Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World

For many of us, the heart of our home base is our blog. It’s where our best thinking lives, the place where others can comment and interact with us, the nexus of our social network. In the years I’ve been writing my blog, several readers have contacted me, asking how to get started. Believe it or not, the process is easier than you may think.

1. Determine a theme. I’m not talking about your design theme, but your content. Most bloggers take one of three approaches. Some write on whatever happens to interest them at the moment. In this sense, their blogs are truly “web journals.” Others select a single theme and stick to it. Frankly, this takes a lot of discipline. Still others, like me, focus on a primary theme but occasionally deviate from it. If you want to develop a following of loyal readers, I think the latter two approaches are best. People who have similar interests will keep coming back for more.

• Can you generate high-quality content on a regular basis? (And by “regular,” I mean at least three times a week.)

• Will your content attract a loyal and growing audience? This might not be your goal, but you won’t generate enough income to cover your costs unless you do. (More on monetizing your blog in a later chapter.)

I am not trying to discourage you. Honestly. But don’t invest a bunch of time and money until you can answer these questions with a resounding yes. The truth is, most people who start a blog quit within a few months. (Reread that sentence and let it sink in.)

2. Select a service. I use WordPress.org (the self-hosted version).¹ However, there are scores of services available. If you are just starting out, I recommend—in my order of preference—WordPress.com (the hosted version), TypePad.com, or Blogger.com. If you attain some success and want the ability to customize nearly everything, I recommend WordPress.org. At that point, you will have to select a hosting service and then install WordPress on it.

While the basic, self-hosted version of WordPress is free, it is like a crack cocaine sample. It is designed to get you hooked. Once you migrate to WordPress.org, the expenses begin to mount.

I spend more than a thousand dollars a month on my blog. I know this is shocking to most people. This amount includes hosting, server administration, custom programming, software services, troubleshooting, and more. Sometimes I feel like it is a black hole.

Yet for me it is worth it because of the traffic I generate and the income it produces from ads, affiliate commissions, and product sales. Nonetheless it has taken me years to get to this place. And it is not the place to start.

That’s why I recommend starting with WordPress.com. You can get up and running quickly.

3. Set up your blog. Most of the blogging services I have looked at make this a very simple process. Don’t be put off because it sounds technical. It usually isn’t. You won’t need to become a geek. However, you will have to make some decisions about how you want your blog to look.

For example, you’ll have to decide on a theme. In this context, that means the colors, number of columns, and the overall look and feel of your blog. You will likely want to include your picture. If so, you’ll need a digital copy. Regardless, this is something you can tweak as you go.

4. Write your first post. If you haven’t done a lot of writing, this may prove to be the most difficult part. Keep your posts short if you don’t have a lot of experience. (I recommend less than five hundred words.) Develop momentum. Get the hang of it. Stick to what you know.

You probably take for granted the fact that you have a great deal of specialized information that others will find helpful—possibly even fascinating. If you don’t know where else to start, begin with a “Welcome to My Blog” post. Tell your prospective readers why you have started your blog and what kinds of things you intend to write about. Here’s my first blog posting, which was written to the employees at Thomas Nelson Publishers when I was the CEO.

WELCOME TO MY NEW BLOG!—MARCH 29, 2005

I have been trying to figure out some way to communicate with our employees on some sort of regular basis. I considered a “Web-cast.” In fact, we even videotaped one. But, frankly, it looked forced and artificial. We ended up scuttling the project.

I also considered sending out a semiregular e-mail blast. This certainly has its advantages. For starters, I can communicate to almost every employee without any initiative on their part. In addition, it’s free.

However, after thinking about it for a few weeks and after consulting with a few of our executives, I decided to set up a blog (short for “Web Log”). That’s what you are reading now.

I think it has several advantages:

1. It is a familiar medium. It’s different than a book or a newsletter, to be sure, but it is still publishing. As a company, this is a medium we understand. Also, as a writer myself, it’s a medium I understand, which is important if I’m going to do this on a regular basis. I have been writing another blog for several months and have enjoyed the process. It allows me to write whenever I want without the expectation that it has to be at regular intervals.

2. It provides a mechanism for feedback. E-mail does this, too, of course. All you have to do is “Reply.” However, it excludes other people from the conversation unless you “Reply All.” Unfortunately, that would generate hundreds of e-mail messages since I would be sending the original e-mail to more than 600 employees. By contrast, this blog allows for comments (see the bottom of this post). You can even enter your comments anonymously if you wish.

3. It provides an archive of communications. This feature allows you to catch up if you have missed some of my posts. I think it might also prove helpful to new employees, allowing them to read the entries that interest them whenever they have the opportunity or interest.

4. It may encourage you to start your own blog. I have been hoping that we would have several employees start blogging. Many companies are now doing this, including Microsoft. They have over 1,000 employees blogging. This is a great way to encourage communication within the company. It is also a great way to let the outside world know what goes on inside a company like ours. It can also be a low-key way to promote our company and our products.

5. It is inexpensive. TypePad, the blogging service I use, charges just $4.95 a month. It’s hard to beat that. If you are interested in writing your own blog, TypePad offers a thirty-day free trial.

Here’s how I anticipate this working. Periodically, I will write a new post. It might be several per week or one a month. I honestly can’t predict the frequency. Regardless, I will send out an e-mail to everyone when I do, alerting you that a new entry has been posted. From there, it’s up to you.

Please do provide me with feedback. I want to hear “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” If you disagree with me or want to provide an alternative perspective, go for it! If you are uncomfortable using your real name, use an alias. The important thing is to tell me what’s on your mind.

5. Consider using an off-line blogging client. This isn’t a necessity, but it will make blogging much easier. An off-line blogging client is like a word processor for blogging. It enables you to write when you’re not online and then upload your post when you connect to the Internet. You can also schedule posts to run on a specific day and time, which is a very useful function when your schedule is tight or you’d like to take a vacation. The two most popular are BlogJet² (for Windows) and MarsEdit³ (for Mac). When I switched to MarsEdit, I never looked back.

6. Add the bells and whistles. Most blogs allow you to post the books you are reading, albums you enjoy, and various other lists. TypePad⁴ is especially adept at this. You can also incorporate third-party services like MailChimp,⁵ AWeber,⁶ FeedBlitz,⁷ or FeedBurner.⁸ These enable your readers to subscribe to your site and even receive an e-mail whenever you post a new entry. The best way to get an idea of what is available is to read other people’s blogs and take note of what you like.

7. Publicize your blog. You’ll want to make sure you’re “pinging” the major weblog tracking sites. Most of the blogging services handle this automatically, as do the off-line blogging clients. Don’t worry if you don’t understand this process. You don’t need to understand it to use it. Here’s a simple explanation.

Usually your service or software will send a notification to the tracking sites to alert them that you have posted a new entry. If your software doesn’t allow this, you might want to make use of Ping-o-matic.⁹ This is a super easy service that will ping eighteen different services. All you have to do is enter your blog address whenever you post a new entry.

8. Write regularly. This is the best advice I could give you for building readership. If people like what you write, they will come back. If there’s nothing new to read, they will eventually lose interest. So the more regularly you post, the more your readership will grow. I suggest you schedule time to write. It won’t happen on its own.

Setting up a blog is the easy part; actual blogging is the hard part. Once the initial enthusiasm wanes, it is difficult to keep posting. Most would-be bloggers post less and less until they simply quit and abandon their blogs. At some point, it comes down to making a commitment and sticking to it.

Finally, I would suggest that you be patient with yourself. Writing is like anything else. The more you do it, the better you get. If you have a little talent and stick with it, you’ll eventually get into the rhythm and joy of it.

While Facebook and Twitter can be effective in driving people to your blog, it is your blog itself with which you will primarily build your platform. Take it seriously, and it will serve you well!