I have a personal friend that I’ve helped with starting a blog and as I’m listening to myself tell him all the things he needs to do, I’ll even admit, it sounds overwhelming.
I can’t imagine what it sounds like to him. That might explain the frequent deafening silence on the other end of the phone :-
Creating a blog CAN be overwhelming, but if you can take it one step at a time, learn how to unlock your potential, and have the confidence that you can do it and then stick with it no matter what, you can do this.
Being determined is a big part of any task.
If you’re considering starting a blog or even if you’ve gotten started already, here’s some advice I’ve given my friend which I give everyone to help unlock their potential 
Be Unique with Your Blog
Creating a blog can be challenge, I won’t lie to you. I use the WordPress platform for my blog and getting set up isn’t too bad as there’s plenty of help out there including a post I did on how to create a WordPress blog step-by-step, but as you develop your blog you’ll most likely run into things like what theme to use, what colors do you like, what approach do you want to take, what’s your purpose?
The great thing about WordPress is there are just tons of free WordPress themes to choose from. I personally find choosing themes an overwhelming task, I could spend all day at it, however your goal has to be to find a theme that helps you stand out and not look like all the other themes out there.
If you want to choose a free theme, I think the WordPress Extend themes are the best, but if you want to really create a unique look for yourself, choose a premium or paid theme. When I chose the Thesis theme last year, I liked it because I could customize the theme the way I wanted; and because choosing a theme is almost impossible for me, it saved me from having to sort through all the thousands of themes until I found one I liked.
Whatever theme you choose, customize it with your own personality. I think using your picture in the header or sidebar is a good idea. Also make a strong statement of what you are about and place it in your header and use colors that reflect the mood of your blog. In fact, you can create a unique look and brand yourself just by the colors and fonts you choose to use.
Choose an In-Demand Niche
We hear a lot about choosing a niche you’re passionate about, but you have to be realistic with this, in other words, is your passion really something you can make money with? It might be, but for 80% of the population, it’s really not. For example, my daughter is an artist; God Bless the artists Yes, it’s her passion but can she realistically make money at it? No. She’s now a photographer doing quite well.
From my experience, it really starts with having a passion for doing business. If there’s no passion there, it’ll be tough to stick it out. If you’re going to be blogging, be passionate about blogging.
But find a niche market or niche topic that’s in demand too, it has to be something that’s going to draw traffic. Of course it can’t be something you hate, but it should be something you at least like learning about and have some interest in.
Once you find your niche, learn about it, become as much of an expert at it as you can and teach us something.
Include Great Content on Your Blog
Writing great blog posts isn’t such a mystery. Time is my biggest problem, I can spend hours coming up with post ideas and coming up with content that I think people will find useful. I agonize over it less today because now I have a system.
At the beginning of each week I make a list of blog post topics to write about. If I’m stuck I pull from these blog post ideas. I don’t post everyday but when I do write I try to make it meaningful.
When coming up with writing ideas I try to remember who my audience is and the kind of information they seek out. I also know that if I’m having problems with something, they’re likely to have the same problems so I write about them and offer remedies or suggestions.
Be a writer that doesn’t just state the obvious or just offers benefits for doing something. Put yourself out there with your personal experiences, your knowledge, ideas, and insights. But don’t forget to add a little fun now and then with a joke or a funny video.
Focus Each Post of Your Blog
What’s the one action you want your reader to take with your post? If your post gives your reader too many actions to take, they won’t take any. So pick one. Will it be to sign up for your newsletter? Click on your affiliate link? Buy your product? Whatever you choose is fine, just keep it to one thing.
Promote Yourself Constantly
Each day, slot out some time to promote. Yes, that’s every day! I spend an hour or so every day posting to Twitter, Facebook and responding personally to blog posts.
Frankly, promotion is hard for me, I’d rather spend time creating a new website page, making design changes, finding new plugins, etc., surfing the web, but don’t be distracted by the things you’d rather do and neglect the things you need to do.
Make a daily plan and stick to it. That’s actually been one of the hardest things for me, but when I set my mind to really sticking to my plan, painful as it may be, it’s been rewarding.
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