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View Full Version : Thinking of starting up a new blog. Again. Tips and Opinions are welcomed.



Harold Mansfield
02-05-2014, 07:09 PM
So...I've had a few blogs over the years. The most significant was my Dance Music blog of about 3 years. It had decent traffic...around 500-700 visitors a day with 3x's as many total page views, with visitor spikes up to around 1200+ on certain days. It was enough to make a few bucks on it, and to have labels, artists and managers regularly send me press, new releases, run contests and so on.

That also spun into having the Electronic Dance Music section on Examiner, which didn't really do much for me. And there are so many ads on Examiner that it just turned me off.

Then business started picking up and it was harder and harder to keep 2 blogs updated every day until I eventually let them go, didn't renew the URL (that was a big mistake), and just left the Facebook page inactive.

There's actually more to the story about the URL..I actually lost it through some kind of BS with the registrar and was locked out of renewing it. I never got to the bottom of it and they had already let someone else register it. But I should have fought for it harder.

But everyone who used to frequent my site knew it wasn't me. And now the URL hosts some crap pay day loan blog.

Every now and then someone will message me on Social Media about when I'm going to start it up again.

Since then I've started a politics blog, and a few others, wrote a few articles for other people....but there was always something missing. I wasn't really doing it the way I wanted. I was playing it too safe and that bored me to death.

So I've decided to do it again. This time with no concern for who may or may not like it, and about the things that I like writing about...even if the category structure has no rhyme or reason. Basically I get tired of writing about the same subject matter everyday. I like to mix it up. Music will always take precedence, but I know more and find more things interesting than just that.

I've also learned a lot more about promotion and marketing since then. Tools are better and the social media landscape has kind of calmed down now so it's easier to see opportunities and where you fit in.

Pros:

Already have 500 Facebook Page Fans, 1500+ Twitter followers, and Around 300 Newsletter Subscribers...all from the old site...to get it kick started.
Get to do it the way that I always wanted to and not based on any cookie cutter template of how to structure a niche blog.
I miss getting free stuff, tickets, invitations, and new music (just being honest).
I miss blogging.
I know how to make money at it.
I need to diversify.


Cons:
Will I have the time?

Just curious how many people have started blogs in the past and let them go. And what were some of the reasons why?

Freelancier
02-05-2014, 07:22 PM
I've had two... one about business and one political. I got started with both when I was on the road doing on-site customer work and had a lot of boring nights in hotel rooms. And -- in both cases -- it just got harder and harder to want to sit down to write anything when I was so busy with "real" projects and family and all the other daily stuff that gets in the way.

Writers write. I know this because I used to be a professional writer. Everyone else does it as a hobby and the first thing to go when you get busy is the hobbies.

Someday when I'm not so busy, I'll go back to writing. Until then, I'd rather not feel guilty about not doing something I don't have time to do.

Harold Mansfield
02-05-2014, 07:53 PM
Writers write. .

True. But you have to eat.

Freelancier
02-06-2014, 07:37 AM
Yes indeed. During the 1990's I was very prolific and paid very well for it. I was making about 50% of my income at writing and 50% at consulting. Then my MBA class was assigned the task of analyzing our company's product mix and making recommendations about them from a business perspective. "Product mix"?? I was a one-person shop! Then I realized that my writing was one product and my consulting was another, so I went to work doing a business analysis of both. Turns out that writing was a drag on my income even though it was easy money for me... because I was the only one who could do it, but with consulting, I could subcontract out some of the work and make more money than the number of hours that I had to work. I also had much better price control with consulting.

So I ended up cutting back my writing... and then the tech bubble burst and the magazines that paid me so well stopped having so many pages in each issue, so they cut back on their external writers (and internal ones as well!). I focused on consulting going forward and work to grow that business every year along with adding other businesses that can operate without much effort from me.

But I miss writing sometimes. Just not enough to want to cut into my other businesses for it.

KristineS
02-06-2014, 01:12 PM
I had a couple of personal blogs that I was writing just as an outlet. Scrapped them both eventually because I didn't have the time or motivation to keep them updated regularly, and I didn't really know what I wanted them to be. Fast forward several years, and I've just started three new blogs, each with a specific subject, all of which interest me. It's too early to tell whether I'll be more successful this time, but my professional profile is much bigger now than it was back then, so I think that will help. I also have goals for these blogs and I think that will help set the bar for what I consider success. I'm treating them more as parts of my writing business this time and less as something I'm doing for fun and that changes my mindset about them.

Plus, honestly, after writing for other people, which is great and awesome that they pay me to do it but still limiting in some ways, I just want some outlets where I can write what I want, when I want and control how the writing is presented.

Harold Mansfield
02-07-2014, 03:57 PM
My goal has always been to create a true multi-media experience that encompasses Information, Entertainment, Sound and Visuals in an easy to use website. When I was writing the other blog tablets were a dream. Netbooks were the device of the day. But they rarely had enough power to enjoy that kind of site.

However, today...tablets are completely capable of handling a site that has video, and music without having to refresh the page or wait for something to load. You should be able to play a music track while reading the article about it. And we can do that now.

I also thought music sites were limiting in the content that they produced. Even though I was also doing it. I don't see why I have to adhere to any restrictions anymore.

Right now, every time a new story breaks or album drops, or festival announces a line up, I'm always thinking, "Man, I wish I could run that story. I'd do it much better than they did".

The more I think about it, the more I'm going to do it.

Harold Mansfield
02-09-2014, 07:25 PM
Got a beta version up. Was going to wait till the end of the month, but may as well start getting it indexed:
http://whiskeyandbacon.co/

KristineS
02-10-2014, 12:56 PM
It looks nice. Definitely encompasses a lot of subjects. Since I don't drink, I'm not much for the Whiskey, but I'm definitely with you on the bacon! It will be interesting to see what you do with this.

Harold Mansfield
02-10-2014, 01:12 PM
It looks nice. Definitely encompasses a lot of subjects. Since I don't drink, I'm not much for the Whiskey, but I'm definitely with you on the bacon! It will be interesting to see what you do with this.
Ha. Yeah that's what I was thinking. It WILL be interesting to see what I do with it.

I got the music category covered. I'm still getting press from when I had the last blog.

I have feelers out for press and partnerships on the Whiskey stuff. As an ex Bartender who drinks Whiskey I should be able to pull that part off. You'd be amazed how much Whiskey there is out there. Got some ideas. Not sure if drinking a new whiskey once a week is a good or bad thing

The Bacon part will be easy. Recipes for days. Years even.

It usually takes about 2-3 months of consistency ( and of course Social Media ad buys and promoted posts) before I hit a rhythm. Sometimes you get lucky and hit a viral post.
That'll give me time to fine tune some things.

Normally you'd have all of that done before you put it live, but there was too much news happening and I couldn't wait.
Hoping to have it 100% by the end of the month.

KristineS
02-11-2014, 01:21 PM
Sounds like you're positioned to have good sources of news for all categories. I'm amazed at how much people talk about bacon. Kind of astounding sometimes how many bacon related items I've seen in the past few months.

Business Attorney
02-11-2014, 05:32 PM
Your new blog looks very interesting. Good luck on the "Will I have the time?" issue, though. It looks like a lot of work to keep it fresh.

Harold Mansfield
02-11-2014, 06:58 PM
Your new blog looks very interesting. Good luck on the "Will I have the time?" issue, though. It looks like a lot of work to keep it fresh.

The general consensus is that the subject matter covers wildly different topics that attract completely different demographics, and that it will be hard to target a market.

For some reason I don't see it that way.

LeadMaster
02-21-2014, 03:44 PM
I like when certain consultants or businesses have a "Random News Wednesday" or something like that because it allows them to share unrelated content while still following the theme of their blog. I have come across blogs that contain a lot of unjustified nonrelated content which shows they have no structure and have probably lost interest in the primary theme which eats at the foundation.

Harold Mansfield
02-21-2014, 04:03 PM
I have come across blogs that contain a lot of unjustified nonrelated content which shows they have no structure and have probably lost interest in the primary theme which eats at the foundation.

I see that all of the time too. I'm really particular about keeping on topic and what kind of things I will post. For instance, the blog is heavy into nightlife and clubbing. Yet, I'll only write or post about certain genres of dance music and I make no bones about it. For instance, don't send me no Dub Step. It will never see the light of day on my site.

I even go as far as to tell promoters and others submitting press how I want things submitted and what they need to include.

Most already have it down to a science, but new people or people new to promotions and marketing will send you a quagmire of BS to wade through, and send you to websites to grab images. I can't work with that. Most times I just don't have the time to write their press release, as well as my own stuff.

The new public relations and other companies that I've reached out to seem to be receptive to how I'd like to promote their clients, and get the word out for them.

Like I said, I've done this before and was successful so most of the people I'm reaching back out to already know me and know that I'm going to present their stuff well.

Sounds pretty particular, but once you get a rhythm down and people start seeing it, then they really start sending press and stuff.