I’ve had as much fun being a blogger as I had being a newspaper editor for a number of years. Both careers are interesting but they are different as night and day. In a previous post, I explained how I was worried about blogging because I did not know the ‘techie’ side of the business. It was hard to get started in the Ebook business if I didn’t know how to blog about it or have a website. So, procrastination set in, excuses were uttered, and of course, nothing happened.
Let me explain more….
I did not know about themes, FTP, magazine style, Keywords, SEO, links to other posts, backlinks, categories, Wordpress.org or Wordpress.com, Blogger, or anything else.
I knew how to write. I have a different style than most, I suppose, but I knew about writing and advertising. I knew basic computer skills. As I explained earlier, what I did know about had not prepared me to deal with ebooks, ebook publishing, or the ebook business at all. Except the writing part. I was pretty sure I could do that. My reasoning was that ‘anybody’ could write a “how to” ebook.
I came up with a game plan. I would have a blog to learn from, have fun with, and after I gained a certain amount of skills, I could graduate on to writing about ebooks and the ebook business in a blog or website. I had to start somewhere. At the same time, I could learn about selling ebooks online.
So, i started with a ‘learning’ blog. You might want to do this also as you learn about ebooks and the ebook publishing business, or you may want to start a blog yourself when you get into all this….I’m hooked.
My learning blog is called RealTexasBlog.com It is based on the geographic area I live in which I call ‘Real Texas‘. On occasion I would give speeches to various journalism groups around the country. As I explained to my audience, Real Texas is not Austin or Dallas or Houston. As soon as i opened my mouth, they knew I was from West Texas. We just sound a little different out here. A little more country, a little more Texas. And to be sure, I laid it on a little thicker. Also, since I had been a Texas History teacher in public schools for several years, Texas and the part of ‘Texas’ I consider Real Texas, were what I knew about and started blogging about. It has been a big success and is growing like crazy. I have subscribers in the hundreds already and readers in the thousands.
The Texas accent may have some negative connotations at the present, but folks out here don’t seem to notice……
I learned (am learning) how to be a blogger from RealTexasBlog.com and I learned a number of tips and techniques. I read a lot. I listened to a lot of ‘pitches’ on internet marketing and learned to ignore 99% of it all. And I settled in on two or three mentors I follow and emulate. The e book business was what I wanted to learn and writing about it was what I wanted to do. I did focus on that.
One thing I tried to do was NOT spend any money when first getting started. Then, when I needed to purchase something, I always looked for value. One of the best things I did when I was getting started was finding a site to help me get started off right. Here ’s where I started. Click on the banner.
Great Videos! Free. Easy to follow and understand. Even for me!
Nest post we’ll talk about why I started with Wordpress as a platform instead of all the others out there.
