Step-by-step to blogging

Don’t be obscene in trying to break into the blogscene. For e.g., hitting some other blogger below the belt to gain attention. Or trying to act smart by speaking from the clouds.

For e.g. I have noticed that some new bloggers are self-appointing themselves as the watchdogs of bloggers.

There are good, pleasant reviews and there are cheap shots made by idiots.

A blog like iluvblogss is an excellent example of a smart blogger who does smart reviews.

Blogs like The Blog Critic and Some Blogs are cheap shots written by attention hungry individuals who crave fame. What they did not know is their actions are despised. It is like running naked on the road to beg to be seen.

Although blogging is the latest craze, I hope everyone will treat blogging with a sensible approach. Write well and have patience. Your blog will be noticed when respect is due.

It is very easy for new blogs to die off after a few posts.

When a new blogger starts, no one is likely to visit the blog. No comments are made. Blogger get discouraged. Blog dies.

I found this article Declaring War on Blogger Apathy useful for new bloggers to know what is ahead.

In fact, it is useful not only to new bloggers but veteran bloggers. It is like a wake-up call. Get out of the rut and start writing!

Before this blogger falls into apathy, how about leaving some comments to get him going? *winks*

Now that you have gotten yourself the latest ‘in’ thing, you want to show to everyone.

You can tell your friends in the following manners:
1) Send them an email! Spam them.
2) Put your URL as your signature.

There are plenty of forums available on the internet. Find some which interests you and join. Remember to leave your URL. If your blog is concentrating on a certain topic, then, write something and tell everyone about it. Do it subtlely.

There are also many blog directories which you can send your latest postings to. This is call PING.

What is PING? Here is a technical explanation:

A utility to determine whether a specific IP address is accessible. It works by sending a packet to the specified address and waiting for a reply. PING is used primarily to troubleshoot Internet connections. There are many freeware and shareware Ping utilities available for personal computers.

It is often believed that “Ping” is an abbreviation for Packet Internet Groper, but Ping’s author has stated that the names comes from the sound that a sonar makes.

To put it simply, it is advertising your blog.

Before you go out and start advertising your blog, you must think if you need all those attention. Sometimes, people may not agree with what you write and can get very anal. Can you handle those brickbats?

I have a list of URL where you can PING your posts to. But I shall reserve them for now.

The question is - Are you ready to advertise your blog? Are you ready to accept criticisms as well as compliments? Many bloggers aren’t. Not even those who have the notion that they are veteran bloggers.

Statistics show that there are 14.2 million blogs and each second, one blog is created. This blog is one of the 14.2 million competing for a piece of attention.

In its latest State of the Blogosphere report, it said the number of blogs it was tracking now stood at more than 14.2m blogs, up from 7.8m in March.

Do you think your blog has the substance to stand tall amongst the millions? Or it will fizzle out within a few days, weeks or months? It is a competitive world out there.

How do you make your voice heard? Through blogs directories. You can get your blog listed worldwide. How? Where?

More about this in the next posting.

1) If you put something on the internet, there is no such thing as private. Even the password protected blogs are NOT safe.

2) If you intend to put your blog on the internet, you will meet with a lot of oxymorons.

3) If your blog is shared with the Malaysian bloggers, you will meet with even more moronic people.

You are blogging at your own risk.

Then, you must know that no one may be interested in what you blog. Which will probably lead you to depression.

So, are you ready to blog now? Are you ready to go on talking to your ownself for a long, long time before someone notices what you want to say?

Big mistakes made by most bloggers include choosing an idiotic name. A blog’s name is as important as your name. If you are serious about making an impact with your blog, don’t go for silly names. It just reflects how silly, bitchy, stupid, childish you are.

a) If you are not planning on going anonymous, use your real name. E.g. ali.blogsome.com is cool. boynextdoor.blogsome.com is UNcool.

b) If you are not sure if you want to be anonymous, how about using your initials? Like KY.blogsome.com?

c) If you are not blogging about personal stuffs, then choose a niche name like petshop.blogsome.com? Or booksreview.blogsome.com?

d) Aim high. Target international readers. Don’t use ethnic names which will seem foreign to people who do not understand the language.

Pick something that people can spell easily. Don’t try to be Frenchy and uses some shitty names that no one can pronounce or understand. Think big, you want people to remember the URL.

Avoided all those hyphens and underscores. Nobody likes to type with the shift key. If your choice of name is taken, use numbers.

Remember, all great bloggers use their real names. And smart bloggers pick names that stays on people’s mind. Like Blog It!

One advice - see a blog you like and see what the person is using.

Most people start with free provider like Blogger. But Blogger is over-used. So, chances are you are not going to find a nice name.

The name is something like your choice of name.blogspot.com.

So, I am all 100% encouraging new bloggers to use Blogsome. I am using Blogsome. Blogsome is the provider. And Blogsome uses WordPress which rawks.

I am not going to give beginners too many choices. Forget about Typepad, Multiply and all those frilly stuffs meant for girlish teenagers in throes of puppy loves and crushes. Either you take Blogger or Blogsome.

Blogsome is much easier to handle than Blogger. Blogsome has so many stuffs Blogger does not have. So, I am going to cut down all craps.

Use Blogsome. Period.

Here is how you do it:

Go to Blogsome’s homepage.

There are just TWO steps.

Features include:
1. Fast, easy and free
2. Choice of WordPress themes
3. Upload photos
4. Personlize your design
and more…
Get blogging in minutes!

Next : What name should you choose?

Some people blog for themselves.

Some do it for an audience.

Others get orgasmic with huge attention.

So, who is your target audience? You? Your family? The outside world, total strangers. Anybody but the people you know?

Having a clear answer to this affects the way you write. Therefore, it is good to think first. Whom are you writing for?

Many people had started blogging only to close it down later because their writings are discovered by their employers, colleagues and loved ones.

A blog is like your life. You have to be careful how you live it so that in future, you have no regrets about it. In real life, some things maybe easily forgotten after a few months or years. But a blog is a written archive that may stay permanently to haunt you. You do not want to be running for the Prime Minister’s office or CEO of the conglomerate only to be held back by a teenage confession of yours revealed in your blog 20 years ago, do you?

Now that you have asked :

Why do you need to blog?

Who is your target audience?

We will go on to Where to begin in the coming article.

Bookmark this page. You will be a better blogger - that’s a guarantee.

Before you jump on the blogging bandwagon, ask yourself why do you need a blog?

Some people treat a blog as their online diary.

Many maintain it to mark milestones in their families’ lives.

A lot use it to disseminate information.

Majority write to entertain.

Others target it to bring awareness.

And a whole multitude are just craps.

Not forgetting those no-brainer ‘copy and paste’ jobs for ads revenue like Google Adsense, Ad-brite, Amazon.com and etc.

Which do you want to focus on?

However, you do not have to immediately answer this question. Many bloggers started with mundane rantings and develop a niche topic for themselves.

But it is good to think first which aspect of your life are you going to write about. Your career? Hobby? Interest? Family? Sex? Darker side? Saintly appearance?

Do you have the ’steam’ to carry you through? Or will that interest fizzles off after two posts? One is ‘Hello World’ and the next ‘Goodbye’?

Think. There are millions of blogs out there. Think how yours can stand out. More goodies will be coming soon.