You already know the basic idea behind a blog. You know why people prefer blogs. You know some of the most common terms that you’ll encounter in the blogosphere. You know about all the different kinds of blogs. You think you’re practically ready to start your own blog. Then you realize something – you have not answered the question “What should I blog about?”
On the one hand, this is a very easy question to answer. You can blog or write about anything you want to! That’s the beauty of blogging – you will not be shot down for saying what you think. On the other hand, this freedom might make it a bit difficult for you to decide as to what exactly you want to do with your blog.
That, I think, is the crux of the matter. Even before you decide on what you should blog about, I believe that you should pinpoint your reason for blogging. Why are you creating a blog? Once you have answered this question, then you will find the answer to the first question more easily. (ASIDE: If you need to refer to the page on different kinds of blogs, feel free to do so. It will help you in case some of the ideas in the next paragraphs seem strange.)
So let’s talk about what kind of blog you want to create – why you want to blog. If you’re looking at creating a personal blog, you have free reign over what you will be writing. More often than not, personal bloggers want to put their thoughts and feelings in writing – and that’s exactly what you will write about if you are thinking of putting up your personal blog. Everyday experiences, holidays, trips, shopping sprees, food – whatever you want, you can blog about.
If you’re looking at creating a blog focusing on a more specific subject, then there is one thing that I have to tell you: make sure that you will have enough to write about on that subject. If, at the very beginning, you are decided on writing about something specific, bear these things in mind:
1. Passion – you have to be passionate about the topic. Without passion, you can probably come up with posts. However, they will almost always come out dry and leave your readers looking for something else.
2. Knowledge – you do not have to be an expert in a field in order to blog about it. However, you will have to gain knowledge as you go along. Otherwise, how can you establish yourself as an authority on a topic if you’re making things up as you go along?
3. Creativity – even if you are passionate about a topic and you pick up a lot of information along the way, you will always come to a point wherein you feel that you do not have anything to write about. That is inevitable. That’s when your creativity will play a very important role. You have to find ways and means to add fresh content to your blog – read the news, read other blogs, talk to people, watch a movie; it doesn’t matter – you have to let your creative juices flow and provide that content.
Again, the bottom line here is that you write something that you WANT to write and that you KNOW well enough to write about. Whether you’re talking about personal blogs or not, if you are passionate and have the info, you will do just fine.
Originally posted on November 28, 2009 @ 3:19 am
