Blogging is an effective way of sharing your passion on a subject or communicating with your clients.

Over the past five or so years since blogging has become popular, it has changed in character. Initially blogs were often used by individuals to espouse their beliefs, or to provide a record of the daily life of someone. Sometimes they were even used as campaigns to share negative comments about a service or product.

In the last couple of years there has been a major shift to blogging for business and profit. This means that blog content must contribute value. Blogging can still be your fun, but now it can also make you money.

Here are some ideas on how to get starting blogging for fun and profit.

What is your passion?

Think about the things that you are passionate about. What subject have you studied or learned a fair amount about? Billions of people are on the Internet every day. Some of these people are going to be interested in what you have to say. It could be anything. – skiing, model airplanes, science, therapy, black-and-white movies, decorating, recipes, etc.

So the first thing is to decide what the subject matter of your blog will be. This is often called your ‘niche’. If you intend to make money from your blog, then you will also need to choose a subject of current interest to people. But don’t choose a subject area just because you think it will make you money. If you are not passionate about your subject it will show through in your blog and people will realise you are not authenticate. Also, you will probably lose interest quite quickly and that will be the end of the blog.

Choose a subject or niche that you are truly passionate and knowledgeable about.

Posting to Your Blog

Once you start getting some followers to your blog, you will want to develop a plan for posting. Followers will be eager to get your information. However, if you only post sporadically if will be hard for them to follow your blog and they will quickly go elsewhere to get their information.

Make yourself a blog plan. Decide which days of the week or month you are going to post on. Be consistent. Stick with it. Then your clients will stay tuned. They’ll know when to expect your content and be eager to get it.

A simple blog plan can be made on a spreadsheet. List the days that you are going to post to your blog down the left hand column. Across the top list the type of information that you intend to post on any day. One day it may be a helpful hint, another an informational post, another an inspirational quote, a newsletter or some days a link to another article which supports the subject of your blog. Now you don’t have to stress every time about what to post because you have a plan with a variety of options.

Writing Posts for your Blog

Now you’re ready to start writing for your blog. Start with subjects that you a very passionate about and that people are interested in. That way you will start to get a following and it will give you confidence to continue.

A blog post can be any length you want based on the topic. Generally, blog posts should be about 500 – 1000 words long. For example this post is just over 600 words. Obviously an inspirational quote post will be shorter and a newsletter would be longer.
Now you’re ready to go! Your passion and the feedback from our followers will keep you going.
Stay tuned for more tips on blogging best practices.