Now that we’ve got the basic definition of terms out of the way, the next step for you to take is to prepare yourself psychologically.

You might think blogging isn’t as tough as trading perhaps of taking the bar exams and shouldn’t have to require this kind of preparation. You’re right. Anyone can do a post, but if you wish to achieve something or if you want your blog to have an impact on beings other than yourself, your cat and your mother, you need to sit down and read through this.

Here are steps you need to take to prepare to blog:

Define Intentions or Objectives

Like every other decision you make, you should have a purpose, intention or objective for wanting to start a blog. This is all really just beginning with the end in mind. This is what will eventually give you the seed idea for your blog topic or niche.

To keep things simple, start figuring out your intentions or objectives by asking yourself — Do I want to blog about:

• something personal, perhaps for therapeutic purposes or to keep family and friends updated
• updates/tutorials/tips about a hobby, interest or topic I’m passionate about
• a cause I want to champion
• a profitable topic solely to make money
• something personal or a hobby and to make money on the side

Figure Out Interest and Aptitude

It should be obvious to you what your interests are after thinking about your intentions for blogging. Often, it’s tempting to just pursue your interest. It’s crucial however to figure out if you have the aptitude to blog about your topic or at least the determination to develop that aptitude.

For instance, I’m very interested in music, but I don’t have the aptitude to blog authoritatively about it, nor do I have the time or desire to continuously learn about it. I should thus think twice about blogging about a music-related topic.

Why is aptitude assessment important? It’s important because people will not be interested in your blog if they can’t learn anything new or get anything valuable from your posts. You therefore need to be able to teach or demonstrate expertise.

You don’t have to be the best expert in town. You just need to know more than the average guy.

In the same vein, having the aptitude to blog about something you’re not interest in isn’t a good idea. For example, in school my highest aptitude score was in math but my abysmal actual subject grades proved that the either the teacher handed me the wrong results or I really didn’t like math. Imagine my misery if I had to blog the topic.

Of course, common sense should tell you not to pursue something you’re not interested in but some people pick topics they’re not crazy about because of the monetary value of those topics.

Thinking of your objectives, interests and aptitude is just the beginning of the preparations you need to take before you start a blog. In the next post, you’ll learn more about the actual challenges to blogging and keeping your expectations realistic.