Writing Your First Blog Post
Writing the first blog post can be very exciting- and overwhelming! Where should you start? Should you introduce yourself? Share your goals? Skip the intro and dive right into the main content?
Regardless of your blog’s topic, start with something creative and catchy. You won’t get a lot of hits on your blog until you have some fresh, relevant content.
The first posts you write will not be the first post many people see. New visitors will usually discover your blog through the most recent articles and then look back at older posts that interest them.
Here is a simple list of ideas that you may want to include:
- Who are you? You can include a brief background, your credentials, and a something unusual or creative to express personality. The more you share about yourself, the easier it will be for your readers to trust you. Pictures are also a great way for people to connect with you. Include a picture of yourself and the other people that will be writing blogs for your site. Don’t get so caught up in trying to make your post so professional that you leave out a touch of color. Remember, people relate to personality.
- What are you going to blog about? If people know what to expect, they will be more apt to keep coming back. You may give your readers an idea of what you will blog about and how often you will post, but don’t set your goals too high. If you don’t post as often as you say you will, you may lose some readers.
- Involve your readers! People come to blogs to interact as well as to read. Ask them questions, encourage them to comment, invite them to participate in your conversations.
- How to contact you. Somewhere in your first post you should include your email address, your social networks, and other contact information. If you always respond to their questions and comments, you will build a loyal, supportive community.
Here are examples of cool first posts for your inspiration, with my honest opinion of what I like or dislike about each of them:
The Pixel parades some of the coolest web graphics I have ever seen. And the humorous old English intro makes what could be a very boring intro very fun to read. From a critical point of view however, I believe that they would have gotten many more comments and acclamation had they taken the time to respond to every comment they received.
Elliot Jay Stocks begins with a friendly, personal tone that will capture your attention immediately. Read it and you will see what I mean.
The Pioneer Woman definitely expresses personality in her first post. Her somewhat unpredictable writing style and the personal pictures of her family really make the reader feel like they know her by the end of the post.
By mentioning and summarizing each of her main categories (Cooking, Photography, Homeschooling, etc.), she makes it clear what the blog is about. The links make it easy for readers to get to the information that interests them and improves SEO.
And it’s live. Jay Hollywood‘s first post tells what he has been doing, what the site is, and then invites the reader to interact. I like the large text at the beginning to get your attention.
Don’t get intimidated by all the cool designs and creative writing on these sites. I included this one so you could see a simple, practical way to start a business blog. Local Alarm Companies Blog jumps right in with a main content article.
“Dear All, Welcome to my Blog!” Using a picture for your whole post isn’t very good for SEO, but since this is the first post, it won’t get many hits from searches anyway. Jamie does an incredible job in the first post on From Me To You introducing her blog in the most delightful, personal way.
A Crayon’s Life sets a friendly mood by causing you to reminisce about your childhood friends, crayons. She writes a creative story that “shows” (not just “tells”) why she chose crayonslife.com for her domain.
Douglas Menezes says a lot in a few words on his personal website. He gives a creative explanation of the making of the site, his goals for his blog, and then lists the ways you can contact him all in only 100 words.
Don’t worry about getting the first post perfect. Frequent posting is the key to a successful blog.
Next Step: Get your own blog and start writing!
Once you have published your first post, don’t forget to come back here and spread the word in the comments below. I can’t wait to see your take on a creative first post…
1 Comment
AstroGremlin on July 22, 2011
The frustrating blog factor is that writing well about interesting topics are just part of the equation. But consistent blogging seems to be increasing page views, but all on old posts! I just joined Twitter and it seems very powerful. Views went up 400% on day one, then dropped back to steady state. At least now, when people come to my site there is a collection of articles to view. So lately, I’m getting some very stale search term hits from old posts, but then people are looking around. So that’s different.
Here’s a question for the beginning blogger: What if I could make my blog world famous overnight? Do I believe in my material enough to be okay with that? In my case, I’m not so sure!
AstroGremlin recently posted..The Cries for Help
Reply