If you’re new to blogging, you may be overwhelmed with all of the blogging language. You did find out that blogging has it’s own language, didn’t you?
My best advice to new bloggers, is to take it, one step at a time. There is no way, you’ll learn all there is to blogging, “overnight”.
Once you have your blog set up, start by posting according to the schedule you set up for yourself. If you find your schedule was too aggressive, step back and reduce the number of posts you had hoped to publish on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
With blogging, the main two things to maintain, are great content (what you write), and a consistent posting schedule.
If the time you can dedicate to blogging is limited, concentrate on your posts.
As time permits, add plugins or widgets to your site. If you want to incorporate Google AdSense, or other ads to your site, add them one by one, based on your “comfort” level. You may be required to insert HTML code onto some of your theme’s pages. If you’re not comfortable doing so, either wait until you are, or have a friend help you.
As far as add ons, the first one you should add is a spam killer. I use Askimet, and am very pleased with it. It’s easy to activate, and if you’re using WordPress, it’s “preinstalled”. Just go to your “plugins”, hit the “activate” button, and follow the instructions. (You’ll be asked to insert an API key – you’ll receive this “key” (a series of numbers and letters), during the activation process.)
If you want to see statistics for your blog, WordPress.com Stats is the easiest to install. There’s no coding involved. Like Askimet, you’ll receive an API key. Once that’s inserted, the rest is automatic. See my previous article: Plugin – WordPress.com Stats, for more information on WordPress.com Stats.
As with any new hobby, learning the art of blogging, can be difficult. But as time passes, the pieces will begin to fall into place.
I saw your inspiring comments on problogger. I started blogging with one test site in June with WP, and then finally launched my real site with Expression Engine with my partner, like a few days ago. It has been truly overwhelming. Particularly, EE was impossible.
I totally agree with you. Newbies only make progresses step by step, one by one.
Thank you for such a comforting article for Newbies.
By the way, your site is clean and easy to read.
Aasko,
Thank you for the compliments. It’s nice to know that what I write, although sometimes maybe a little elementary to the experienced blogger, helps the newbies.
Like a parent encouraging their little ones, I believe in giving encouragement to newbie bloggers. I think too often “newbies”, (no matter what field they’re in), beat themselves up, and feel they’re not catching on fast enough.
With blogging being a hobby for most of us, time for learning blogging is somewhat limited, thus, it feels like it’s taking forever to grasp all of the concepts of blogging.
I’ve been blogging for five months, and many times, feel like I’m beating my head against the wall, because I “don’t get it”. That’s when I know it’s time for me to step away from blogging for awhile, and turn my thoughts to something else.
Oh, totally, you encouraged this Newbie so much. Two months ago when I started, I looked for a site that explained things with the basic terms. It is like learning a new language. Now my friends are getting interested in blogging, and they are not these young college kids who grew up with internet. They would be turned off with expert blog tutorials.
Asako,
Thank you again.
Being a “non traditional age” blogger, I anticipated there has to be more like me, “out there”. I don’t claim to be a “techie”, so my blog is more simplistic. With blogging, it’s said, “Write about, what you know “, so that’s how I approach my posts.
While learning blogging, I was able to learn some stuff from the sites I’ve listed in my blogroll, but, unfortunately a lot has been trial and error (including crashing both of my blogs, which I’ve written about). Thankfully, I try to remember to do “saves” on a regular basis, (and my webhost does backups, too), so I didn’t lose much.
You’ll do great Asako. I visited your site and it’s very well put together. The theme matches your content, and it’s very easy to navigate. Keep up the great work!
Baby steps. I learn day by day. That’s all we can do. Take it day by day. You’re right. Newcomers often treat themselves too harshly and fail to give themselves credit for diving into a new medium, myself included.
You make a good point about posting schedule. Four months ago I asked myself this question:
Is it better to be sporadic but spontaneous with new content?
Or is it better to be structured but reliable with new content?
I came to the conclusion that there was a happy medium between these two extremes, that structure + spontaneity was the path. I wrote an article to this effect here:How Important is Blogging Rhythm?
Kekoa,
I sure appreciate your input on this subject as you, too, have been blogging now for several months now, and realize the importance of “baby steps”, and how we all are learning new things every day.
Your great post on “blogging rhythm”, takes this issue even further.
Keep up the great work.