Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it?
While I’m the kind of guy that spends more time looking forward than dwelling on the past – I’m a firm believer that from time to time it can be a worthwhile exercise to look back on our experiences and let them help shape our future.
So today’s reader question asks you to do just that:
What do You Know Now About Blogging that You Wish You Knew When You Started?
Perhaps it’s some method of finding traffic, perhaps it’s about your writing style, it could be more about how you interact with readers, maybe it could even be something to do with a blogging tool that you’ve discovered or it could even be that you wish you’d never started.
I guess another way to ask the question would be – name one thing you’d do differently if you could start over?
Looking forward to your answers either in comments below or as a post on your own blog (if you do post it – just leave the link below so we can check it out).
Things I wish I’d done differently from day one:
1. Hosted the blog under the same domain as the commercial website.
2. Left out the personal posts – that’s what the anonymity of blogger is for.
3. Focus, focus, focus!
4. Understood the true importance of titles before writing the first post.
I wish i knew the importance of talking to every single one of the visitors that were leaving comments. By just talking to them you show that you care about their opinios and you encourage them to say more often what they think.
Posting original content!
I started blogging to make money. I created around 30 blogs (i don’t hesitate calling them spam blogs) related to cars, cell phones, humor, health, business, etc etc. I used to post around 5 articles in EACH of those, just by copy-pasting content from other blogs. Implemented Adsense. The result? I received immense traffic, lots of clicks which meant lots of money for a new blogger like me.
At some point, you start realizing that this method of earning money is not life long as the traffic never grows. Once the visitor comes to know that the content is plagiarized, he is never going to come back!
Today I’m happy that I’ve deleted all those spam blogs and currently I’m working on just 2-3 blogs which have genuine original content written by me. Its a great feeling to see your blog grow!
Many bloggers say that they wish they knew about ppc advertisements, paid reviews, link ads, etc at the time they started blogging. For new bloggers, these are actually distractions.
I would have thought more about niche and branding. In the beginning I didn’t understand how important those things are so I had to adjust as the site developed. Having a plan from the start would have helped a lot.
Differently:
1) set the theme before I began… I have changed too many times and need to change again.
2) Name the blog the same as the domain name I had. I had an old domain name and used it but the blog is different.
3) FIND traffic
On my blog, I write tutorials, news and other information for the WordPress platform. I love using WordPress and teaching other people how to use it. However, some days I find myself wishing I had left my topic a little more open to other platforms, cms’s etc. It would have given me a lot wider topic range to cover from a writers standpoint and it would potentially bring traffic from users of other blogging platforms aswell.
Great question..as a 3mth newbie, I would do many things different. But the one thing that stands out is I wish I would have made a plan and researched my niche before jumping right in. I was so excited to get started that I didn’t research anything…hec, I didn’t even know what blogging was when I started. RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!
Just about everything. Okay that’s probably too broad.
1. A single post never killed a blog.
2. There are shades of difference between being real and being personal (I do not run a commercial blog).
3. There is room for “my style” within the general acceptable practices of blogging.
4. That developing the disciplines of blogging would hone how I approach my other writing projects. (It is funny that I say that because I literally jumped off the deep end into blogging when I read an online writing mentor’s, whose name I have lost, opinion that writers who were not blogging should consider it a lost opportunity.)
I could go on, but those are the top ones that come to mind.
I wish I knew I could make money from them. Only started blogging commercially end of last year.
Use the best blogging software and try to avoid wasting time messing around with design and getting the blog to function. I learn’t through experience WordPress is the best blogging software
1) Great content attacks visitors. Post, post, post!
2) Having enough great content takes awhile; we’re talking in months people here, not days.
3) Network with bloggers in your niche, they are your best source of new traffic at first.
My 2 cents!
And pick the right word in your spell checker!!! I meant attracts, not attacks!!!
I’d focus on one topic only per blog.
I would have picked a better name for my blog. 60 in 3 has a lot of personal meaning for me, but not for anyone else.
Gal
1. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for. Blogger was free, some aspects of layout are easy, and it lowered the barrier to start blogging. But ultimately it just wasn’t powerful or flexible enough to do what I wanted. I wish I had bitten the bullet and gone with WordPress from the start. Whatever platform you do start with, make sure the posts and comments are exportable to another platform in the future, in case you do decide to switch (fortunately, Blogger can be imported to WordPress, but it still took a lot of work).
2. Same for the domain name; the blogpost domain was free, but spending $10 upfront for a domain name would have ensured that all of my audience would follow me when I changed platforms.
3. Sometimes you have to write a post that you may not necessarily be all that interested in, but which you know will bring in traffic through searches. And sometimes the topic you’re in love with, nobody will want to read about (but do it anyway – you gotta have some fun).
4. Patience is necessary when building an audience, and for AdSense. I know make more in a day than I did the first three weeks with AdSense, and it’s still growing, but I didn’t know that would happen at the time, and it was frustrating.
1. Started with self-hosted WordPress.
2. Stuck with my first blog. I started blogging in 2001. It was a good, growing blog. But I got distracted.
But really, I have no major regrets. Blogging is about learning and experimentation. All lessons learned just make you a better blogger, I think.
I wish I knew that it is absolutely normal for a blog to start with the end.
I wish I knew that it is much better to write 1 or 2 high quality posts a week than 1 or 2 medium quality posts a day.
great question which we deal with on a daily basis when facing the consequences of wrong decisions:
1. should have done more research before starting my hawaii blog
2. would have known then that wordpress was the way to go and not free blogger – hard to switch now for a non-tech person
3. started blogging with no real blogging theme – now i know better
4. ignored categorizing the beginning – can take care of that
5. wrong domain name – again hard to fix w/o help
i try to fix some wrong decisions as much as i can on my way to successful blogging but might have to pay for some major changes. could have saved that money w/more brainstorming! pua
I think the single most important thing I learned over time was that I needed to write content that had value. I know it sounds obvious and stupid, but initially I wrote a lot of long articles that were more for me than anyone else. I greatly improved on my writing, but I guess you can’t really have good writing skills from the very beginning of your writing.
I wish I knew the importance of getting involved. Whether it is with other blogs, or forums, or other online communities. It is through these outlets that I have found my most loyal readers, but it was slow going because I didn’t network enough at the start.
This blog is going to be my masterpiece! muahahah! But, many mistakes on other blogs. Lack of focus to the blog was a biggy, as was changing from .blogspot to custom domain on blogspot and then, finally to FTP publishing on my own subdomain. Google has not caught up yet to the 5 blogs I changed over like this. It’s a bummer to go from PageRank 3 on all blogs while they were on Blogspot to grey bars for all blogs for the last 3 months after I switched. Hopefully it will rectify itself. If not, no worries – I’ll switch the 3 main blogs to WordPress! ha!
Using draft and future posting effectively, I just remember the time when I don’t know about server side scripting or javascript. I have to got internet cafe everyday just for changing todays date . Lol
Draft will take main idea and future posting work as manager :-)
hi! I have rss your blog, Your blog is very good,thanks.
Live all these ideas . I’m learning everyday. I guess what I’m learning is to find my focus, but I wish I’d understood about permalink structure from day one. I also switched from blogger – wordpress, and lots some subscribers/google etc, but I wasn’t ready to start in wordpress and learn that on top of everything else. blogging has a learning curve just like everything else.
ok. well Darren, my fingers got carried away and I didn’t check the comment above before I hit that ADD button. Sorry about the spelling errors above. (should be love not live, should be lost not lots) . That is one of the best lessons ever. SPELL CHECK AND PROOFREAD!
I wish I’d started out on WordPress rather than blogspot.
My answer: I wish I knew to make links open in a new window. The reason why this is important is that making links open in a new window ensures that when someone clicks an external link on your blog they don’t leave your blog for good.
Wondering how to do this? I’ve written a step-by-step here:
http://www.homebusinesswiz.com/2007/06/how_to_make_links_open_in_a_ne.html
I wish I started out hosting my own blog instead of using a free blogging service, starting out with blogger and then moving to my own domain was the biggest mistake I ever made in blogging
I wish I did not make links open in a new window. Why? Because it makes the site look trashy and spammy. Users notice.
I wish I’d have started my new blog that I’ve had for a couple months, a year ago. I had the expertise to do it back then as well, just not the drive. The market I’m in won’t last forever and it was a costly mistake I think.
Excellent question! Like many, I wish I had started out with a self-hosted blog for GoogleTube Video of the Day (formerly just Google Video of the Day). I wouldn’t have experimented so much with AdSense and given things more time to test. For Michael Martine.com, if I knew then what I know now, I would have stayed focused on the topic of blogging and helping other be better bloggers, instead of getting lost and meandering all over the place, subject-wise.
Chris you don’t have to criticize others! They are just sharing their own opinion.
Honestly, I started blogging after I had my first child in 2004 and I didn’t really realize then that some people supported themselves blogging. For me it was an online journal for the sake of
1. memories and
2. staying in touch with family and friends far away.
That being said I am not sure that I would have changed anything. I found myself in and out of blogging spurts because I had 2 children, moved 3 times and sold 2 houses. I feel like I made invaluable relationships during that time.
I started reading pro-blogger a several months ago and have learned so much. I have even moved to my own domain. Some great blog friends have followed me both on my switch to wordpress.com and a couple months later to my own domain.
From the beginning I could have been more focused if that was the goal. I could have written better, been more consistent… but there just wasn’t the time back then.
One regret I have is that whenn I moved I could not take my stats or technorati with me :) I have had to start brand new, but I know it will build back up.
I’m going to be changing the name of my blog soon. I will be switching it from
Mommy Zabs- Motherhood is not a cussword, to Motherhood is Not a Cussword by Mommy Zabs. My plan is to eventually spin off my other interests (politics that has to do with family, bible study…) into other blogs co-written with friends I have made along the way… but for now my blog is what it is. I’m growing and learning and not in much of a rush to be a huge blog. I just want to enjoy what it is for now.
I wish I didn’t buy expensive links because I know today how to have it without spending.
And the main thing I wish: to be like Darren Rowse. :)
I would have started with much more planning and research, such as blogging software, host, and most importantly, domain name. After starting out in the end of last year, I have switch all three and changing each one was more difficult than the last (blogger software was the easiest, hosting was okay but painful since it added weird characters to ALL my posts that I had to fix. Finally, the domain name change was just a killer since I wanted to start clean so my RSS feed’s name changed, crippling all my RSS readers).
I’m sure I will have more items to talk about 1 year from now so post this entry again next year! :)
I kind of thought that:
“If I blog, they will come!”
This is so very far from the truth. It takes a lot of elbow grease to feel like you are getting anywhere.
Wish I would have read this post, and all the comments before doing everything that everyone feels shouldn’t be done.
*sighs*
– Trew Life
I wish I started on WordPress and I wish I had spent more time networking with other bloggers.
I wish I’d known how important post frequency was, as well as focused content.
Keep the posts short!
Great ideas everyone! I just started, about 2 weeks ago. One thing that I am doing though is writing about 2 weeks worth of posts at a time. That way I only really have to concentrate on my site twice a month. The rest of the time, I can focus on marketing, leaving comments, and things. That is a tip that I picked up from many bloggers.
Nice one, Since myself still consider as a newbie, but i have learn and change lot from the first day i know what is blog
1)attractive title
2)Focus and write the blog
3)Put high search keyword
4)Do some traffic job
that what i learn from now
I wish I had been smart enough to start the blog using a dedicated blog platform. Aspiring bloggers are hardly likely to make that mistake today, but back in 2003 when I first started 10,000 Birds, hand coding and WSYIWYG editors seemed like acceptable alternatives. Only as blog functionality became more and more advanced (and convenient!) did my initial choice prove disastrous. I’m still moving content post by laborious post from my old Microsoft FrontPage-powered siteto my sleek WordPress-driven blog. Talk about learning the hard way.
I wish I would have known that it’s really OK to get raw and blog from the heart.
When I first started my eclectic luxury blog (Good Luck Deluxe) seven months ago, I was all prim and proper and I held back a bit. My traffic was piddly then. Now I say whatever, and my readers can’t get enough my twisted logic. Maybe it’s because I tuck it in between diamonds, food, and gadgets.
My site’s repeat traffic increases the more real I am. My readers are loyal to me, and they go easy on me every 28 days. ;-)
I’m a happy blogger, and I have no complaints. I feel like I was born to blog. Truly.
I’ll be even happier when someone buys my blog, though!
I wish that I knew what BLOGGING ment before I started. I thought it was a diary, a web log about me. I had not thought that it could be total self expression, a traffic builder, a voice, and finally an income. I was scared as a baby blogger, scared to voice my opinion, my experience.
Now blogging is a way to let others learn from my mistakes, its a web site, its fantastic!!!!
A very nice idea .. I’m a regular reader of yours but this post forced me to comment.. Here is the link to my answer about the question.
http://technodigits.wordpress.com/2007/06/23/if-i-were-to-start-blogging-again/
Good Question,
I think its the simplest thing with me, back when I first started blogging I would create a blog about something like computer games but after working on it for a month I found myself branching out so much that I could not handle the blog anymore, I found myself no longer talking about computer games but I found myself talking about game programming, game development, game theory, all related to computer games but not the direction of which I originally wanted my blog to go.
Being a lot better at keeping on target is the one thing I wish I could have learned when I first started, heck I still make that mistake from time to time, for instance my Principle Of Marketing blog was meant to be about marketing in general, the history of marketing, marketing theory, how marketing can help you and your business but now after a month its changed to SEO, SEM, PPC, & other personal things.
So the one thing to keep in mind throughout the whole goal is to keep on topic, even if you do things like I have after a month there is still time to re-design your blog, if your site is lacking in traffic look at your target audience and ask yourself what your presenting to them and how are you presenting it, keeping on target will keep you organized and looking to the future.
Maybe I wouldn’t offer “freebies” on my site . . . I signed up for a couple myself to check them out and my bulk mail folder is now full of junk!
Hi Darren,
basically, what John Wesley, Bowrag, Lori, tejvan and Rami said.
And not to be too big a suckup about it, but I wish most of all that I’d read your blog (and Yaro’s, and Steve Pavlina’s) for about two months before I wrote my first post – but I guess that there are some lessons that are best learnt through error.
Best regards, Andrew