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.

So You Wannabe A Blogger?

On WordPress there are over 58 million registered blogs, Tumblr has 77 million users and it is estimated there is a total of over 172 million blogs online at this moment. Anyone can create a blog as long as they have an email and an opinion, but what does it take to become a successful blogger?

Jeff Jarvis points out some valuable lessons he learned from an entrepreneurial journalism course. Just like pitching any idea, you need to sell it. Even though you think your startup blog is a wonderful idea, doesn't mean those who will be potential funders will agree.

After you have your brilliant idea (preferably one that has yet to be covered, or a new spin on an old idea), you need think about your target audience. Who will be reading your blog? Will it be teens or will your blog be directed towards an older generation? If possible, it might be a good idea to do a little research because sometimes your target audience may not be all that interested in your idea and without them, you're nothing.

Next, you need to think about your marketing. How will you market your blog? Twitter may be the way to go if your blog is more for teenagers and the 20-somethings, but what about those over 60, how will you reach them? Once you find your target audience, you want to be sure you can reach them. 

Now of course, you'll need to find some content for your blog and make sure it's different from what's already out there. There can only be so many blogs about cute puppies, so make yours different. Jarvis observed in his class that all the students proposed ideas for websites, but no one suggested a business. In the case of blogging as a career you need to have a business plan as well. Take time to research advertising because that will be part of your blog's income. Networking with other blogs will also help you to create relationships with other bloggers who were once like you, a startup. By linking to each other's sites you are giving and receiving free advertising, which can be a very good thing especially if your partners are big name bloggers.

In short, it doesn't take much for anyone to rant and rave online, but do you have what it takes to become the next big blog?