How to Start a Personal Blog in 2021
Sharing a personal blog with the world requires a leap of faith.
It demands you to become accountable under your own name, weave your vulnerabilities between words and overcome the fear of criticism online.
As to whether you should start a personal blog or not, there are numerous reasons behind the ‘why’. I’ve previously outlined some of my thoughts here.
This short article is about how to get started, as the fear of starting can trump even the strongest of ‘whys’.
Figuring out how to start is much more complicated than knowing what to write about, as anyone who’s considered writing online will tell you.
It requires you to know:
- Which writing platforms to use
- How to format your posts
- Which channels to distribute in
- How to push through ‘writer’s block
- How to keep to a consistent schedule
- How to find new topics to write about
- How to optimise your articles to gain traffic organically (people come to you, not the opposite)
- How to improve your writing
- + much more
The First Lesson.
Write in secret.
With most things, taking the first step is almost always the hardest; writing online is no different.
Remove any friction that prevents you from writing (you can move past this stage whenever you’re ready, but it’s a great reminder for the hesitant).
Instead of writing and sharing your work with friends and strangers immediately, it makes sense to remove the latter and simply start with writing alone.
Sharing your work with other people can be daunting, so don’t let it be the reason why you don’t take the first step.
Write under an anonymous name or remain offline, ensuring that you write a little every day or on a consistent basis.
Write on what you think about, what you talk about and what you do.
Write about things you’re afraid to write about and what you think needs to be written about.
Write what comes naturally to you and write what challenges you.
Just. Write.
It doesn’t matter how bad the grammar is, how poorly the sentences flow and how many words you’ve managed to get out.
It simply matters that you’ve started writing.
And now, the ball is rolling.
I’ll be measuring interest in this topic before continuing further with this series.
I may even write a free, in-depth guide/essay on how and why to start a personal blog (including everything I’ve learnt on my 10month+ journey of writing weekly articles.)
It would be bold of me to claim that I can teach you to write well, but I can definitely teach you about what I know, do and don’t do.
For those who wish to write online to market a product/service, boost your social media presence or simply think and write better, this guide would also benefit you.
Interested? Let me know by tweeting me here.