I Wish I’d Never Started on Blogger
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read comments from bloggers who say that if knew then what they know now, they would never have started a blog on Blogger. It’s a common sentiment, but it’s also wrong. Before you get all righteous about how Blogger is lame, hear me out. I’ve had this post in me for a long time, and I’ve got something to say about this.
It’s All About Knowing when to Take the Next Step
The problem with people who wish they hadn’t started on Blogger isn’t that they started on Blogger–it’s that they stayed on it way longer than they should have, and that they didn’t do it as a trial run. They jumped in with both feet and went too deep, too long, in a way that meant they couldn’t leave the Blogger platform without a lot of pain and hassle. Truth is, they should have quit way earlier, and moved up to a self-hosted WordPress blog.
Start Blogging Right: The Throwaway Blog
When people first realize that they themselves can have a blog, they are all set to make all the same mistakes every other blogger has ever made. In some ways, this is necessary, because it’s how we learn things for ourselves. There are some things which we all have to go through, or we can’t even say we grew. But then there are mistakes that don’t have to be made by every blogger. Smart people learn from the mistakes of others and avoid those mistakes.
You think you wanna start a blog? Do it. Get thee over to Blogger or Tumblr and just start a blog. Jump in. Have fun. But do it knowing that you’re going to throw it away. That’s right: do a starter blog. A throwaway blog. You will make mistakes and learn a hell of a lot, but with little to no permanently negative consequences, because you already know that this is just an experiment that will come to an end.
Get In, Learn Your Lessons, Get Out
The objective of a starter blog is to get in, learn your lessons, and then get out. Take what you’ve learned and then plan a “real” blog. To help make sure you don’t get too entrenched, keep the following points in mind:
- Forget about a niche, the name doesn’t matter
- Don’t worry about traffic a single bit
- When you make contact with other people, make sure you have their email addresses so you can transition them to your “real” blog
- Be fearless: break your templates, mess with AdSense, try different writing styles, leave provocative comments on other blogs just to get attention, try anything and everything
- Give yourself just one month–at the end of that month, end it and see if you feel ready to graduate to a real blog (the quotes come off, now)
- If you do, go for it; if you don’t, give yourself an extension of another month, but after that it’s either move on or give up
In the Meantime, Learn Everything You Can about Successful Blogging
While you’re having fun playing around with your starter blog, learn everything you can about blogging:
- Keyword research and how it applies to blog niches
- How to get a domain and hosting
- How to use social media networks
- How to write compelling headlines and posts
- How to do research online
- The basics of HTML and CSS
- Working with images and video
- Blog monetization methods
Some of these objectives you’ll be able to incorporate in your starter blog, but don’t get too invested in it. Remember: you’re throwing it away in a month. You’ll really show what you’ve learned on your real blog.
This is the Best Advice I can Give You:
Failure is the Only Option
If you’ve just discovered blogging, and you think you want to try your hand at it, having a starter blog is absolutely the best advice I can give you. If there’s one thing I’m a big fan of, it’s having as few regrets in life as possible. Don’t put yourself in the position of regretting how you started your blog. If there’s another thing I’m a big fan of, it’s that unless you fail fast enough, you won’t succeed fast enough. A starter blog is practiced, condoned failure. In fact, your starter blog isn’t a success unless you fail at many things while doing it. That’s the whole point!
Is a Starter Blog for You?
Not everyone should begin this way, but far more people should have that didn’t! Should you have a starter blog? How do you know? There’s no formula for this, but if you’ve often started something impetuously and wished you hadn’t (and that’s most of us), then I feel a starter blog is the right approach for you. People are really good at thinking they’re better at stuff than they really are. Here’s the thing: there’s no way you could go wrong with a starter blog.
Photo by dougww under CC License
Kind of like my starter marriage… I think I’m starting to get it.
@Naomi: Exactly. Training wheels!
Interesting idea but I think taking this ‘throw away’ approach depends on your learning style and personality type. I’m not sure it would suit everyone. I like to jump in but do everything just right the first time. This causes me no end of trouble as I end up in analysis paralysis. Perhaps I should give the starter blog thing a try!!
@Heather: When you’re done crossing the river, there’s no need to keep carrying the raft, right? Starter blog for the win!
Michael, this is great advice. My personal life has been extremely busy the past few years. So I’ve watched many blogs rise up and become huge successes while I’ve planned and thought my own site through.
Now that I have *slightly more* time to devote to blogging, I’ve finally launched my site. I find myself wishing I’d started earlier.
@Aaron: Thank you, and congratulations on launching your site!
I started with a Blogger blog, but I didn’t regret one bit because I learned a lot about blogging and tweaking templates and stat counters, etc
This definitely makes a great guide to anybody who wishes to start blogging!
The ‘Throw away’ approach still leads to a fundamental requirement in the contemporary business scenario – The willingness to learn. If poeple expect to become famous overnight, they need to crawl out of the rock. My throwaway blog has remained that – a throwaway, and yes, there was a lot of things I had learnt from there, not that it is the end of learning, though. The fun part was that a large number of people had joined me to write posts for the blog ( from college!). The Powerful Human fabric in action on a baby blog
i love this post, Michael.
when i start anything totally new, there’s always that little bit of delay caused by doubt: “am i doing this in the best way?” / “am i making mistakes now that i won’t be able to clean up later?” / “do i need to do some extra research?” etc.
your method gets rid of all of that. an excellent minimum effort:maximum return idea.
i look forward to reading more.
daniel
Great article. This will definitely become a very useful resource for all new bloggers.
great article.. never thought of this concept till i came by ur blog…
This is very good advice. I started with a free WordPress.com blog, then two months later I took the leap to a self-hosted blog.
I would have been more overwhelmed with what to learn if I hadn’t started that way.
I got used to the interface knowing I couldn’t ‘screw it up’. I learned a lot with the free one and the transition was much smoother.
Plus since they’re both WordPress, I could keep the same theme and export the content over…seamless! (So it wasn’t a total throw-away).
I’d recommend it to a newbie like me.
@Karen: Yes, although I mentioned Blogger, beginning on WordPress.com is a terrific way to transition into a self-hosted WordPress blog. I hope you got your Akismet API key from your WordPress.com account, otherwise soon your comments will be spam city!
I sure did! Another good thing about already having the free account. It came in handy for the WordPress.com Stats plug-in too.
Michael:
You wrote a gem of an article with this one because I was one of those “Blogger” bloggers who got his start there. I stayed there for over a year, learning a great deal. Then I finally scrounged up the courage to move over to WP but it wasn’t without a lot of trepidation.
If I were to do anything differently, I’d take your advice and:
1. Be more fearless – mess with the temp;lates and not worry about the outcome
2. Don’t worry about traffic
3. Think “this is a temppoary play blog” – think of it as an experiment
Those three things are what I would have done differently – thanks for a great article.
[...] Michael Martine provides a blueprint on how to really get started blogging. [...]
@Stephen, you’re welcome! It’s a curious thing, fear and fearlessness. We are capable of far more of both than we often realize.
Michael – thanks for a great article – very inspiring. I have (what I feel are) some great ideas for blogs – and I also have suffered from fear, perhaps fear of success, which has delayed me from starting. Pathetic, really, as I even have the domain names registered…
So today, after reading your article, I decided to start playing around again with a free WordPress.com account (sadly opened back in 2005). I will use that as a personal sandbox and brainstorming site, while I gear up to launch the “real things”.
Thanks again for the words – Brett
@Brett: Thanks! I’m no psychologist, but we all deal with success/failure issues to some degree. If you recognize the issues you’re having, and strive to understand what their root cause is, I find that for me, that goes a long way towards overcoming them and then I truly earn and enjoy my success.
@ Michael – perhaps you are no psychologist – in any case, your words ring true with me. I was poking about with my sandbox blog this morning at 04:30 and let me tell you I feel great about it.
@Brett: That’s great to hear! Thanks for sharing.
I figured that the first go-round on anything was going to end badly, so I started out on Blogger,
Went through all the stages – breaking templates (especially the godawful new Blogger), filling the screen with AdSense, etc. Now that I’ve got everything the way I like it, it’s time to go take what I’ve learned and start with WordPress.
[...] The Starter Blog: How to Really Get Started Blogging [...]
I had started on Blogger as well. My throwaway blog focuses on politics and how they apply to my geographic region (north central Wisconsin, USA).
However, I soon fell so much in love with that little Blogger blog that I kept going with it. So far this blog is approaching fifty posts and has produced a little bit of money (nothing spectacular).
I took what I learned at my throwaway blog and started a home brewing blog (http://www.thefrostedbrwe.com). It is a self hosted WordPress blog but so far it has not even produced one red cent.
I need to revisit the basics. After searching and searching I have yet to find a good article that lays out a step by step approach to becoming a blogger. For example, this article mentions the need to learn how to do keyword research but there is no link to any articles about how to do keyword research.
Am I just really not getting this making money online stuff or does there seem to be a lack of guidance for extreme newbies?
[...] Pens who encourage us to write our novels, like Michael Martine for the kick in the pants to try a starter blog, or Christine O’Kelly who challenges us to stop existing and take action. Not only [...]
[...] Pens who encourage us to write our novels, like Michael Martine for the kick in the pants to try a starter blog, or Christine O’Kelly who challenges us to stop existing and take action. Not only these [...]
[...] the past, I’ve recommended that beginners create a starter blog in order to really learn blogging and avoid analysis paralysis when first starting out. That [...]
[...] addressed this issue way back in my post about throw-away “starter” blogs, called The Starter Blog: How to Really Get Started Blogging. But, long-story-short, here’s the deal. If you want to get started blogging (or even start a [...]