Taking The Plunge Into The World Of Blogging

I get quite a few emails sent to me every week asking me questions about blogging related subjects.  Whilst many are about technical aspects, I’d say that the vast majority are from people looking for a second opinion, or even justification, of whether to take the plunge and start up their own site.  Now, I’m always happy to answer these questions, but there comes a point when you need to…

Stop Talking About It And Just Do It!

When I started my very first website I didn’t have much of a clue what I was doing.  I learned how to get it up and running by setting up a domain name and hosting account, but after that I was clueless.  If I’m honest I wasn’t even sure if it would work.

Don’t get me wrong, I had thought about my site and read up on a lot of things beforehand.  I wasn’t jumping in completely blind, though you can only learn so much.  I think a lot of parents can attest to this; you can read all the parenting books in the world beforehand, but when your first child is born you realise just how much you don’t know.

It’s good to prepare and learn about a subject before you make that leap, but eventually you WILL need to make it otherwise you will just keep putting it off.  I found that I learned a lot more by actually getting stuck in and getting to grips with everything first hand than I ever did from my preparations.

Blogging (or just running a website in general) is such a HUGE industry that links in with lots of different skills and industries that you can’t hope to get to grips with without actually getting stuck in.  I can guarantee that you will make mistakes, but that is a good thing.  Mistakes are only bad when you don’t learn from them.

The very first site I created was terrible and didn’t last very long, but in hindsight it was one of the best things I ever did.  It allowed me to dip my toe in the water, if you like, and let me learn tons of great things that I hadn’t have even thought about.

This Doesn’t Just Apply To Blogging

I know I am referring to blogging in this post but I do believe that this applies to everything really.  I’m of the opinion that schools are failing our kids because they are not preparing them properly for the real world.  Too much emphasis is put on learning and testing, whereas it should focus on the practical application of giving people skills for future employment.

You only really begin to learn about the world after you leave school (or college, university, etc.) and get stuck in.  Whatever it is in life that you want to get involved in; be it to write a book, learn to play an instrument, start a business, etc. you only really begin to start learning when you take the plunge and do it.

So whatever it is that you are thinking about doing, stop talking about it and just get stuck in.  To bring it back to blogging; pick your niche, setup your site and just start writing.  Don’t be afraid of failing as you are bound to make mistakes along the way, but you learn from them and it makes you better.

Have you been thinking about starting a blog/website?  What has been putting you off from starting?  We want to hear from you, so please get in touch below.