

15 Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started My First Blog - babul
http://www.quicksprout.com/2009/02/15/15-things-i-wish-i-had-known-when-i-started-my-first-blog/

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babul
I like Neils bio. A real example of perseverance paying off, even without
formal education at the early stages...

<http://www.quicksprout.com/about/>

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josefresco
Wow, $5000 for a blog design. I have the wrong clients.

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dcurtis
Also he points to BoingBoing as having a substandard design, but really it has
one of the best blog designs out there. Whoever designed it has an excellent
understanding of typography and spacing.

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antidaily
Right, he says, "If you look at some of the most popular blogs on the web,
such as Boing Boing, there isn’t anything special when it comes to their
design."

It's important not to mistake simplicity for "nothing special". FYI, the
latest iteration was designed by a very fairly well-known and influential
designer, Jemma Hostetler.

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jrockway
This sounds more like, "How to become Jeff Atwood."

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AdilD
I've just started a blog in the last couple of weeks
(www.creativitykilledtherecession.com) and I found this post rather helpful
and timely. At a time when lazy media (and wishful thinking) has fabricated
the idea that online business is quick and easy, Neil's story is evidence that
perseverance and hard work still separate the true contenders from the
pretenders.

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wallflower
> If you are in a position where you don’t need money, that’s great. If you
> aren’t, you better figure out a way to make money off of your blog.

I don't know what to say about this. There are very few professional bloggers.
There are many bloggers who use their blog to indirectly generate revenue
(business leads, networking).

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lethain
I think he would include that indirect revenue as "a way to make money off of
your blog."

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slackerIII
Hmmm.. he missed "always put a number at the beginning of post titles when
trying to get links from news sites".

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sam_in_nyc
My first thought as well.

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eyudkowsky
If you're going to spend money on your blog's design eventually, you should do
it sooner rather than later.

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spencerfry
Not necessarily. I think it's better to start blogging first and see if you
actually enjoy doing it. If you're not having fun with it and you don't find
it beneficial, you'll probably stop and have saved yourself some money.

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lethain
I agree. People will read good content on a poorly designed blog. And if they
like your content but hate your design, they--in my sad experience--make it
very clear that they'd like you to improve your design. A great design for a
blog is kind of like great office space for a startup, it's nice to have but
is a misuse of resources if done prematurely.

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Eliezer
Yeah, and _after_ they make it clear to you that they hate your design, you
should spend the money then, not wait another year. That's what I'm sayin' I
learned here.

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CalmQuiet
Some of this applies to StartUps in general. And he's got a lot of experience
to share.

