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Beginners Blog Looking For Traffic

February 29, 2012 By 1 Comment

We have spent the last few months answering questions about a Beginners Blog that my husband asked me as he contemplates beginning his own blog and now it is time to talk about ways to get traffic to that new blog.

Years ago I tried doing a blog or two that were standing all alone out in the blogosphere and I have to tell you they did not fair well. My topic was cool and it was a popular one but there was just so much competition out there that it was a rare thing if someone found me and my little blog. I had no clue how to go about getting that much needed traffic and hopefully readers that were interested in what I was writing about.

In 2009 I was working with a small group of people and the discussion was to start a blog using the tools that we had learned about keyword research, article writing, and general promotional techniques. A few of us, including myself and AJ, took the discussion seriously and started a brand new blog on a multi-user site.  I started what has become my first successful blog…Native American Totems. We are going to talk about the things that I did back then to get that blog generating traffic and how I have grown it since then.  The lowly little blog has grown to a readership of an average of 5,000+ readers each month and I make some nice money with it each month.

What was the first “right” thing I did? I put that blog on a multi-user site in the beginning. When you start your blog on a site like we have here at Writing Online you have the added advantage of a built in audience. The other members can see on the home page that you have written a new post and generally they are supportive enough to go read it and sometimes comment on it. Perhaps they like it so much that they share it with their friends on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.  Being on a multi-user site helps you with traffic in your early stages of blogging.

Join me next week as we continue our discussion on getting traffic for a Beginners Blog…

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Beginners Blog: Where Is The Help?

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This week’s Beginners Blog question is one many new bloggers have and struggle with in the first stages of making their blog.

Where is the help when I need it?

Honestly, it is going to depend on what kind of help you need. Let’s assume that one of the areas that you need help with involves how to get something to work within the platform or theme that you are using for your blog. If your blog is part of a multi-user site just as Writing Online, one of the very best places to find help would be in the forum section of that site. There is probably a member of the site who can help you out. You can also go to WordPress or whatever type of blog platform you are using and look at their FAQ’s (that is frequently asked questions). Don’t be shy in posting for help.

Also, when using a multi-user site you can search the site to see if someone has a blog post about your question.  There might even be a series of posts that will help you with your question or problem. For instance new bloggers might find the answer in this series or if it is related to how to get a function to work you might find it in a series like WordPress Tutorial that Paula wrote.

There is also the option of typing your question into a search engine like Google and see what comes up as helpful resolution to your need.

I can share this, having tried to blog both ways…on a multi user site and on my own…the advantage to being on a site like Writing Online with the multi members is that help is just a question away. When you are going it “solo” the search can be overwhelming and take hours to find the solution, especially when you are a beginning blogger.

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Beginners Blog: How Much Does It Cost?

November 2, 2011 By 2 Comments

This week we answer another Beginners Blog question that many people have asked me over the years. If you have been following the series, you know that my husband has been thinking about starting his own blog and asked me some really good questions about how to go about it. This series of questions and answers about beginning a blog was generated because my partners and I thought that many people have the same questions.  So, this week we look at:

How much does it cost to blog?

Many people think that they have to purchase a domain name and find a hosting company in order to have a blog. You can certainly go that route, but you do not have to. There are many free blogging platforms that can be used and I would advise using a free one when you are first beginning to blog. Once you have figured out how to blog, promote, and get a steady following; you can always change over to your own domain and find a hosting company. It just isn’t necessary to begin with.

We use WordPress for Writing Online and many of our own personal blogs, as well.  I can tell you from my own personal experience that it was very simple to transfer a WP blog over to my own domain when I was ready to do that.  WordPress is also very simple to learn, too. Paula has a series of posts here that offers a great tutorial on how to blog using WordPress.

My recommendation is to find a Multi-User site like Writing Online to begin a blog. In the past, I tried going solo and it was very difficult to get a following that way. The advantage of using a multi-user site like ours is that you have somewhat of a built in following from the other members of the site. You will also benefit from the page rank that the site has by having a blog in the WPMU format. My most successful blogs were started on a multi-user site and then switched to my own domain once I started to generate a decent income and following.

So, the short answer is: Your blog does not have to cost you anything in the beginning. We invite you to try starting one here at Writing Online. Beginners and veteran bloggers can find help in the forums and start to build relationships with other members.

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