Think Before You Blog

Adam Westbrook's "News Startup Checklist" provided a list of 17 questions to think about when creating a blog.

From Westbrook's list, I pulled out what I think the top 10 are:

Is it a new idea?
If it's not than what makes your idea different from other similar sites that are out there.

Does it have a defined target audience?
It will be easier to attract readers if you have a target audience rather than the whole Internet. You'll need to find a way to market your idea to your target audience as well.

Does it provide niche (i.e. hyperlocal) content?
If you start up a hyperlocal news blog, will it be beneficial to the community? If people from the community aren't interested in going online to read news and would rather wait to see it in a weekly newspaper, than chances are you need to rethink your idea.

Does it satisfy a desire that is not being fulfilled by someone else?
Or does it do something better (faster, cheaper, more effectively) than someone else?
Having a similar idea to another site is repetitive and not too mention will be much harder to reach an audience especially if you don't have anything special to offer your audience.

Does it actually have income potential, or will it rely on funding?
Not for profits are good, but if you were planning on having your blog as your source of income, you'll need to think of ways to advertise and create revenue.

If it has content, is it sharable?
This is the number one way of getting your name out there. This way readers can share your links with others, hopefully recruiting new readers.

Does it require a lot of money to run?
As a startup there probably won't be much money coming in for at least the first year, so you'll have to figure out what's necessary. Will you need staff writers, will they be full-time or part-time? The goal is to have more money coming in that goes out.

Is it a legally sound idea? What about copyright?
Legal problems = money problems.

And…does it have a cool name?
Clearly the most important of them all.