BLOGGING

FOR BEGINNERS
There are many reasons why people start blogs. Your reason is simple: to build your
personal brand and get noticed by the right people in your industry in the shortest
time possible.
While people spend years building their blogs, for now, we will be discussing a short-
term view of blogging to help you connect with recruiters, hiring managers and the
movers and shakers in your industry.

Here’s a checklist of things to keep in mind when starting out as a blogger:

1. Start blogging only if you love to write. Otherwise, you will not last for more
than three months. The internet is a graveyard of blogs that were started with a
lot of enthusiasm but died in a couple of months.

2. If you are not sure about your love for writing, start small by publishing
content frequently on LinkedIn. Once you get hooked to writing, you can
move those LinkedIn articles over to your blog.

3. If you prefer talking over writing, consider starting a YouTube channel.

There are many guides to help you set up a YouTube channel, on
YouTube.

4. If you are sure about blogging, you have two options to choose from: self-host
with wordpress.org or use a content management system like Wix, Weebly or
Squarespace. If you are not tech-savvy, choose the second option. If you want
more control and greater flexibility over your blog, go with the first option of a
self-hosted WordPress blog

5. Whichever route you choose, do not get stuck in analysis paralysis regarding a
platform. Choose one and get started immediately.

6. Decide on a domain name and buy it from GoDaddy.com or Namecheap.com.

Do not buy the domain from the content management system or the host.
Always keep the domain registrar, email service and content management
platform separate from each other.
7. Your domain name could be your name, for example, www.vikramanand.com, or
.in, .me, etc. Or, it could be based on the topic of your blog. Your domain name
is your choice.

8. Get domain ideas from www.nameboy.com. Check if your domain’s social media
handles are available using www.knowem.com.

9. Set up your professional email address with GSuite only. It is inexpensive.

10. Immediately block all the available social media handles related to your
domain. For example, if your domain name is Vikram, block a Facebook page
with the name Vikram, Twitter handles with the name Vikram, etc.

11. Before you connect your domain name to your blog on any portal, first
experiment with the portals to decide where you want to build your blog.
After building your blog, for example, on Weebly, it's very difficult to migrate it
to Squarespace or any other content management system.

12. Set up your basic blog framework and the first few pages of your blog
(Homepage, About, Contact, Resume, Blog, etc.). Most CMSs like Wix or
Weebly already have these sections set up for you in the theme of your
choice.

13. Once your blog framework is ready, it is time to write a few posts. Publish at
least five posts before you share the blog with the world.

14. You can write different types of posts, some of which are listed below

a. ‘How to…’ posts establish your authority as you are explaining how to
do something.

b. ‘Current industry events’ posts present you as the sort of person who is
up to date with the latest events/news and is aware of the latest
industry trends in which you work.

c. ‘Interviews with senior executives in your field’ are quite useful. Their
brand image rubs off on you and you are seen as someone with
connections.

d. ‘Analysis-type’ posts create a good image of your personality. This

establishes you as a thought leader.

e. Posts about ‘Quotes and personal experiences’ help you show

your personality occasionally.

15. The typical blog structure includes the following:

a. Introduction
b. Why it matters
 c. Tips and tactics
d. Conclusions
e. Next step
16. Note that point 15 is a general guideline and you can change the structure of the
blog the way you want to. It is your blog.

17. Posts contain 500–1,000 words, including the headline, subheading, bullet
points, sections, and paragraphs. Make it EASY for the person to read your
post.

18. Have a very clear idea of your post. Ask yourself the following questions:

a. Why are you writing the post?

b. Whom is the post for? Develop an ideal reader avatar in your mind.

c. What information do you want to convey?

19. Publish your posts once a week on a set day so that your readers get used to
a particular schedule. But feel free to batch-write your posts, for example,
maybe you can write two or three posts together over a weekend when you
are in the mood for some writing.

20. Get free images from www.pexels.com, www.unsplash.com and

www.pixabay.com. Do NOT download images from Google images and use
them. You can be sued for doing this. From Vikram’s reference, he knows of at
least three friends who were sued more than $2,000 per image that they “took”
from Google images. They did not realise that there are tracking pixels in images
and advanced software that alert owners if their copyright images are being
copied without their permission.

21. These tips are enough to get you started with your blogging. As you get
sophisticated with blogging, there are many resources, YouTube videos and
advanced online courses that will help you take your blogging to the next
level.

HAPPY BLOGGING! :)