Figmentations

Inspired by Chris Brogan’s advice in his recent post, “If I Started Today“, I put together my own list of what I’ve found to be 50 reasons to start blogging (and/or in social media) even if you don’t have a clear-cut business plan or idea.  

My best advice is to start small and build from there.  And, always remember that “starting small” is not the same as “playing small”. 

Here are fifty things that I believe are best figured out along the way:

LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF

 1.  Decide how much personal information you are comfortable sharing about yourself online.  Your comfort zone will relax over time.

 2.  Figure out what you want to say about yourself on your “About” page and in your online profiles.  Get started with some basics, then refine over time.

 3.  Don’t worry about having a professional headshot of yourself at first, you can get one later once you are more established.

 4.  Find out what you like to write about without the pressure of deadlines.  Where will you get ideas? From other bloggers, or online magazines, books, newspapers, TV, friends, radio, feeds, etc.  Try them all.

 5.  Practice varying your post lengths:  share links, quotes, advice, tips, lists, Book Reviews, rants, opinions, etc. Experiment with writing catchy titles and adding meaningful images to your posts.

 6.  Develop your Writer/Commenter Confidence. At first, it can seem scary committing your thoughts and opinions in writing, but that’s part of the fun, too. 

 7.  Get used to the unpredictability of not getting comments when you think you should, and getting comments when you don’t expect to.

 8.  Learn how to keep writing, sharing, and contributing, even when you might not get the feedback or traffic you are hoping for. Trust that it will pay off in the long run.

 9.  Realize that ’seemingly unnoticed’ work is never lost, it can easily be re-purposed into traffic-generating articles or e-book content for redistribution (and profit) later.

10.  Trust that the more online activity history you have, the more credibility you’ll build for yourself.  People are less likely to trust those with just a few posts to their name.

 LEARN HOW TO MANAGE YOUR TIME

11.  Figure out an editorial/publication schedule that you are actually able to stick to. Realize that it takes time to develop a writing habit.  Readers are a little more forgiving for newcomers that may have occasional gaps in their posting history.  Work to eliminate gaps altogether.

12.  Work towards being more efficient in how long it takes you to write a post, and how many words you really need to convey your message and still hold a time-strapped-reader’s attention.

13.  Develop a commenting strategy.  Others are more likely to comment and find your work if you comment on theirs.  It takes some time to find meaningful places to comment.

14.  Find tools that can help you manage your time, such as search, feed readers, bookmark, tags, alerts, marked/shared Favorites. Build in efficient ways to monitor those information streams.

15.  Figure out how many people you can comfortably follow on each service/tool.  A manageable load at first will eventually need to be managed differently as it grows over time.

16.  Determine whether you get better results by growing your follower base by inviting/following people, or more organically as people find you, or a combination of both.

TAKE YOUR TIME GETTING TO KNOW PEOPLE

17.  Take advantage of being new and get to know your potential competitors without being seen as a threat to them.

18.  ‘Test out’ people before deciding whether or not to approach them with business dealings, partnerships, hiring them as consultants/mentors/coaches, or getting deeply involved in their circles/tribes. You only truly know someone after following them for a while.

19.  Choose a circle of people to interact with where you feel comfortable (e.g., Are they overly political, religious, sales-y, or not enough?)

20.  Decide if the circle of people that you network with is your customer or your industry peer group.  Do they stand for what you believe in?  Does it matter?

21.  Establish your presence and build your credibility over time. Let people get to know you, too. 

22.  Find your voice.  It is more fun and authentic if you express yourself naturally rather than under pressure.  Enjoy a freedom and flexibility that you might not always have once you are more established.

23.  You can’t get accused of Spamming people if you aren’t selling anything. Selling can come later, and might even be more lucrative if based on true word-of-mouth and solid endorsements.

24.  Take the time to learn the netiquette of participation.  How, how often, when, and where is it best to submit comments, respond to replies, agree/disagree, share information, generate and participate in conversations?

25.  Take notes on how other people ask you to check out their posts in non-spammy ways.

LEARN THE TOOLS (i.e., you don’t need everything on Day One.)

26.  Use, then choose, a few core tools to start with.  Don’t abandon these when other tools come along. 

27.  Get used to new tools always being introduced. Some you’ll try. Some you won’t. Some you’ll like.  Some you’ll like better over time.  Some you’ll drop. Some you’ll outgrow.  Don’t neglect your core.

28.  Determine what parts of your online identity is transferable and what parts are tied to a tool, e.g., changing hosting companies, vs changing domain names, vs. changing your design or brand identity.

29.  Take the time to find where your preferred audience is hanging out.  Try new services/tools and don’t feel obligated to keep using services that don’t work for you just because others swear by them.

30.  Play around with Feeds and aggregate what you do on different services so that you can more efficiently reach different audiences in each environment.

31.  Decide what stat measurement tool works for you.  Start with free services and only upgrade to paid services when you really need to. 

32.  Get a feel for how much “flair” you want on your site.  What widgets or badges work best for you? Which affiliate products do you want to endorse? Experiment.

33.  Figure out if you really need every bell and whistle.  You might like to have a forum, but do you really need one before you’re really established?

REFINE YOUR BUSINESS IDEA

34.  Refine and condense your objective to a 30-second elevator pitch or 140-character Twitter-length description.

35.  Listen for the keywords used by your target audience.  Become aware of what can be tracked and what is missed by just tracking only select keywords.

36.  Figure out if the domain name you start out with is going to be the one you want to stay with long-term.  The earlier you figure this out, the better.

37.  Determine if you need or want to compile a business philosophy about how you go to business and how you disclose your affiliations.

38.  Decide what privacy policies you like and need. You might not need this right off the bat, but you will need some form of this over time.

39.  Determine how important it is for your business to have an email auto-responder or a newsletter in addition to a blog.  Neither is probably needed at first.

40.  Create a body of work, then check if it is consistent with your stated purpose.  Decide which needs to be adjusted.

41.  Evaluate whether or not your business idea is too broad or too focused.  Do you have one area of focus or many?  Can they co-exist or do they need to be split up?

42.  Test different ways to monetize your blog. Which ways are consistent with your reputation and mission?  Which are effective?

43.  Find your own way. Your online experience might even turn you into a social media adviser without that even being your goal at first.

44.  Watch which conferences your peers go to. Read their reviews to figure out which, if any, you might benefit from attending, too.

PREPARE FOR THE UNEXPECTED (just in case)

45.  Build up your skills and workflows before a crisis hits so that you are ready to respond like a pro (not an amateur that doesn’t understand the space).

46.  Realize that mis-steps are more easily forgiven or even noticed when your audience is smaller and knows you are still getting your feet wet.

47.  Observe the online spats or disagreements that occasionally arise from certain personalities.  Learn what not to do, too.

48.  Notice how and when things go viral and what happens when they do.  Get a feel for the unpredictability of social media.

49.  Have fun.  It’s easier to take risks with less at stake.  Start small, but don’t play small.  Use your start-up time as a playground to test different approaches.

50.  Appreciate that as a beginner, you can more easily re-invent yourself if your idea or audience morphs into something more interesting or desirable.

To summarize: There is never only one way to get started. Figure out what works for you. One guarantee I can give is this:  “Your needs will change as you grow.”    The key to achieving in this space is to simply get started, stick with it, learn, and grow along the way.  I hope that at least a few of these ideas have demonstrated that there is no better time to start that ball rolling than now!