A while back a friend of mine emailed me and asked me about starting a blog style website. Since I’ve built hundreds of personal websites from scratch over the years, his question got me thinking and I decided to write this article about starting a blog.
Typically when someone is shopping for a blog website, I ask a few qualifying questions, such as budget, goals and target market. I also explain that just having a website is not going to do much, unless you are actively promoting it, with money and time. Most people are looking at their shoes at this point because they haven’t yet done any research of their own and don’t know what they’re getting into.
Understanding that some people are extremely gifted when it comes to promoting and marketing a business, but may not be very technically inclined, while others may understand the basics about blogging and even social media, yet know very little about sound business promotion techniques, I encourage people, especially those on a limited budget to hire and expert in these areas, to educate themselves and do as much of the work on their own as possible. Many people try, most fail and it’s typically due to lack of preparation and lack of motivation that are the cause.
With that in mind…
Anyone can setup a blog using WordPress, Tumblr or Blogger. Assuming you are on a limited budget, you can do this fairly low cost and possibly even no money at all.
WordPress offers a self-hosted solution, which I prefer and recommend, because it allows you to control your content more effectively. WordPress is a free platform, and you can even get some pretty nice templates for free or pretty cheap.
If you’re thinking of choosing a WordPress solution and need someone to help you setup the site I can certainly help you do that. My fees for installation and setup are reasonable, and I offer hosting and domain registration at competitive rates.
For those with a more flexible budget, My firm, AMI Studios Inc., has developed a proprietary content management system (AMI-CMS Pro) which is much more customizable and offers more features for end users. If you have a decent sized budget and want more flexibility for the design and more features for your website, call my office or email me do discuss your goals for the website. I’d be glad to prepare a formal proposal for you.
A few things to keep in mind if you’re thinking of starting a blog.
1. If you’re looking for a blogging website on-the-cheap, do as much research as possible and find the solution that best suites your needs.
2. Learn all you can about setting up a blog by reading online tutorials.
3. Don’t expect your blog, or website for that matter, to become an overnight success. Just because you’re excited about your idea, doesn’t mean others will be.
4. Become an expert on the subject you want to blog about and post new content often.
Even if you have someone else setup your blog for you, keep points 3 and 4 in the back of your mind and never forget them. These are the two most important principles in blogging and could make the difference between a successful blog.
Most important of all, is to have fun with your blog. Readers will appreciate it even more if they sense you are passionate about your subject matter, and your website will be more successful as a result.