Working with the wonderful participants of the Blaze Your Name training, I have learned that most of us need to focus on the basics of social media. There is so much exotic new stuff coming out every day, if you don’t master the fundamentals, you will simply get overwhelmed and give up.
I’ve been posting on the private Blaze Your Name class site for some weeks, and now I’d like to share those thoughts here.
First, a little blogging 101:
The first step in blogging is NOT to start your blog, easy though that is.
The first step happens offline. It is to write your blog strategy, which can be half a page long. Start here:
- Who is your tribe?
- What do they care about?
- What special knowledge can you share that meets their interests?
Answer these three questions in a few simple words, and compose your first blog post — yes, write it off-line. I don’t know why, but this practice sharpens your blog writing. Review your post, and shorten it!
Now you are ready to go to WordPress and create your first blog.