Advice on starting your own blog

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1.  Introduction 9.  Your first post – and beyond
2.  Plan, plan, plan 10. What to write
3.  Getting started 11. When to write
4.  The pros and cons of self-hosting 12. Advertising
5.  Finding a host and securing a domain 13. A few mistakes to avoid
6.  Installing WordPress (self-hosted only)   14. Resources
7.  Choosing your blog’s look and layout
8.  Graphics


15. TLDR: A summary of what you need to know and do




1. Introduction     [return to top]

Want to write your own blog but not sure where to start?
 
Before I began Tree Bark Jacket, I had been reading Warcraft blogs for a while, and flirted with the idea of having my own, but it was only when Phaelia at Resto4Life posted an article on becoming a blogger that I was encouraged to take the leap and create my own.
 
Parts of this article will echo what Phae has already written, because a lot of it is sound and solid advice (for any blogger, not just for druid or Warcraft blogs). Now that Resto4Life has closed though, and we’ve seen a lot of fresh blogs pop up lately, I am sure that there are many people who would like to blog but aren’t sure where to start – and they weren’t in the right place at the right time to spot Phae’s great article:
 

>> Resto4Life: So you think you can blog… You’re right! <<


If you want to start blogging, and you haven’t read this article, I suggest that you do. The more that you read and plan, the better your blog will be, right from the first post.

I have to give credit to Phae (especially since this is the article that got me started), but along with her ideas, I wanted to add my own learnings from the past year or so.

The most important thing is to read and plan as much as you can before you get started. Don’t rush in, sign up for a blog and dive in without taking some of the simple steps listed below. If your blog is to survive (and thrive!) in the sea of Warcraft blogs out there, you need to make a strong start. A little bit of research and planning will go a long way.

Let’s get started.



2. Plan, plan, plan     [return to top]

If you’re anything like me, you probably want to jump in head first and start writing NOW. You have things you want to share right this second, and you want to get into it ASAP or you might just explode.

But first, it’s really important to do some planning.


Blog focus

Before you start, you need to know what you’ll be writing about. Here are some considerations to get you started:
  • Think of your blog focus. Some examples (you could pick one or have a blog that is about several):
      –   class specific (druid, warrior, mage)
      –   spec specific (resto, balance, feral)
      –   role specific (healing, damage dealing, tanking)
      –   play style (casual gaming, small raids, hardcore raiding, PvE, PvP)
      –   visual (artwork, screenshots)
      –   educational (guides, walk-throughs, videos)
      –   community (guild leadership, community, relationships)

  • What would you enjoy writing about on a daily basis? This is key.
  • Do you subscribe to blogs that fit the category that you have chosen?
      –   What do you like about them?
      –   What would you like to do differently?


Blog title

Things to consider before you choose your blog’s name:

  • Be original. Bear in mind that most of our standard talents and spell names are already taken. Don’t name your blog any of the following (they’re all taken!):

      –   Tree of Life
      –   Wild Growth
      –   Life Bloom
      –   Regrowth
      –   Mark of the Wild
      –   Moonglade
      –   Moonfire
      –   Swiftmend

  • The more specific you are in your title, the more difficulties you may have later if you decide to change your focus, your character, or your spec. For example, if you call your blog “Joe the Restoration Druid” then you’ve limited yourself to a blog about Joe, the restoration druid – forever. If you change your name or spec, how will it affect your blog?

    To quote Resto4Life:

    Common inspiration for class or spec-specific blog titles include talents and spells, forum-based pop culture references, and in-game places associated with that class or spec. Don’t name your blog after your character unless you’re relatively certain you won’t be switching mains or renaming them (or are considering a server transfer).

  • Also consider – is this a title that I will be happy with later? Will it be recognisable? You want it to be “different” enough for people to remember it – but too different, and people may not realise the intent of your blog.

    I took a bit of a risk naming mine “Tree Bark Jacket” – it’s an obscure reference – but I really like it. You have to pick a title that you like, that is catchy enough to stick out in a crowd (and it’s quite a crowd), that fits your intention, and that you’ll be happy to throw around as part of your online identity. Don’t be afraid to be imaginative, but at the same time, make your blog title something that will stick in people’s minds.

  • Finally, a tech point – will your title translate into a good URL, or will it be long and unwieldy? A good URL is easy to remember (and usually fairly short). You need to consider your URL when you pick your blog title.

    Try to pick a blog URL that matches your title as much as possible so that people will generally know what to type in without checking. For example, treebarkjacket.com is pretty easy because it’s exactly the title of my blog.


So before you start, write these down

Before you get started, write these things down:

  • Focus: (what you intend to write about)

  • Title: (don’t forget – don’t take someone else’s name – do a search first!)
  • Slogan: (optional – this will tie in with your title, and give some insight into your blog’s contents)
  • Things to include: (what are the things that I like about other blogs that I would like to include in my own?)


If you rush into your blog without a clear vision, you’re really doing yourself a disservice, because you may write a few posts with enthusiasm, and then end up thinking, “now what do I do?”

At best you could wing it – and at worst, perhaps close your blog only shortly after you created it, because you’re not sure of your direction. Lots of blogs don’t make it past 12 months (for various reasons), so you want to make sure you give it the best start you possibly can, with a solid foundation.

So plan first!



3. Getting started     [return to top]

This is when things start to get exciting, but again you should take it easy and not rush. There are a few different paths, and while it may be tempted to pick the fastest, easiest option (so that you can start blogging immediately), it’s a good idea to consider all of your options first.


Blogger/Blogspot

Blogger is a very simple, very fast way to get into blogging. It is free, and run by Google, so if you already have a Google account, the process takes even less time. You can be up and running with your blog quite quickly. Your blog is hosted at Blogspot, which means that you do not need to purchase web space or set up a domain. It is all stored for you.

There are a number of built-in layouts that you can use and then tweak to suit your preferences. The “Dashboard” (your control panel for managing your blog) and the New Post pages are very easy to use – if you’re not terribly code-savvy, it will insert code for pictures, links, quotes, and do some basic text formatting for you.

It’s simple, it’s fast, and it fits the bill for someone who just wants to write and doesn’t need any bells and whistles. Visit their “features” page to get an idea of the benefits of using Blogger.

A great new feature of Blogger is that you can have a Blogspot blog but use your own custom domain (such as iloverestodruids.com). You do not need to purchase web space, you simply purchase your domain name (which can be done through Blogger as well), and then change your settings. Instead of iloverestodruids.blogspot.com, your site would be iloverestodruids.com! Very shiny.

For more information on how to do this with Blogger, click here.


WordPress.com and WordPress.org

These two can be a little confusing – but the distinction is quite simple.

WordPress.com is a free service, and blogs are hosted at WordPress (similar to Blogger). They host your blog for you on their site.

WordPress.org is basically just a place where you download the blogging software and install it onto your own webspace – (this is known as self-hosting). To write posts, you log into your own web space, and it uses the WordPress blogging software to help you generate your posts (which are then posted on your own site). The software is free to download, but you will need to pay for your own domain name and web space.

So WordPress.com is like Blogger, and hosts the blog for you (nice and simple).
WordPress.org gives you the software to do it yourself, on your own site.

WordPress.com has some excellent features, including a really nifty tool to help you write your posts (with formatting, pictures, links, spellcheck, etc). You can also import your Blogger.com blog (or LiveJournal, Movable Type, TypePad) if you want to switch to WordPress. To read more about WordPress.com’s features, click here.

WordPress.org is harder to set up, but much, much more flexible than the free WordPress.com service. If you want a more customisable site, and room to do whatever you want, then visit http://wordpress.org/about/ to learn more.


There are other options out there, such as TypePad, Movable Type etc – but Blogger and WordPress are the most popular. If you’d like to see what people are using, check out The Royal Pingdom:  The blog platforms of choice among the top 100 blogs.




4. The pros and cons of self-hosting     [return to top]
Blogspot and WordPress.com give you limited ability to control the look, feel, and content of your site. If you are happy with templates that you can download and tweak, then it won’t matter much. But down the track you may find that your blog’s layout restricts you in terms of how you want your information displayed, and you may feel that it is “holding you back” in terms of your vision for your site. Or, your site may evolve into something more than you expected, and you want to expand.

 For example, after a while I found that with Blogger, it frustrated me that I couldn’t create static pages for guides (like a conventional website would link to various pages) – the best I could do was include a link in my sidebar to the post where I originally wrote the article. I started to feel that it was clumsy and not very professional, and that I would like a sleeker option – and so I decided to switch to a self-hosted blog. By having my own webspace and using WordPress.org’s blogging software, I have much more control over my site – I can put whatever I want on it, with no restrictions. I can shape the template in whatever way suits me.

Some people like to place advertisements on their blogs, and the ability to do this is limited with the hosted blog options. If you self-host, you can put whatever you like on your page.



5. Finding a host and securing a domain     [return to top]

Of course, if you choose the self-hosted option (and you’re not using Blogger’s custom domain option), first you will need to purchase a domain name and web hosting package. My suggestion is to find a good host first, and then see if they will register the domain name at the same time for you.

This may turn out to be a little more expensive than going to a discount domain seller (such as GoDaddy.com), but will save you a lot of trouble because you don’t have to know how to edit your nameserver information etc, which is something that can be quite daunting to a netnewbie.

This way, all of your domain name and web hosting business will be done in one place. I probably paid $20 more to do it this way, but I would gladly pay $20 to make the process smooth and simple, and have all of my transactions and account settings in the one spot!

I recommend that you find a host that gives you unlimited storage and bandwidth. It can be hard to judge exactly what traffic you’ll be getting – and if you’re lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you see it) enough to be featured on one of the larger WoW sites, your bandwidth could take a hammering in a very short time and it may bring your site down. That’s not fun.

A really great thing that many hosts have is a one-button WordPress installation – they will do it for you, meaning that you don’t have to worry about creating SQL databases and uploading the software yourself.

Most importantly – as I have said above – make sure that your domain name matches or at least closely resembles your blog title, or people will have trouble finding you.


6. Installing WordPress (self-hosted only)     [return to top]

If you are using the self-hosted option with your own website, you’ll need to install the software onto your web space. You have three options to do this:
  1. Use your web host’s auto-install tool for WordPress – this is called Fantastico with Lunarpages – but the name varies. If you can’t find the tool, ask your host.

  2. Install the software yourself using WordPress’ instructions. They are quite daunting, but very clear if you read them carefully. They scared me at first, but once I worked through them, it wasn’t so bad.
  3. If you really don’t know what to do, and you have a friend who understands this kind of thing better, you can give them your web hosting details and allow them to log in and do it for you. CAUTION – make sure you trust this person 100%, I really cannot stress this enough – because they will have access to your address and credit card details inside the control panel. After they have installed it for you, you should change your password.




7. Choosing your blog’s look and layout     [return to top]

This may seem pretty easy, but you should sit down for a minute and consider your content before you pick the first theme that catches your eye.

When I first started, I chose a layout that fit the colours that I wanted, and looked quite nice. Later though, I ran into a problem – the main column was quite narrow, and that meant that my longer posts were lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng, and I couldn’t post pictures that were more than about 300 pixels wide.

If you intend to write quite a lot, and you want to post pictures, photos, or diagrams, don’t choose a narrow template. If you have limited experience with CSS formatting, it will be very difficult to change your format later.

On the other hand, a narrow template looks very smart, and is great for a blog that focuses on short and to-the-point posts. The point is that you should consider your content before you choose your layout. Consider:
  • What length posts do you think you will usually write?

  • How much space will you need for screenshots, artwork, pictures, and diagrams?
  • What information do you need to fit on your front page? Eg About Me, a chat box, your latest achievements – will they fit?
  • What color scheme do you want?
  • Do you need 1, 2, 3 or 4 columns to display things the way you want to?


Something that you should keep in mind is that WordPress tends to be more photo-friendly, with great templates and plugins for displaying screenshots, photos, and artwork in galleries. If your blog is going to focus on graphics, WordPress may be the better option.


8. Graphics     [return to top]

Graphics are entirely optional, but can brighten your blog, make it more attractive, break up large amounts of text, educate, and entertain.


Blog header

Some templates will have something that fits your theme, or you can just have a plain title. Some blog themes have rotating headers to show featured articles or gallery pictures.

You don’t necessarily need a fancy header, but if you want one, usually all you have to do is edit the header built into the template. If you’re not very good at this, find someone you know is good at making signatures and pictures, and have them do it for you. You could supply a screenshot of your character or have them do it for you.


Post images

Images used in your blog posts can really brighten up your blog, break up the text, and entertain your readers. Screenshots and diagrams can help if you are writing a guide.

Try to be consistent in the type of images you use. There are plenty of options:
  • Game Screenshots

  • Model Viewer images
  • Stock photos
  • Diagrams
  • Your own artwork


Consistency is important. If you always use only stock photos, that is what people will come to expect in your posts. If you suddenly switch to using all Model Viewer images, it will be jarring to your readers. That’s not to say that you can’t have a bit of everything – but try to be consistent. In fact, a mix of different types of images is probably best, so that you have plenty of options open to you!

Don’t ever put pictures on your blog that are linked directly back to where you found them – this is frowned upon, and in some cases, the original owner may change the image to spite you – and it will change on your blog without you realising. You don’t want a picture on your blog that suddenly changes to “I STEAL IMAGES” (or worse). Also, it should go without saying that you should ask permission to use someone else’s picture, and give them credit when you post it.


Hosting your images

If you use Blogger, you can store your pictures with them, on a Picasa Web Album. Wordpress.com gives you 3gb of storage. If you have your own web space. you can simply upload pictures to that space.

Another option is to store your pictures is to create an account with a free image host such as ImageShack or Photobucket. Be aware though that if your site ends up having a lot of traffic each month, you may need to upgrade for a small fee. Also, a friendly warning – don’t store any pictures that you wouldn’t want people to see (this is just common sense). This includes personal photos, but also things like screencaps of guild drama – you don’t want people seeing those. You can protect your account with a password, but it is far safer to not upload them in the first place!



9. Your first post – and beyond     [return to top]

It’s very tempting to write your first quick post, and then straight away start to advertise your blog. Don’t do this! You want some meat to your page first, so that when people visit, they get hooked.

Blog readers have seen a million “Hello World!” posts, there’s nothing new to see here – but if you follow it up with some “real” posts about your chosen topic, then visitors will know whether this is a blog that they want to follow. Here’s a better strategy:
  1. Write your introductory post – what you intend the blog to be about, a little about yourself and your history.

  2. Now write three or four more entries (you don’t have to do this today)
  3. Go comment on other blogs! This is the best way to get noticed by fellow bloggers.
  4. NOW you can tell people about your site.


Simple ways to advertise your new blog:

  • Add a link to forum signatures (and then make sure you post frequently).

  • Ask other bloggers to include you in their blog roll, link exchange, or mention you in “community spotlight” posts.
  • Submit your links to blog lists, wikis and directories.
  • Write an author intro post on Blog Azeroth.
  • Make an announcement on appropriate forums.




10. What to write     [return to top]

So. What should you write about? Where can you get ideas and inspiration? This will depend on what you have chosen for your blog’s focus.

Aside from the usual types of posts such as what your character is up to, recent achievements, strategies and guides, it can sometimes be hard to come up with a post. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, here are some tips:
  • Keep a notepad. Anytime something pops into your head that might make a good story (now or in the future), write it down. These are your “maybes”. You can revisit the list anytime you’re not sure what to write about.
  • News sites such as wow.com, wowraid.com and mmo-champion.com are good places to find snippets of information that might give you ideas for your blog. Don’t simply regurgitate their news, though; most people subscribe to them, so you’ll just be repeating what people already know. If you’re going to post about something you saw on these sites, make sure you spin it in a way that talks about your thoughts or ideas about what they are announcing.
  • Keep an eye on the appropriate WoW forums to see if people are discussing particular issues. Hot issues will give you an opportunity to comment. You can also look out for new people asking questions – if you see someone unsure about a particular aspect of the game or your class, it is an opportunity to do an article to help people with that topic.
  • Similarly, the Blizztracker displays all Blizzard posts on the forums. You could read through these and see if something catches your eye – perhaps something that most bloggers haven’t noticed? News, or a pressing issue, patch notes discussion.. the Blizztracker will pick up all Blizzard comments immediately, so you don’t have to wait for them to show up on a news website.




11. When to write     [return to top]

Try to be consistent in how frequently you post.

First, ask yourself how often you want to write your posts.

Now be honest with yourself, and ask how often you’ll actually write them. Will your schedule allow you enough time to write every day? Or is that being a little generous?

In the beginning it’s easy to be super keen and say you’ll post once a day. I think when most people start, they have a bunch of things to post about right away, and the frequency is quite high at first. But it’s only natural that sometimes you can’t post for some reason. It’s best to be honest and realistic from the start – if you tell people you will update daily, and then find it is too difficult to fit into your schedule, you may feel like you’re letting your readers down. So be realistic.

Your readers will come to expect updates with a particular frequency, whether it is daily, several times a day, once a week, twice a month. The frequency is entirely up to you – but try to be as consistent as you can. It can be hard – sometimes you have several posts that you want to make in one day, and then there will be a “dry spell” for a week or two. We’ve all been guilty of it.

The important thing to remember is that if you do have a case of writer’s block, or you have to go away on vacation, or you get sick, or you’re just plain tired – don’t beat yourself up – nobody is forcing you to blog – but just keep in mind that the more consistent you are, the more readers are going to stick with you.


If you can’t think of anything, or you know you’ll be busy

Most blog software will let you set a post date in advance, so you can write the post today, and it will automatically go up next Wednesday when you’re halfway around the world on vacation.

If you just can’t come up with an idea, or you know you have to go away for a week – find a guest poster! Ask someone if they would be willing to write a guest post for you. You could ask them to write on a particular topic, or they could choose the topic themselves. Have them email it to you before you go away, so that you can enter it into your blog dashboard and set it up to post automatically at the desired time.

Another tip is to keep a few articles that are already written – things that don’t apply to breaking news. For example, the story of your first raid, lore about your class, or how to choose a good character name. None of these will ever date – unlike posts that are about current content or changes in the game. If you keep a couple of “spare” articles up your sleeve, then you can post them when you’re having a dry spell.

Most importantly, you should pick a posting frequency and try to stick with it. Don’t make it an ad-hoc activity, or you’ll put it to one side and neglect it. Set aside time to write, and stick with it, whether it’s once a day, once a week, or once a month.



12. Advertising     [return to top]

The number one golden rule of advertising on your World of Warcraft blog: Never, ever, EVER put gold-selling ads anywhere on your blog. (why not?)

Now that we have that nasty business behind us..

You may be thinking of putting ads onto your blog to generate a small amount of money on the side. I won’t go into this too much, but here are a few things to consider:
  • Don’t put ads on your site right from the start. Ideally you want to build a name for your blog before you start putting any ads up.

  • The more ads you put on your site (and the bigger they are), the more they will detract from your blog. Consider only having a few ads at most, so that it doesn’t appear as though you are saturating your site.
  • Make them tasteful and professional looking. Big, flashing, tacky ads really detract from your blog and your writing.
  • Don’t position your ads so that your readers are forced to hurdle them to get to your content. It’s so irritating when you have to scroll past advertisements to get to what you want to read!




13. A few mistakes to avoid     [return to top]

We all make mistakes when we blog. Better you should know about them before you start, so you can avoid them from the beginning!

  • Infrequent posting. Don’t be unrealistic. If you announce that you will update daily, and you succeed for a while but then start to slow down, your readers will notice, and you’ll start feeling obliged to write, instead of making it something that you enjoy. Try be be realistic, and aim for updating once or twice a week, if that is more realistic for your schedule. Don’t break your neck!

  • Don’t make promises. Sometimes it’s good to announce things that you intend to do over the coming weeks – small changes, particular articles. But don’t make big announcements if you may not be able to stick to them! I wish I had written my Grid v Healbot series BEFORE I told anyone about them; having everyone ask me if they were done yet made me feel very pressured. The moral: be wary about announcing projects.
  • Write what you want to write. Don’t feel as though you have to be like the other blogs out there. Don’t live in their shadow. Write your own material, and don’t compare yourself to everyone else all the time.
  • Don’t stretch yourself thin. The more content you want to cover, the less attention you’ll be able to give to each – this is why sites like wow.com have so many writers. For example, if I chose to write about every healing class, I’d really have my work cut out for me – there’s just so much to cover (and I’d have to have an understanding of each of the classes). That’s why World of Matticus has writers of each healing class. Don’t set yourself up for a massive workload or you may start to feel burnt out. It may be better to specialise.
  • Don’t try to be a wow.com clone. There’s nothing wrong with reposting the news, but make sure you’re adding your own spin/opinion. Regurgitating the news every now and then is fine, but too often and your blog will feel like it has no original content or substance. If you want to talk about the news, talk about the news, don’t just throw it back at people – they’ve probably seen it 5 times this morning already!
  • Have a way for people to send you messages. Now, you don’t want to be flooded and overwhelmed, but a simple chat box, contact form, or email address is important so that readers can contact you with questions, problems, or suggestions. Make sure that if you are posting your email address, you obscure it so that grubby mitts can’t steal it and spam you. For example, you can type it out and make it into an image, rather than text.
  • Consider your content BEFORE you choose a template. My original, NARROW template was far, far too small for me to be able to post pretty pictures, diagrams, etc. The largest I could post was about 200-300px! I prefer around 400-500 at least (you don’t want to go too big). The point is: don’t pick a pretty template and then realise months later that your content is always going to look squished. On the other hand, don’t go too wide – some people still have smaller monitors!
  • Don’t make blogging into a job. As soon as you start to feel as though you “have to” blog, you’ll begin to resent it as an obligation, and things will go downhill from there. You have to love writing, and it has to be something you look forward to, not something you procrastinate about or feel resentful towards. If you’re having problems sticking to writing, maybe consider scaling back your posting frequency to once a week or twice a month – so it doesn’t feel like so much pressure to write.


There are tonnes of sites out there to help you identify the common blogging mistakes that people make. Take a few minutes to have a look before you begin to blog, so that you can avoid those mistakes right from the start!

Here are a few sites to check out:

Problogger – Warning: Do You Recognize These 21 Blogging Mistakes?
Search Engine People – 12 Common Blogging Mistakes To Avoid

DailyBlogTips – Blogging Mistakes – Final List
“This is the final list of entries for the blog project “Blogging Mistakes”. We had 48 blogs participating on the project, hopefully we will learn from those mistakes and avoid them on the future.”

I highly recommend you read some of these, as they are from the perspective of bloggers, many quite new to blogging, and give you an insight into the mistakes we make. There are a lot of “I never realised I was making such a big mistake!” posts from new and seasoned bloggers alike.




14. Resources     [return to top]

Blogging platforms

Blogspot/Blogger http://www.blogspot.com/
WordPress.com http://wordpress.com/
WordPress.org http://wordpress.org/
TypePad http://www.typepad.com/
MovableType http://www.movabletype.org/
Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/


Domain names and hosting

Web Hosting Geeks Top 10 Web Hosting — Best Web Hosts (2009)
GoDaddy http://www.godaddy.com/
bluehost http://www.bluehost.com/
Lunarpages http://www.lunarpages.com/
HostMonster http://www.hostmonster.com/


Graphics, image hosting

Photobucket http://photobucket.com/
ImageShack http://imageshack.us/
Image Hosting http://www.imagehosting.com/
   
WoW Model Viewer http://www.wowmodelviewer.org/
Gimp image editor http://www.gimp.org/
Twig Heals Guide to improving screenshot quality
   
Blogspot themes Blogspot Blogger Templates Themes
Blogspot themes 50 More Beautiful Blogger Templates
WordPress themes Official WordPress theme index
WordPress themes Top WordPress themes


Articles and topics

Blog Azeroth What constitutes a good blog?
Daniel Powell (ex-BRK)    The Do’s and Don’ts of Being a WoW Blogger
The Hunter’s Mark Why your blog is boring
World of Matticus The Purple Kodo: 13 Points of Blogging
HoTsTree Want to Blog Less Suck Redux


If you have any more great resources or articles, let me know and I will include them here!



15. TLDR: A summary of what you need to know and do     [return to top]
  • Do some reading and learn from other people’s mistakes.
  • Decide on a blog focus.
  • Familiarise yourself with other blogs in that category. What do you like about them? What would you do differently?
  • Decide on a blog title. Search to see it’s not taken or too similar to an existing blog. Make sure it’s catchy, that you’ll be happy to use it for quite a while, and that it will make a good URL too.
  • Decide on a blogging platform, and sign up using your chosen title.
  • If you decided on WordPress self-hosted, find yourself a good host with unlimited bandwidth and unlimited storage. Buy a domain name at the same time if you can.
  • Choose a theme/layout for your blog. Make sure it will be the right layout for the type of posts you want to do, and take into consideration how much space you would need for images, if any.
  • Sign up for an image host if your blog platform doesn’t provide image hosting.
  • Post an introductory post. Write several more before you announce the arrival of your blog.
  • Comment on other blogs.
  • Advertise your site to friends, guildies, and on appropriate forums.
  • Be as consistent with your post frequency as you can, so your readers know when to expect your posts to happen.
  • Don’t immediately plaster your blog with ads – wait a while. NEVER allow gold-selling ads on your blog.



Most of all, have fun and enjoy writing!