If you're new to blogging, you likely went through some of the same trials that I did when first starting out. One of the biggest battles for me back then was making the decision to begin. There was that fear of wondering if my writing would be good enough, which is one of the reasons I started out on Blogger knowing that nobody would see the mistakes in my early work.
How wrong I was! :)
If you're at that stage right now, It's important to write something every single day. No matter how "unprofessional" you think your writing might be at the moment, the truth is the only way to get better at it is to keep writing.
Now, you don't have to pen War & Peace on a daily basis, it can just be a line of text that comes to you or even a simple working post title or idea to be fleshed out later. In my laptop, I have a folder called; 'Unfinished Posts' which are simple text files consisting mostly of just potential titles to be used in future posts.
If I'm taking a walk or working on something at home and an idea pops into my head, I'll add it to the file and slowly build the blog post over time. The important thing to me is that I don't put any pressure on myself to rush and finish it all in a day. It gets filled in naturally as I'm inspired by life all around me.
A Blogger Is Born
I have a dozen titles in there at the moment, and they get swapped out when complete. In my early blogging days, the only audience I had were a few sympathetic family members and a couple of friends who were asked to read them and give me an honest assessment.
I didn't want them to tell me what they thought I wanted to hear, but give honest, constructive feedback that would help make me a better writer.
The other thing I did was to read my favorite bloggers and ask questions in the comment section of why they did a certain thing the way they did, and I learned a lot by simply asking. Eventually, just as here on Hive, other commentators who were also starting out began to visit my blog, along with the blog creators themselves. And next thing you know, a small audience was born.
Then as I've shared, my blog began to attract a different kind of fan, one who found my posts good enough to steal outright. I'll never forget the shock and sense of violation I felt when he copied my post wholesale after ripping my byline out.
I'd spent over 6 hours researching and writing that post, and it was stolen in a minute. I've posted about how inventive I had to be in order to deal with this digital copycat, and trust me, I got him good by working in some mild criticisms of his government into my posts. That really got his attention, and attracted the eyes of the online censors of his repressive South Asian government.
Turns out he was scraping my posts without reading them and got the shock of his life when his readers began asking him why he was writing against the government. he actually had the nerve to message me asking me to stop, and I told him to stop stealing my work!
I even offered to let him share a snippet of my posts with his audience as long as he linked back to my blog to read the complete piece, but he refused, he wanted it all, and for free. But the important thing is that after taking a couple of years off, it led me to Steemit and Hive. So please, create your own original content. You'll be a better writer for it.
My Blogging Workflow
Currently, the workflow with all of my posts begin with the germ of an idea. Some are incomplete snippets, and other like this one, are sparked reading about the real-life struggles of novice bloggers. There are times when I write based on the barest of outlines, and others like now where the post almost seems to write itself.
Once a post is "done," I spellcheck it (while always missing some things) and let it simmer, as I've found over time that that is when those last-minute ideas come to me.
I'm a tinkerer, and have been known to go back into a post after the "simmer stage" and tweak little things here and there to enhance readability. That's when I catch most of my little mistakes, but something always slips by requiring an after-publish edit. My writing instructor says that the fact that I'm never completely satisfied is the truest sign that I'm an actual writer, as they all feel that way.
The post title will change many times from the starting working title, to the "finished" one at the end. I'd say each post starts out with no less than three potential titles, and I've had as many as ten. Back when I used Pixabay for my images, I'd spend a couple of hours minimum selecting maybe a dozen that had potential, before winnowing them down to two or three I'd end up using.
The images had to POP! If they didn't, they were gone, as the thumbnail and title are the first things a potential reader sees. So you have a sliver of a second to capture that eyeball as their scrolling by on Hive. This is why I chose the red, yellow, and purple "Big E" logo which stands for EverNoticeThat.
I tried many different shades and colors when creating it for my Twitter account years ago, and settled on this combination after seeing much positive feedback that it stood out amongst a sea of others on PC and mobile.
Keep Writing & Never Give Up
Always test and use what works. This post has a working title of 'The Art Of Creating' but I will jettison it in a heartbeat if something better pops into my mind. So it will likely change by the time this post is done. I don't fall in love with titles, images, headings, or opening lines. Everything has to be just right or it isn't and gets replaced.
If English isn't your native tongue, blog in your own language. Never give in to the temptation to copy and paste someone else’s work in order to get noticed. You will, but for the wrong reasons.
Also remember: You have your own story to tell. I was fascinated reading about a blogger who shared posts about daily life in his village. He was a helper in a little roadside store, and shared interesting accounts of the interactions that had with their customers. These are the kind of real-life blogs that are compelling to read.
I find it fun and rewarding to create something where nothing existed before. In your young blogging journey, don't feel bad if everything doesn't work out at the start. The important thing is this: If you continue to write and educate yourself as a writer, you will get better.
Don't steal anyone's work, but do allow yourself to be inspired by the amazing creativity on Hive to develop something unique all on your own. I hope this post inspires the beginning blogger to start, and KEEP GOING! :)
Please check out my recent posts:
Image Credit: [1,2] @EverNoticeThat Created using Canva