19
blogging for beginners BY STEPHEN WADDINGTON WITH CAROLINE O’DOHERTY

Blogging for Beginners

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

The ebook by Stephen Waddington and Caroline O’Doherty follows the process of launching a blog from a blank sheet of paper to building and managing your own space on the Internet.

Citation preview

Page 1: Blogging for Beginners

01blogging for beginners

blogging for beginners

BY STEPHEN WADDINGTON WITH CAROLINE O’DOHERTY

Page 2: Blogging for Beginners

1blogging for beginners

contents#1 Your own corner of the Internet � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 2

#2 Benefits of blogging � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 3

#3 Choosing a topic and a name � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 6

#4 Overcoming fear with help from friends � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 8

#5 Technology choices � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 9

#6 Building a blog: technical stuff � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �10

#7 Tackling content: 75 ideas � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �12

#8 Lessons from building a blog � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �14

#9 Postscript: Tin Box Traveller � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �16

Page 3: Blogging for Beginners

2blogging for beginners

#1 your own corner of the internet

This book started life as a series of blog posts� It’s a guide to blogging for anyone wondering how to get started�

It follows the process of launching a blog from a blank sheet of paper to building and managing your own space on the Internet� It’s exactly how this project developed�

I published an eBook called The Business of Blogging at the start of 2014 to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the blog� It was a crowdsourced exercise and featured stories from bloggers� 10,000 people viewed the book in the first six months�

Caroline O’Doherty contacted me asking for advice on sources of information to help her kickstart her efforts� She’s a campaign manager and freelance marketing professional based in the north east of England�

There are many excellent resources in print and on the Internet but I thought it might make a good series of blog posts for us to work together and report on progress�

Caroline agreed and over the course of six months we discussed and debated the challenges and benefits of a blog� We specified, designed, built and launched a blog called Northern Ideas�

My thanks to Margaret Clow who helped edit the blog posts into a book format and Claire Hall who added a case study about her own personal experience of creating and running a blog�

I hope that you find our content useful and that it inspires you to think about launching your own blog�

Page 4: Blogging for Beginners

3blogging for beginners

#2 benefits of bloggingA professional blog acts as an excellent shop window and a platform to build a network� Mine has landed me introductions, speaking opportunities, book deals, and my role at Ketchum�

But it’s not for the faint hearted� It requires original thinking and commitment� The Internet is littered with blogs that have been started in a rush of enthusiasm but have quickly faded�

Caroline’s first task was to think about the objectives for her blog, and how she’d determine whether she was successful� I also wanted to explore her motivation� Here’s her response�

CAROLINE O’DOHERTY

I frequently read blogs� I use them to find out information before I make a purchase or decision� I read blogs to find out more about the subjects which I find interesting�

I wanted to know more about the blogging process; learning about their design, how to build traffic, and creating quality content�

I wanted to learn more about blogging for three reasons:

1. I think blogging would give me a platform in which I can be more creative� I used to work in the broadcast industry and I miss creating content on a daily basis and seeing the effect that content has on an audience�

2. I work on freelance marketing projects where a better understanding of blogging and how it can work for the client would be advantageous�

3. I’d like to be able to talk about blogging and be knowledgeable on the subject� The organisation I work for doesn’t currently have a blog – are they missing a trick or not?

I often ask myself why I haven’t given it a go and just started a blog anyway, learning as I go along� The answer to that is that I’m not completely sure what I want to blog about, I just know I want to learn about the process�

If I achieve my objectives I’ll be able to discuss the pros and cons of blogging, offer advice and support to others thinking about starting a blog, have a greater understanding of design and templates, know how to attract and retain blog traffic and feel creatively fulfilled�

Learning by doing is one of the most powerful ways of understanding social media� It is difficult to provide advice if you lack first-hand experience�

OBJECTIVES: VOICE, CREATIVITY AND LEARNING

The topic for a professional blog should be driven by your interest and passion� If you lack enthusiasm for a topic it is inevitable that your content will be dull�

Caroline is a freelancer and is tackling issues in her professional life that will inevitably have a value to others�

Page 5: Blogging for Beginners

4blogging for beginners

Her initial comments have already thrown up a range of topics such as how to blog, identifying and engaging an audience or public through content, and using new forms of media for learning and helping decision making�

Caroline’s next task was to come up with five to ten blogs that she likes or admires, and write a sentence about what appeals to her about each one�

Blogging is first and foremost about content� But it is also about building a community around that content�

Page 6: Blogging for Beginners

5blogging for beginners

#3 choosing a topic and a nameThere was a great response to my first post about Caroline’s blogging project�

It turns out that it’s a topic that lots of people are keen to explore� It has been wonderful to hear from people via Twitter who also want to start blogging, and from others offering Caroline help and support�

Here’s the first lesson of blogging� The Internet enables you to find, connect and engage with people around topics of interest� If you’re willing to make the effort and create and share content they’ll find you�

INSPIRATION AND BUILDING A NETWORKCaroline’s next job was to identify five to ten blogs that she reads regularly�

Our web browsing habits have changed in the last few years� Whereas we typically used an app called an RSS browser to navigate content we’re now more likely to discover content via our app subscriptions or social networks�

CAROLINE O’DOHERTY

Here’s Caroline’s selection. Follow the links to check the blogs out for yourself. I’d recommend an aggregator such as Clipboard or Feedly to keep track of updates.

The Guardian’s Scottish Independence Blog – purely for the topic� I’m Scottish but living in North East England, I’m trying to decipher what Scottish Independence means for me� It’s very complicated� I’m none the wiser�

JustGiving – a brilliant source for innovative ideas relevant to the charity sector�

The Golf Blog – I’m a bit golf obsessed� I have tickets for the Ryder Cup this year and this blog keeps me up to date with everything golf around the world�

What Olivia Did – Everything is just so pretty� It’s a simple magazine style blog where I can get a quick fashion/lifestyle fix� I always read blogs before I make a beauty product purchase; nothing is left to chance anymore� As an aside, I find the whole beauty/fashion blogger/vlogger phenomenon fascinating�

There are many bloggers and YouTubers who are still in their teens and have more subscribers than national radio stations have listeners – I still find that mad� I’m not hugely loyal to this kind of blog; I seem to want quantity over quality�

Adverblog – a round-up of creative ideas for the digital/marketing/advertising world� It’s punchy, doesn’t over analyse and it’s full of innovative content from lots of different contributors� Unfortunately I find the layout and design a bit disappointing�

The Style Files – I love looking at ideas for the home and this blog is nicely done, its very image led, as I suppose a design-led blog should be! Pinterest is great for this sort of thing, but Style Files is a good source of inspiration that’s curated well�

MY FAVOURITE BLOGS

Page 7: Blogging for Beginners

6blogging for beginners

It’s an eclectic mix that covers local topics from politics to fundraising, and sport to style, not forgetting marketing and brand communication� It’s also clear from the selection that visual communication is important to Caroline�

The selection of blogs provides a great and varied source of inspiration� It also provides a good basis for building a network through backlinks and comments�

CHOOSING A TOPICCaroline’s next task was to focus on what she wants to blog about� It’s important that she’s passionate about the topic otherwise she’ll struggle to maintain her own interest let alone others’�

My hunch is that rather than picking a single topic or issue Caroline should consider focusing on her own demographic or local region� This would enable her to give her perspective on numerous subjects�

WHAT’S IN A NAME?We also needed to decide on a domain name and what to call the blog� Would the blog be the ‘Caroline O’Doherty blog’ or would it have another name aligned to the content?

The choice depends entirely on your motivation and how you want content to be discovered�

The former is an excellent means of building a professional reputation and is the route to take if you want to use a blog as a portfolio to promote your skills and services� Building content on a website aligned to your name is a great way to be found via search�

The second option aligns the author firmly with a topic through association in which case I’d suggest using Google Keyword Planner as a guide to the words that people use to discover content on the web�

There’s a third option if neither of these choices is important and you want to signpost people to content physically or via social forms of media then follow your personal inspiration�

Caroline did exactly this but not in the way that I initially expected�

Page 8: Blogging for Beginners

7blogging for beginners

#4 overcoming fear with help from friendsBY CAROLINE O’DOHERTY

Initially, I struggled a little bit with my third homework task for this project�

Stephen asked me to write 200 to 300 words or so on what I planned to write about, and to think about a name� A simple enough task on paper but after a few days had passed an email arrived in my inbox from Stephen and I realised I’d procrastinated the week away�

One of my favourite quotes is from him of electric razor fame, Victor Kiam�

Procrastination is opportunity’s natural assassin.”

I was letting ‘the fear’ take hold a bit� I knew what I wanted the blog to be about and in my mind I had already planned out quite a few steps but fear was getting in the way�

I am guilty of being someone who often worries a bit too much about what other people think, and so Victor Kiam’s quote is written on a post-it note attached to my laptop as a reminder not to overthink everything�

I shared my concerns with Stephen who said “I wholly understand but truly this is fantastic� It’s part of the process� You’re feeling exactly what everyone feels when they start a new creative project� It’s also why this is much better than me having just pointed you at a book�”

FRIENDS IN THE NORTHStephen gave me some excellent advice, and within it set me my next assignment� He also encouraged me to brainstorm with a friend to unlock new ideas and suggestions�

Timely suggestion, as a university friend was coming up from London at the weekend�

I told my friend Charlotte my plans and my fears and she soon knocked those out of the park� Charlotte and I met on our first day at university� We were both staring at a timetable on a wall, realised we were in the same classes and started talking� No fear, we just got on with it�

In fact, I found out this weekend Charlotte wanted to start a blog too and after a few drinks, we’d cajoled each other into ‘getting on with it’�

Page 9: Blogging for Beginners

8blogging for beginners

That wasn’t the only thing to happen over the weekend which inspired me to run with my first idea� On the Sunday morning, Twitter was awash with remarks about an article in The Guardian by Andy Beckett that posed the question: The north-east of England: Britain’s Detroit?

Understandably lots of north east people who I follow on Twitter weren’t happy with this article�

Paul Smith (@paul_a_smith), a friend and someone with a brilliant creative and analytical mind wrote the perfect response and as Sunday night drew to a close, I was inspired by two friends to get on with it and forget ‘the fear’�

A NAME AND A TOPICSo my blog was born�

I chose a name� It would be a blog celebrating everything that is unique, inspired and different about north east England�

It would feature posts relating to lifestyle and business, celebrating the cool, unique ideas that are born and developed here� I believed there was room for a blog that would mixthe two�

It would be a creative hub of inspiration that I hoped in my own little way would provide a counterpoint to Andy Beckett’s doom and gloom view of our region�

Page 10: Blogging for Beginners

9blogging for beginners

#5 technology choicesWe’ve explored the benefit of blogging, building a network and seeking out sources of inspiration, and how to choose a topic and a name for your blog� The next job is technology choices and a development path for your blog� There are three options�

#1 FREE SERVICESThe easiest way to start blogging is to use a free service� It’s a good way to get started and build confidence� What are you waiting for?

There are numerous services to choose from including Blogger, Medium, Tumblr and WordPress�com� Each platform has its own benefits in terms of design, integration with other services and workflow�

The downside is that you’ll quickly outgrow a free service if you’re successful and find the limited analytics, ads, restrictions on design and URLs frustrating�

As your skills develop, you will inevitably want to add more features to your blog� It’s possible to move content from one service to another using third-party tools but this isn’t a trivial task and requires a level of technical knowledge�

#2 WORDPRESS.COMIf you’re committing to blogging for the long term I’d recommend using WordPress� It is a fully featured content management system that includes a third party template and plug-in architecture that is used by more than 60 million websites on the web�

WordPress�com offers a premium managed service currently for £70 per year� This includes a bespoke URL, customisation, no ads and email support� It’s a good route for someone who starts out with a basic blog but then wants to add more features or wants a level of personal customisation from the outset�

I use a WordPress�com site to document my family’s houseboat renovation project� We’ve got a bespoke URL and have found a ready-made template that works well for photos� Its a way of recording and sharing photos and we’re unlikely to ever want to do anything more�

#3 WORDPRESS.ORGYou may decide that you need even greater levels of flexibility, integration with other services and advanced customisation, or you may simply want to be in complete control of your own destiny�

In this case, I’d recommend a self-hosted WordPress�org site� It’s a wonderful open source community that uses the same technology platform as WordPress�com�

The annual cost for a self-hosted site WordPress�org site is around the same as a managed WordPress�com site� That’s almost certainly a deliberate commercial ploy by WordPress�com�

You need to be prepared to get your hands dirty under the bonnet of your website if you opt for a WordPress�org site� But don’t let this put you off� You’ll get plenty of help if you need it from your chosen web hosting services and the WordPress�org community and you’ll almost certainly find it a liberating learning and development process�

Caroline had committed to blogging as a long term initiative, wanted complete control over her blog, and wass keen to learn, and so opted for a WordPress�org blog�

Page 11: Blogging for Beginners

10blogging for beginners

#6 building a blog: technical stuffWe spent a good deal of time planning and thinking about the purpose of Caroline’s blog� That’s right and proper� Let’s have a quick review�

Caroline had committed to blogging as a long term initiative� She wanted complete control over her blog, and was keen to learn, and so opted for a self-hosted WordPress�org blog�

She had also decided that her blog would celebrate everything that is unique, inspired and different about the north east England�

Caroline’s blog would feature posts relating to lifestyle and business, celebrating some of the cool, unique ideas that are born and developed in the north-east�

Next Caroline needed to buy a web domain, some web space and set up a blog�

She decided to call it Northern Ideas� The dot com domain was taken but dot co dot uk was available�

DOMAIN AND WEB SERVERWeb hosts recognise that increasing numbers of people want to follow Caroline’s route and so offer bespoke web packages that include a domain, simplifying the installation process�

There are any number of vendors� Recommendation from other bloggers is a good place to start� I’ve used UK2 in the past for similar projects� I always found their help and support to be excellenct

WebHostingBuzz is another web host that comes highly recommended by numerous professional bloggers in my network�

Buying a domain and web server is straightforward� Web hosts have an interest in making it so� To start you’ll need a small amount of web space� You can always upgrade�

The cost of a domain and web space is around £60 per year� Make sure that you opt for auto-renewal for continuity of service�

Page 12: Blogging for Beginners

11blogging for beginners

WORDPRESS INSTALLATIONPoint your domain address at your web space using your web host’s control panel� You then need to be patient as it’ll take up to 48 hours for the domain record to permeate around the Internet�

The next job is to load the WordPress application onto your web space�

Many web hosts, such as UK2, make this easy by automating the process otherwise you’ll need to download the application from WordPress, and upload it to your website�

WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that organises blog content into a database and renders it to visitors to your website depending on the theme that you install�

Content can be categorised and tagged to present it in different views�

WORDPRESS THEMESThe application is preloaded with a basic theme� Changing the theme enables you to personalise your blog� There are millions of themes to choose from created by the huge open source community of developers�

I’d suggest spending time surfing the web to find a theme you like: use Google, explore the WordPress community, or simply browse blogs�

Caroline spent an evening or so reviewing themes on Pinterest before settling on Au Revoir� Many themes are free� In this case the designer was selling the theme via Etsy for around £20�

Page 13: Blogging for Beginners

12blogging for beginners

We purchased the theme and installed it on the site, seeking help from the developer along the way in tweaking the header, buttons and the sidebar�

I’ve always found that developers provide good documentation and are eager to help out with a blog installation where they can� The motivation is seeing their template used on a site�

PLUG-INSThe final piece of technical work is to install plugins� These are apps, developed by the open source community, that add specific features to your blog� We added the following�

• Akismet – Akismet checks comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam, or not, and lets you review the spam it catches under your blog’s comments admin screen�

• AuthorSure – AuthorSure adds Google+ verification to your blog and ensures that your Google+ gravatar appears alongside search results�

• Google Analytics – This plugin adds the required code for Google analytics� We also created a Google Analytics account so that we can evaluate how visitors engage with the blog�

• Shareaholic – Adds a social book marketing menu for sharing to networks including Facebook, Google+ and Twitter�

• UpdraftPlus – manual or scheduled backups to Dropbox, FTP or Google Drive�

NORTHERN IDEAS WAS LAUNCHEDAnd so we reached a key milestone in the project� Caroline had drafted a page about her blog, and a first blog was posted� Whoop, cheer, clap, and take a look for yourself at Northern Ideas�

Page 14: Blogging for Beginners

13blogging for beginners

#7 tackling content: 75 ideasThere are two issues commonly cited as barriers to blogging�

First, I haven’t got the time, and second, I don’t know what to blog about.

I write every day� It’s a habit formed as a journalist� It helps me think�

You need to make time� But you also shouldn’t think of writing as something formal�

Jot down notes, use an app on your iPhone or sit down in front of a computer� It matters not how you do it�

The first draft of anything will be rubbish� It’s part of the process� The best writers are the ones that edit, sharpen and refine their copy� They strip it back until there is nothing left to remove�

Often my blogs are unfinished� That’s also part of the process�

The magic begins when I hit publish and people in my network leap in and share their ideas� My work is always improved�

The second issue of inspiration is much easier to address� Seek out inspiration from around you�

If you’re curious about something, you can be sure that others will find benefit or entertainment in your blogging�

If you’re still stuck here are 75 ideas from my own blog to kick you off� Follow the links to read the original posts�

1. Share content from a speech

2. Write an open letter to a person or community

3. Learn openly and publically

4. Set yourself goals and report on them regularly

5. Take a contrary opinion on a topic or an issue

6. Seek out the opinions of someone that you respect in your network

7. Interview someone disruptive in your network

8. Talk to someone with a big job

9. Ask someone for their reflections on an industry event

10. Start a new project and share the highs and lows� Here’s another example

11. Share your views on an industry issue

12. Share best practice in your area of expertise� More here

13. Report on a breaking industry issue

14. Share highlights from an industry report� Here’s another� And another

15. Curate conversation around an issue or topic

16. Add context to a mainstream breaking news story

17. Ask a journalist for their point of view

18. Experiment with a new piece of technology

19. Back a Kickstarter project and review the results

20. Interview someone that’s written a book

21. Share your experience of using a new tool� Worked examples work really well

Page 15: Blogging for Beginners

14blogging for beginners

22. Respond to an article in the mainstream media

23. Curate a conversation with your network

24. Reflect on an industry report or review an industry event

25. Celebrate anniversaries with your network

26. Seek out the views of a smart person

27. Ask someone that you respect to write about their passion

28. Reflect on a survey

29. Write an eBook� Better still crowdsource one

30. Talk to someone in an usual role

31. Share something disruptive

32. Review a new book

33. Help someone out by sharing their story

34. Invite an author to write a guest post about their new book

35. Review a new piece of legislation

36. If in doubt write a top 10 list

37. Lists of people to follow on Twitter are also good

38. Invite your community to reflect on your business

39. Summarise your favourite bits of a book that you’ve just read

40. Share an observation

41. Address a tricky issue

42. Tackle a big industry issue

43. Share a rant

44. Review a film

45. Share tips on how to get on and get ahead in your business

46. Summarise and reflect on an academic paper

47. Go for a walk with a writer

48. Share a reading list

49. Crowdsource, curate and share comment

50. Practical hints and tips are always appreciated

51. Add context and opinion to a breaking news story

52. Help businesses learn by providing considered feedback

53. Challenge your community to do something

54. Not everyone will appreciate your blog posts� Deal with it!

55. Share examples of learning and development

56. Campaign on a topic or issue

57. Reflect on a moment from history

58. Share experiences and have some fun

59. We can always learn from history

60. Hack your workflow and share the results

61. Ask your community for help

62. Embrace criticism

63. Reflect on learning and development, and passing a qualification

64. Experiment with a new form of social media or network

65. Write an essay about the future

66. Share advice on getting ahead

67. Commit to a project, and invite comment along the way� Brand Vandalism became #BrandVandals as a result

68. Write for your toughest sceptic

69. Share an example of your thinking and working

70. Call out bad stuff

71. And praise good stuff

72. Remember someone special

73. Announce a new job

74. Share a nugget of information or insight

75. Be brave� Incredible things will happen!

Page 16: Blogging for Beginners

15blogging for beginners

#8 lessons from building a blogAnd so our blogging journey reaches its conclusion although I’m sure it’s just the beginning for Caroline�

We explored the reasons for blog, choosing a topic and a name, tackling fear, technology choices, technical stuff and content�

We’ve built a blog and along the way we’ve created a small community as other people have been inspired to start blogging� We’re planning to turn the series into an eBook after the summer�

Here are Caroline’s reflections on what she’s learnt and where she plans to go from here�

CAROLINE O’DOHERTY

Looking back at my original objectives, I’m pleased to say that I’ve taken steps towards achieving them but I’m also that there’s so much more to learn�

When I casually asked Stephen if he could recommend some reading material I had no idea what we were about to start�

He handed me a fantastic opportunity and I’m delighted to hear from others, both friends and strangers; that the process has inspired them to take up blogging too�

I lead a pretty hectic life at times�

I work full-time and in my spare time working on freelance projects and in the last couple of months I’ve had some fairly big things happen in my personal life too�

This can all equate to me putting a kind of unnecessary pressure on myself�

Some of the best advice Stephen has given me throughout this whole process is “as long as we’re moving forward we’re going in the right direction�”

Everything is progress, whether it’s a page full of scribbles written in my blogging notebook or simply reading other blogs, it all translates to learning and answering my objectives; be more creative, gain a better understanding of blogging, talk about blogging in a knowledgeable way�

I’ve learnt about blogging platforms, writing content, analytics and social media but amongst all of that, I’ve learnt a lot about myself too�

My blogging notebook is full of ideas although my new blog Northern Ideas has only two posts�

This needs to change�

Moving forward I’m scheduling more blogging time into my life�

Professionally, I have strong self-discipline and I’m organised but I need to apply this approach so Northern Ideas is the end product instead of a notebook full of pages of wonderfully neat handwriting and beautiful doodles�

WHAT’S NEXT?

Page 17: Blogging for Beginners

16blogging for beginners

CAROLINE O’DOHERTY

Thanks to Stephen, I have gained a better understanding of blogging but the whole ethos of our project was to gain experience by doing, so that blog structure plan that’s not quite finished and those half written blogs that aren’t even in WordPress yet are next on my list�

I’m reading more blogs and following more bloggers on social media than I ever did before� It’s a supportive and welcoming community�

My advice to others would be to get involved, wade in, explore and see what it’s all about� Make time, plan, scribble, read, but most importantly, post� And when your offline world gets a bit demanding, don’t worry, the online world can pause�

Soak everything up and remember that as long as you’re moving forward, you’re heading in the right direction�

WHAT’S NEXT?

Page 18: Blogging for Beginners

17blogging for beginners

#9 postscript: tin box travellerOne of the wonderful things about the blogging project was the community that developed around the series of posts� People made contributions via comments and Twitter, offering help and support�

Claire Hall recognised many of the challenges that Caroline faced and offered to share her own blogging experience�

CLAIRE HALL

I love writing and with a job in public relations I’ve always had plenty of opportunity to indulge this passion�

However, in 2012 maternity leave was looming and I was concerned I’d lose my flare for words to baby brain� That’s when Tin Box Traveller was born�

My husband and I had just bought our first place together - a third-hand touring caravan� Our plan was to hit the road for traditional family holidays� My blog was going to be a record of our experiences; both travelling and life as new parents�

I knew there would be plenty to talk about, but I had no idea my blogging hobby would turn into an adventure in itself�

I chose Blogger to host Tin Box Traveller; mainly because it was free and I had read other blogs using it� I kept things simple at first� I posted when nappy changing allowed, and didn’t really consider promoting Tin Box Traveller to anyone other than friends and family�

To be honest, there was a little bit of fear involved� This was the first time I’d published something about me and I had no idea whether anyone would care what I had to say�

It was when I went back to work that I realised the full potential of being part of the blogging community� As a professional communicator I wanted to understand how it all worked�

I set up a Twitter account and started to build my audience by joining networks like Britmums, Mumsnet and Tots100� I began planning my posts and used my iPhone to jot down ideas�

Facebook, Pinterest and Google+ pages followed, along with Google Analytics, social sharing buttons, and a bespoke URL� My blog suddenly felt like it had more purpose�

Being part of the blogging community has created new opportunities for me� As well as writing Tin Box Traveller I also blog for Children Are Welcome, a website about child-friendly places to go�

There is still a lot to do� Personalising my blog design is top of the list�

The best piece of advice I can give anyone who wants to start a blog is to read what’s already out there�

I use Bloglovin’ to compile a daily digest of my favourite blogs, including people who have inspired me, those who write about similar topics, and others that are just fun�

TIN BOX TRAVELLER

Page 19: Blogging for Beginners

18blogging for beginners

This eBook is distributed freely under a Creative Commons 3�0 licence but if you find it useful I’d be grateful for a donation to Macmillan Cancer via JustGiving� It’s personal� My wife is recovering from breast cancer� We’re hugely appreciative, as a family, for the support we’ve had from Macmillan throughout the process of diagnosis, treatment and now recuperation�

Stephen Waddington is Digital and Social Media Director, Ketchum Europe, and President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)� He is a joint author with Steve Earl of Brand Anarchy and #BrandVandals, and editor and contributor to Share This and Share This Too� He blogs at wadds�co�uk and tweets @wadds�

ABOUT STEPHEN WADDINGTON