Whether you’re a seasoned journalist, a news broadcaster or simply a writer with an interest in current events, a news blog can be a great way to share your opinions, educate, start a discussion, and potentially earn some money. Before you start however, there are some steps and planning that you need to consider before making the first post to ensure that your blog reaches the people you want to reach and gains some traction.
Identify Your Target Audience
The first step to creating any successful business, be it a news blog or otherwise, is to identify your target audience. This is important because you can then work to tailor your content to suit them, and therefore attract more readers to your blog. Not having a specific target audience in mind when you begin writing your blog could result in your work becoming too broad and you will end up losing readers. Think about what topics you want to write about, and who this would most suit. Ask yourself what age, nationality or political ideas your target audience might have. Are your readers going to have a background in news and media already, or are they part of the greater general public?
Decide Upon and Get to Grips with Your Chosen Platform
What platform do you want to run your news blog from? This is an important step, and it will influence how you can post to and use your blog, as well as how others find your blog. The most popular blog-hosting platform is probably WordPress, although there is debate about which platforms to use. If you’re just starting out however, WordPress is probably a good place to begin, although it can get confusing. Guides such as Liberian Geek WordPress offer tons of how-tos and troubleshooting advice, so if you find yourself struggling, help is not far off.
Decide What Kind of Content You’d Like to Create
Once you’ve narrowed down your target audience, it’s time to start thinking about what kind of content you want to create. There are a variety of different news blogs out there nowadays and creating the content you want to see is the key to standing out amongst the crowd. If you are passionate about the environment, you can create content surrounding current environmental news. If you have come from a more traditional news or journalism background, it may seem like you need to remain impartial in order to spread news, but on your own personal blog, you have free rein to share your opinions, which may be something you want to incorporate.
Find Your Writing Style
Consistency is key for any blog, which means that you need to have a recognizable and consistent writing style. If your blog is more personal and informal, you may be able to incorporate more slang and a relaxed writing style. However, this wouldn’t work if you are trying to write more serious and informative content, so make sure to pick a writing style that reflects the purpose of your news blog.
If you are just starting out in the blogging world, let us know how you get on in the comments.
