We all feel nervous
Getting started with your own blog can be an emotional experience. Most bloggers, including myself, wrestle with thoughts of inadequacy and concern of being judged by others.
“Really, who is going to read my thoughts?”
“I don’t have anything worth saying.”
“This is not a good use of my time.”
But after making the leap into blogging, many people discover wonderful, unexpected outcomes. This doesn’t mean you’ll have hundreds of readers in your first week as a blogger. Approach your blog as your own space for reflecting and posing questions and/or ideas for other teachers. Be your authentic self.
5 tips to keep in mind
- Publish posts on your blog to reflect on your thoughts, ideas, respond to another post, and/or to share resources (like examples of what you’re doing in your classes).
- Remember, a blog post is not supposed to be comparable to a published article. Blogging is a formative, rather than summative, process. You should always strive to do your best work, but sometimes people focus so much on writing perfect, polished posts that it keeps them from clicking “publish.” Some posts will take longer to compose, others will be quick. If you have new ideas that build upon a post, make another post and link to the previous one! That’s what engages readers — seeing your ideas and processes unfold.
- Read and comment on other people’s blog posts. Getting comments can be the most rewarding part of blogging. Remember, you’re part of a community. Give and you shall receive.
- Reply to comments left on your own blog. Set your blog settings to notify you of new comments and make a point of replying to them so your readers feel valued.
- Spam will appear. I’m sorry but there’s no avoiding it. Spam comments can be tricky and sometimes appear legit at first glance. Pay attention to the links embedded in the comments (and don’t click them). If those links look erroneous, mark the comment as spam and get rid of it!