A niche near the entrance of al-Siq, Petra, Jordan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Being a newbie blogger, I’ve been struggling with the common issue of what to blog about. To be honest I never had any intention of starting a blog. If blogging had been invented when I was young and had all the answers to the world’s problems, I would likely have jumped right in. But now that I’m older I’m a little humbler. Also busier. And less energetic.

So why did I start? Well, I want to be a writer. People in the know, like Seth Godin, Joanna Penn, Lindsay Buroker, Writer’s Digest and many others say I have to have a platform, a brand. And they say I have to start long before my first book is launched if I want the book to be a success. Godin says three years. Someone else said at least a year. So I decided I should start right away, while I’m still outlining my first novel.

There are many blog posts, books and courses about how to get more traffic to my blog. A lot of them have to do with search engine optimization, writing catchy headlines, or ways to get links to your blog. But in the end it comes down to content — without good content anyone who does find my blog isn’t going to stick around. Makes sense. Continue reading →