Get Started Blogging Stupid Fast

Ok, first of all, don’t.

Confused? Sorry. But I do know that digital marketing success takes time, often a LOT of time, like months’ worth of planning, writing and posting blog content. So I suggest that you really plan, do research and make decisions about the future of your blog before you even begin blogging. A well planned blog tends to have longevity and better success.

All that said, here are some of my suggestions for picking up the pace and thrusting your plan two spaces ahead in the game.

1. Decide your topic

Even when you’re in a hurry, you should plan for success. A successful blog has a theme and I do not mean a design but rather a theme topic. In the long term the theme can even be broad. One of my absolute favorite blogs to read is CNET.com. Their theme is tech and while the blog is about everything ranging from cars to social media they always stay related to cutting-edge consumer-driven technology.

2. Pick a single category

So you still want to go fast. Start with serious focus. I recommend starting with a single category. If you are going to blog about tech then pick one genre such as car tech, maybe even laser focus on car audio tech, and stick with it for at least 20 blog posts.

3. Write 10 blog titles 

This is a crucial step in planning a blog. If you have a topic and you think that you have a category this is where you test yourself to see if you really have what it takes. If you can write 10 legtimate blog titles then the odds are good that you can write 30. If you really struggle to get these first 10 titles written you should push yourself for another 10 just to be on the safe side.

Now if you do not quickly or easily come up with your first 10 or 20 don’t worry. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should not blog. It just means that you may want to rethink your category. Sometimes a thing is so cool and we want to talk about it but in reality we just have not done enough research yet or put enough thought into it the stories you want to tell with your blog posts. If this happened to you as it has with me then just set those titles aside. Then research and study and make notes. If need be just go back to step 2. Sometimes interviewing your own staff, partners and even clients can help you brainstorm your messaging.

4. Buy your domain name and hosting! (This is a must)

If you listen to nothing else that I have to say then hear me now. There is nothing worse than gaining great success on someone else’s blog platform. It is not that expensive to own your domain name and to host your website. If you can’t find a good enough deal then email me. I’m more than willing to debate this, but here’s our affiliate link to SiteGround that this blog is currently on.

Believe in your business and believe in yourself enough to invest nominally in your own blog!

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5. Install WordPress

Now we are past the planning and it is time to do. There are other choices out there besides WordPress but I honestly can not come up with a good reason to use anything else. WordPress is the best CMS tool out there and if you do not believe me then look at the stats. There are over 71 million websites being run on WordPress right now. http://en.wordpress.com/stats/

6. Stay with the generic theme just for the moment.

For me this is the most painful tip of all; I am a blog designer after all. However, we are talking about getting to the blogging fast and frankly trying to pick and install a theme would be distracting. There are more choices than you would believe. Some of those blog theme choices are great and some of them will just cause you a great deal of pain. The truth is great design can follow and as long as you followed Step 5 most things can be fixed.

For the designer in me let me say why I think that this is bad (humor me):

#1 A design says a lot about the content that you offer.
#2 People are drawn to images.
#3 Ok fine I will leave it at that. Thanks for allowing me to muse for a moment.

7. Start blogging

So we reach the beginning of your blogging success. In the end the content is what matters. If you notice I did not discuss any plug-ins, any SEO, any design tips, any image tips but this is for those who need to get blogging stupid fast.

What do you wish that you had done differently from the beginning on your blog?