How to Get Started with Blogging

If you’d like to get into blogging (you will not regret it), then the only real good way is to commit a little time to understanding what blogs are, and then visit other people's blogs. As I've been doing for days...upon days....upon days....

Finally, after a several-hour binge, I came to, blurry-eyed and thirsty, and it occurred to me that rather than feel like an unproductive lump of voyeuristic nothingness, I could make great use of that time spent (which I'll never be able to replace) as a way of helping others understand blogging more.

In all seriousness, it’s worth the time to do some research on blogging so, you too, can join the blogosphere with comfort and pride. (I was serious about the several hour binge, however.)

1. Begin with intro stuff like: What are weblogs? and What is a web log. Look at Fast Company’s article for a good overview, too. Also, elearn has a very good overview.

2. If you are really understanding this stuff, try this more advanced read, but only if terms like RSS and XML mean something to you. If they do, this is a great run down of the more “advanced” concepts.

3. Now that you understand conceptually what a blog is, open wide the doors to the blogosphere by finding a blog that interests you. This is an important step; don’t skip it. It’s also the fun part! (Believe me, you will get lost in completely irrelevant, but largely interesting, blogs of every size, type and color – and this can eat up serious chunks of your time, but can be a “flow” experience, if you know what I mean. Great book, by the way, Flow.) To do a research on a blog that interests you, go to google and in the search field, type

blog (insert topic you are interested in), click on search
(example: blog emotional intelligence)

Magically, google will display some very accurate -- and plenty of not-so-accurate (but that's part of the fun) -- bloggers you can read and enjoy. This is where you’ll get your ideas about what you want to blog about, what voice you want to take, what topics are being discussed that interest you, even what formats and colors you like, etc.

For example, I’m interested in emotional intelligence and adult learning and found these sites:
elearningspace
internettime

I also did a blog search for sailing in the Caribbean (since me and my honey are planning to do just that next year…..now that’s a great blog idea: chronicling our trip via a blog!). And found a lot of advertisements disguised as blogs and this, which has absolutely nothing to do with sailing, but the writer’s quirky style was a hook for me. Most interesting is her "about", and I like her design, too.

4. OK. Now that you are surfing blogs, don’t just read…..interact! There are many ways you can interact with blogs. First, as you find weblogs you like, add them to your RSS Reader. If you don’t have one, put them on your favorites as a way of keeping track of them…..and don’t forget to visit them often. (RSS Readers will be discussed at a later time.)

Next, read the comments. They give you a look at the true reason blogs exist: to create a dialog of like-minded people who have something to say!

Don’t be afraid to leave a comment. All you do to comment, is click on the word “comment” (which is usually highlighted….and if there’s no comment field, click on the time or date posted which will take you to the comment section). There, fill in the three or four fields asked of you. Click on post and your comment is now part of that post. (Trackbacks will be discussed at a future time.)

Finally, read the site’s links…..good bloggers will always have a slew of other bloggers they like to read (this list is often called a blogroll) and websites they find interesting.

5. Now, go back to your blog and blog. (Don’t forget to have fun!)

Please leave me a comment if this little study guide helped!

See also:
1. What is a Blog? Part I
2. What is a Blog? Part II