New to blogging have lots of ??'s

[Dias5boys]

Good morning everyone!! I am new to blogging and have tons of questions...okay not a ton but a few. I have tried blogging in the past and gave up after only a few blogs. I then turned to reading blogs and very much enjoy doing so. Well I believe it was back in June I once again decided to try writing a blog again....what was I thinking??? I use to be someone who in Junior & senior high school I loved to write poems, short stories, and cards....now nothing.(yes I am that old, I said junior high school, now it is known as middle school)

Can someone please tell me one, how to be creative again? What is the best way to create or start a blog? Are blog layouts important to attracting readers? How to get traffic to your blog? Basically any blog information would be awesome! Oh and can you change a name of a blog or is it best to start over?


Can someone please help this newcomer to blogging?

TIA!!

[klutze]

First of all, welcome to the forums. You've come to the right place if you are looking to learn a few things about blogging.

To help answer a few of your questions, I am not sure if there is a 'how to' on creativity. Your best bet is blog about what interests you, this way if you have a passion for a certain topic you will find it easier to write posts that are unuiqe and high quality.

Blog layouts are important and should follow the theme of your blog. It should also be easy to read and navigate.

Traffic would be achieved through SEO and link building through article submissions, directories, forums, blog commenting... the list goes on!

[neonguy528]

Creative? Just think. Get ideas from other blogs. It's not that hard.

[trytolearnmore]

1)Yes it is better to change the name. Start with a new page
2)How to be creative...well, get a muse
3)Layouts are important)) you are doing this for the readers.

[TurtleMaster]

Well if its something you really like, or at least know allot about, surely you can think of allot of info to make content from. If you know nothing about your niche (topic) then obviously, you're going to struggle.

If your layouts attractive then it's going to get alot more readers to be more interested. And if you really need to its better to change the name because you've probably already done a bit of work and dont want to put that to waste.

As for traffic the most important things are:
1) Good original content
2) Search engine optimization
3) An strong online prescence in blog related to your niche
4) Time to build a good readership and get listed in multiple search engines.

Just like what klutze said, think of what your interested in, what you'd read. And then try to make something even better or at least equal to that. For whatever you do just think 'Is this attractive and interesting to me?'.

[trytolearnmore]

Although to write about something specific, where only you are interested in, is not a good tactic

[niche]

It great you have a lot of questions. You are in the right place we have a lot of answers
On blogging. Pick a topic you know a lot about and are really interested in. The most important factor in blogging is lots of unique, useful content. You just cannot get around that. The better and more frequent your content, the better your blog will do in the search engines

[stacylee]

I am pretty knew myself, so I cannot help too much. This whole blogging thing literally just came to me. I wanted to start writing (I actually want to write a book) but the things I learned in school are forgotten. I decided to blog, to practice my writing.

Before I even started, I got a notebook and started writing ideas. I needed to know if I would have enough to write about BEFORE I took the step. I am not blogging journal style, I want to have useful content. Once I started with enough topics to last me 6 months I took the plunge.

Once I got the blog up and running, I emailed everyone I knew, I told my friends, family, coworkers, and posted it on my facebook. Then I had to redo my blog completely, but I am much happier with it. I love this creative outlet. There really is no right or wrong to a blog, it is all yours.

[maccam87]

what do you like to do? or what do you find interesting? or what do you know how to do? maybe teach people something.

i had a few blogs when i was starting out well i love cars and racing so i done a little blog on about that and i really love facts so i searched the internet, read books, and asked people and got some amazing facts blog.

you just have to really think of something you like to do but also what other people would like to read because it wouldnt be a good blog if you really liked fluff lol and you created a blog all about fluff lol no one would really want to read it ya get me enjoy

[jdjohnson21]

to answer your question about how to be creative again, you must dedicate your self to things that you like... set 30 mins a day to think about what you love to do, brainstorm and think of things that your audience will love