First thing’s first.  Before doing anything like reserving a domain or deciding on hosting, you should answer several basic questions:What is your blog going to be about? What is the purpose of your blog? Who do you want to read your blog? Yes, these questions may seem a bit philosophical (“If a blog post is written and no one is around to read it, does it still exist”) but one set of answers can lead you down one road and another set of answers can take your blog in an entirely different direction. The next sections will walk you through the process of answering core questions about your blog in order to formulate your blog’s “mission statement”.  Don’t worry, writing a mission statement for your blog doesn’t have to be a chore and it certainly does not lock you in to a single topic for all eternity, but what it does do is provide you with a framework for writing for your blog and gives your readership some notion of what to expect from your blog.  As an example, let’s create a mission statement for a fictional blog called, Starterblogger.com. 

What is the topic of my blog?

Yes, it is a simple question but you’d be surprised by how many bloggers do not fully answer this question before writing their first blog post.

Online journals verses a blog about a specific topic

At this point, let’s draw a fuzzy distinction between an online journal and a blog.  An online journal is a type of blog that can be thought of as an online version of a personal diary.  It may speak about the personal experience, thoughts, and insights of individual as they go through life.  Online journals are awesome, and the information found on this site can help you to put together an online journal to a certain degree.  But StarterBlogger is mainly concerned with helping you to create topically themed blogs, that is a blog about a specific topic.

Selecting a general blog topic

It is well known that the most successful blogs target a single theme and discuss it from multiple dimensions.  Off the top of my head, I do not know of any successful blogs that discuss completely unrelated topics (i.e business server administration and knitting).  However, choosing a topic does not mean you’re “locked” in to writing about one thing forever. What selecting a topic does is to help you to attract and retain visitors who are interested in hearing what you have to say.  It helps you to formulate articles and to promote your blog in a consistent manner, which puts you on the road to building authority and credibility about your knowledge of the selected topic.  The most respected blogs are based on one or more closely related topics. By now you’re probably thinking about your blog topic.  You have probably chosen a general topic at this point.  Later in this tutorial, you will learn how to select a niche and integrate it into your blog’s mission statement. As a learning example, The general topic of StarterBlogger.com is “blogging”.

Select a subtopic for your blog

General topics are just that, general.  Let’s say your general topic is automobiles.  But the automotive world is so vast, ranging from anything from car repair, car shows, in-car technology to buying and selling a car, customizing your car, and on and on. As your blog’s only writer it will be difficult to create this breadth of content.  This is why you must select a subtopic for your blog.  The subtopics for StarterBlogger “is introduction to blogging” and “how to create a blog”. Notice how StarterBlogger address two closely related subtopics.  You may choose more subtopics under your general topic but they should be related to each other in some clearly connectable way.

Deciding on a niche for your blog

A subtopic describes what your blog is about, a niche describes who your blog is geared toward within that subtopic.  A niche is a distinct segment of a market.  Don’t worry, this is not a business course and we’re not going to start talking about market segmentation, economics or any of the like.  Think of a niche as definable characteristics of your ideal reader.  For example, StarterBlogger falls under the general heading of “blogging”, and the subtopic of “how to create a blog”, however its niche is “new bloggers” because it targets people who want to learn how to blog. Focusing on a niche can help you to cultivate a specific audience for your blog.  One who will be apt to participate in discussions and revisit your blog again and again to check for new content.

What is the purpose of your blog?

Now if you’re going have a blog it’s got to have a purpose.  Not to go too “wise old man” on you, but a blog must have a purpose else it will serve none.  Ask yourself – what need does your blog serves to 1.  you and 2. your readers. StarterBloggers allows me spread my joy of blogging.  It allows people who are interested in learning how to set-up a blog to use a proven methodology.

Creating the mission statement for your blog

A mission statement is a formal short written statement of purpose for your blog.  A blog’s missions statement helps readers understand what the blog is about and what to expect from it.  As an author, the missions statement gives you a goal. The mission statement for StarterBlogger is the following: Starterblogger is a collection of tutorial and articles designed to introduce people to the world of blogging.  It teaches them how to create a blog and gives them a proven method for becoming a successful blogger. This mission statement will govern the content I create.  It will help to ensure that I am faithful to my niche.