Blog Course: Getting Started

Starting a blog these days is really easy, so if you’re ready to get started … let’s get going!

First, let’s look at what you should think about before you start:

Blog name: Choose 1-4 words to represent your blog. Consider the questions below (blog topic, audience) and then think of some words that convey an image or emotion that you want people to think about. Some examples: Zen Habits, Live Your Legend, Daring Fireball. These convey a certain image to people who hear it. Don’t worry about getting this perfect — just give it a little thought. You can always change it later.
Blog topic: What are you going to blog about? Think about what you’re passionate about, and what you’ve learned. What problems can you solve for people? This is key.
Audience: Who are you writing for? Who will be interested in what you have to offer? What problems do they have? If they’re beginners, they’ll have lots of problems, like finding motivation and getting started and being confused about basic things. If they’re advanced, they’ll have a different set of problems. Consider these before you start blogging — but don’t worry, you can learn more about your audience and their problems as you blog.

OK, armed with those thoughts, let’s start setting things up.

If you already have a blog set up, you can skip this … but if not, here are the steps to take:

Go to WordPress.com or Sett.com and create a blog. It’s easy and free. It’ll only take a few minutes. Create an account, give your blog a name, choose a couple other settings, and you’re set.
Try writing a first post, to say hello and who you are. Make it short, and have fun.

That’s it! It’s super easy, so do it now.