Article by Erin Steiner

There are few internet users left who have not heard about blogging or spend some time reading blogs of some sort. Blogs have become so popular that news websites and other types of websites are adopting the content/comment format as a way of interacting with readers. Millions of blogs are created every day. Even so—knowing all of this is quite different than participating in all of this. Here are some tips to help you start your own blog.

1. If you aren't sure about whether or not you want to pursue blogging full time, choose a free blogging platform. There are some who will advocate going full throttle from the start—buying your own domain name, finding hosting, etc. We here at Mymicroblog believe that it is better to get your feet wet first. Blogger and WordPress are two of the most popular cost free blogging platforms, though there are others available as well. Use one of these to figure out if blogging is something that you want to do. If you find that you love it and want to keep going, you can then buy a domain name and hosting.

2. Try different blogging platforms before committing to one. Each blogging platform (Blogger, WordPress, Typepad, LiveJournal, etc) will have different features and a different feel to it. You might like the first one you try, but if you feel like it is clunky or hard to understand/navigate, try a few different platforms before deciding which one you want to use permanently. One of the nice things about having your own hosting and domain name is that you can switch platforms without risking losing any of your readers.

3. Always have an "About Me" page. Some blogs are built as personal websites and revolve around the author. Others are built around an issue or a theme and have little to do with the blog author at all. Either way it is a good idea to give your blog's readers an idea of who is putting together the information that they are reading. The more you share with your blog's readers, the more likely they are to stick around and continue reading.

4. Have an RSS feed. Do you remember newsgroups? They felt kind of like forums but were easier to deal with? You could subscribe to them and be updated when there were new posts? Now you can do that with blogs as well—by having an RSS feed installed on your site, you give your readers the ability to read your blog via the engine of their choice. They can subscribe to your feed and be alerted to new posts. This will save them the time of checking your URL every day.

These are just four tips for blogging beginners. There are plenty of others, but these will help you get your blog up and running. It is important to be patient. Nobody achieves blog fame over night. All blogs start out with zero readers. It is up to you to figure out whether or not you want to commit the time and effort needed to create a community online.

Interesting links:

Micro Blog

Life Micro Blog

Live Micro Blog

Wirefly Now Accepting Nominations for its First Annual Wirefly Blog Awards
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