If earlier we wrote down all thoughts in a paper diary and were afraid that no one would find it, today society has changed, and publicly sharing thoughts has ceased to be shameful. Thousands of people around the world tell readers how great it is to relax in an exotic country, how to learn how to cook the most delicious borscht, or how to enter IT in 5 weeks. For many, the author of a blog, existing somewhere out there, in the digital reality, becomes a close friend, whose opinion they listen to, who they turn to for advice.
A personal blog differs from a corporate one in that it is dedicated exclusively to the author of the blog. The main motive for blogging is the publication of interesting materials: thoughts, news, ideas, knowledge, impressions, etc.
The personal blog is dedicated to its author. Unlike other types of blogs that are user- or reader-oriented, a personal blog is solely about the author and their thoughts. The content of such a blog is subjective, because it is based on the views of one person, and not on generally accepted facts.
1. Do I enjoy doing it?
Blogging is by no means an easy task, as it might seem at first glance. And although a personal blog involves reporting to the general public events from everyday life, one’s thoughts or reasoning, this skill is acquired and some effort must be made for this. The blog will not be filled with content without your participation. This means that you will have to buy blogging tools and possibly take special online courses. You need to use many tools to grow your blog, one of which is using email marketing capabilities.
2. Do I have the right tools?
With the number of blogs in the world, it’s vital that you stay one step ahead of the competition. And that means you have to master the marketing strategy. Learn search engine optimization and social media marketing. It will not be superfluous to invest in marketing tools with AI.
Try using process automation to free up time for more creative tasks. Using a financial reporting software solution can save a lot of time and energy.
3. Do I plan to use stock photos?
Pictures are an essential element of blogs. From the information that we perceived orally, after 3 days we will remember only 10%. Information where text and image replace each other, we will remember by 65%. This is a huge difference. If you want to supplement your blog with stock photos, consider the following services: Unsplash, Pixabay, Flickr, etc.
Images on such sites are not limited by copyright, so we can use them on our sites without any consequences, copy and modify them without the permission of the author. However, some of them require attribution. Therefore, carefully read the conditions for the distribution of a particular photo. An alternative to stock photos are your own. Their main advantage is uniqueness – you are the author, and you have unlimited rights to them.
4. Do I want to work alone?
As a solo creative, you might be tempted to go deep into your work and cut yourself off from the outside world. But in the world of blogging, connections and networking play a huge role and open up endless possibilities. Let’s say you blog about delicious food and write reviews of expensive restaurants every day. You need to build connections with the restaurant community and establishment owners in order to be able to visit such places for free. Or, if you are a beginner real estate photographer, you must have connections with all agencies. As part of the local community, you can attend conferences and speak at food fairs and other events. Finally, community connections give you the motivation to keep blogging and putting your heart and soul into it.
5. Do I want to blog under my name?
It would seem that blogging under your name is self-evident. But there are situations when disclosure of personal data can cause damage. For example, if you write about hot topics of racial discrimination or inequality, which cause mixed reactions in society and hot discussions. In addition, perhaps you are a professional tax consultant and want to give valuable advice anonymously.
When choosing a nickname, focus on the name with which you will be comfortable and which will characterize you or be associated with you in one way or another.
There are a huge number of free services that offer advanced blogging tools. Among them are WordPress.com, Blogger, Yandex.Dzen. However, you can’t do without financial investments at all. You need to pay for domain and hosting, advertising.
As you can see, blogging has its own nuances, and in order to succeed, you need to master various techniques (advertising, SEO promotion, automation, marketing, copywriting) and choose a topic in which you feel confident and which is really interesting to you, then write articles. much easier.
