Get Paid to Write Online has a group project underway, Getting Our Blogging Start. For me it was very much a spontaneous decision. A couple years ago I was having lunch with a savvy marketing and training professional. She mentioned that business blogs were going to be the next big thing, and all you have to do is go to Blogger and you can set one up in a few minutes for FREE.
The phrases “a few minutes” and “FREE” were irresistible. I went home that very day and set up my first blog. Even before that lunch I was keen on blogs as a business communication tool, but my colleague, by confirming my view, was the catalyst I needed to stop thinking and start doing.
Some things I did right, but most things I did wrong. Had the wrong domain, focused on my business cartoon services which were a small part of my business, gave my blog a name someone else was using … And even though it was only two, two and a half years ago, it wasn’t like there were lots of places to go for help anyway. Darren Rowse’s blog was there, and early on I met up with Joanna Young and we formed a sort of mini support group. The first year was one headache after another, but a lot of fun, too. Constant learning.
Learning by diving in head first was a conscious decision. I knew I’d make mistakes (though I underestimated both the number and the magnitude), but I knew if I did it myself the lessons would sink in. They did.
By learning the hard way, I put myself in a position to help clients save themselves tons of time — they can take advantage of my mistakes by not making them!
Of course, being a marketer and copywriter, I was interested in learning to blog from the inside out so that I might offer blog support services to others. I wouldn’t recommend the “ready, fire, aim method” of learning to an entrepreneur or firm, unless they had a lot of time on their hands. For one, some mistakes, such as picking the wrong design, are easily fixable, but others, such as selecting the wrong domain, are not. For another, two years ago we didn’t have this dizzying array of social networking sites to deal with, which adds a whole other layer of complexity to blogging choices.
How did you start blogging? Hope you’ll consider joining in on the project.
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Thanks for joining in, Brad. It’s easy to make those mistakes when first blogging. I did something similar with my first domain name (before I started blogging, choosing a domain name that reflected an increasingly smaller part of my business. However, I learned fast and don’t regret the lesson.
Hi Sharon, It’s always a relief to learn other folks make the same mistakes. I’m looking forward to reading the other contributions – should be very instructive!
Brad, it’s been so much fun learning about blogging together. I’m constantly thinking that I wished I’d known something sooner… (like the benefits of wordpress!) but in many ways it’s the learning that makes blogging what it is. If you just plugged in and switched on we wouldn’t get to learn, share, grow in the same way.
Joanna
Joanna, You make a very good point. The journey is the eduction, right? Do you recall talking long ago – we were both despairing at the complexity of Facebook, I think? I’m glad we overcame our fear and kept at it!
Brad, thanks for sharing your story! I jumped in with Blogger and then jumped out for more than a year. I got busy with other things and still had not made the connection between business and blogging. As I am the poster child for “what not to do” I can happily share from a storehouse of mistakes to avoid.
Karen, Perhaps you (and Joanna) will get involved on this project. It seems impossible that either of you could make a mistake!
Brad, where did you get that idea!?? I did see the project mentioned a while ago and thought it looked interesting – not sure I’ll have time – if I can I will though
Joanna
Brad,
when I started blogging in 2007 it was because I wanted to occupy myself with things I liked – taking pictures and writing about them. I had no idea how to do this. I started on blogger, because that was the first free blogging hosting service I learnt of. I put on google analytics on that blog because I wanted to know if the blog got visitors at all. Google analytics told me that there were some people from English-Speaking countries who visited my blog. That made me decide to change to bilingual posts. And then I went to Twitter
and got to know Joanna Young, Robert Hrhuzek, you, Rosa Say and Karen Swim. And by reading your blogs I more and more found out what I wanted to post and how I wanted to do it. And I finally went to Wordpress and went monolingual – English. I can only say: Thank you, folks!
Ulla
Thanks for sharing your story! I found your blog through Sharon’s post and it’s a delight! I followed the Ready, Fire, Aim approach as well. As you said, it’s definitely challenging…but I am glad I did it!
Ulla, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you. Isn’t it wonderful how the community of bloggers helps each other? It’s one of the primary attractions of blogging for me.
Courtney, You know, maybe we should start a Ready, Fire, Aim Club – I’ll bet we’d have no shortage of members!
Very cool–I’m in, and my post is up!
http://punctualityrules.com/2008/08/08/in-the-beginning/
Brad,
I enjoyed reading about your start in blogging. You may have made some mistakes along the way—who doesn’t—but you’ve certainly become a pro both for yourself and your clients.
Brad,
It was interesting to read about how you got started blogging. My main reaction to it all is this: I’m glad you did!
Jeanne
Deb, I like your story – you spin a good yarn.
Lillie and Jeanne, hope to hear about your blogging roots someday!
Brad,
Like you, I used the “ready, fire, aim” approach — just jumped right in. The only thing I knew when I started blogging was that I could write, that I loved writing, and that I wanted to share what I knew and loved about it with other writers. And now, here I am 19 months later, a little wiser about the ins and outs of blogging, but still learning, still at Orble, and still struggling to achieve some semblance of balance between blogging and “real life.” Hopefully, someday soon, I’ll find it.
Jeanne
I think a lot of us got started just by diving in, only to make many mistakes. But, we do learn and life goes on. My entry for the project shows similar errors. I lost my entire network of contacts overnight! You can see it by visiting my blog website link or here.
Jeanne, Still seems to me you’ve been at this longer than 19 months. Sometimes I think blogging is life, and that’s when I know it’s time for a break.
Spiritwealth, Read your story – every blogger’s worst nightmare. I can’t even imagine what that must have felt like.
Brad,
Technically speaking, it won’t be 19 months until the end of August. Your statement that I seem to have been at it longer is indeed a compliment — as well as a testament to just how much I’ve learned during my past year-and-a-half of blogging!
Thanks for the encouragement!
Jeanne
P.S. You seem to have come up with a handy way of gauging when it’s time to schedule a vacation! Perhaps the rest of us should follow your lead!
Hi Brad,
I feel better knowing that successful bloggers like you have made the same kinds of mistakes I’ve made in my very short blogging “career” — and survived to tell about it! I just finished a marathon of transferring by blog because I inadvertently picked a name already in use. Thanks for sharing.
Joan
P.S. I also wrote about my start as a result of Sharon’s post: Why in the World Did I Start this Blog???
Hi Joan, Would you believe I went through a similar name issue on another one of my blogs? http://tinyurl.com/vxhco
Hi Brad, thanks for passing on the link to the Scrambled Toast post. I enjoyed the post — and the blog! Although I’m sure name conflicts happen a lot, it’s nice to know I’m in good company!
Joan