I am back on track and ready to share my new post with you guys.
A friend of mine (thanks for reading me, Simona) asked a couple of days ago if I can write something on how to actually start a blog. I thought this would be a great tip to share, because my blog is only a couple of weeks old, so I can reflect on my recent experience.
The following tips are useful for those who are just about to start a blog and for those who already did and want to improve their blog and make it more professional. Thus, first 2 tips are for beginners and the last 2 - for advanced users.
1. How to start a blog
We are lucky to live in the digital age, because the opportunities it gives us are trully unlimited. It is not like decades ago you had to invest a lot of time and money to start a newspaper and even more to have your own TV channel. On the contrary, social media today represent indibidual platforms for every person to become a news outlet. You want your TV channel - set up YouTube account; you want your own music label (radio station)- create MySpace page; you`ve always dramed on becoming a journalist - start a blog. You want it all together - have your personal website. Here I should probably mention, that I don`t in anyway mean compare or contrast the quality, content or the level of authority of the new and traditional media. Moreover, I don`t call my self a journalist writing this blog. But I do think that evry person can become a medium or at least a thought leader through blogs, websites and SNS.
Does not matter what you need a blog for, there are at least 2 free ways to start one.
Google Blogger (this is the think I am using now)
WordPress (another free platfrom)
If you ask me which one is better, I don`t really know. I use Blogger and highly recomend it - easy-to-use, works great. Here is a blog post where the person says WordPress is more technologically difficult.
2. How to connect your blog to other social media accounts
As far as SEO is involved, you have better chances for your blog to get indexed if it is connected to the social media accounts. I am going to do it with my blog as well, but am not sure if I should conect it my personal accounts. Anyway, this would be something really useful to learn for the digital age purposes. Thus, if you decide to connect the blog with your personal profiles, make sure you`ve mentione the website`s adress by giving the relevant link!
In order to perform this digital bonding, first of all, you need a basic understanding of HTML. Don`t worry, nothing superficial. You just find social media icons that you want to appear on your page. Later on, you upload them to a photo bank such as Photobucket. This particular website is great, because it lets you copy HTML code for each photo you upload there.
The HTML code for the Twitter icon will look as following:
<a href="http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/Maria_Zhdanova/media/Social-Truck_twi_zpsa5b0aadc.png.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b586/Maria_Zhdanova/Social-Truck_twi_zpsa5b0aadc.png" border="0" alt=" photo Social-Truck_twi_zpsa5b0aadc.png"/></a>
The third step is to copy the link, paste it into some document and than change the first <> weblink into the link to one of your social media accounts.
<https://twitter.com/MariaZhdanova3><img src="http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b586/Maria_Zhdanova/Social-Truck_twi_zpsa5b0aadc.png" border="0" alt=" photo Social-Truck_twi_zpsa5b0aadc.png"/></a>
This is how I have connected that Twitter icon to my Twitter account.
The finish up, you have to place this icon on your Blogger page. In order to do this, you have to go to your Blogger settings page. On the left hand side you will find: Overview, Posts, Pages and etc.
A friend of mine (thanks for reading me, Simona) asked a couple of days ago if I can write something on how to actually start a blog. I thought this would be a great tip to share, because my blog is only a couple of weeks old, so I can reflect on my recent experience.
The following tips are useful for those who are just about to start a blog and for those who already did and want to improve their blog and make it more professional. Thus, first 2 tips are for beginners and the last 2 - for advanced users.
1. How to start a blog
We are lucky to live in the digital age, because the opportunities it gives us are trully unlimited. It is not like decades ago you had to invest a lot of time and money to start a newspaper and even more to have your own TV channel. On the contrary, social media today represent indibidual platforms for every person to become a news outlet. You want your TV channel - set up YouTube account; you want your own music label (radio station)- create MySpace page; you`ve always dramed on becoming a journalist - start a blog. You want it all together - have your personal website. Here I should probably mention, that I don`t in anyway mean compare or contrast the quality, content or the level of authority of the new and traditional media. Moreover, I don`t call my self a journalist writing this blog. But I do think that evry person can become a medium or at least a thought leader through blogs, websites and SNS.
Does not matter what you need a blog for, there are at least 2 free ways to start one.
Google Blogger (this is the think I am using now)
WordPress (another free platfrom)
If you ask me which one is better, I don`t really know. I use Blogger and highly recomend it - easy-to-use, works great. Here is a blog post where the person says WordPress is more technologically difficult.
2. How to connect your blog to other social media accounts
As far as SEO is involved, you have better chances for your blog to get indexed if it is connected to the social media accounts. I am going to do it with my blog as well, but am not sure if I should conect it my personal accounts. Anyway, this would be something really useful to learn for the digital age purposes. Thus, if you decide to connect the blog with your personal profiles, make sure you`ve mentione the website`s adress by giving the relevant link!
In order to perform this digital bonding, first of all, you need a basic understanding of HTML. Don`t worry, nothing superficial. You just find social media icons that you want to appear on your page. Later on, you upload them to a photo bank such as Photobucket. This particular website is great, because it lets you copy HTML code for each photo you upload there.
The HTML code for the Twitter icon will look as following:
<a href="http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/Maria_Zhdanova/media/Social-Truck_twi_zpsa5b0aadc.png.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b586/Maria_Zhdanova/Social-Truck_twi_zpsa5b0aadc.png" border="0" alt=" photo Social-Truck_twi_zpsa5b0aadc.png"/></a>
The third step is to copy the link, paste it into some document and than change the first <> weblink into the link to one of your social media accounts.
<https://twitter.com/MariaZhdanova3><img src="http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b586/Maria_Zhdanova/Social-Truck_twi_zpsa5b0aadc.png" border="0" alt=" photo Social-Truck_twi_zpsa5b0aadc.png"/></a>
The finish up, you have to place this icon on your Blogger page. In order to do this, you have to go to your Blogger settings page. On the left hand side you will find: Overview, Posts, Pages and etc.
What you need is Layout. Click on the Layout and than find Add a Gadget option, this shows you a place where the social media icon will be situated on your blog page.
Click Add a Gadget, and find the one which says 'HTML/Java Script
Finally, paste the HTML code we`ve created above into the gadget text box. You can also name this Gadget, for example, with 'Follow me on Twitter' headline.
3. How to increase your traffic to your blog
Well, I say - have thousands of friends and big friendly family. This will be your primary audience, anyway. Those people will spread the word and, hopefully, read (or at least) view your blog regularly, improving your stats.
Secondly, don't forget to share every blog post in every possible SNS. I use Google+, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for this purpose. Interestingly, I have different audiences in all of those networks, therefore, I can reach more people. Even though my Twitter is not as successful as Facebook, but few days ago, my Twitter follower re-twitted info about my blog post, while Facebook people were a bit more passive in this sense. If you ask why does it matter? I will tell you - the more your blog address (web link of http://bla-bla-bla) is mentioned on the Internet, the more it is visible for Google and other search engines.
After you create a blog, you will be concerned about being seen by Google, believe me. If Google don't see your blog - it almost does not exist on the Internet, and this is sad. With my blog, for instance, because it is very young, if you type its name to the Google Search (Tips from the UK, or What I know I share, or anything like that), you won't find it. To check, how many time Google knows about you, copy-paste your URL adress into the Google Search (you will be able to see how many of your friends and relatives do believe in your writing talent ;-)
4. Improve your blog and blogging skills
Read and learn. Here is good short reading list for you:
1. Jim Connolly talking about successful website building, absolutely 'blog applicable' material
2. Jeff Bullas on ways to boost your blog traffic
3. Article on how to become a thought leader in your industry, not all about blogging, but still usefull.
That is it for today! Don't forget to share.
Be happy, my dear readers!
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