It’s hard to believe, sometimes, just how long I’ve been blogging for. I couldn’t even pinpoint the exact year I started, but I think it was somewhere around 2015, meaning I have been writing daily posts here via ontheedgeofeverything.com for over ten years.
I did take a few days off when I got married, but aside from that exception, I haven’t missed a day.
I suppose that ties directly in with one of my first pieces of advice regarding starting a blog – commitment is key, and you have to stick with it. I’m not saying you need to post every day like me, because most sane people who operate blogs do not do this, but instead post a few times in a given week. Once you establish how frequent you would like your posts to be, however, you must stay regimented in your schedule; otherwise, you risk losing readers because of inconsistency.
Another piece of advice I would offer to someone wishing to begin a blog is to find a niche topic and additionally a targeted audience. Say, for example, you want to write a blog about music. Knowing that, it would be wise to dedicate the vast majority of your content to the topic of music, but also branch out to other subsequent topics that are affiliated with music, for example, concerts, festivals, up-and-coming artists, etc. As for designating your target audience, allow your blog to find a little momentum in order to determine where, geographically, the bulk of your readers are, and start dedicating your posts to music and artists that are relevant to where the majority of your readers reside.
An additional piece of advice I can provide someone who wants to write a blog is to prepare for trolls and nasty comments. Try not to give either too much of your attention, but be prepared for it, because it’s almost inevitable.
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
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