Tuesday, November 20, 2012

How to Start a Blog


Blog cartoons by me, Mike Lynch, originally appeared in Prospect Magazine (UK) and Harvard Business Review.


I was asked "How does one start a blog?" by a family member. I wrote a short note back, and thought I would share my response here.

WHAT TO USE
I use Blogger because Blogger is free and Blogger blogs appear on Google searches, which draw more people to your blog. 
BLOGS TAKE TIME
I began my blog in 2006. Within a few years, it had a reputation as a "go to" place for cartoonists. Lots of people liked it and its presence has helped awareness of who I am and what I do. It has, at least, given me some kind of brand recognition.  
But there is no equation like "number of hours I spend doing my blog equals a certain amount of income." Anyway, I do it because I enjoy it and that's really the secret to maintaining a blog: that you are excited to share stuff.  


CONTENT DRIVES THE BLOG
And by stuff I mean "content." You have to have new content, every day. Content drives traffic to your blog.  
THE GRIND
Blogging takes time and there are certainly days when it's particularly grinding to wake up and wonder, What will I put up on my blog today?  
Hope this helps. I get thousands of people to my blog every day -- and even the stuff on the blog that isn't about cartooning (like the posts about our garden) generate page views and comments.  
Good luck with your new blog!

4 comments:

Clifford Magnus Larsen said...

Hey Mike, Love the site and I subscribe to your rss through iftt.com so it comes right to my e-mail. Love the very open attitude of your career. I would love to know what you got for the Boston Globe illustration... but that's personal. I enjoy all the things that you write about when it comes to cartooning and your creative process. Keep up the good work!

docnad said...

Okay, Mike, I've had a blog going for over a year now. So how do I get my wife to read it?

Anonymous said...

I like you site, great cartoons :)

Dan Reynolds said...

I was going to comment on your blog about blogging but I thought that would be redundant. I don't like to be redundant because that would be like commenting on someones blog about the topic of blogging - um, oops...Is it just me or did I just experience a bit of deja-vous? "Wow, Tish, that's French!!!!"