Get in the Game
Reading an interesting post over at ProBlogger today, a small part of it caught my eye.
As part of his view that blogs get better with age, Darren mentioned “Web Smarts.”
Web Smarts - I shudder when I look back at my first
blogging efforts and how naive, ill-informed and poorly run they were.
I have a long way to go when it comes to learning about the web, blogs,
design, writing etc - but over time my own skills and knowledge in
these areas have grown. You can read all the books, blogs and articles
you want on blogging (and I’d encourage you to do so) - but so much of
what you can learn about blogging for money has to come from on the job
experience - which again only comes with time.
The reason that this caught my eye is that I have somewhat mixed feelings about it.
Certainly, I agree that the best way to learn is to get in the game ASAP - it’s just a fact of life that actually doing something is a far quicker way to learn than just reading about it.
I also agree that there is a staggering amount to learn about blogging and the web in general.
What I disagree with is that there is a significant percentage of what you need to know that cannot be read about or considered prior to learning it “on the job.”
Sure, some things, you will simply learn as you go. But to be perfectly honest, I believe that you can read about and plan for 90% of what your blog will entail.
The coding can be learnt in a day or two, the design (besides not being hugely important) can take a little while to learn but not too long. Presumably, you already know a little about your topic or are willing to learn as you go.
Research your niche, write good content and get get incoming links and you have done the most important things.
Everything else is just tweaking.
Now, I am not saying that the learning stops there. The internet evolves so fast that we will all still be learning new things about it years from now.
What I am saying is that “web smarts” are not a tangible assett to creating a successful blog and you should never let being a newbie put you off trying something.
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