I can hear you saying, "If I wanted to do planing I would have kept my day job in Corporate America." Well if, like me, you have several different blogs that you maintain you have to plan. As a matter of a fact, I can't do anything with out having a plan.
Now when I say plan, I do not mean a 100 page power point presentation, with color glossy photographs that have a paragraph on the back explaining what each picture is about.
No, what I have in mind is something that will guide you through a complex process. For some people that can be something as easy as just making a list of steps that you are going to follow. A check list of sorts. You may not even write it down. Me I have to make notes. I have reached that age where I have to write things down to remember them. You know what they say, "Memory is the second thing to go".
And besides what would I have to write about if I did not write about planing. One of the things that happens to many bloggers is that after a while they run out of steam. It is difficult to day in and day out come up with post that others will want to read. This is one of the problems that having a plan will help you avoid. I have to refer back to the plans that I initially wrote for some of my blogs to regain my focus and to make sure that I am creating new ideas that fit in with the stated purpose of the blog.
So let's get started. The first thing you need to plan is the Name of your blog.
Name Your Blog - It is important to give your blog a unique name that allows readers to get a glimpse into what the blog is all about.
One reason to give your blog name some thought is to ensure that you have a unique name. If you choose a name that is being used by some other site, or one that can be confused with something else you run the risk that your blog will not be found. And you may put in a lot of hard work building your blog only to find that you have to change the name at some later time. So put in a little work up front and choose a unique name.
Choose a name that is meaningful. I have seen many blogs that have names that do not give any idea of what they are about. And you can name your blog this way too. But you will have to build name recognition, and this task is easier when the name is relevant to the subject matter of the blog. The point is to think about it, and give your blog a name that helps your reader understand what your blog is all about. A meaningful blog name may even help you to stay focused as you post to your blog.
I suggest that after you have decided on a name that you enter it into a search engine and see what comes up. This step will help you see what other sites are using the words that you pick for your blog's name.
In my case I named my music blog "Squeeze My Lemon" because the blog that I am going to create is a blues music blog. Squeeze my lemon is a reference to an old Blues music lyric. If you have heard the Led Zeppelin tune "The Lemon Song" then you are no doubt familiar with this lyric. If not, don't worry it is just an example, but I am hoping that blues music fans will relate to that name.
Ideas for naming your blog;
- Name it after a band that plays the type of music you will blog about.
- Name it from a music lyric.
- Name it for a musical instrument.
- Name it for a performer, songwriter, or individual related to music.
Purpose of Blog - Next I like to write a purpose of the blog. You may feel that you know what the purpose of your blog is. But I can tell you from experience that after you have been writing a blog for a while, it can become difficult to stay focused. And having a written purpose will help you to focus.
Having a written out purpose will also help you later when we start promoting the blog. You will have an answer when you are asked to describe your blog.
You could write something like the following;
The purpose of the Squeeze My Lemon blog is to be a blues music resource. It will be a collection of links to other blues music resources, including books, blogs, articles and other media. The main focus of the blog will be a place for blues music fans to download legal mp3 files.
Squeeze My Lemon is a blog that will review other blues mp3 blogs as well as provides links to free and legal online mp3s. Discussions of digital music and the hardware needed to play digital music will also be covered. Tips, and "how to" information will be provided to help the modern music enthusiast make informed choices.
It will also be a platform for affiliate links. Links to digital music providers as well as hardware and other music equipment will linked to.
List of possible purposes for your music blog (besides being a platform for affiliate links).
- 1. To keep others informed about the music industry. News, concert dates, venues, trends.
- 2. Hardware, mp3 players, car audio, home stereo equipment, portable digital players.
- 3. To interface with other fans of a certain band, group or performer. ie a bolg about Led Zeppelin.
- 4. Provide links, references to music.
- 5. To give the history of a band, musical form or style of music.
- 6. Again there could be many purposes for your blog, this list is just provided to get you thinking.
Sources of content - Now that you have chosen a name for your blog and you have a good idea of the purpose of the blog it is time to think about the source of content. This is the biggie. The other steps in planning were the lead up to this step.
The sources of content depend on the purpose of the blog. And the purpose is reflected in the name you chose. For example if your purpose is to inform, then your sources may be news web sites, books, magazines and other resources that give you news.
If your purpose is to entertain then you may have to create content or find legal sources of entertainment out on the web.
If your purpose is just to collect a group of resources for your own edification (which is an excellent reason to keep a blog / journal) then again, you will have to do some searching to find sources.
In my case because I have chosen to blog about blues music. I will use the following sources (they are being presented here as examples).
- 1. Amazon.com down loadable music.
- 2. Other music blogs.
- 3. The local edition of my news paper.
- 4. Local Bands.
- 5. Various RSS Feeds.
- 6. flickr.com.
- 7. Google images.
- 8. Yahoo images.
So in today's post I have tried to give a brief plan for the creation of a music blog that I will use for affiliate links. I am doing this to help new affiliates get an idea of how they can create an affiliate program step by step. In future post I will go over the tools we will need to implement the blog plan that I have developed in this post.
Feel free to add your comments or ideas to make this plan better.
Have a website? Learn how to make money with LinkShare.
No comments:
Post a Comment