Sign Me Up!
September 15, 2008 by BloggerNewbie
Sign Me Up!
I’m sure I don’t have to tell anyone that “Sign Me Up” while surfing the internet can turn out to be a mistake.
In the “normal” life of an internet surfer, inputting your email address on too many sites can be a little overwhelming. Now magnify that tenfold for a blogger. That is the first mistake of a BloggerNewbie! Well, one of the first mistakes.
I won’t begin to put numbers on any of the services or tools available to bloggers. You can sign up for advertisers by the handfuls, social media like there’s no end and there’s a badge for every option out there in the wild world of the blogosphere.
Blogging is a great venture. It can be an interesting hobby or a full time business. If you want to make blogging a full time business, you will need to approach it like a business.
After your blog is set up and operating, a beginner blogger needs to focus only on the two core activities of a successful blog. Writing and Marketing. Write something and tell people about it. Simple as that! Blogging is easy.
Writing
Yes, writing is the whole purpose of a blog! No surprise here. If there is no writing, there is no blog. Before you “open the doors” to your blog, you should “stock the shelves” with some good content. And of course, you will need a “supply” of posts handy to keep your stock fresh and current!
Many new bloggers will visit other blogs in their niche’ 
to observe the topic of the day and to engage in discussions with their peers. They often will take the topic back to their blog and put a different spin and further the discussion. My final answer is my version of good content. There are many different opinions on what makes great content.
Marketing
If people are not aware of your great content you will have difficulty getting visitors to your blog. You need to advertise. As with any business, there are plenty of different ways to promote your business.
Paid advertising is an option. Generally, advertising is a part of a new business budget. However; one of the advantages of operating a blog as a business is the opportunity to to do so at very little cost.
Another option to promote your business is social media. Hmmm, Social Media - What difference does it make? 
Social media makes a big difference and is a great way to meet people in your niche, build lasting relationships, share knowledge and experiences and promote your blog. But social media is a great example of getting caught up in the “sign me up” trap. Again, I can’t begin to count the number of social media options available on the blogosphere. You cannot participate with any quality in too many social media applications. Choose only a few and choose carefully.
How long do you concentrate on writing and marketing? When can you add other activities to your daily routine?
Toodles - Blog Happy!
“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking,
what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means.
What I want and what I fear…”
- Joan Didion
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Good writing. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed my Google News Reader..
Matt Hanson
@ Matt
Thank you. I will be sure to visit your site! Have a great day!