Experienced Bloogers, I need your advice...

[Greg Anthony]

For the past few years I have been running a few blogs with the sole intention of making a few extra dollars to supplement my primary income. There were/are generic blogs - weight loss, diet pills, web hosting reviews.

They are passionless and unoriginal. Your cookie cutter blog business. That is all well and good. But I finally decided to create a blog just for me.

Got the domain, the template, and the topics I am passionate about. When I sat down to write my first article - NOTHING!

I realized I never truly blogged before. Never wrote something original that was truly mine.

I guess what I am asking is...do I just let it fly? One of my interests I would like to write about is international politics. But when I start to write an article (for example, what is going on in Egypt) I start to think I am not qualified to comment on that or I may have some of my info wrong...

In a nutshell I lose confidence in my own knowledge and abilities. I realize for the near future I will only have an audience of 1 but I still want to improve my writing and blogging skills.

Any suggestions?

I won't even get into how I am unable to write an effective About Me page.

[theeventof]

Originally Posted by Greg Anthony

For the past few years I have been running a few blogs with the sole intention of making a few extra dollars to supplement my primary income. There were/are generic blogs - weight loss, diet pills, web hosting reviews.

They are passionless and unoriginal. Your cookie cutter blog business. That is all well and good. But I finally decided to create a blog just for me.

Got the domain, the template, and the topics I am passionate about. When I sat down to write my first article - NOTHING!

I realized I never truly blogged before. Never wrote something original that was truly mine.

I guess what I am asking is...do I just let it fly? One of my interests I would like to write about is international politics. But when I start to write an article (for example, what is going on in Egypt) I start to think I am not qualified to comment on that or I may have some of my info wrong...

In a nutshell I lose confidence in my own knowledge and abilities. I realize for the near future I will only have an audience of 1 but I still want to improve my writing and blogging skills.

Any suggestions?

I won't even get into how I am unable to write an effective About Me page.

If you're passionate about something you should have enough of a foundation in the subject to get at least your opinions and feelings on the subjects across. If your wrong your readers will point out why your wrong giving you either an opportunity to rebut their argument by further defending your points or by posting an updated post in light of the new information. Either way your blog grows as you learn.

I'd start small and build up to something bigger over time. That is to say if you're interested in international politics then write about just international politics for a good long while. Try to focus on specific areas in more detail because the thing with that topic is that you're competing against major news outlets like CNN which will most likely be your readers first choice of their information.

The idea is that you're providing them something different, something more personalized than what CNN can provide. Be creative, be funny, most importantly be yourself. Don't let the fear of not knowing something stop you from writing about your passion. Just let it fly and you'll learn along the way!

Goodluck!

[ChickenFreak]

Just write, yep. Though I do see that writing about international politics could be an issue--if you write as if you're a top analyst, and you don't have a top analyst's knowledge, then your writing may not have much appeal. And I would say that in general, people who pretend to be professionals in their field, when they're not, write really boring blogs.

I think that you want to blog as the person you are, without imitating anyone else. Do you discuss politics--at work, at a party, with your family? Are those interesting, engaging conversations? If so, then I'd say be _that_ person, in your blogging.

And if you don't have interesting, engaging conversations about politics, then perhaps that's not the topic for you--perhaps you're still taking material on that topic and you're not yet ready to produce material.

But in general, I'd say just write. Don't worry if it feels amateurish, or you're not sure if it's worth putting out there. Just write and see what you think of it later.

[RevelationsZero]

It doesn't matter if you don't have the 'right credentials' everyone has something to say about the topics they're passionate about. Even opinions are valued on the internet, so just say whatever you want to say about politics. Heck, that's what I do with religion and human nature on my blog. I have no doubt most of what I say is probably not thought of by a lot of people, but I say it anyway.

Don't worry about feeling like you don't have a right to say something. You can say whatever you want on the internet.

[BlogDiva]

I agree - the internet is the personal blogger's playground! I had a personal blog that I used to post on every other day, and while I never got more than 200 hits per week, I really got a lot out of it. I just wish today I had the time for it!!! One suggestion that might help improve your confidence...start following some other personal blogs with a similar focus. Good luck!