Well, well, Happy New Year! Now, how many of you woke up this morning, a bit…groggy (I’m guessing you “stayed up later than usual” eh?? wink, wink) If you’re like me, you probably woke up, stumbled to the Kureg for a coffee and then thought (as the water dripped) “what are my New Year’s goals?”

I’ve been thinking for some time now I need to start blogging more often. However, like most of you, when I think of blogging a question comes to mind. “But what do I blog about?” To help me help you help myself, I decided to set a goal of blogging for 31 days in January. This may seem like the bare bones of blogging but the first thing you need to do is set aside 10-15 minutes and…you guessed it, actually start typing. I’ll give some ideas and tips on how to start the ball rolling today but eventually we’ll dive deeper into blogging.

HAVE DECENT CONTENT

I’d say this one is common sense but maybe not? Having content in your post that is worth reading will do a number of things for you. It will help your readers have a reason to read (always a good one) and can help with your SEO (search engine optimization). Now, in no way am I an expert SEO’er but I have learned some things here and there. If you click on that link right up there you can go check out a site that DOES know a lot about SEO and is probably an expert at it too! Ask yourself, would I want to read this? If the answer is, “na, not really” then DON’T think others will!

TOPICS TO BLOG

Next thing I’ve heard others (including myself) say is, “what do I blog about?” What do you want to write about? What do you know, like or are good at? I’m obviously not very good with grammar (der) so I’d never start a blog about English or how to be a great writer. (Side note: one of my good friends growing up is actually super good at writing and English, you should check out her blog here!) I am, on the other hand a pretty good photographer and love to teach so I’d fill my blog with teaching photography. Simple. Too simple? Here are a few topics to get you started (obviously sub your own skills in for mine). Make sure you have an audience picked out. Who are you writing to? See if you can guess who my audience is based off these simple titles?

-how to take awesome head shots

-venues I really love

-how to use my new DSLR

-wedding tips

-words of advice for future brides from past brides

-things I thought I’d never need to know (on starting a small business)

-tips for accounting in your small business

-top 5 books I’d recommend to grow your photo biz

A few other ideas you could run with are: ask your readers to post questions they’d like answered, surf the web for common questions, ask a past client if they want to share as a on your blog and tell their story or something or experience with you…

BE CONSISTENT

What would be worse than ordering a Big Mac and getting a salad? Okay, maybe a bit dramatic but if someone promises something, they better hold up, right? If you post every Monday, believe it or not your readers will start to expect you’re going to post every Monday. It becomes sort of an unwritten rule. The main thing to focus on is not necessarily posting on the same day all the time but having fresh new content. I get pretty bummed when I hop on over to one of my favorite blogs that I haven’t had time to read for a week or two and …it’s still the last post I read. They didn’t post anything in TWO WEEKS! Gasp! Petty I know, but a true feeling. (Keep it fresh like the cab in Fresh Prince of Bel Air’s theme song ???? you know what I’m talking about!)

Wrapping it up-

Let’s just start with these 3 baby steps. Don’t get overwhelmed and remember, there are a ton of people out there…surely a few of them will want to read what I, I mean…you, have to say? Right?? (Feel free to drop a comment and let me know there is at least one person – besides my mom- that thinks I’m interesting!?)

step 1: Make it juicy and full

step 2: pick what you’re good at and want to share.

step 3: be dependable

Hope you enjoyed my first post – How to Blog of 31. Tune in tomorrow for day 2 of 31 Days of Blogging!

Wishing you luck as you start your blogging!