Welcome to Better Craft Blogging, a series about successful blogging! Get your blog looking and feeling just like you want. No blog yet? I'll help you figure out how to start one. You'll find useful information about blog design, RSS feeds, newsletters, social media, writing content that gets noticed, phototgraphy, making money and so much more.
Why do you want to blog?
There are many reasons for blogging. Here are a few common ones:
- I want to share the things I make with people who appreciate them.
- I want to make a little money to support my craft supply/fabric habbit.
- I want to have a place to keep record of what I make but I don't care a lot about how many people read.
- I want to make lots of money and quit my day job.
Do any of these resonate with you?
Defining your reason for blogging will help you set goals and keep your blogging in perspective.
For most people, blogging is not a full time job. Fair warning, it can take up a lot of time. More than you might expect. Know this going into a blog.
Decide WHO you want to blog for.
Most people want to blog for themselves, to make themselves happy. Or we think we do, but once you start noticing your statistics and readership creep up a little it gets exciting and sometimes, without being aware, we begin blogging for the readers.
That's okay.
Blogging to get more readers is not necessarily a bad thing! Just be aware of what you want and stick with it. Or, at the very least, make a conscious decision to change.
Take time to reevaluate.
If you are already blogging, spend some time figuring out who you want to blog for.
Set time limits for yourself and stick to them.
If you only want to devote 5 hours a week to your blog, stick to that. Don't take on guest posts and create extra projects just for your blog. Stick to creating for yourself. This will cut back on unnecessary time wasted spent on blogging.
If you are willing to devote 20 hours a week then by all means, go for the guest posts and tutorial posts to bring in more traffic. But stick to what you decide is a reasonable amount of time.
Set goals for blogging.
Like anything else in your life, it's important to set goals for blogging. If you are just beginning you may have no idea what types of goals are realistic. Here are a few ideas to help get you thinking.
- I will spend ____ hours a day/week creating things that I would like to blog.
- I will spend ____ hours a day/week writing about those things.
- I will spend ____ hours a day/week commenting on other blogs, adding my blog to link parties and otherwise promoting myself.
- I will contact ____ bloggers I admire to ask if I can guest post.
- I will spend ____ hours a day/week on social media networking.
You get the idea. Time adds up. Be aware and make conscious decisions about your time!
You can't control your stats. You can only control yourself.
Check out Part 2: Which blogging platform should I use?
Do you set blogging goals and time limits for youself? Why do you blog?
