Blogging 101 : 8 Easy Steps to Start A Blog

Filed under How To, Social Media |

Ready to dive into the blogosphere? Here’s a quick guide to help you set up a blog and get started blogging:

1. Develop a blog strategy: Outline the goals you want to achieve through your blog, and develop guidelines for the content you want to create and share.
2. Find a blog provider/platform that offers the features you want. The most popular free providers are Blogger.com, Livejournal.com, MovableType.com, WordPress.com, MySpace.com, or Xanga.com. Most of these sites offer free templates and push-button publishing that don’t require much technical know-how. If you want to self-host your blog, Wordpress.org offers a free, easy-to-install package.
3. Once you sign up, you’ll have a gallery of readymade templates to choose from. Pick a color scheme and layout for your blog that reinforces your organization’s identity and personalize it so that your branding remains consistent.
4. Add links (as appropriate) to your home page/website, to your contact form, and to your profiles on the social networks you actively use for outreach and feedback.
5. If you decided to self-host, add plugins and features that complement the goals of your blogging efforts, such as a mailing list signup form or donations page.
6. Decide on whether or not you want your blog (or parts of it) to be private or public. Do you want any Internet visitor to be able to read your blog, or only your staff/members/constituents? Most blog sites offer the ability to password-protect published posts so only approved users can view what you’ve written.
7. After the blog is set up, write a few posts to test it out. Adjust the layout or style as you see fit.
8. Build your blogging network. Include your blog URL in all your promotional material – including your social networking profiles and email signatures – and send your blog URL to friends. Visit other blogs and leave comments, adding your blogging address so they can visit you too. (Note: This will not work if your blog is private.)

After you’ve achieved all 8 Steps, make blogging a habit. Incorporate it into your routine. If you update frequently, more people will return regularly to read it. Finally, make sure that everything you write is consistent in content and tone with your organization’s mission. It’s wonderful if you can inject personality into your blog “voice,” as long as it stays true to the overall tone and character of the organization it represents.