Yesterday on Twitter I ‘soft launched’ a new blog – TwiTip.
The idea for the blog has been ‘brewing’ in my mind for almost as long as I’ve been experimenting with Twitter but I never had the time to dedicate to starting it up. Late last week I realized that if I was waiting to ‘have time’ to start it that I never would – so I bit the bullet and got it going.
TwiTip is a blog about Twitter. It’s a place that I’ll be posting tips, news and reviews of tools for those wanting to improve their use of Twitter whether it be using it for personal reasons, to expand their personal brand, to promote their business etc.
At this point TwiTip is firmly in ‘beta’ (if not alpha). It has a long way to go in terms of content, design and almost every other aspect of building a blog. I generally would get a blog in a much better state before going public about it (and I wouldn’t launch it on a Sunday night or on US election eve) – but I thought it’d be interesting for readers of ProBlogger to see the development of TwiTip from the ground up.
So far you have not missed much but let me give you a catchup on what I’ve done so far:
Hosting
I’ve set it up on a very basic hosting package (GoDaddy of all places – I just wanted to get it up quick and as it grows I’ll move it to a more reliable service).
Design
I’m using the Thesis WordPress theme (I’ve long wanted to test it on a live site and I have to say that it’s amazing).
My blog design skills are poor but Thesis is easy to set up and configure – it is also set up really well for SEO which is cool. I plan to give the design more personality in time (I’ll get a designer in to overhaul it) but in the mean time Thesis is a great option and will be a good basis for the design tweaks that will come).
So far I’ve developed a few WordPress ‘pages’ that take the design beyond the default set up. These include an ‘about’ page, contact page and a ‘write for TwiTip’ page.
Content
I usually would have at least 5 posts live on a blog before launching it but in this case have 3 (including one welcome post). I would normally also have a couple of posts in reserve for the next few days. Again – I’ve gone public early as a bit of a case study but will get another post up in the next 24 hours to keep a little momentum building.
My plan with content for TwiTip is for it not to be a daily update initially. I’ll start out with 3 posts a week and work towards more as I find my feet (and perhaps as I bring on other contributers). My focus in the early days will be quality rather than quantity.
Promotion
So far all I’ve done promotion wise is Tweet that I’ve launched TwiTip. That was a nice start because the audience on Twitter obviously have an interest in the topic and it was retweeted quite widely through the Twittersphere pretty quickly.
Other than the Tweet announcing the new blog (and now this post) my only other strategy for finding new readers has been more about on site ‘hooks’ – highlighting subscription methods and encouraging people to track with me on Twitter and RSS.
Analytics
I’ve set up Google Analytics on TwiTip. While it is a little slow and not great for analyzing stats as traffic events are happening on your blog in real time it’s such a solid tool that it was a no brainer of a choice.
Setting Up RSS Feed
The only other task that I’ve completed so far is to set up the RSS feed over on Feedburner. So now the feed is not a ‘TwiTip.com’ one but a Google/Feedburner one. I find that it is best to do this on day one to keep eveyrone subscribing to the same feed. I’m yet to see how many people have subscribed and don’t plan to add a feedburner counter in the short term (in the past I’ve waited until subscriber numbers hit 1000).
Things Still to Do
I’ve done a few other miscellaneous things including adding a ‘subscribe to comments’ plugin, a ‘tweet this’ plugin and adding a sidebar polling tool. There is still a lot to do to get TwiTip up and running to a point that I’ll be happy with it! These include:
- RSS to Email Subscription Option
- Email Newsletter Setup
- Getting a proper design done (I won’t do a custom one in the short term but it does need a header/logo and some styling etc)
- Monetization – I’m not going to monetize this straight away but it won’t be far off. I need to consider my options here.
- Plugins – there are quite a few plugins that I want to get installed, test and use.
- Writers – I’ve had so many offers for guest posts already that I’m at a point of saying no to more as I can’t process them all. Over the coming weeks I’d like to develop a system for accepting and managing contributions.
This is just the beginning of the list (and I’m sure many of you will come up with other suggestions in comments below). The more I do the more I think of. For this reason I’m going to take my time with this launch. I’ll continue to document my progress here on ProBlogger as I go.
Update – a few people have been asking how readership has been so far. It’s a little difficult to tell at this point, I’m yet to see an update of how many Feedburner subscribers there are. Google Analytics shows around 1600 visitors for day 1 (but that’s not finished updating for the day). The vast majority of readers have come from my tweets (and the retweets of others. There have also been a few visitors from facebook (where my tweets get republished) and a few others from StumbleUpon where there are a few reviews/stumbles already). I’m yet to see full stats yet and will update it at some point.
Great Darren.
Best of luck with it.
I have subscribed to it, and will be following you there too.
And good to see you using Thesis WordPress theme there.
I know that your blog will surly be a great success shortly :)
Well done darren.great job.
And I have seen you talking about twitter here at problogger many times. And I have enjoyed every such post and I still read so of your article under my bookmark. But I wonder, is there so much about twitter that you can write by dedicating a website/blog to it?
Read all those article at http://www.twitip.com/, they are great as usual.
Best of luck with it.
Darren this announcement is great to hear.
Thanks Technotip.ORG for the link.glad to know it.
very nice idea. I am surely gonna key an eye on this one. Good work.
I’m really surprised that you started a twitter blog. Is there really so much to cover about twitter that you’d still be blogging 1 year down the road, or 2 years down the road?
It’s amazing that you find any time to start yet another blog. This brings you to a grand total of 4 blogs now?
Good luck, and it looks like it might be a very useful blog!
TwiTip is an awesome idea for a blog! I’ve been on Twitter for sometime now and the social networking capabilities are real powerful!
I was just wondering if you have a toolbar add-on that displays the page rank and alexa ranking of any site you visit, including your blog ;) Just Google something like “alexa ranking toolbar” and look around. If you’re using Firefox there is a good add-on called Smart PageRank, that’s what I use.
Have a great day everyone!!
Good luck with the new project Darren. I myself have used Twitter and although I didn’t really GET IT in the beginning, it too has changed my digital life for the better. Perhaps I’ll be able to share a tip or two in a future contribution.
Also kind of cool to start a project from the ground up and use ProBlogger.net to highlight the progress of the project step by step.
Very nice – good luck Darren.
Add a button on the homepage of ProBlogger imo if you haven’t already, you should leverage that traffic stream.
Great idea Darren, count me in.
You might want to reconsider hosting it on GoDaddy after you read my blog post of a few hours ago.
It is titled: “I Can Steal Your Website” and I won’t put the link here because anyone can go to it from the name link.
Its a horror story about how GoDaddy let someone in Dubai steal the website of MakeUseOf dot com.
Rich Hill
I’m reading it! Looks like your gonna be an authority in Twitter help too ey? :)
Great idea of a blog. There are quite some posts around regarding Twitter, but it’s nice to have them in once place in the future from all kind of Twitter experts.
That’s fantastic, Darren! :) How exciting!
For a blogging noob like myself, this type of article is invaluable. I would love to see more behind-the-scene articles, stuff that really shows you how the pro’s do it, because there are so many little things to stay on top of while trying to make a quality blog. Thanks!
This looks like a great blog! I really look forward to seeing how it develops and I am happy I found it early and can feel like I got to watch on the ground floor!
I am an avid twitter user and a podcaster and I think I will find this blog very useful!
I’m glad to see you blogging about Twitter. I’ve been using it just under a month and am thoroughly enjoying it.
I’ve found Twitter to be a great way to keep in touch with people I know in person, a helpful way to connect on a more personal level with people I know through blogging, as well as an effective way to network with new people.
I’m really looking forward to watching how TwiTip develops, Darren.
It’s a practical demonstration of all the tips you have made here on ProBlogger — when to monetize, how to build your posting “muscles,” how to gradually grow your blog.
And I applaud your choice of Thesis as your theme. It is a great framework for building your blog on. Can’t wait to see what it looks like when you’re finished with it!
This sounds to be a very interesting project to follow. I wish you would have time to write detailed step-by-step process, like “installed this plugin because of that”, “done this because of that” etc. That way you would create a step-by-step process check-list for creating a successful blog.
Marko
http://www.howtomakemyblog.com
This might take off. It looks like a good idea and many people have tried to make Twitter blogs. However, with your expertise I know this will be a huge hit. Many people do not know how to use Twitter correctly and with your help they can get whatever they want out of it.
Darren – looks like you’ve found another good niche to explore. Twitter is really booming and there’s bound to be a lot of interest for this topic. You’ve got the early advantage that you can get the word out to a large existing audience who already follows you on Twitter. That should help guarantee a quick start. I look forward to watching how this new venture unfolds. Good luck. – ‘Chipper’ Dave Butler
Hey Darren, best of luck! You can count on my following.
This is so weird, just last night a friend of mine and I were talking about how there would probably be a demand and a readership of a blog solely dedicated to tips about using twitter. Congrats on beating me to it, and good luck.
Cool idea and I’ll be following along. The only thing I don’t like is the ugly name. Twitip? Yuck!
Good luck with your new blog! I’ll be following your progress.
Maybe you’d want to check out the wordpress plugins I’m writing about in the link…
Cheers,
Alex
Thanks so much for your transparency in this blog building process. It’s great to watch a pro during a launch :-)
Great idea. Got yourself another subscriber. :o)
New site looks good! Now to separate from the rest of the sites using Thesis. You just need to add a background colour and maybe a custom header.
If I can do it, I’m sure you should be able to do it as well :)
The only problem I see is that it’s biased: your already huge reputation and influence in the blogosphere is going to drive traffic to Twitip anyway, because thousands of bloggers out there are going to mention and link to “Darren Rowse’s new blog”, plus the visits from problogger.com itself, plus your popularity in social media. That blog is bound to success.
If I were you I would have started the blog using a pseudonym and not informing anybody, and once you’ve reached 1000 subscribers or some other barrier publish your results and explain how you got there. Because in the end that’s why we’re reading problogger: How do you make the average blog a successful one? Doing it that other way would give you a nice example of how you did it, plus it would reinforce your image of “blogging guru”.
Great Idea Darren!
I’ll enjoy following the developments +_+
Great idea, Darren. I’ve recently launched a Twitter-focused blog as well – http://www.twitterrati.com.
Mark
Great! But how in the world will you have time for this? :)
I see this as more of a spin-off than a brand-new blog. The contents would’ve gone up here if there wasn’t the new blog, and your Twitter followers, a good chunk of them are probably Problogger readers. So I really see it as more of a spin-off. It would be interesting to see how it works out though!
Good luck for this new blog.
Bravo, well done Darren. Great work.
Hope this new project of urs also comes out with flying colors.
Congratulations on the launch Darren!
Congratulations Darren. However I agree with Kelvin. It is more of a Spin off. With just Twitter Tips as blogs core subject, I wonder how will you be able to post 2 posts a day and keep doing it for a long time.
Will keep a close watch on it. Will keep tracking PR and Alexa. Lets see how it works.
Congrats once again.
You’ve published a lot of helpful articles but this new blog and the articles you publish about it have the potential to be the most helpful in my opinion as I’m considering starting a new blog (but I seriously don’t have the time right now but should by the beginning of next year). I look forward to reading more in this series!
Congratulations!
I’ve been meaning to set up an account with Twitter, but have been busy with too many other things. I look forward to reading your new blog! Hopefully your tips can help me make sense of it all.
Cool project. Will follow. Didnt like the design tho.
Ok, so you’re like “the man” Darren. lol. Great job with the soft launch. 1,600 people first day (free). Awesome
Why do we need Twitter tips? Can’t we just have fun with social networking and make the best out of it? Why should we make everything profitable and serious, and we need a lesson to how to use it. I think blogging is hard and need to focus on making your site better, but Twitter???
Good work Darren,
I wonder, will you be entering this in Daniel’s Blogging Idol 2 competition???!
hope you success darren.
Great idea, Darren! Added your new blog to my feed reader. There’s a lot of stuff to cover w/ Twitter; I can see doing a whole blog on it. I didn’t get caught up in this Twitter phenomenon till six months ago, but now I use it as a log book, to share spur-of-the-moment thoughts (rather than drawn-out blog posts), and to connect with friends.
Nice use of Tweet This, by the way. You can keep an eye on some stats here: p.3ansp.th8.us. So far, your posts tweeted through the Tweet This links have received 51 clicks.
I have a Twitter account but have not been able to determine how best to use, so your site is very welcome.
I think it’s time to use my twitter account again. I hope it’ll be a great guide for us like problogger.
Argh, another blog to keep my eye on in google reader??
This is great, im reading through it and it looks GREAT!!
Darren, can you keep us updated on it? you should make a series of posts with everything you do so newbies (and everyone else) can see how you start a new blog!
Twitip is one blog i have to keep my eye on =] atleast its from a guy who has been successful on twitter and not someone wishing they where!