fastblogger

I Wish I’d Never Started on Blogger

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read comments from bloggers who say that if knew then what they know now, they would never have started a blog on Blogger. It’s a common sentiment, but it’s also wrong. Before you get all righteous about how Blogger is lame, hear me out. I’ve had this post in me for a long time, and I’ve got something to say about this.

It’s All About Knowing when to Take the Next Step

The problem with people who wish they hadn’t started on Blogger isn’t that they started on Blogger–it’s that they stayed on it way longer than they should have, and that they didn’t do it as a trial run. They jumped in with both feet and went too deep, too long, in a way that meant they couldn’t leave the Blogger platform without a lot of pain and hassle. Truth is, they should have quit way earlier, and moved up to a self-hosted WordPress blog.

Start Blogging Right: The Throwaway Blog

When people first realize that they themselves can have a blog, they are all set to make all the same mistakes every other blogger has ever made. In some ways, this is necessary, because it’s how we learn things for ourselves. There are some things which we all have to go through, or we can’t even say we grew. But then there are mistakes that don’t have to be made by every blogger. Smart people learn from the mistakes of others and avoid those mistakes.

You think you wanna start a blog? Do it. Get thee over to Blogger or Tumblr and just start a blog. Jump in. Have fun. But do it knowing that you’re going to throw it away. That’s right: do a starter blog. A throwaway blog. You will make mistakes and learn a hell of a lot, but with little to no permanently negative consequences, because you already know that this is just an experiment that will come to an end.

Get In, Learn Your Lessons, Get Out

The objective of a starter blog is to get in, learn your lessons, and then get out. Take what you’ve learned and then plan a “real” blog. To help make sure you don’t get too entrenched, keep the following points in mind:

• Forget about a niche, the name doesn’t matter
• Don’t worry about traffic a single bit
• When you make contact with other people, make sure you have their email addresses so you can transition them to your “real” blog
• Be fearless: break your templates, mess with AdSense, try different writing styles, leave provocative comments on other blogs just to get attention, try anything and everything
• Give yourself just one month–at the end of that month, end it and see if you feel ready to graduate to a real blog (the quotes come off, now)
• If you do, go for it; if you don’t, give yourself an extension of another month, but after that it’s either move on or give up

In the Meantime, Learn Everything You Can about Successful Blogging

While you’re having fun playing around with your starter blog, learn everything you can about blogging:

• Keyword research and how it applies to blog niches
• How to get a domain and hosting
• How to use social media networks
• How to write compelling headlines and posts
• How to do research online
• The basics of HTML and CSS
• Working with images and video
• Blog monetization methods

Some of these objectives you’ll be able to incorporate in your starter blog, but don’t get too invested in it. Remember: you’re throwing it away in a month. You’ll really show what you’ve learned on your real blog.

This is the Best Advice I can Give You:
Failure is the Only Option

If you’ve just discovered blogging, and you think you want to try your hand at it, having a starter blog is absolutely the best advice I can give you. If there’s one thing I’m a big fan of, it’s having as few regrets in life as possible. Don’t put yourself in the position of regretting how you started your blog. If there’s another thing I’m a big fan of, it’s that unless you fail fast enough, you won’t succeed fast enough. A starter blog is practiced, condoned failure. In fact, your starter blog isn’t a success unless you fail at many things while doing it. That’s the whole point!

Is a Starter Blog for You?

Not everyone should begin this way, but far more people should have that didn’t! Should you have a starter blog? How do you know? There’s no formula for this, but if you’ve often started something impetuously and wished you hadn’t (and that’s most of us), then I feel a starter blog is the right approach for you. People are really good at thinking they’re better at stuff than they really are. Here’s the thing: there’s no way you could go wrong with a starter blog.

for more information please go to this link

http://michaelmartine.com/