What is a Blog?
If you are really new in the blog world, chances are you still don't really understand what a blog is.
On the internet there are actually many articles that discuss what is a blog, but here I will provide an easy explanation.
Blogs are one of many types of websites on the internet.
Examples of types of websites on the internet are:
- News portal
- Social Networking (for example: facebook.com. Twitter.com, etc.)
- Search Engines (for example: google.com, yahoo.com, etc.)
- Forum
- Online store
- BLOG
One thing that makes the biggest difference between blogs and other types of websites is the function of the blog itself.
The main function of a blog at first is to make it easier for people to write personal notes on the internet.
But now the blog already has many functions. Starting from as a place of personal notes, a place to share opinions and information, for political purposes, and for business purposes.
Where to start?
Starting a blog is actually very easy, but most people are confused themselves.
1. Determine the destination
Is the purpose of blogging important? Very important. If you do not have a goal, then surely your blog will not be clear where the destination will go, and you also become inconsistent in managing your blog.
Blogging requires time, energy, and mind. Don't let everything be wasted because you don't have a clear goal.
2. Determine the topic
Choose topics that really interest you according to your hobbies or expertise. If you choose a topic that you don't like, your blog won't last long.
3. Choose a blogging service
Many services that you can use for blogging, like Blogger.com, WordPress.com, Tumblr.com, and so on. All have their own strengths and weaknesses. But in my opinion Blogger.com is the right choice for you. Besides being free, blogger.com is very easy to use for beginners.
4. Start writing
If you already have a blog, the most important thing is to fill your blog with writing. Start writing whatever you want to write according to the topic you have set.
5. Beautify the blog
The thing that really isn't that important is done by novice bloggers but it doesn't hurt if it's done as long as it's not excessive.
You can change the template or appearance of your blog with a better one, install the widget to make it more beautiful, and more. But remember! don't overdo it because most beginner bloggers are addicted to changing templates or displays that end up wasting time.
Avoid mistakes that beginner bloggers often make !!
Once you know how to start blogging, you must avoid some mistakes that are often made by beginner bloggers so you don't have to do the following:
1. Too busy with the display
As I mentioned above, the mistakes made by some beginner bloggers are too busy with the appearance of the blog. Change template, uninstall widgets, etc.
Having a cool blog look is good, but what will make your blog big and known to many people is not because of appearance, but because your friend's content is presented on the blog.
2. Regarding quantity rather than quality
Beginner bloggers usually compete to fill their blogs with as much writing as possible in the hope that they can quickly get a lot of visitors regardless of whether the writing is written by themselves or a written copy of another blogger.
3. Too much reading information but lack of exercise
As a beginner blogger, usually the curiosity is very large. This reading is read until the head is full of information and confused which one to practice. It's better to have a little information but actually be practiced than most information but not used at all.
4. Inconsistent
At first, it was very diligent to update the post regularly every day, but after that it suddenly disappeared somewhere. Updating blogs regularly is very good, but my consistency is far more important.
5. Discuss too many topics
Does the problem discuss many topics? really not. But what is certain is that your blog will be difficult to develop, not unique, has no identity, and will be difficult to get loyal readers.
6. Too obsessed with blog statistics
A beginner blogger will usually be very diligent in checking the number of visitors, Alexa ranking, pagerank, and so forth. A day can check hundreds of times. Although this will not help increase the number of visitors to your blog and will only waste time.
7. Make too many blogs
Honest experienced bloggers who manage many blogs, tens or even hundreds. But especially for beginners, it is not recommended to make too many blogs because it will make it out of focus.
I think managing multiple blogs is not a must. All depends on your goals. If you want to make blogs popular and enduring, there is no reason to manage many blogs.
8. Too ambitious to get money quickly
It is undeniable that many bloggers start blogging because they want to get money. They think that making money from blogs can be done overnight, even if not. It takes time, effort and consistency.
9. Make the most of Google's search engine optimally
Especially just a matter of blogs, any information we can find easily on google. So use Google well to learn blogging.
Start developing a blog
If we already have a blog and some content in it, then of course we want our blog to have many readers or visitors. Well here is where we start to promote, get to know the name of SEO and bad things.
1. Stay focused on content
Content will, at any time, remain a major factor in the success of blogs. Create truly quality content. What is quality content?
- Wanted by readers
- Unique, different, and original
- Useful and useful
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is an effort to optimize our blog on search engines. If you want your blog to get lots of visitors from search engines then you have to deal with SEO.
But you don't need to really be an SEO expert to get visitors from search engines. Simply use the basic understanding of SEO which in my opinion is enough to help increase your blog traffic from search engines.
3. Blogwalking
Blogwalking is just an activity that ends in someone else's blog while leaving comments. Blogwalking is an old way that is often done by novice bloggers to get visitors, but even now this method is still effective.
Besides getting visitors from blogwalking also has many other benefits, including:
- Establish a bond of friendship between bloggers
- Getting backlinks is one of the most important factors of SEO
- Get ideas or inspiration
- and others
4. Social Media
There is no denying that today most people spend their time on social media. Take advantage of social media as a promotional place for your blog.
5. Forum
On the internet there are many forums that contain people who have certain hobbies or interests. Join this forum according to the topic of your blog.
In essence, this is active where your readers often spend their time. You can discuss with them according to the topic you are interested in and occasionally promote your blog. The most important thing is not to do excessive promotion because some forums have strict regulations.
6. Social bookmarking
Social Bookmarking is a site that serves to bookmark pages on the internet online. Many bloggers use social bookmarking sites as a place to bring visitors and also look for backlinks.
7. Keep Learning
Keep learning to improve your blogging skills. Take advantage of Google as a place to find the information you need.
Closing
Learning blogging is actually not a difficult thing as long as we have the will. Errors or failures are natural in the learning process, so there is no need to worry if at this time you cannot see the results. The most important thing is to remain consistent.
Looks like this post has been a long time ago. Hopefully what I wrote above can be useful for all my friends, especially for those who want to start blogging.
thanks.