Newbies How to build your own blog website

Blogging is pursued for many reasons and has its benefits, here is a proposal for another hidden reward if approached from a different angle. An angle of self discovery. Many miss this important side to writing that grows and matures us both mentally and spiritually. This brings with it provoking insights and innovative thinking to help us write our blog posts filled with richer, meaningful content.

When talking about self discovery, what I mean is discovering, understanding, then learning to tune into your inner workings of how your subconscious and your conscious work in unison. Once understood, you can learn to work with this relationship to become a better thought provoking writer. A thought leader in your blogging niche.

All successful writers operate in more than a mental capacity, they have learnt to operate in a larger arena that many have not yet learnt to use. By digging deep within them selves, they unearth missing clues, conundrums, ideas, insights which have gone on to inspire their readers. Using certain techniques, these writers have become the thought leaders of their time.

They operate in more than a conscious level, they have learnt to mine all their past and present experiences- their collective whole. They do this by engaging their subconscious mind, which works 24 hours and seven days a week to source information, analyze, make sense of it all, to then come up with answers to previous questions put to it.

It is important to understand how the brain operates so you can capitalise on this wondrous creation. When you walk into a room all your senses are on full alert, eyes, ears, our sense of smell and feel. The eyes for one, take a complete picture of it, just as a camera would. All this detailed information would just boggle your conscious brain, so this information goes into your subconscious for sorting and storage.

All the important aspects relevant to you at that moment are given up to your conscious and those are what you are made aware of, the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures that your subconscious knows are placed high on your priority list. This conscious side processes this information which then directs your thoughts, decisions and emotions. It is so busy with running your life that not much attention is directed to what else your subconscious has to offer.

The consequence of this is, most of this logged material gets buried or made redundant as new stuff becomes available. The good news is most of this is retrievable and accessed to add richer colour to your writing that you never knew was there. There are techniques you can learn that will help you get access and tap into this wealth of knowledge and experience.

The subconscious is more than just a storage facility, it is also a dynamic and powerful processor for creative and innovative thinking. This is where your genius lies, by simply learning to tune into your still small voice, amongst all the chatter, is the path called self discovery. By doing this, a new dimension to your blog writing will emerge, by producing richer, more interesting content. The great thing is any one can get access to it, if that is what they really want.

What makes an article special? It is something that speaks to the reader to either provoke an emotional thought, is entertaining, interesting or is informative. Successful writing comes from following a few proven principles and using skills that can be learnt through study and perfected with practice. Here are 8 pointers on how to get your article or blog started.

1. Write on what you are passionate about.
This way your enthusiasm will shine through, and it is this that will in turn infect your reader with your exuberance. Remember it is your vibrancy and speciality that will make your piece stand out from the crowd. When you are busy with your feature, keep in the back of your mind that it is for your readers benefit, it is their approval you want. It is your audience, that will decide and judge if your offering is excellent or not…This is what gives the greatest satisfaction, getting their approval.

2. Be comfortable with your subject.
You must have sufficient knowledge or experience in it. If it is a set piece, approach it from a angle that you can relate to. This will mean that you have a firm grasp of the facts, information, terminology and have enthusiasm to carry through to your presentation. From this you can articulate your delivery in a flowing, interesting and informative way.

3. From the outset cultivate a positive attitude within your self.
As a writer you must decide that you are going to have fun, will enjoy this experience and will reap self satisfaction in successfully completing it. Now imagine your completed article that you are proud of. Plant this emotion of gratitude and satisfaction of a job well done within you. Nurturing this positive attitude goes a long way towards helping you creating your masterpiece.

4. Build from the foundation up.
Lay out, organise your thoughts to build some sort of structure. Jot down how you will build your thought piece. This means planning the sequence, from your introduction, to fleshing out the body for your content, followed by summing it all up with a well constructed conclusion. In other words your intro will explain what you are going to give your reader. In the body tell them what you got using supporting points, (When writing use these to benefit your reader that reflects the energy of your essay), then tie it all up with a conclusion.

5. Keep to the point.
Only write what is necessary, don’t ramble on or take a detour. Everything you put down needs to contribute and add substance to your build. No need for extra pieces sticking out, BUT make it unique. This means putting a little bit of your personality it to your creation. Some humour, whit, controversial idea or mystery could do the trick. This gives it warmth and life that touches and engages your audience.

6. People love stories, secrets, tips, tricks, mysteries,unexplained coincidences.
Share new ideas or answers . A story of some sort shrouded in mystery. To do this, promise to reveal some secret in your intro and only give it towards the end. This creates suspense and intrigue which is much desired.

7. Layout and presentation…
Start with an introduction where you inform your readership what to expect, then give them your message, body or meat followed by a conclusion. This is a summary to tie up your thoughts. Keep it simple. Use clear, crisp, concise sentences in a coherent manner. Your text should flow in an open and easily followed manner. Keep each sentence short and to the point, without making your paragraphs too long.

8. Express and inject some of your personality into your write-up.
Be generous with your information, methods, strategies, secrets, tips, tricks, wisdom and thoughts or ideas. Be bold and take a stand to be the “expert in your field”, if this is your passion then you would want to be that. The more you write so your skills as a writer will improve. No one was ever born a prestigious literary prize winning writer, these skills evolved and are honed through practice.

With these 8 pointers, writing excellent and successful articles will come with practice.

**Rod Saunders**

Inspiration on writing a blog. Here are seven blogging tips to help for blog ideas.

1. Think about what people who visit your blog want. Ask yourself, what problems are they experiencing that I can help with. When I started what did I learn to helped me to get to where I am now? These are ideas that can be formulated into something of benefit that you should be inspired to write about.

2. What have I recently learnt that was informative helpful, inspiring, humorous, or entertaining? Work this into your blog giving your unique flavour. As You grow share those benefits, solutions, ideas or even “struggles” to show that you to are human.

3. Sign up with www.Stumbleupon.com and get their weekly review of the most popular sites. Find sites relevant to your blog for ideas, tips or strategies.

4. Google trends is another site worth visiting to see what’s hot. Write about something of interest that you have found then point your readers in that direction. Out ward links from your blog are also good as it shows your readers that you care about them by offering something of quality. They will come back for more as regulars.

5. Write down a list of ten questions relating to your niche that your readers could be asking. Just do a google search ” intelligent questions on …….” you will be amazed at what questions get asked. This is a great way to jump in to give your input.

6. Use a good key word tool that gives alternate keywords and phrases. This I find is great inspiration for my heading. Once the heading is decided, just write down every thing you know  without really thinking. You can always come back to proof read it.

7. What up and coming important event is due? This can be the foundation to your blog ideas. Easter for example or the next big game. What plans, views or interests can you write about?

Inspiration for writing a blog is easy if you think about these 7 blogging tips and ideas.

**Christina Saunders**