Blogging can be fun and easy for not many writers but aspiring bloggers should not get intimidated. Anything can be learned by practice and persistence. A professional blogger today was an armature when he started. Yes Writing a Blog Post is an art.
Even for them, writing a blog might have been tough initially. However, those who are earning part time or full time money by blogging had persisted with their goal. Therefore, you too can if you read the following steps and implement them slowly.
Gather blogging ideas.
For new bloggers, who have no clue as to what to blog about at the outset, the most difficult part is deciding what they want to write about. The first step is to read others’ blog on varied topics.
First think of which subject most interests you and find blogs that write about them. There are several search engines that exist for blogs alone. Like any search engine. You can key in your area of interest (for example: cross country cycling) in the search box.
The most popular blog search engine is located at http://www.blogsearchengine.org
The search engine will show a huge list of results that display blogs that have written in depth or just mentioned about ‘cross country cycling’.
You need to patiently browse through the search results and gather as many information as possible. While doing so, you must note down the URL of the web page that gave you the most satisfactory information and consider it as an authority site on the subject of your choice. This is an important exercise. It is the fundamental aspect of learning to blog.
Content Curation:
The act of gathering information on a particular topic is called ‘Content Curation’. While curating content, it is imperative that you also note down the source of the content. There are two important purposes in it.
- Identifying authority sites
- Citing the source in case you need to quote a piece of content in your blog post.
To continue with serious blogging, you first read and identify blogs that interests you and then start curating content on those subjects of your interest.
The third step of action is now to make use of the data you have gathered. You need to create a list of topic ideas that interest you. Then, filter them and arrange them according to the easiness to weave a blog post.
Then, make a quick outline of main points you want to include in your composition. Initially, it might appear to be a bit tedious, but it will help you to further your writing. You better do not skip it please.
Choose a style
Now begins the real fun. You have chosen your first blog post topic, noted down the main points to include them in your blog post. After this, you will need to choose your style. I would say most of the successful blogs are written in a casual tone. I mean, it will be as if you are talking casually to invisible readers of your blog post.
Write it in first person. You must include the word ‘I” in several places of your post. A blog is said to be your online journal; therefore, the ‘I’ should be present.
Elaborate on each point;
Now, on each point you have gathered, elaborate it further by just forming a sentence or two. It is not a difficult task.
Once you have done it on your 5 or six points, you will have a blog post containing about 200 words! Wow! See, what seemed impossible for you when you used the blog search engine is now made possible.
Creating a title:
The most important task of any blog post is the title. You must create a title for your blog post. While there are hundreds of ways to choose a title, it is learned on your own as you gain experience.
Summary
Finally, we have come to the end of your blog post. You must write a brief summary of your blog post. It should contain what you have written about in three or four sentences.
Proof reading
This is a crucial step. Without proofreading your content, never hit the ‘publish’ button however confident you are about your typing.
Casual blogging
Till now, I have addressed only those who are serious about their blogging career. However, if you are choosing to start your blog as your personal online diary, you certainly do not need to go through the above two points. You straightaway start composing your blog post as your personal thoughts or opinions and hit the ‘publish’ button and voila! You have just created your digital foot print.
