If I Can Blog, You Can Too!
I am not a great writer. I am pretty good at spelling but my grammar isn’t the best. Sometimes I feel like I just don’t make sense. With that said, I just want to let you know that if I am not an expert writer and can blog, you can do it too!
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I always loved the idea of having my own blog. My interests are drawing webcomics and graphic designing, but I didn’t think I was a good enough writer to blog about them. I never thought I would be able to write content that anyone would find useful or be interested in. But here I am, sitting here writing (and actually enjoying it!). After visiting and reading through many other successful blogs, I found that most bloggers have had the same thoughts and worries!
What it Takes to Become a Blogger
To become a blogger you need to: be willing to learn, have basic writing skills, have patience and be persistent. As long as you are willing to put time and effort in, you can create a successful blog for yourself.
There are a lot of different website hosts, but I recommend WordPress on Bluehost which is where this website is hosted on. The start-up cost is affordable (better than any other host that I have found), there are beautiful free templates to choose from and it’s customize-able.
Write as if you are Having a Conversation
I thought blogging professionally would require you to be a literary genius who writes every post with a lot of big fancy words and statistics. If you can and enjoy it, that’s great and I highly respect you! Unfortunately for me, I didn’t read as many books as I should have when I was younger. Because of this, I don’t have a very extensive vocabulary. This shouldn’t stop you!
To me, it doesn’t matter if you use big words or not. I personally enjoy reading blogs that are casual, yet informative. It feels like the person writing is speaking to me and is genuinely interested in their readers and helping them. It’s almost like chatting with a friend over a cup of coffee. I relate to them more, so I begin to follow them, subscribing to their site, follow them on Instagram and Twitter. It seems that other readers like blogs that are casual, which is good for those of us who don’t enjoy writing formal essays!
If you are concerned about your spelling and/or grammar, there’s a wonderful tool you can install in your web browser called Grammarly. I love this more than the default spell-checker. It’s very useful while writing blog posts, emails, and other places online where you want to look professional.
Share What you Know and Love on Your Blog
I found that writing is so much easier when you write about what you are interested in. For instance, if you make a discovery: a new product you love, a life hack, a small business you stumbled upon, etc. you would be excited to share with others about it. Share that excitement! You’ll enjoy writing about it, you’ll be happy to share with other like-minded people, and others will find your content useful. If you would like to write reviews about products or services, you can make money with affiliate marketing. ShareASale has thousands of merchants that you can choose to partner with!
It’s a Slow Process, but You’ll see Growth
Moscaprint has been live for about a month, so not much action going on. I only have about 10 blogs published, and still seeing what works to bring more traffic in. While I am experimenting, I am noticing my traffic is growing steadily every week. When you install the plug-in MonsterInsights on WordPress, you’ll see numbers of viewers and where your traffic is coming from. For me, it’s exciting to see what states and countries everyone is from.
The trick to getting more readers is to promote on social media (which I am learning from my best friend Monica, she calls to yell at me when I don’t Tweet after I post a new blog). Post updates on the social media sites you are most comfortable with and hash-tagging everything does work. Set up a business account with Pinterest for free! I have only upgraded my Pinterest account two weeks ago and already my traffic has doubled.
You’re Going to be Wearing MANY Hats
Other bloggers make setting up an account and making money seem so easy. If you want to only write blogs and not focus on income, then maybe it won’t be very hard. However, if you are looking to make money (selling products, offer services, advertisements, affiliate marketing, etc.) it’s A LOT of research and work. Figuring out how to sell your products, how plug-ins work, widgets, customizing your site, and writing engaging content, it can get overwhelming. Luckily for me, I enjoy figuring things out.
The best thing you can do is write down one task you want to accomplish each day. Each task requires a lot of Google-ing and Youtube-ing. When you begin to figure out how each portion of the website works, you will get a sense of pride and accomplishment.
You Need to Remember to Have Fun
I want to make money. Everyone does. I am trying to sell my graphic novel, selling products and design services with the hopes of eventually making a little income. Right now this is a hobby. I have my day job, but early in the morning before work and when I am done work, I look forward to working on this site. I’m not making money yet, but I do all of this because it’s fun! The thought of making a little extra money doing what I enjoy is really nice. It’s a motivator for me to keep going. If you are looking for instant money and readers, it’s not going to happen overnight. It takes time to build a good reputation and build a good relationship with your readers.
If creating a blog is something you have had in mind for a little while or think you would really enjoy getting into, then you should definitely start your own! If you aren’t sure where to even begin, check my post Start Sharing Your Creative Works Online. Even if you are completely new to blogging, this will show you how to get started.
Hopefully, this has inspired you to go out there and show you that you are good enough to become a blogger!
