All right, you’re a hot-shot writer, with an eye for the next big story. You’re armed with ideas – notes from a deep-sea expedition, a wild safari in the Himalayas and an encounter with a world-famous snake charmer from Jaipur, who, by the way, also happens to be a regular member of Sarita Devi Armed Forces for Divorced Men in Denial.

Ok, I made that last one up.

The first thing you need to do is figure out what you’re good at or what you like talking about most. Now, this doesn’t mean that you can rant about a newly acquired 4-in-1 mixer and grinder that makes excellent banana smoothies. Wait, if that’s the case; let me know where you got it.

You should be a bit specific with your genre. For eg. Apple Fan Blog, Traveling in Himalayas, Desert Rallying for Grandmothers or even Smoothies for Geeks.

You pick.

Once you are certain of what you’d like to talk about with the world, you need to acquire a branded domain name. This could look something like this: yourdomainname.com, travelinhimalayas.com or even smoothiesforgeeks.com

You can opt to host your blog and branded domain on several available free blogging platforms. My personal favourite is WordPress, simply because of the functionality, ease of use and managing database, which it is known for. Other well-known platforms are Blogger, Tumblr and Posterous.

If you’re a beginner, use your existing Gmail account to start with Blogger. It is free, simple and easy to use. Once you get the hang of it, upgrade to what you like (Preferably WordPress).

Now comes the tricky bit, where you might jump into a can of soup. Don’t ask me how the soup got into all this.

Readers.

One of the most important aspects of blogging is readership – people who go through your inane blabber. The bread and butter, your fuel for inspiration, the dark horses in the blue clouds. Don’t over think that last one.

The easiest way to attract audience on your blog is by finding the secret formula to run cars on water. Just kidding. In case, you did find such a formula, do contact me on the web address mentioned below.

On a serious note, you stand a good chance of attracting loads of people you already know with social media. The best part about it is that you don’t need a marketing budget. All you need is some spare time, which I’m guessing you have loads off.

Start with Facebook and Linkedin; upload your articles on the blog that you chose earlier and share the URL with friends and family on their profiles. This would help you generate a conversation with readers and collect valuable feedback.

Another potentially elaborate idea would be to find blogs that are relevant to your genre and start commenting on their articles. By doing so, you would pat them on their back as well as invite them to view your content.

This means that if you are any good, people will share you further into their circle of friends and colleagues. And, before you know it, and by doing this over and over again, you’ll be the proud owner of a successfully running blog.

Finally, about that formula for running cars on water, please contact us on info@hdegreeglobal.com

Note: This article has been originally published in Sector News (See it here).

Image: Corbis