10 Things I Learned about Life from a Year’s Worth of Blogging
In the children’s book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats a boy walks through his neighborhood after a snowfall and discovers the beauty there. At one point he breaks a branch from a tree and continues walking in the snow. Soon he looks back and observes his footsteps along with the groove the stick has made as he has dragged it behind him. This blog is like that stick for me. I’ve been walking with it for a year (my first post went up August 15, 2012). Now I’d like to look back. Blogging this long has been one of the most challenging and rewarding things I’ve ever done. More than anything it’s been an education! Following are ten things I’ve learned along the way. 1. It’s not about me. In my first post I wrote, “What would knock my socks off is if this space became a gathering place for a community of people who helped and supported one another on the creative journey.” That original vision is still what gets me up in the morning. 2. It is more blessed to give than to receive. When it comes to what to do next on my blog, sometimes it feels like I’m assaulted by thousands of competing voices. I never go wrong when I ask and respond to this simple question: “How can I serve people?” 3. The importance of sustainability. What’s the point of blogging if it drains you or makes you cranky or, worse, if you end up feeling guilty for not posting? Stop, I say to myself. Breathe. Decide what a reasonable pace is, when you’re going to write, and what else you need to do to write during that time. 4. Traffic stats can become an unhealthy obsession. Leadership expert Edwin Friedman compared our modern preoccupation with data to substance abuse, referencing the classic addiction cycle of “self-doubt, denial, temptation, relapse, and withdrawal.” He nails it, I think. They are a useful tool but a cruel, cruel master. 5. My family is making sacrifices for me to do this. My blogging time is early in the morning, which means two to three mornings a week I’m not in the house when my wife and children wake up. That is a real sacrifice on their parts, and I pray God it’s worth it. 6. Finding my voice takes time. I’m grateful that I began this journey without too defined a purpose. I was “exploring writing, publishing, life, and creativity.” I’ve enjoyed the freedom of this tagline. It has allowed me to find my feet, to discover who I am in this space. I feel like I have a better sense of that now, but I needed some leeway to discover that. 7. Blogging is influence. Words matter, and so does blogging. As ephemeral as one’s posts can seem, I have seen with gratitude that at least some of what I do here touches people. That’s real influence, and with influence comes responsibility. 8. Bloggers inspire me. As I write this, hundreds if not thousands of other bloggers are pounding at their keyboards too. Many of them are dedicated to serving or to exploring their inner selves. In various ways they are literally changing the world as they do. 9. Mistakes are reparable. We bloggers take great comfort in knowing we can “update” a post with the push of a button and correct our mistakes. Elsewhere mistakes may take longer to repair, but most of them can be repaired if we just try. 10. The work is its own reward. Who knows what all will come from this blog, but I intend to stick with it. Showing up here, doing my best to silence unhelpful voices in my own head, trying hard to serve readers–that is the reward I treasure most. Thanks for being on the journey with me! If you’re a blogger, what are some things you have learned along the way? If you’re a blog reader, what are some things you appreciate about the bloggers you read? “Finding my voice takes time” and 9 other lessons from #blogging for a year. <Tweet this!> Want to know what #blogging for a year does for you? See here . . . <Tweet this!> “Traffic #stats are a useful tool but a cruel, cruel master” & other lessons for #bloggers <Tweet this!>
How Answering One Scary Question Can Lead You to the Life You’ve Always Wanted
In The 4-Hour Workweek, author Timothy Ferriss encourages readers to answer this question: If you got fired from your job tomorrow, what would you do to rescue your life from financial chaos? Sometimes reflecting on a worst-case scenario opens up whole new worlds of possibility. Job Search I suspect many people would simply launch an all-out job search. But let’s assume you got fired in a contracting industry. Let’s assume getting the same or similar job you had with a different company is impossible. You could switch industries, of course. You could go to school to learn a new set of skills, and probably some people should do this. If reading this strikes a chord, consider taking a few classes before you get fired! Starting a Business But I’m guessing that some people reading this would or already do feel the impulse to go out on their own. Let’s zero in on that possibility. Deciding Which Business to Start What service could you provide that you think others would be willing to buy? What product could you create that you think other people would be willing to purchase? If multiple directions come to mind, imagine a fully developed, profit-making version of each possible business. Which one excites you the most? (That’s the one to pursue.) Things to Consider Ferriss argues convincingly that 80 percent of our income comes from 20 percent of our actions. Assume he’s right and ask yourself, which 20 percent? With crowd-sourced funding options like Kickstarter, gathering start-up capital has never been easier or more fun! The Internet has changed the rules in terms of reach and influence. I self-published a book in a few months time, for example. It is now available to the entire planet. With companies like elance.com and brickworkindia.com, access to support is both simple and efficient. 3 More Questions Does reading this stir something inside you that you’d like to keep cultivating? What’s one step you can take today that will help you move in that direction? Who is one person with whom you can talk about this? Here’s your chance to reflect: If you got fired tomorrow, what would you do to rescue yourself from financial chaos? ~~ Tweetables ~~ What would you do if you got fired this morning? Powerful question, powerful post here… <Tweet this!> How answering one scary question could lead you to the life you’ve always wanted… <Tweet this!>
Do You Have These Questions about Agents, Publishing, Writing, and Platforms?
Last fall I attended the inaugural ReWrite conference, a writers conference headed up by literary agent Esther Fedorkevich. It was one of the best writers conferences I’ve attended because of the quality of the speakers, the intimate atmosphere, and the access attendees had to great writers, editors, and agents. Author-in-his-own-right and moderator Jim Henderson interviewed a number of folks at the conference. I have the pleasure of releasing the interview he did with me on my blog today. Jim asked some great questions, including: How can agents be most effective? Do you prefer working through an agent or directly with an author? Do you and other people who work for traditional publishers feel threatened by the digital publishing revolution? What is the value of a traditional publisher in the current environment? Over what period of time have you seen ebooks become a significant part of your business? What percentage of your business is comprised by ebooks? What is the first thing you look at in a book proposal? How can a first-time author get past the need for a platform? In what cases is a platform less important than usual? What advice do you have for authors everywhere? If an aspiring writer wants to get published, how much time does she need to spend writing? One more thing! The folks at ReWrite and I teamed up to extend a $120 discount off registration at ReWrite this year. The discount is good through June, and this year’s conference promises to be even better than last year’s. Find out more at www.rewriteconference.com. Use discount code ALLEN2013 to take advantage of the offer. I hope the interview is helpful to you. I’d love to interact with you about it in the comments section. Possible tweets: “What is the value of a traditional publisher today?” and other such conundrums over here… <Tweet this!> “Where’s the first place an editor goes in a book proposal?” and other questions answered here… <Tweet this!>
Give Me Five Minutes—And I’ll Help You Become a Twitter Genius
Whether you’re an author, speaker, employee, or blogger, Twitter is important. We know that. We’ve seen a single Tweet (from the right person) rocket an Amazon ranking. We’ve seen the retweet effect. We’ve seen large corporations like American Airlines respond dramatically to a viral tweet. But it’s a strange medium, and we don’t want to appear amateurish. We’re afraid our tweets appear like so many dweebs on the Twitter playground. We’re self-conscious about our number of followers. But anyone who has been an active Twitter user for a while will tell you: this is definitely a case of learning by doing. In other words, forget those self-conscious voices and dive in. This post is intended to help you do just that. Following are eleven tips to help you become a Twitter genius. Enjoy! 1. Don’t limit yourself to one type of tweet. Use a variety: quotes, retweets of others, interesting videos, insightful articles, promotions, questions, personal shout outs, pictures, the list goes on. 2. Preschedule your tweets. Use BufferApp to preshedule your tweets. It’s easy! And if you use Chrome, add the BufferApp extension to your browser. Then all you have to do when you’re on a page you want to share is hit the button. BufferApp creates the tweet for you. (If you use this link to sign up, we’ll both increase our tweet capacity.) 3. When you really want the word to get out there, don’t be afraid to ask people to retweet. The results of a simple request like “Please retweet” may surprise you. 4. Provide already composed tweets. In your blog posts use clicktotweet.com to provide links that lead to already composed tweets. See the bottom of this post for examples. 5. Use hashtags. Think of hashtags (examples: #write, #inspiration, #askeditor) as key words that link your tweet to others on the same topic. It’s a way to add your comment to a conversation that is already occurring. 6. Read and interact with others. Remember that Twitter is a two-way conversation. As you add tweets to your queue or post tweets, take a minute to read some other tweets. Find one you think is interesting, and either reply or retweet it. 7. Make it easy for people to follow you. If you have a blog or website, make sure your Twitter icon is easy to spot. On WordPress, search for a Plugin called “Social Media Icons.” It creates a widget you can drop into your sidebar. Super easy. See mine below my picture on the right there. Oh, and feel free to follow me! 8. Make sure your tweets are easily retweetable. We all know that tweets can be 140 characters, but how many characters remain after “RT @yourusername.” Limit your tweets to this character count. 9. Spend some time on your bio. When a potential follower is thinking about following you, often the first place she will go is your bio. Shoot for interesting and concise, even witty. Stay away from comprehensive. 10. Use a good headshot. We all like to see who we’re following. 11. Pick a theme that reflects your tastes. Go to “Settings,” select “Design.” Twitter provides several premade themes or the option to visit a site called Themeleon where you can browse and try out a bunch more. It’s fun! How about you? What have you tried via Twitter that has worked well? Or, which of the above ideas do you plan to try? ~~~~ If you found this post helpful would you help me share it? “Give Me Five Minutes—And I’ll Help You Become a Twitter Genius” <Tweet this!> If you’re afraid your tweets look like so many dweebs on the Twitter playground, read this… <Tweet this!> “Don’t limit yourself to one type of tweet” and other genius Twitter tips <Tweet this!>
Who Else Wants to Design Their Own Blog Header?
We bloggers often pour a significant amount of time and energy into creating content. So of course we want that content to be presented in a visually appealing way. Any decent chef will tell you, presentation matters. The problem is unless you’re a tech geek or a graphic artist, or have enough money to burn on such a person, you can feel trapped inside the templates WordPress or Blogger give you. You end up settling for a header that doesn’t really reflect you or your content. The purpose of this post is to present one way to address this problem. Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on my blog header, scouring the Web for some non-tech ways to address this problem. Earlier this week I figured out a way to design a header with which, for now at least, I’m really pleased. It reflects who I am and what I want my blog to be about. I thought I’d share what worked for me. I realize not all readers of this blog are bloggers, but enough are that I hope this is worthwhile. Here are the steps I used to design my own blog header. 1. First, give yourself some time. When I decided I wanted to upgrade the look of my blog, I thought I could just jump on the Web, find a solution, and be done with it. I realized quickly, and frustratingly, that it was going to take a bit more time. So go into it with that expectation. You can do this, but it’s probably going to take more than a few minutes. Think of it as character development. Or something. 2. Give some thought to the look you want. What’s you? What mood do you want your header to create? What message do you want it to send? What images are emblematic of your blog’s purpose? What fonts resonate with you? It is important not to rush past this step. If you start browsing images or fonts without at least some idea of what you’re after, you’re not likely to be pleased with the result. 3. Watch this video tutorial on finding images for your blog with Photo Pin, and select an image or two for your header. Amy Lynn Andrews of Blogging with Amy is a big-hearted lady who figures out the tough stuff and then shares it with the world. Love her blog! In this post you’ll learn how to use Photo Pin to search for images, find out about their licensing, and give proper attribution. Select an image or two for your header. Download them and save the attribution information. 4. Read this post on using PicMonkey to create your header. I had never come across The Capital Carley before this, but this post is genius because it shows non-tech people like me how to design and customize a header. Read the post carefully, and follow the steps. 5. Include attribution information in your footer. No one told me the footer is the place to include attribution information related to images in my header, but it just makes sense, right? Check out your WordPress widgets for a way to add text to your footer. That’s it! Give it a try, and please share your experience in the comments here. If you have trouble along the way, drop a question in the comments, and I’ll do my best to help. In this way we’ll be helping others as they create their headers. Do you have other tips or tricks for creating a great header?
8 Essential Tips for Marketing Your Book on Facebook
Guest Blogger: Natasha Crain (www.christianmomthoughts.com) We all know Facebook is the largest social media network in the world. Our intuition tells us it can be a powerful tool for book marketing, but how do you use it effectively? In a word, it all starts with fans. The more fans you have, the more effective Facebook will be for you and your book. The best way to get more Facebook fans is to use Facebook effectively to build relationships with the ones you have. Facebook is a bit of a game. You have to understand the underlying rules to win, but the rules aren’t obvious. Here are 8 things you need to know. 1. If you’re serious about building a platform using Facebook, you need a Page. Personal profiles and Pages function very differently. A Page offers a one-way relationship between you and those who “like” your Page (your fans). Your fans see your updates, but you don’t see theirs. With a personal profile, a potential fan has to send you a friend request, which is an intimidating barrier for people who don’t actually know you. Even more importantly, personal profiles have a friend limit and only Pages give you data on how fans are interacting with your posts. That data is the key to your success – read on. 2. Any given Facebook post will only reach a small percent of your fans. Fans are people who clicked “like” on your page, so Facebook will make sure they see your updates, right? Unfortunately, no. Facebook has become so popular that it had to develop an algorithm to prioritize the flood of posts available for a person’s news feed each day. Say, for example, one of your fans is a fan of 100 other pages and has 400 personal friends. All of those pages and friends represent hundreds of possible messages going to that person’s news feed. Only a few of those messages will be shown. Your new fan may actually never hear from you again, depending on whether or not you understand number 3… 3. Likes, comments and shares mean almost everything on Facebook. Facebook chooses what to show and in what order based on which friends and/or pages a person engaged with in the past. “Engaged with” means the person clicked, liked, shared or commented on a post. If a fan doesn’t take one of those actions on your posts regularly, the algorithm will decide they aren’t really a fan, and that person will rarely, if ever, see your content again. You could have 10,000 fans but literally be talking to a near-empty room if Facebook is methodically removing your posts from their feeds due to lack of engagement. That means you should write every post in a way that facilitates likes, comments, or shares. 4. Small tactics can make a big difference in driving engagement. Here are some tips for encouraging those golden mouse clicks: Experiment with post timing. The average post is only shown in feeds for about 3 hours. If most of your fans are on Facebook in the evening but you always post in the morning, they’ll never see you. Be concise. Studies have shown that posts between 100 and 250 characters (less than 3 lines of text) receive about 60% more likes, comments, and shares than posts greater than 250 characters. Use different types of posts. Some fans click mostly on links, others engage mostly with questions, and some click mostly on photos. To maximize the number of fans who engage with you, use a variety of post types. Be careful about using third-party apps (e.g., HootSuite) to publish posts. Studies have shown that, for many reasons, these posts tend to get significantly less engagement. It’s best to post directly on Facebook 5. You can get around the “rules” by paying to promote individual posts. Under each of your Facebook Page posts you’ll notice button that says “Boost Post.” For a relatively small amount of money, you can get more of your fans to see specific posts. The cost depends on your particular fan base but typically runs around $5 per thousand people you want to reach. You can also promote your post so it will be seen by friends of your fans. Paid promotion is a great tool for getting important posts in front of as many people as possible. It’s also a great way to get back into the feeds of people you’ve lost due to lack of engagement in the past; if a person engages with a paid post, they’ll be more likely to see your future unpaid posts. Paid posts give you a chance to win fans back! 6. Fans are unequal in value. If you want to build relationships with potential readers of your book, your fans should be part of your book’s target audience. Asking your aunt’s friends and your spouse’s coworkers to “like” your page so you can build your fan number does nothing to build a true audience. Those people aren’t likely to engage with your Facebook content and the lack of engagement will negatively impact how many of your real fans see your posts. 7. You will lose fans (and that’s OK). It’s as easy for fans to click “unlike” on your page as it was for them to click “like” in the first place. It’s estimated that the average annual fan attrition rate for a Page is 5%. Fans who leave most likely weren’t engaging with your content, so it’s actually better for you that they go (see number 3)! 8. You shouldn’t depend solely on Facebook or any other social media site for your reader connections. If this all sounds complicated, you’re right! Companies now hire full-time social media experts just to maximize their opportunity to get into the news feeds of fans they already have. We tend to think of growing our fan count as a number-building problem, but the challenge extends to getting in front of fans once you have
How to Write the Marketing Section of Your Book Proposal
It’s an iconic line from an iconic movie. Maverick and Ice Man break the chill between them whilst maneuvering their F-14 fighter jets in a dogfight against a group of Russian MiGs. Each of them helps the other with life-saving aeronautical stunts. Back on the ground, mission accomplished, Ice Man expresses his newfound appreciation for Maverick. “You can be my wing man anytime.” “Bullshit,” Maverick responds, “You can be mine.” You’ll be glad to know publishers don’t expect you to save their lives, but the marketing section of your book proposal should assure them that you will be a good wing man, a good partner. It might surprise you how rare a good business partner is, which is exactly what you are if a traditional publisher contracts your book—not at the expense of being an artist but certainly in addition to that role. And bad partners can cost a publisher a lot of money. Brief setup: In December 2012 I started a series of posts on how to create a book proposal. I wrote two posts before realizing the series would be far more helpful to folks if I actually coached a writer through the process of crafting a book proposal. After a brief contest of sorts I decided to work with Gary Neal Hansen. My strong hope is that others will be working on their book proposals as I coach Gary through this process. So far I’ve posted about motivation, concept, bio, platform, working title, brief description, table of contents, and chapter synopsis. Following are the things I like to see in a marketing section: potential endorsers (well-known people with whom you’re acquainted who might be willing to lend a blurb), how often you speak and where, potential channels for marketing and promotional efforts, organizations with which you have a relationship that would be willing to help market the book, and sales history of previous works Gary’s marketing section, as I’ve come to expect from him, is straightforward and honest, and he has diligently included each item I’ve asked for above. This section is too long for me to include here (if you’d like a copy, hit Gary up via Twitter @garynealhansen, and I’m sure he would be happy to provide it). Instead, let me offer what just might be the killer app for writers who don’t yet have a big platform. Gary admits he is in this category, as are most writers. So if that’s you too, you’re in good company. Do this. Provide the items above as comprehensively and honestly as you can. Pull out all the stops, wrack your brain, and give us every bit of promotional potential you have at your disposal. Then turn the corner. Use a heading like “My Marketing Plan for This Book” or “How I’m Going to Help You, the Publisher, Move as Many Books as Possible” or “My Plan Moving Forward.” And then tell the publisher what you are going to do to build your platform and what you will do when the book releases. See, here’s the thing. Publishers recognize that if we sign your book today, the book isn’t likely to release for another 12 to 24 months. That’s a lot of time for an author to make a lot of headway in expanding his/her potential to bring exposure to his/her book. Michael Hyatt (@michaelhyatt) recommends writing down a sales goal. Define success. How many books do you want your book to sell in the first twelve months? Gary, if I were you, I’d shoot for 15,000. As with the working title, involve your friends. Brainstorm a plan for promoting your book. For example, Gary, you could talk about what you already have in place in terms of your blog and social media. You could even say you’d use whatever advance you receive to give a design facelift to your blog. Publishers love that kind of thing because it shows us you’re willing to put some skin in the game. This section isn’t about impressing a publisher with all you have going on as much as it is assuring the publisher you are going to be an awesome, go-getting partner. But you have to do more than just say that. What on a concrete level will you do? That’s what we want to know. And by the way, doing this will also help your book get into the hands of as many people as possible, which is the whole point, right? I mean, seriously, what’s the point of getting published if your book sinks without a ripple? Forget getting published. How are you going to help a publisher move X number of copies? Bonus Content: The best way to start a nonfiction book project is by writing a book proposal. I’d love to give you a free copy of my Book Proposal Guidelines, used by countless authors to write their book proposals.
The Basics of Building a Platform
Lack of platform (which here can be defined as your ability to help a publisher promote your book) is the number 1 reason we turn books down at Baker, and I’m sure we’re not alone. It’s simply easier to come across solid concepts and great writing than it is to find an influential platform. While building a platform is hard work (don’t let anyone tell you different), it’s never been more accessible. Brief setup: In December 2012 I started a series of posts on how to write a book proposal. I got two posts in before realizing the series would be far more helpful to folks if I actually coached a writer through the process of crafting a book proposal. After a brief contest of sorts I decided to work with Gary Neal Hansen. My strong hope is that others will be working on their book proposals as I coach Gary through this process. So far I’ve posted about motivation, concept, and bio. As Gary and I talked about his bio, we both realized that while he has a great concept and he’s a skilled writer, his platform could use a little help. And we decided to do a little experiment. What if he took the next several weeks to really be intentional about his platform? What could he accomplish? We talked through the basics of Twitter, Facebook, blogging, and RSS readers. Gary had already read Platform by Michael Hyatt (AL), which is a great place to start. I encouraged him: to read Jeff Goins’s and Mike Hyatt’s posts on Twitter to install BufferApp, which is a web-based application that helps you preschedule tweets and Facebook posts to check out the videos at platformuniversity.com to think about installing NetVibes, which is an RSS reader. A good RSS reader will enable you to check a hundred blogs in an hour. to think about blogging more regularly About that last one, I mentioned two things. Seth Godin, who blogs daily, was once asked, “Don’t you ever get writer’s block?” He said back, “No one ever gets talker’s block.” If you have something to talk about, you have something to write/blog about. Mike Hyatt says he shoots for 500 words in his blog posts. That is about one single-spaced page in Word. That’s it, and it’s okay to write even fewer words. The important thing is consistency. After thinking about it, Gary came up with a platform-building action plan, as follows: use bufferapp and NetVibes to tweet four to six times a day (except Sundays), with tweets that go out via Buffer going to both Twitter and Facebook. post twice a week on his blog. He wrote, “The thing that will make blogging possible is the target minimum of 300 words, which contrasts strongly with my previous target of 1000.” do some interactive posting on Facebook Gary’s current stats: Facebook: 349 friends Twitter: 110 followers Blog: 1000 views in 2012 We’ll check back in on these stats at the end of this series to see what movement if any has taken place as a result of his action plan. A brief word about Facebook and Twitter. My Facebook friend count got up to 1600 or so when I started to feel uneasy about posting pictures of my family. I certainly didn’t know all those people and didn’t like the idea of strangers having that kind of access to me and my family. It’s something to think about. I figured out how to transition my Facebook personal page to a business page, thinking I would start a new personal page to connect with family and close friends. I haven’t started that personal page yet, but I thought this might be worth sharing. As I told Gary, I’m a newbie platform builder myself (I have about 1630 Facebook likes, 700 or so Twitter followers, and I currently average about 2000 blog views a month), so I would relish hearing any tips or advice from others in the comments. Also, if you’re following along or just joining in, consider writing down your own platform-building action plan in the comments (along with your current stats, if you like). Then when we check back in on Gary’s stats in a future post, you can report to us all what movement has taken place for you. Bonus Content: The best way to start a nonfiction book project is by writing a book proposal. I’d love to give you a free copy of my Book Proposal Guidelines, used by countless authors to write their book proposals.
How One Little Thing Can Lead You to a Whole New Adventure
So what is that for you? When you look at your life, your work, your spirituality, your marriage, your parenting, your house, your neighborhood, your mission, your travel—what is one little thing you can do? What’s the one thing you’re going to do soon to move forward? Don’t choose one thing for all of those different realms. Pick one realm. And one thing you can do within that realm. As you look at these realms (I’ll list them again below), which one seems to have the most energy for you right now? Life Work Spirituality Marriage/Romantic relationship Parenting House Neighborhood Mission Travel Or fill in the blank: ___________________ Let your eyes scan this list a few times. Which one rises to the surface for you? If nothing rises, close your eyes and point somewhat randomly to the screen. Don’t like where your finger landed? Try again. Here, I’ll do this with you. . . . My finger landed on mission. What’s one little thing I can do to move forward with my sense of mission in the world? Got your realm? Muse a bit. What’s one thing you can do? I actually can think of two very doable things (I’m violating my own rule!) that I can take action on to move forward with my sense of mission. Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m going to place these two doable things on my calendar so they will get done. What gets scheduled gets done. While I’m gone, why don’t you do the same? . . . OK, done. You? Congratulations. You’ve just taken the first step into a whole new adventure. If you feel comfortable sharing, what was your one little thing?
How to Start a Sustainable Blog
A few days back a colleague asked me how I started my blog. That’s funny because it feels like my blog is all of three days old. I’m a baby in this thing. But then I thought it might be useful to capture what I did while it’s still fresh. I wish I had been directed to someone who had done this. So, if you’re thinking about starting a blog or know someone who is, this is my attempt to be useful to you or your friend. Here goes, but I offer what follows knowing there are a thousand different ways to do this. The following is what has worked for me so far. Themes. I think it’s helpful to identify some themes you plan to write about. Identifying themes gives your readers a frame of reference. Because my blog’s title is my name, my themes, encapsulated in my tagline, are like a book’s title and/or subtitle. They tell readers what my blog is about. And if you ever write about a different theme, don’t worry: blog police haven’t been invented yet. Sustainable content. Let’s face it, content is what’s important. All the rest—title, tech stuff, how to promote, when to post—all of that is pure silliness compared to developing a sustainable way to publish content that you are, at least for the most part, pleased to publish. If I have any secret at all, here it is: before you launch your blog, practice offline. Write a queue of posts on the same schedule you hope to maintain after you launch. It’s like a dress rehearsal. It allows you to feel what it feels like to be a blogger who posts regularly without the pressure of others reading what you write. I decided I was going to post twice a week, so I arranged my life in such a way to make that happen. Make no mistake, by the way: blogging on a regular schedule requires some lifestyle changes. Anyway, I lived that way (in my case, getting up early 2-3 times a week) for five weeks and wrote ten posts. The other value of doing this is it gives you a batch of content to edit and cull from when you go live. To be direct: I’m so glad I did this! Blog title. I went with my name, vain though it may appear, because that way if I decide to change directions and write about turtles and flamingos, I don’t have to change my url. Unless I change my name, everything I do can fly under this banner. By the way, my domain was really cheap—something like $5 a year. I used godaddy.com, despite reservations about their advertisements, because they are a reliable url registry. Post titles. Your main source of advertising is your post titles. They have to sing. Copyblogger helped me a lot here. Self-hosted WordPress. Here I have to bow to blogger extraordinaire (I’m not worthy!), Mike Hyatt. Watch this. Twitter and Facebook. I’m sure I’ll change what I do a million times on Twitter and Facebook to promote my posts, but right now I tweet vigorously, using BufferApp, the day a post goes up. My tweets automatically go to Facebook too. I’m thinking about setting up two Facebook pages—one that allows me to accept all Friend requests (a “fan” page?) and one that’s just for friends and family. I want to let as many people know about my posts as I can. As I told my colleague friend, if I’m going to blog, I want traffic! I don’t apologize for that. I’m doing this to help people, so what’s the point if people aren’t reading what I write! OK. That’s what I got for now. But I know some readers out there who have been blogging a lot longer than I have. What advice do you have for people who have just started a blog or are thinking about starting one?