Top 5 Tips For New Bloggers

G’day! This is my first entry in my Learning Log. I’m very new to blogging. I attempted to create one last year but only made one entry. Creating this Learning Log has been a great experience and I now have a much better understanding of how to create a blog. I would like to share some tips for those who, like myself, are new to blogging:

1. Do some research before deciding on which blog site to use. There are dozens of sites to choose from. If you know anyone who already has a blog ask them what they think of they one they currently use. Although you can change blog sites if your not happy with the one you use it is much easier to choose the right one from the start.

2. “Read the Instructions before Use”, like most people I usually ignore this when I see it on packaging but I wouldn’t recommend it when creating a blog. Although most blog sites will have online help of their own I went to YouTube to get a visual guide to setting up my blog. Just search by the name of the blog site your considering and you will find most will have some kind of tutorial, either an official one, or one that someone has been nice enough to create and share. Doing this before you start the blog will not only make the process easier but it may also help you decide if which blog site to use if the instructions seem too complicated.

3. Have some idea how you want to start your blog. In my case this was easy because my blog has a specific purpose for my studies. Although the purpose of your blog and it’s intended audience may change over time it’s good to have some goals before you start. You may just want a blog for you family and friends to view, with holiday photos, stories, etc. However if you are trying to capture an audience of new readers think of something that will make them want to come and view your blog out of the millions of others.

4. Make your blog easy to view. Even if your blog has great content it is useless if readers are turned away by horrible colours, hard to read text, or annoying animations. I remember when websites first started to have animated .gif files. Although they were impressive a first they soon became annoying as people filled their website with looping useless animations, now they are almost non-existent on most good websites. You can certainly make your blog look good but remember not everyone has the same taste so try to make it appeal to a broad audience. Most blog site will have layout templates you can choose from, start with one of these and edit it if the site allows you to.

5. When writing a post think carefully about what you have written before you click the “Publish” button. Unlike speaking to someone, readers of your blog can’t tell your tone  of voice from the text in your post. What may be humorous to you may be offensive to someone else. Having controversial content on your blog might increase your audience for the wrong reasons. Also be prepare that if you allow readers to publish comment on your blog they may not always agree with your opinion. Blogs are a great communication tool, they allow people to express themselves to a global audience but bloggers still need to use some common sense.