Parent blogging

Generally speaking, parent blogging is memoir-style blogging, detailing the trials, tribulations, and general hysteria of raising children.

Quite a few parenting blogs start before much parenting is going on — before or during pregnancy — and then proceed through infancy and upward. Don't let the fact that you're not quite a parent yet deter you from starting a parenting blog.

They're often hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, and so easy to identify with. If you don't have children, you certainly were one once. Frankly, kids are funny.

You can find many great examples of parenting blogs out there, including the blog Go Grow Go (www.gogrowgo.com). Felicia Carter, a mother of two, writes Go Grow Go, shown in Figure 8-1. Felicia’s blog has earned her coverage in Good Housekeeping, Huffington Post, and the CBS show The Talk.

Dads, don't think for a second that the parent blogging community is all about moms! The dad blogging community is one of the fastest growing in the blogosphere, with readers, fellow bloggers, and sponsors taking notice. Dads offer a wonderful and often unheard take on parenting, contributing to a seemingly female-dominated topic — what it means to be a parent. Check out the dads at How to Be a Dad (www.howtobeadad.com), Life of Dad (www.lifeofdad.com), and Lunchbox Dad (www.lunchboxdad.com) to get a taste of the vibrant dad blogging community.

Turning your offline hobby into a blog

You probably already have offline hobbies that consume time and energy and about which you have great passion. You also probably have plenty to say on the topic, but too few people are genuinely interested in hearing you expound about your hobby.

Find your compatriots online by starting a blog about your hobby and hooking into a community of people who share your passion both for the activity and for news and discussion about your hobby. You can find many terrific hobby blogs out there about everything from scrapbooking to jewelry-making to collecting airline safety cards.

One popular area of hobby blogging is the world of crafting. Bloggers who craft typically share step-by-step instructions with detailed photographs explaining their latest project. Readers love to pin their favorite ideas to Pinterest and emulate the blogger’s projects in their own homes. Visit A Beautiful Mess (www.abeautifulmess.com), Aunt Peaches (www.auntpeaches.com), and Jacks & Kate (www.jacksandkate.com, shown in Figure 8-2) for just a small sample of this booming blogging community.

Talking technology

With so many devices used daily, even the most technologically savvy person needs help from time to time. How often have you brought home a new cellphone, ripped open the box with great excitement, and then failed utterly to figure out how to get your contacts imported? How many times have you uploaded your family's photographs onto your home PC only to realize that you're not sure how to get them back out? We all have the occasional technology question. Technology bloggers have figured this out, writing blogs that explain how to resolve common problems as well as blogs that whet your appetite for new gadgets.

You can find a number of highly successful technology blogs around the web, including some that have been in existence for over a decade. Some of these blogs are specialized to a particular kind of tool or software; some are just about conveying the latest and greatest across the field.

If you work in technology or just have a passion for it, you can start a blog about your enthusiasm. That's what Kris McDonald did when she founded Little Tech Girl (www.littletechgirl.com).

Little Tech Girl, shown in Figure 8-3, covers anything and everything about technology. Kris converted her background as a support tech and a self-proclaimed techie into blog success.

Getting political with it

No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, you live in interesting political times. You'll never be short of topics, from the latest political scandal to the next national election.

Some of the most popular political bloggers have turned their online musings into full-fledged careers in the media, providing commentary for everything from talk shows to newspaper columns. Conversely, some traditional journalists have bowed out of newspapers and television to move to a blog.

This niche has room for many kinds of blogs, from those criticizing national policy to those covering local school board and city elections. If you have a craving to get involved in politics but don't want to run for office, a blog might be a great way to develop an effective voice. And if you're a politician, you can follow the example of Barack Obama, who used a blog as part of his campaign strategy while successfully running for the presidency of the United States. For some, the urge to sound off on politics has led to incredible blogging success while challenging the establishment. Take, for example, Truthdig (www.truthdig.com), which won four Webby Awards. (The Webbys are the web's equivalent of the Oscars.) Shown in Figure 8-4, Truthdig was started by journalist Robert Scheer and publisher Zuade Kaufman to be a source for political commentary and news that challenges the “wisdom of the day.”

Reporting news

The offline world is full of general news sources — the 200-page newspaper that struggles to appeal to all its readers or the broadcast news show that does local car chases and the weather well — and not much else.

Online, specialized news sources focusing on one hyper-focused niche are the norm. Quite a few news outlets have opted to offer news personalization features, letting you customize the news that you consume by topics. But many folks who have specialized interests still have to look through a lot of news sources to find truly pertinent stories.

If you're doing that kind of research for yourself, you can start a blog that shares your findings with others interested in the same topic. Are you an economist collecting stories about garbage production in North America? Or a marketing expert who keeps track of the latest guerilla marketing tactics in order to keep on your toes professionally? You can turn this research into a valuable blog for others who share your interest.

You can produce this format quite easily, as well, because posts are frequently just pointers to a news story or article on another website. The value for readers in a blog of this kind is that someone else (the blogger) has already done the work of finding the news, so sending them to another site is actually an important part of the service you're providing.

Quite a few bloggers have opted to develop blogs in a specialized news area and parlayed that success into a new revenue stream or sponsorship, so creating your own news blog might even prove to be a wise business move.

Even if you don't put advertising on your specialized news blog, keeping a blog of this kind demonstrates that you're on top of your field.

Revealing it all

If nothing in this chapter appeals to you so far, perhaps you're looking for the blog classic: journal or diary blogging. Part memoir and part confessional, online journals cover every topic that life can serve up.

Personal diaries can be real snooze-fests or tearjerkers nonpareil. Much depends, of course, on the quality of the writing. But much also depends on what happens in the life being documented. Life bloggers, as they're sometimes called, must deal with whatever comes up next for them, from weddings to being fired or hired to being diagnosed with cancer.

These blogs are usually easy to relate to and easy to read; they're also often humorous or heart wrenching, and sometimes both. They take courage to write, whether read by millions or only five.

Sharing a deal

For some, deal-seeking is a way of life, whereas for others it is very nearly an art form. Popular couponing and deal sites are some of the most widely visited blogs on the Internet, with readers returning multiple times per day to find the latest savings or to download valuable coupons before they run out.

Andrea Deckard of Savings Lifestyle (www.savingslifestyle.com) has created a site catering to a variety of deal-seeking readers. She covers topics ranging from coupons to deals to general money-saving tips. Andrea has even capitalized on local markets by including deals specific to just the Cincinnati and Dayton areas.

To make it easier for readers to stay up to date on this frequently updating topic, Savings Lifestyle (www.savingslifestyle.com) offers a free newsletter for the savvy shopping reader who never wants to miss a deal (see Figure 8-5).

Design, lifestyle, DIY — oh my!

With the meteoric rise in popularity of Pinterest (www.pinterest.com), it's no surprise that many popular blogs fit into a visually appealing niche. Bloggers focused on topics such as home design and decorating, lifestyle and organization, recipe creation, and DIY projects often have huge followings, not only on their sites but across social media channels as well.

One such site is Nesting Place (www.thenester.com), written by, of course, The Nester. This work of art provides the reader with insights into the life and thoughts of the author while sharing design tips along with incredible photographs (see Figure 8-6). Readers visiting Nesting Place return again and again, knowing that they'll find not only great content but also tips, giveaways, and fun features such as blogger link-ups where other bloggers may share links to similarly themed content on their own blogs.

Living on less

The first cousins of deal blogs, frugal living blogs focus on tips and tricks for living life on a tight budget. If you have a knack for making a dollar stretch for days, this may be the niche for you. Kristen at The Frugal Girl (www.thefrugalgirl.com), who is cheerfully living on less, explains in her about page that she wants to live on less but is just not a couponing deal-finder. Instead, she provides ways to save by taking advantage of DIY opportunities, avoiding food waste, and making quality purchases that will last.

Reading, writing, ‘rithmetic

While quite a few parenting blogs include educational tools and resources, the wildly popular education niche is a great place for a potential blogger with an education background to land. This blog type tends to focus on online resources such as print-at-home learning tools and DIY homeschooling lessons. Author, educator, and mom, Allison McDonald uses her early childhood education background to help other educators and parents on her site No Time For Flashcards (www.notimeforflashcards.com). Her online resources are so popular that she’s turned her blog platform into multiple book-writing opportunities!

Creating a super niche

Did you read through this list of potential blog niches and think to yourself, “That’s all well and good, but I’d really love to blog about creating art using toothpicks”? The Internet is flooded with blogs about run-of-the-mill, been-there-done-that topics. Go ahead and blog off the beaten path through selecting a super niche, a highly focused and unique blog topic. Get started by checking out some of your highly focused brothers and sisters on the web. One place to start is Comet Camper (www.cometcamper.com), a site that isn’t focused on just tiny living or sustainable living or even low-budget living. Comet Camper (see Figure 8-7) focuses on living a sustainable lifestyle that is low cost through going tiny!

Examining a new niche

Have you checked out all the blog topics discussed thus far and nothing feels like a fit for you? Maybe you’ve given one niche a try but have discovered it’s just not for you. The fact is that you can blog about absolutely anything — or nothing! There’s even a popular blog comprised of nothing more than photographs of popular movie scenes re-created using cardboard boxes. If you can dream it, you can blog it!

If you still need a little creative inspiration to get you started, here are some additional blog niche ideas:

• Sports
• Travel
• Fashion
• Photography
• Fitness
• Life coaching
• Health and wellness
• Gaming
• Foodie
• Wedding/event planning
• Fiction
• Interior design
• Finance
• Pop culture/celebrity
• Pets
• Automotive
• Music
• Religion
• Humor
• Homeschooling

You may even choose to combine multiple topics on your blog, creating a hybrid of sorts. After all, our lives aren’t one dimensional, so there’s no reason why our blogs should be! Stop by Mama’s Geeky (www.mamasgeeky.com), shown in Figure 8-8, to get an idea about how multiple genres can be combined successfully on one blog. Author Tessa writes frequently about one of her biggest loves, Disney, but she also blogs about a hyper-focused niche: opportunities specific to central New York state!

Lurking on other blogs

One of the best ways to learn what makes a great blog great is to spend time reading popular blogs, especially those in the niche you’d like to join. If you’re new to the blogosphere, dive in and start reading!

The old, old Internet term lurking describes web users who look at blogs, mailing lists, online discussions, and forums, but don't choose to participate in them. Lurking online doesn't have any negative connotations, though the word does sound kind of sinister.

In truth, lurking can help you find out about what kinds of communication and interaction are appropriate when you're new to a web community or when you're planning to start one yourself. The vast majority of web users are actually lurkers; most people don't do more than read or look at blogs.

Start your lurking career by finding a few blogs that you like, that you regard as competition, or that you find interesting for some reason. If you want to see a blog that has a very active, vocal audience, find one that has a lot of comments and make sure that you read them all. Many of the blogs mentioned in this chapter fall smack into this category, so why not start with them?

If you want to see how a blog evolves, find one that has been around awhile, and look back through the site's archives to see how it got started. Most of all, pay attention to what you find interesting about the blog.

If you’re reading because you’re interested in changing the focus of your existing blog, lurking is a great way to learn about a new type of blogging community while you consider your next blogging move!

Here are some areas you can learn about from lurking on a blog:

• Posts: Watch what the blogger (or bloggers) posts about, how often he or she posts, and what days and times attract readers. See whether you can understand what prompts a blogger to post.
• Interaction: Pay attention to the posts that get a lot of comments and responses, and try to understand what gets people talking.
• Resource use: Look for instances when the blogger chooses to include a link, a quote, or other resource, and what it adds to the conversation.
• Design: Keep an eye out for blog designs and styles that you might want to imitate on your own blog.
• Sidebar use: Look at the blog sidebars for cool technologies and tools that the blogger uses (and that you might be able use on your own blog).

You want interaction with your blog readers, but some comments can cause problems because they're off topic or offensive. Use this opportunity to see how other bloggers handle bad comments. Pay attention to whether a blog comment policy is in place and how the blogger enforces that policy. When does the blogger choose to remove or edit comments? Do you agree with his or her choices? How do you want to handle problem comments on your own blog? I talk more about handling spam and bad comments in Chapter 10.

While you lurk, keep a list of notes and ideas for later reference, especially for items that you think are good ideas but that you aren't ready to implement quite yet. You can easily lose those first good ideas if you don't keep track of them somehow. It may seem silly to recommend using pen and paper to prepare for your online writing experience, but I have found that a paper journal or notebook is a great way to get started blogging!

What works for someone else might not work for you, and it doesn't have to. The blogosphere is constantly changing, and you have plenty of room and time to try new ideas. Rules and standards that others have adopted give you a good starting point, but you don't have to use them if they don't work for you.

Participating by commenting

When you're comfortable, start engaging in your favorite blog communities by leaving comments. Comments can be written quickly, and they contribute to the blog by furthering conversation. After you have a blog of your own, you can use commenting on other blogs as a way to introduce new readers to your site. Many blog comment forms give you the chance to leave a URL when you post a comment, linking to your site or most recent blog post. Commenting with a link to your blog is a bit like leaving a tiny, unobtrusive ad. When the blogger and his readers see your comment, they may click the link and visit your blog.

Just as linking to your blog may bring you readers who liked your comment, it might also get you visitors who didn't like what you say! You invite disagreement any time you put your opinion out into the world, but don't let that stop you from doing it.

Some bloggers have made the mistake of abusing this little privilege, leaving off-topic comments simply for the purpose of getting a link back. Don't make this mistake. Be a genuine member of the blogosphere and leave comments only when you truly have something to say. You don't want to earn a reputation as a comment spammer! I discuss spamming in Chapter 10.

Leave comments that distinguish you as a thoughtful contributor to the topic. If you can answer a question posed by the blog post or provide information that seems to be missing, you really contribute value with your comment. But you can also just leave your own opinion, even if you completely disagree with what the blogger is saying.

Meeting in person

Meeting bloggers in person is not only a great way to grow your online community but also provides you with a network of local coworkers. Most cities have an active community of bloggers that you can join:

• Consider joining the local branch of your Social Media Club. Often, the members of social media organizations are also bloggers.
• Be sure to include your email address on your blog, and let people know that you want to connect with fellow bloggers. Look for similar information on the blogs that you read if you're interested in getting in touch with a blogger.
• Look for bloggers who identify their locations, and get to know them on their blogs by posting comments.
• Visit Meetup (www.meetup.com), and search for blogger get-togethers in your area. Many bloggers network with other nearby bloggers on a regular basis. You can even look up get-togethers when you're visiting a new place.
• Organize your own get-together and publicize it on your blog, social media, or on a platform such as Meetup.

I don’t recommend that you share your everyday email address with the entire Internet via your blog. Platforms such as Gmail allow users to create free email addresses in just moments. Consider creating a unique address that includes your blog name to be used only for blog-related emails. After your blog is out there on the web, you’ll be surprised by the amount of unsolicited email you receive!

Attending conferences

While organizing your own blogging community get-togethers is a great goal and way to meet like-minded people, don’t feel like you need to go to great lengths to find other bloggers! Since the early days of blogging, blog conferences have been a wonderful way that bloggers have connected to teach, learn, and quite frankly, just enjoy each other’s company. Conferences typically include informative panels, keynote speakers, and expert-led roundtable discussions with a healthy dose of social events and even opportunities to interact with brand sponsors looking to connect with online influencers.

Look for events that include content uniquely focused on your niche such as the Dad 2.0 Summit (www.dad2summit.com) focusing on the influence of dads online, Social Media Marketing World (www.socialmediaexaminer.com/smmworld) catering to online content creators in the world of marketing, and the International Food Blogger Conference (www.foodbloggerconference.org) for, you guessed it, food bloggers!

Using social networks

Social networking sites are designed to connect you with your current group of friends and extend those connections out to their friends. Each site that I mention in this section has a different mechanism for making that happen, and different types of community interaction occur. LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), for example, is a professional networking site designed to showcase your work background and interests so that you can make connections to others in your field.

You can make friends in social-networking online communities, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Social networking sites provide bloggers with a way to link to blogs or even to notify others about new blog posts. If you're looking for online connections in the blogging community, these communities are a great place to start.

In fact, a lot of bloggers regard their blogs as a form of networking, and they're already looking to make these kinds of connections via social networking websites.

• Facebook (www.facebook.com) is a wonderful tool for bloggers hoping to connect with other members of the blogging communities. Many bloggers participate in several Facebook groups based on various blogging-related topics from blog niche to blog promotion. After you've connected with a couple of members of your blog community, ask them to invite you to join a couple of their favorite Facebook groups in order to meet additional bloggers and learn more about the craft.
• Twitter (www.twitter.com) is another fabulous place to find and grow your blogging relationships. Search for hashtags related to your blog niche or even your home city to find the bloggers who are tweeting about the topics that matter to you. Because of the casual nature of this platform, you should feel free to tweet to people and introduce yourself, joining conversations when appropriate.
• Instagram (www.instagram.com), a visual-media-based platform, provides bloggers with another opportunity to connect with and grow their blogger communities. Follow and comment on your friends’ content, and consider following the other accounts that you see in the comments.

Regardless of whether the connections in your social networks have blogs, you can use the platforms to let them know about your blog. With luck, you'll build up your audience and the participation on your blog by leveraging the goodwill of people you know and the people they know!