Looking To Start A Blog?

Written By: Richa Satpute

Writing is the most solitary task that you will ever undertake. It entails baring your thoughts, opinion and most importantly your soul to the world. The very thought of it made me nervous when I first set out to write my own blog a few months ago.  So it helps when there is help at hand. Someone to give useful guidance and tips on helping you to get started and staying on the right track.

The internet is full of advice and guidance on writing for aspiring authors, and it is a good thing too. But what is important, is to be able to sift through all that advice and take what is actually going to help you. Since the struggles of a new writer are still fresh in my mind, I will share with you a few things that set the ball rolling for me. Hopefully it will help you too.

Choosing What To Write

If you are spending hours figuring out what to write about, it is not such a bad habit. Your writing needs to hold the interest of your audience.  So choose topics that you are an expert in. It could either be something that you do multiple times in a day, like a mother could write about how to set a bedtime routine for the baby, a video game player can review games that he plays regularly. Or it could be something that you have an opinion about.  If you choose a topic that you believe in or are an expert in, chances are that you will finish it and it will be interesting.

Keeping Your Content Original

Once you have chosen a topic, don’t rush to the internet first thing to see what other people have got to say about it.  Jot down your ideas, theories, opinions or anything that prompted you to choose the topic. It is important for you to get your own ideas out on the paper first before conducting research. Research is an important part of writing but it shouldn’t interfere with your original thoughts. This practice helped me to keep my writing original and fresh.

Make Your Writing Search Engine Friendly

This one will take some time to master. It is for an audience that you write and for them to be able to read it, it will have to show up in online searches (if writing for online publication). Study what it takes to get your content to show up in popular search engines. Read articles posted by popular writers on how they virtually marketed their writing. But beware of thugs who try to con you into paying money to get published. If you are writing for someone else, it is the publisher who pays the agent. So you shouldn’t have to dole out money under any pretext.

Re-writing and Editing

The average number of times that I re-write any post is three. Cut out anything that doesn’t hold your own interest. Give it to people for feedback who love to read but not write. Accept their feedback but also use your own judgment when editing.

Share Your Work

Use popular social networking sites to share your work. Speak about it to your friends and family. Nothing works better than the organic word of mouth marketing in the beginning. Be regular in your posts to keep the fact that you write fresh in peoples’ minds. Invite comments and reply to them religiously.

And finally, don’t be scared of criticism. Always remember that anybody can have a difference of opinion and don’t take that personally. Writing can be very rewarding if it is your passion. So go on and get writing! Just start with what you have. Give it an outline and follow the simple guidance given above.

Remember what Enid Bagnold once said, “Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything. … It’s the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it’s a cactus.”

About Richa:

I am a 2 year old mother and a homemaker. I discovered the power of pen only recently and since then writing is my second baby.  My blog www.richasatpute.blogspot.com, although new will deal with interesting anecdotes about life. I enjoy writing about food, travel and children too. You can contact me on richa.satpute@gmail.com for any writing requirements.