Blogging Tips

John Kershaw from Negative Gamer, one of the video game blogs I subscribe to, has produced a great series of videos over the last few weeks explaining how to make a good video game blog.

John created 5 videos in total. They range from basic tips for setting up your blog to how you can promote it. As John points out in his recap post, the series is to help those creating a video game blog however all the points are applicable to any niche of blog.

In his videos he covers:

1. Idea
   • What’s your motivation?
   • Define in your Idea
   • Don’t do what is already done
   • Pick a good name
   • You won’t make any money for at least a year
   • Be remarkable
   • You will f**k up
2. Hosting
   • Use Instant Domain Search to find URLs
   • Buy basic misspellings and as many of the alternate endings for URLs (.co.uk, .org etc.) as you can afford
   • Buy related URLs too
   • Host with GoDaddy to start (they’re cheap), Media Temple once you’re growing (can cope with spiked traffic)
   • Keep the design & site simple
   • Use wp-cache
   • Find somebody who knows what they’re doing if you’re getting stuck
3. Team
   • What help do you need? Tech, spelling?
   • Start by roping in mates
   • Be grateful. You’re their friend, not boss. They are helping you, not the other way around
   • Most people you “hire” will leave shortly after joining. Those that stay will probably be awesome
   • Have some good way to keep track of everything. I used a Google document.
   • Be honest and blunt. Add smilies
   • Lead by example and don’t expect anybody to do more than you.
4. Content
   • Pick your medium(s); Video, audio, text etc.
   • List what categories your content falls in
   • Do something daily
   • Be different
   • Don’t be afraid to send emails
   • Source well: Contact PR or community managers and get on mailing lists,
   • Subscribe to every other good blog
   • It’s easier to talk about doing things than doing things
   • Experiment! This vlog is a good example of an experiment
5. Promotion
   • Use Google Analytics, WordPress Stats plugin and FeedBurner
   • Know which stats are important to you
   • Think about what a reader sees when they arrive at your site for the first time
   • Use, but don’t abuse, social news sites like N4G, Digg, Reddit
   • Links from other sites; email tips
   • Don’t suck

Below is part 1 of the series:

If you enjoyed that video, I encourage you to check out the rest of the series at the link below as there are some fantastic tips within them. I’m sure they will give you some good ideas for your own blog.

Link : How to Make a Good Videogame Blog