Okay, let’s all be honest with each other, Cuzzins. When all of you were younger, who among you actually kept a diary to write down your thoughts? I think everyone with a penchant for notebooks and pens went through this particular stage at one point or another. In retrospect though, does keeping a written journal still have its place in this day and age?
While they are considered more or less a relic in today’s digital age, I can’t really say that the practice of expressing your thoughts on paper has totally died out. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it has now moved on with the times and is now more popularly seen across the Internet in the form of blogs. However, this begs several questions though: what exactly is a blog and why is it so popular nowadays?
What is a blog?
Seriously? Who in this day or age doesn’t know what a blog is? If you’ve seen even one episode of Doogie Howser, M.D., then I’m sure you know what a blog is. However, for formality’s sake, let’s define the word “blog” so that we don’t confuse it with any other type of website.
A blog is a site or a part of a site which contains a list of entries written in chronological order about a specific topic or genre. These entries are usually a personal or opinionated account of the author regarding the subject, which tries to engage the readers through the content. While it is entirely possible that these posts are journalistic or more objective in nature, the end result of attracting people to read the blog is still the same.
At one time, a blog would have been referred to as a journal or a diary (and thus the Doogie Howser reference), but its foundation around the Web has changed its context somewhat. People around the world use it for a variety of purposes: for personal expression, for business or even for reporting the news.
Start Up Tips for Your First Blog
Before you start signing up for your first blog, you might want to consider these tips that can help you set it up:
- Think about what you want to write – “What should I write about?” is probably one of the most asked questions that every beginner blogger asks. A simple answer to this question is to ask yourself what interests you have that you want to write about. Try to make a list about what you find interesting or what you normally search for on the Net. You can use this as a basis for the general theme of your blog. Writing about a topic you’re familiar with makes it much easier to share with others.
- Find a niche topic – Once you’ve decided on what you want to write about, it would be a good idea to narrow that particular subject down to something a little more specific. Remember, that for your blog to become visible to others on the Internet, you need to be able to target a specific audience who will find your content interesting. For instance, instead of writing about baseball, football or sports in general, why not focus on talking about the local teams in your area. By concentrating on a specific niche, you can have a dedicated group of followers who will hang on to everything that you write on your blog.
- Try to catch your readers’ attention with interesting and practical content – Believe me when I say that you don’t have to be a genius writer to make a post interesting. Many qualities of a good article rely on being practical and having good common sense. Starting with your title, try to keep it within the topic being discussed while being snappy. They key words in the title will tip your readers off whether or not the rest of the article is relevant enough to their interests to read through.
Also, try to remember that writing for the Web is slightly different from writing for print. The culture of most readers on the Net relies on having information presented to them in a quick and easy to read manner. This is why how-to or list articles always rank highly when searched for on Google, for instance. Try to be practical in writing your article, both content and structure-wise.
- Just be “yourself” when writing – This is probably the best advice I can give you when you finally get around to creating your blog. It’s difficult to write sincerely if your main objective is simply to please your audience. Honesty can certainly be the best policy if you want to earn the trust of your readers. By simply being yourself, it gives off the impression that you are a real person and that you aren’t some mechanical article writer whose sole purpose is to spoon feed content to your readers.
Well, this should be more than enough to get you started on your first blog. Please feel free to ask me any other questions about blogging by leaving a comment in the section below. In the meantime, good luck and happy blogging! 
Until then,
Andy
