How to blog?

Note: below is a translation of the article “Simply said ... How To Blog” , in which the author describes her own successful blogging style and gives some practical tips for organizing the work.

Once I received a letter from one of my readers ( Celeste ), in which she wrote:

“I would be very interested to know how you manage to combine authorship of such an active blog with a full time job, because I have the same lifestyle. Would you like to make this the subject of your next post? ”

In the process of answering her question, I will touch on my thoughts a bit on the topic of how good / should / it would be great to start a blog. Perhaps this will be exactly what I subconsciously wanted to tell you for a long time ...

Answering Celeste ( thanks baho for clarifying this issue ) ...

Well, Celeste. But I received this question hundreds of times, and my typical answer was: “work at night” ( note: in the original burn the midnight oil ). However, I thought a little and brought together several useful things that are worth paying attention to. In any case, I have already deviated too much from the topic.

So, let's go:

your name

It is worthwhile to understand that as soon as your real name entered the network (was published), it is forever there ( note: literally, a living example ). If your blog was unsuccessful, how will your future employers look at you? If your blog has become widely known and popular, is the current employer entitled to assume that you are writing a blog instead of working? It turns out that this is a stalemate. If you have just started a blog, my advice is to ask your boss if he will be against it and keep his answer in writing. As long as he is sure that you are not blackening your company, everything will be all right. It is also worth reading "write a blog under a real name and do not worry about this"from Penelope Trunk. I have a fairly common name, so I can not worry about its disclosure on the network. I mean, there are hundreds of Jay White ( note: or Sergeyev Ivanov ). But if you are Ira Kapinsky ( note: or Aglaya Dateshidze ), then you should think about this fact.

Time

Your blog is your blog. There are no bosses who can put pressure on you so that a breath of fresh air seems incredibly attractive. If you are doing this, it is likely that this activity will become the highest priority. This means that you, like me, will take time off from work to devote this time to writing new notes. However, you should not jeopardize your ability to receive a stable income at the main place of work. It is better to develop a schedule that will help combine both of these activities. If you do not, then you will be like a guy from this video:

Be flexible

I have blog postings, featured posts, recent articles, etc. change according to a completely random algorithm. That way I can not write for a whole week. However, if I act in such a way that my blog will change very little for the regular reader, note: therefore, it is worth taking into account, first of all, the regular readership of the blog when choosing the frequency of writing articles and notes .

My schedule

My daily schedule is entirely mine, and it may not be applicable to everyone else. Nevertheless, it may be useful to someone. So, I get up very early, at 4 in the morning !

• 4: 00–6: 00: I write on my blog, look at articles that readers have sent links to, or look at commercial offers .
• 6: 00–6: 15: I take a shower.
• 6: 15–7: 00: I read and answer a letter from my blog. 7: 00–11: 30: I work in my specialty (from home).
  
  11:30 - noon: if you have time, then I reflect on the topics of the notes for tomorrow for my blog.
  
  noon – 5: 00: work in the specialty.
  
  5: 00–8: 30: I devote time to my family.
  
  8:30 AM – Midnight: checking blog statistics, taking notes, reading emails, etc.
  
  Midnight: I go to bed.
  
  
  

  Honesty

  
  
  From the very beginning, I told you that I have a full-time job that takes me most of the time. I have no reason to lie to you. I mean that some sites, for example, Lifehacker hire a team of professional bloggers and occupy one niche in the market with me, but there is no rivalry between us. You should be aware of the limitations of your capabilities and be frank with readers. To somehow solve the problem of limited time, I made a special blog post for my readers to report on the things that I’m going to write about as soon as the time appears. The results exceeded all expectations, and visitors seemed to recognize this problem.
  
  

  Topics

  
  
  I have hundreds of ideas for new notes in the process of my work. I mean that all the positive facts that I learned about complaints , I realized in the process of my work. Things that annoy you are likely to annoy other people as well. A good example is a blog that I recently gave a link to, where the assistant administrator solves the problems that he is facing. This will be correct if your blog describes the solution to the problem, rather than complaints about it.
  
  

  Information disclosure

  
  
  I don’t know what your boss will say if you start posting private information about your company or rumors about the CEO ( CEO ) on the network , most likely you will still be fired. If you are so anxious to do this, it is best to create a blog anonymously on blogger . But even in this case, you cannot guarantee your safety.
  
  So, I have already opened the topic somewhat. A little further I will describe a few more points that you should take into account, even if this is not entirely true in your case:
  
  

  Do you really want this?

  
  
  You do not know how many times I went on a diet and, in the end, threw it? A lot, believe me. It seems to me that it is worth starting work on a blog before you make a normal website design and “comb” it. Just post some good notes and let yourself get involved. I redesigned my blog 12 times before my first blog post and 13 times after. I was lucky and got into the process of writing articles on a blog. If this did not happen, then those 12 times would be just a waste of time.
  
  

  Do it wisely

  
  
  Choose a topic that really interests you. I love saving time and money, this is clearly seen from my blog. In the process of creating the article, I don’t think much about these things, I just write. If your goal is to receive money, you should choose something to your liking, but that does not require large investments for your advertising. If your choice is limited to something that requires money, it will be difficult for you to write, therefore, you will have less visitor, and нет посетителей = нет рекламодателей = нет денег.
  
  

  From the very beginning, earnestly read Problogger

  
  
  And carefully browse the archives. I created dumblittleman.blogspot.com with no ideas what I could write there. I owe Darren a lot ( note: Problogger founder ).
  
  

  Widgets and other garbage

  
  
  The blog is for your readers, not for you. Everything that you add to the site should be added for reader use only. Today I am disgusted when I see a blog with 19 badges belonging to different groups, ratings or non-thematic sites ( in the context of the Runet, this will probably be called link-washing ). Who needs this? How will this help readers who go to your site? And look at www.ebizmba.com/articles/popular-blogs.html »target" _blank "> a list of the most popular blogs: at least one has those stupid banners? Sorry, but it really annoys me.