Good blog idea?

[Maverick]

Well I've had the idea of starting a blog floating around in my head for some time now. But I really didn't know what I could write about. So here's an idea I've just thought of, any feedback about it would be great!

Ok, so I start a blog. The basic blog posts will all be about me learning what I want to learn. Lets use computer programming as an example. I for one do not know anything about computer programming.

So the blog would follow my journey as I taught myself to learn a computer programming language, in fact there are more. So more than one language.

I would then post how I am going what I am doing, and what I have learnt, thus teaching the reader what I have learnt.

If I did something like computer programming as I really got into it and learnt more and more, I could then create programs. Which could be free of charge on the website, until my quality of programming improved and then I could eventually charge for the programs that I create.

If that all worked out I could then possibly move into starting my own software development website, or game development or whatever I was interested in. And then I have created a business.

Just an idea that I had.

What do you think, would this be successful?

It would take a lot of time because you are learning from the ground up, and learning any topic that you choose. Programming was just an example.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Peter S C]

Hi,

You're thinking big - I like it. Blogging is a great way to learn or develop a skill. I began with a photography blog before focusing on my personal development blog.

Just one warning: with the example you give - programming - readers of this field in particular want to read articles by people with a lot of knowledge and experience. So you may find it hard to capture an audience initially. I wouldn't get discouraged though. The key is how you define the success of your blog. In this example, success could be the development of your programming skills rather than capturing an audience. As you say, once you learnt programming there are a number of different things you can do which can lead you to having your own business.

Just my 2c.

Peter

[bigadam]

I agree with the above post. There are many "come watch me as I (learn to use the computer, invest in real estate, etc)" blogs and they have great difficulty in building an audience. People don't want to watch others learn - they're going to blogs to learn something themselves.

[believegecko]

yeah, I agree with the two responses. You may want to consider creating a blog about something you already know about. I have an Adsense blog that gets pretty good traffic. If you want to create a blog that looks good use Wordpress.com and write about a subject you really know about. You will be surprised that you are probably very knowledgeable in one or more subjects. With the Internet you will find your audiance. Just be patient and consistent.

[Damara]

It's possible but start with something you have a *genuine* interest in learning. Something you have always wanted to learn and haven't had time. Without passion you will quickly become bored.

Also, check out the top sites in Google on the topic you are considering. Make notes on what you like about their blog. What you think is missing, what would make yours better?

Remember don't reinvent the wheel, just make yours bigger and stronger Good Luck!

[Carl Carlson IV]

I think it's a great idea! If you're anything like me, writing motivates me to stay active. I've also always found it fascinating looking at graphs, journals, or whatever the media of something over a period of time. It is great watching people grow and succeed! Me and my business partners are also doing basically the same thing, documenting our journey. We just started about 1.5 months ago and new ideas are coming out of every brainstorming session we hold. My blog has the title "I'm going to be rich because I am writing about it." If you're interested in viewing you can here.

[Nicholls]

The idea is good in my opinion, I've seen it done before on a number of sites, my favourite example of this was when a person took himself through the entire project of developing an adventure game for the computer. If written well it would be an interesting read and you could guarantee they would check back for more.

[Carl Carlson IV]

One of my favorite sites while we're on this topic is John Stone Fitness. It isn't really a business type blog or anything, but a health/fitness website. The admin, John Stone, started posting his pictures to the world on January 6, 2003 being overweight and out of shape. If you visit the site, you will be amazed by his transformation. He took a picture of himself, every single day, for I think ~400 days. He also has it in a .gif format so you can watch his body change over a 1+ period, in 30 seconds! He now takes pictures every month, and at random times, and the community through the web forum has grown tremendously. Very nice if you're looking for information on fitness!

[MartialDev]

Originally Posted by Maverick

What do you think, would this be successful?

Put yourself in the reader's moccasins, and ask:
1. So What?
2. Who Cares?
3. What's In It For Me?

[Keith]

Originally Posted by bigadam

I agree with the above post. There are many "come watch me as I (learn to use the computer, invest in real estate, etc)" blogs and they have great difficulty in building an audience. People don't want to watch others learn - they're going to blogs to learn something themselves.

I think you learn a lot from watching others learn. Experts sometimes have difficulty in conveying what they know because so much of it is assumed knowledge.

A well written learners blog would have lots of "Ah, I just realised what the point of X is - you can use it to do Y" posts, IMO.

You want to learn anyway, documenting it is of value to you so why not put it on a blog? Then you'll know whether it's a good blog idea or not. And if it's not, you'll at least have some comments to help you figure out why not...

[carenkh]

Wow, that John Stone Fitness site was WAY cool! And if I had learned of it right when it started, I would have followed his progress.

A couple of similar blogs are Woolgathering, where Elizabeth Perry determined to learn to draw, so she posted one drawing a day. I do visit her blog every day; she's always trying new techniques, and her drawings are enjoyable to see. It feels like visiting with a friend.

and

Little Brown Dress. Alex Martin decided to confront consumerism, so wore the same brown dress every day for 365 days -- the actual one dress, not just many of the same style. The project was finished July 7, 2006. I was fascinated by this performance art.

Can you tell I'm not I'm not a techie?

I also heard on NPR a man who wrote One Song Every Day... I guess there can only be so many of those type, though. Like the woman who started a site asking for donations to get out of debt, that will only work once. I've heard of others... someone going through and making every recipe in The Joy of Cooking, etc.

What are you passionate about? What would you like to learn, but are afraid to? Listen to that inner voice... I think the most successful blogs of this nature are done because the person felt an inner prompting, and they grew through their explorations. Successful in terms of views, buzz, etc. I don't think many of the ones I mentioned had a lot of ads! But because of Elizabeth Perry's blog, she has gotten commissions to do artwork, so she *gets paid* to explore this side of herself.

Best of luck ~

[SeriousKidding.com]

I believe ANY idea is a GOOD idea for a blog. I've found tons of great suggestions here: Copywriting tips for online marketing success from Copyblogger .

P.S. Do you all notice that when you type in a link, this forum automatically changes it to the link's homepage title bar headline? Pretty cool. (Please don't say "DUH!")

[Mike]

If you can make it interesting to readers any idea can work. Why not sign up for a blog on blogger.com and start writing. If you can get people to your blog you can then move to your own domain.

[Cassie]

Maverick - your blog could be an invaluable resource for others beginning their own journey in computer programming. If you feel passionately about learning, I say go for it. Good luck!

[ageofz]

I believe that a blog should be meant to improve yourself and to provide value to other people. Stevepavlina's blog did both and he became successful because of this. In order to be passionate about writing about something you have to be constantly learning about what it is you are writing about. I'm sure that Steve was transforming himself as he was writing these articles. I bet that this blog site of his has become one of the most life-changing things that he has done. So doing a site about you becoming a great programmer is great if that is what you are passionate about. If you can picture yourself writing something new about programming everyday in hopes to better yourself, and providing value to someone else in the process, then I say go for it. I have recently started my personal development site (in my sig) and I enjoy every minute of writing new articles. I often find myself reviewing articles on this site as well as others and then I express my own opinion, as well as things that I have learned from these other sites. Writing not only helps me to put things in a format to help others, but also helps me to instill these ideas in my head.

[gc3833]

Blogging is the way to go! Personally for me I found that the key to any success with my blog is staying power and creativity. You have to be in it for the long haul, that's why writing about something your passionate about helps you through the days that you don't feel like adding any content because you're too tired.

I set up all of my website as a blog actually. It makes it easier to navigate and easier to manage when I have to make changes.

My problem is that I have started too many. When you do that the quality of the content can suffer. Key is to pick something you love and work at it.

[Stu]

I think it's a great idea, so great in fact that I started a blog on a similar topic a few days ago! (in my sig if you're interested) Personally, I love stuff like that, it's so inspiring, it makes you want to go out and do all those things you wanted to do but always put off. I guess this thread is pretty old but hopefully you start the site and report back so we can follow it.

[Peter S C]

Hi Maverick,

Just wondering if you ever went ahead with the blog idea?

Peter

[tejama]

Originally Posted by Peter S C

Hi,

You're thinking big - I like it. Blogging is a great way to learn or develop a skill. I began with a photography blog before focusing on my personal development blog.

This is great advice from Peter. In the meantime, as a bit of inspiration, I was doing a graphics course in university, and we were using OpenGL. The best reference material I found on the web was from a guy who taught himself OpenGL and wrote tutorials on the way. Eventually, everyone in the class was using his site as the go to reference point.

[Bloggeries]

Deciding WHAT to write about is one of the biggest roadblocks to anyone wishing to form a blog. (Trust me!). I just recently published an article "What Should I Blog About?". I hope this helps and best of luck just make sure it's something you love.

Originally Posted by Maverick

Well I've had the idea of starting a blog floating around in my head for some time now. But I really didn't know what I could write about. So here's an idea I've just thought of, any feedback about it would be great!

Ok, so I start a blog. The basic blog posts will all be about me learning what I want to learn. Lets use computer programming as an example. I for one do not know anything about computer programming.

So the blog would follow my journey as I taught myself to learn a computer programming language, in fact there are more. So more than one language.

I would then post how I am going what I am doing, and what I have learnt, thus teaching the reader what I have learnt.

If I did something like computer programming as I really got into it and learnt more and more, I could then create programs. Which could be free of charge on the website, until my quality of programming improved and then I could eventually charge for the programs that I create.

If that all worked out I could then possibly move into starting my own software development website, or game development or whatever I was interested in. And then I have created a business.

Just an idea that I had.

What do you think, would this be successful?

It would take a lot of time because you are learning from the ground up, and learning any topic that you choose. Programming was just an example.

Thanks for the feedback!

[bloggingmix]

I appreciate that you seek other's help before you start your own blog. I have done the same before I've started blogging and it seems things are doing well.

Blogging requires commitment in order to be successful. A lot of people blog about something for the reason that it's the most popular topic on-line without considering whether they themselves are interested to blog about it. Sooner or later they'll find themselves uninterested to blog about their topic anymore and they'll just abandone the work they've started.

When you choose a topic, you should be interested and willing to blog about it! Successful bloggers blog about their topic for more than a year before they get the attention and recognition they deserve. They were able to stick to their topic for a long time because they love their topic... because they've decided to blog about something they're interested or passionate about. Their passion and interest keep them going for a long time.

Consider what you have to offer when you blog. Remember that people read a blog for information or ideas. Let's say you choose something that you are passionate about but lacks the information to create value for your blogs, I advice you to let other people do it. Other people who are more competent on the topic. But your idea of a blog is unique because you want to blog about your development as you try to learn something you're not familiar with. I believe your blog will attract people who wants to walk with you in your journey to learn more about programming.

I also noticed that you have clear and organized objectives. Having a well-defined objective and goal is an indication that you're doing the right thing.

Good luck to your plans and stay focussed! Cheers.

You can read my blog for blogging tips, guide and advices.

[SeriousKidding.com]

Bottom line: whatever you choose to write about, make SURE you have a burning passion for it. It'll show.

[inova]

Great Idea for the blog but I am afraid it will not be very interesting at the beginning, but it's worth a try