This might belong in Cafe Society and if so, I apologize.
I’m interested in becoming more involved in legislative advocacy (particularly around immigration reform) and as a part of this process I have decided to start my own blog. This is a suitable way for me to learn the ropes - I love doing research and I love writing.
The blog would serve two major functions:
- contribute to my broader goal of changing the public discourse on my particular issue
- help me establish a ‘‘borderless’’ network of like-minded individuals around the country (this latter step will be important because I will be moving frequently on a fairly regular basis and I don’t even know where - the more allies I have in various places, the more likely I am to find my niche.)
Thus, promotion of the blog in the long-run will be a major goal. In fact, it’s a requirement for a project I’m working on as part of an intensive leadership program for progressive community leaders. I’m a little shy about this; it’s a challenge for me to just put my ideas out there, for people to scrutinize, but I’m getting to the point where I feel like I don’t have a choice if I want to sleep at night.
Personally, I’d like to draw in informed people from all sides of the issue, including those who oppose me. And I want to do it professionally. I want to attach my name to it and have it become a part of my professional image. It’s not meant to be a hobby but rather part of a long-term career development plan. Because of this I don’t just want to throw it together willy-nilly, but do it carefully and deliberately.
Anyway, I already have a little personal blog on a social networking site, but this is something different, and I’m not sure where to begin. I know very little about web design but am totally willing to learn as I go. Is it best to pay and host my own site or just go to a popular blogging site? If so, which? How and where would I promote such a blog?
Any advice or pointers you could provide would be great. Also, if you yourself have a political blog or know of some great examples, I would love to see them.
Posting political rants on a Blogger or WordPress.com blog probably won’t look as professional as you want it to. Even if they’re not rants, if you want to make a career out of this, free blog sites aren’t the way to go.
Self host, install WordPress (99% of hosts will do it for you) and pick a theme that you like. If things take off, you can always build a better one.
As for promotion, I could tell you all about promoting video game sites. Politics, not so much.
I have had several blogs over the years (both political and non), with varying levels of success, so I’ve given this question some thought.
–Specificity is good. The fact that you have a fairly narrow topic is a good thing. If your blog is going to be about just whatever is in your head, you’d better be a damn good writer, because otherwise it’s going to disappear into the noise.
–On the same note, try to say something that other people aren’t. You’d like your posts to be passed around the blogosphere, so focus on presenting a unique idea that other people might want to write about.
–I’d say you want to post about once a day. Blogs that post more than that just seem too busy; much less than that and you’ll be forgotten. Resist the temptation to throw every link and idle thought up as a post–that’s what Twitter and Facebook are for. (And you should definitely incorporate those into your blog, but remember which is which.) Save the blog posts for when you have that one insightful idea that’s worth expanding on.
–Forget that whole thing about pulling in people “from all sides”. It really isn’t likely to happen. Just focus on coming up with good ideas, writing them up well, and backing them up with solid facts. It doesn’t matter how undeniable your points may be–someone will deny them.
–I’d probably go with a more robust platform than the free ones that are available. It’s probably worth the small investment to have your own domain name, and if you’re not handy with such things yourself you could drop a little cash to someone to set it up nice for you. What you want is distinctive but simple and easy to read. Don’t get too hung up on it, though, since most people will probably read you through Google Reader.
Good luck, and throw up a link when you get it off the ground.