How do I get started in blogging?

“I want to start blogging, but I don’t know how.”

Here’s how:

1. Start for free. Invest 0 dollars in the effort. (The time you spend will cost you money anyway.)

You have a variety of free blogging platforms: WordPress.com (which powers this site), Blogger, TypePad, Tumblr, Posterous and many others.

You’ll have to register. You’ll probably need to read the tutorials on these sites, and they have plenty of them to get people started. You can start blogs on all of them, find the one that feels right, and discard the others.

One nice aspect of Posterous: You can e-mail your posts to post@posterous.com, and it will automatically create a blog and post it for you. The subject will be the headline, any attached photos will be added, and any YouTube (or other video site) links will be presented as ready-to-play videos. Try it!

2. Set a goal or two. And write it down. “I want to reach more customers for my business by talking about what we do.” “I want to connect with others who share my interests.” “I want to get better at blogging.” “I want to have an ongoing discussion about product development.”

Whatever your business goals are, define them and commit them to paper (or computer document).

3. Blog now, not later. Commit to it. Set a schedule, and post on that schedule. If you’re ever going to find out if you can sustain a blog, if you’re ever going to try and build an audience, you need to start strong.

Does that mean five posts a day? No. But it does mean that if you commit to two posts a week, you post twice a week in week 1, in week 5 and in week 25.

You will delay until the blog looks perfect, or until you have every aspect of the plan worked out. But to paraphrase an old saying, “Bloggers blog.” Having an empty but pretty site is not blogging.

The payoff for good consistent blogging by investing 0 dollars and an hour a week? Learning more about customer needs. Discovering strengths and weaknesses of your business offerings. Connecting with more fans. Marketing in an interactive fashion.

What challenges are you facing in starting to blog?

Photo by maciekrol.

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