Do you want to start your very own blog? If so, why? If no, why not?
It would be nice if we could all just write about our passions and make money off of it, right? But the truth is starting a blog takes a lot more work. It's more than writing a couple of paragraphs and posting it on the internet. It takes time to create content, especially content that will be engaging to whoever comes across it.
Ono's Oahu is a blog I made to write about all of my food encounters in Hawaii. I'm new to blogging, so I wanted to share three tips out of the many I found in the hyperlinks below to help me start a blog. Hopefully, these tips can help you to start your very own blog as well.
1. Find a theme
We all want to write about things we are passionate about. I am passionate about so many things: food, music, travel, movies, etc. The list goes on and on. However, if I blog about so many different topics, it will be hard to settle on one theme which would leave the audience confused and uninterested if I blog about one topic more than the other.
What I've learned is when starting a blog, find your theme or niche. If you want to start a blog on cooking, write about your favorite recipes! If you want to start a blog on hiking, write about your favorite trails! Even if you want to write about more than one topic, feel free to do so but as long as it ties back to a central theme. Find your passion and stick with it.
2. Think about your audience
Now that you've found your theme and you know what you want to blog about, you can just start writing whatever you want based on the theme, right? Wrong. You need to write about what your audience cares about. One of the harsh truths about blogging is that no one cares about you or knows who you are...well, not yet anyway. The solution to this is to create content based on what people care about, not just what you want to talk about.
For example, in my personal experience, my content on Instagram (pictured left) has always been pretty random. I like to post food photos, but also photos of scenery, travel, music, my favorite movies and bands, and much more. I noticed a decrease in followers when I stopped posting consistently or started posting unrelated content. I should look at what posts create the most engagement and stick with that.
You need to keep in mind that you're not the only reader when creating content for your blog. We should be creating blog posts that are interesting and engaging to our readers.
3. Be yourself and find your voice
The last point I want to make is simple: be yourself. This is your blog. Your space. With blogging, you're writing as if you're talking. Act like you are talking to another person. Not your computer or a website, but talking to an actual human being who is reading your blog. Everyone is unique, so tell your story...a story that no one else is able to tell.
It might take a while to find your voice through your writing style. Experimenting is key. You learn more by taking risks and making mistakes. However, once you find your voice and your story, the rest will fall into place. Your writing style will be unique, just like yourself.
Good Blog Example
Because my blog is all about food, I want to share an example of a well written food blog: Just One Cookbook. Just One Cookbook specializes in Japanese cooking and the blogger shares various recipes of her own that the reader can easily make at home. I believe it's well written as each recipe has very easy to follow instructions including a format she uses in each recipe. She introduces what the dish is and its' history, the ingredients you need, other recipes that you can try that are similar, and the full recipe at the end. The use of images is great and she even has videos for some recipes that are included in the posts. Here is an example of a recipe post on her blog that has a video on how to make the recipe as well as written instructions and photos. The Katsudon in the post looks delicious and makes me want to try the recipe, too!
Just One Cookbook also follows the tips I listed above. She has a theme for her blog which is Japanese cooking. She writes recipes that her audience would care about as she does seasonal recipes (e.g. back to school, national holidays, etc.) as well as posts on where to find ingredients for Japanese cooking so readers can attempt the recipes on their own. Her voice is prominent as before she introduces the recipe, she also adds in a personal note on what she thinks of the specific dish.
There are many challenges to face when starting a blog, but these tips are a starting point to help us overcome those challenges. I hope this helps you in starting your own blog! Good luck!
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