#NerdsUnite: Ask That Nerdy Chick (how to start a blog)
It is my goal for 2012 to take a lot of my weird and wonky experiences as a lifecaster and help nerdy peeps out by providing a frank (not shirley) and honest answer to some weird and potentially random questions you may have about life.
Here's one I got the other day ...
This is actually a very loaded question.
Starting a blog/ website is not, not, NOT easy. If I knew what I was getting myself into I genuinely don't believe I would have done it ... HOWEVER, this is my bliss period end of sentence, so how could I not?!
The very very very first thing you must do in launching a site is build it around your passion. Even if you don't know what your true passion is at first, you need to pick a topic that inspires you. I was born a nerd, so that part was easy - and I was also at this stage in my life where I became COMPLETELY consumed in dating. This didn't start off as a "dating" blog, but I was SUPER passionate in studying the science of attraction that this was how it eventually unfolded. Had I not been passionate about this topic there would be no way in HELL that the community could have grown to over 75 writers and over 7,070 posts in under 3 years.
After you've picked your topic and launched the site, you now need to grow your audience. You need to start off by developing your voice and producing content on a daily basis. Running a website is like having a child. It is a 24/7 gig, and there are NO days off. The site needs to be monitored at ALL times.
Once you've started producing regular content, and developing your voice you now need to engage with the audience. People don't just passively comment on my posts - I actually sit at my computer for an hour after each one goes live and I engage with everyone in social media. This on going conversation is what keeps people tuned in. They KNOW I'm freaking listening!!!! Very very very important.
Then from theerrreeeeee ... depending on how good you are at marketing and getting the word out about your site (for me it took about a year) ... you can either start utilizing affiliate ads or in my case, I went after corporate sponsors.
Click here to read how I attain sponsors.
Also, something that has been super beneficial has been guest posting on other sites. I also write for Suicide Girls and GoFobo and by producing content for both of those sites I get the brand out THAT MUCH MORE.
Think of it like a rap video. How does Jane rapper get her name out there?? By friending Joe rapper who has a bigger following and asking him if she can drop some beats on his track.
See? See what I did there?
Same thing, diff medium.
Rock on and best of luck chica!!!
Got a question? Drop me an email! JenFriel at TalkNerdyToMeLover dot com
ORRRRR you can message me on Facebook and if it's within 140 characters on the twitter!