Menu

Apr 15, 2014

Blogging 101, Day One: Introduce Yourself

Today’s assignment: write and publish a “who I am and why I’m here” post.

Welcome to Blogging U! This course isn't currently active, but you can learn more about what we offer and register for upcoming courses on the BU home page.

(Looking for Blogging 201? Click here!)

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Today’s assignment: write and publish a “who I am and why I’m here” post.

Why do this?

  • Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
  • Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

  • Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
  • What topics do you think you’ll write about?
  • Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
  • If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “shitty first draft” (her language). Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

Here’s the nitty-gritty on publishing a basic post, and here are instructions for adding tags to a post. Welcome to blogging!

Want to chat one-on-one with fellow bloggers? Head to The Commons.

Notes from the Editors:

The two-factor authentication requirement for The Commons has been removed, so no smartphone or additional security is necessary to access the site once you’ve been added to it.

Using The Commons is completely optional. It is intended simply to be a private place where challenge participants can connect. You can use it to ask questions you’d prefer to ask privately — or you can not use it at all, and still have a great challenge experience.

Show Comments

346 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

  2. I’m a little late…obviously! I’m Barb. I’m blogging because I want to write and like to write…but not the stuff that I have to write for work. I want to figure our a way to have a consistent message and to write to engage readers. I want to write for the self-improvement, self-help audience.

    I used to write poetry, and have a blog on blogspot that I haven’t posted to in awhile. http://www.pelicandream.blogspot.com …then I expanded it to a series of linked sites. Now, I’m trying to restart under my own name, http://www.barbridener.com …but it’s not been as easy as I would have liked it to be.

    I also find that the busier I get, usually with work, I tend to let my routine of writing fall by the wayside, and that is very disappointing!!

    Like

  7. Oh man…the blog which I’m doing this on is not loading. 😦 Most likely it’s my host (Blue Host) acting up as they’ve made an announcement about it on Twitter.

    But for now, it’s MS Word and update to back log when I’m back online! 😀

    Also: Looking forward to having fun completing these daily missions with you all!

    Like

  10. Hi there
    For some reason I’m not getting notification of the new assignments and have just found them! I have already done a small about me section and a couple of others but haven’t shared any of this with anyone yet! Think it is nerves stopping me so some feedback would be amazing!! I feel like the name of my blog is to close to someone elses (who doesn’t have much on it grr) so any suggestions on a change would be fantastic as well!

    http://samneisham.wordpress.com/about/

    Cheers!!

    Like