's almost compulsory that I have a website. I have a business card with this site on it. I have a professional website name with a Facebook fan page that links to my articles. But as far as worrying about meta tags, boosting them on Google Search Engines, hiring someone to look at my SEO, or researching more ways to boost traffic on my own? I don't have that kind of time. Yes, there is money to be made out there. Read the right books or articles on how to do this. Find blogs that are successful and try to copy what they're doing. But first, decide what's important to you in a blog.
4) What platform are you going to use?
*I've used Blogger, WordPress, Google Sites, and Wix. Out of all of them, I am most content with Wix. I feel that it gives you the most interactivity and options and is easy enough to use so that even the most tech-illiterate wouldn't have many problems setting it up. Feel free to shop around and look into the other ones above or research more platforms, but I have used Wix for my author site for years now, and I have no complaints.
5) How will you interact with your audience?
*There are options to turn off insensitive comments, for example. You'll get emails from people asking if you want them to guest blog or if you want them to review your site for SEO, etc., for a fee. Be careful of these potentially spammy messages. When you get honest comments on your posts, do your best to reply. It shows that you care about your readers. Monetizing blogs is something that could become lucrative, but adding too many ads could also turn readers away. Decide how you would want to juggle this.
I hope that this has been helpful. Even though I don't write here as frequently as I used to, I always enjoy it when I post, and I appreciate it even more when I share it with you. It is always my hope that you get something out of what I write.
Comments