22 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Starting a Blog
“You should totally start a blog.”
How many times has someone said this to you in the past month? Past few years?
Every time you speak passionately about what lights you up, someone tells you, “You need a blog.”
People start blogs for all kinds of reasons — an online journal of sorts, somewhere to share information that they think will be helpful to people, to make money, or — my favorite reason — to show their authority and expertise.
A blog is a time commitment. It’s also a lot of fun. I learned so much about myself through my blog. One of the coolest parts is always when someone emails me to tell me that something I wrote gave them an A-HA moment, or inspired them to write something they’d been putting off, or gave them the courage they needed to take a leap.
Did you know that this blog started out in 2012 as a plant-based food and lifestyle blog? If you’ve been around for that long — thanks for sticking with me as I grow and evolve.
When I stopped writing about plant-based living, I realized what blogging did for me. It helped me to discover that it was writing I enjoyed the most — it was less about the bean burgers.
“I feel I change my mind all the time. And I sort of feel that's your responsibility as a person, as a human being – to constantly be updating your positions on as many things as possible. And if you don't contradict yourself on a regular basis, then you're not thinking.” - Malcolm Gladwell
My blog is a walking contradiction. And I’m okay with this. We’re constantly changing and evolving. I just happen to be doing it publicly. I’m going to change my mind on things. Just like I changed my mind about eating bacon.
If you ask me if you should start a blog, I’ll always say yes. I think writing is the best free therapy on the planet, and someone might need to hear just the words that poured out of you. There are, of course, other wonderful reasons to blog — sharing your expertise and showing off your smarts are my favorite reasons. I didn’t start my blog to make money. I tried ads for a week and I felt dirty.
I started blogging as an experiment and went along for the adventure.
If you’re thinking of starting a blog — great! Here are some questions to consider as you get started. These aren’t intended to make you second guess yourself, but instead, get clear on your WHY.
Why do you want to blog?
Who is your reader? Can you describe one person? What do they do for a living? What do they struggle with? What keeps them up at night?
How often do you want to blog?
Will you share your blog with your email subscribers? Social media? How will you tell people about new blog posts?
Can you repurpose anything you’ve already written for your blog?
What are people constantly asking for your advice on?
What makes you mad about your industry? How do you do things differently?
What do you believe in?
Did you have an A-HA moment that led you to today, or wanting to start a blog?
Are you okay with rejection?
Do you like writing?
Do you journal?
Are you an expert on something or do you know more than the average person about a certain topic?
Do you have some valuable experiences to talk about?
Is your perspective unique? Why?
What are your blogging goals?
Where will you write your blog?
How will you come up with blog ideas?
Are you patient?
Do you have time to write and edit?
Are you okay with being ignored?
Do you want to have comments on your blog?
And please, try to avoid getting lost in analysis paralysis and perfectionism. If you think you have an idea for a blog, please start it. You can change it and evolve it with every new piece of content you publish.
If you enjoyed this article on starting a blog, you might like these too:
Your heart is in the right place, hit publish already!
And if you need someone to kick your butt to get you writing, you might be a great fit for the writing community.
