30 Day Blogging Challenge, Day # 1 :Simple Daily Habits to Ignite Your Passion For Blogging

Today is my first day doing the 30 day blogging challenge: one blog post. Every day. For a month. It might sound easy, but, although I have multiple blogs, I am not a regular blogger. They say blog about what you know. Let's see,  know a lot about horses, reading,  writing, disability , fashion and beauty. I have blogs on all those subjects except horses, and  I  have loved blogging ever since a friend mentioned I should try it. Before I started blogging, I had heard the words blog, blogger blog post and so on, but I did   not have a very good idea of what was involved. I had also heard a blog can be like an online diary. I kept diaries on holidays, and on school trips, and, one birthday, my uncle gave me a travel diary, but I did not stick to filling much of it in. Blogging, it turns out, is something I enjoy and find fun. I talk about my life's experiences of  living  with  cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus and severe eyesight difficulties a lot in this blog, and enjoy using them as a basis for my posts, or if not, as the  inspiration for the whole post, as who better to write about your life than you?
Here are my 15 daily tips, many of which are based on my own personal experience, and others which I have thought up, to help you develop an interest, which will lead to a passion for blogging, just like it has done with me.

1. Learn  some blogging definitions from the blogging world. Here are some to get you started.   Blog =  The Oxford Dictionary defines a blog  as: 

A regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual  or  small group, that is written in  an informal  or conversational  style.

A blogger is a person, or the people, group or organisation the blog is written by. 

A blog post is each piece of writing or each article, or photo,  recipe etc in the blog. 

2. Google blogging sites. There are great free sites to start blogs, for example www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com. Once you find one that you like the sound of, you can create a free account and then start blogging straight away. 

3. Ask your friends and family if they have blogs and where. Make a note of the blog address (similar to a website address, but this is where you can find their blog within the general blog hosting site). Read their blog . 

4. The power of comments! comments and opinions are vital to helping the person get people interested in their blog. In the media world, this is known as 'traffic'- picture cars rushing towards a popular destination. 

5. Once you have set up your blog, 'follow' other people's blogs. If you are in blogger, there is a reading list where you can copy and paste a blog address and, once you press 'add' you will find the most recent blog post ready for you to read , comment on or reblog (share). 

6. Personalise it! You are you,you are unique, and your blog should be, too. Blogger, WordPress and other blog hosting sites have a whole variety of  free pre-configured blogging backgrounds, header fonts (titles) and sidebar and date fonts and colours. Make your blog stand out! If you don't like what your blog looks like, you can change the layout any time by going into the 'templates' tab  (on blogger) and 'appearance' on WordPress. 

7.  Click on the icons at the top of the page in blogger and ths side of the page in WordPress, to add videos, photos links and more to your blog. 

8. Decide what time of day you are going to blog and how often, and let people know about your new blog  and when roughly they can expect to see your posts in a  welcome blog post 

9. Reblog. Reblog means share on someone else's blog, or you can search rhe internet and if you see an article or blog post you like, you can share it on your blog. Many websites allow you to copy and paste codes directly into your website or blog to share material. The sharing buttons at the bottom of a blog post allow you to easily share your post to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social networks as long as you log into that account first, and you can configure your blog posts to share automatically to where you want them. 

10. Read - if you like reading, you can always blog about a book you have read or are reading. 

11. Make notes on a subject you know about. 

12. keep a scrapbook/ box/ notebook/ file of articles from magazines and newspapers or your memories. This way, you'll have prompts to write around. 

13. Interview people- you could write a blog or blog entries about what people you know (or don't know personally) think about something. 

14. Start a YouTube channel. Over the years,  YouTube has become a great way to show people your world. I personally have a YouTube channel and I find it is a fun way to share my life with the world. You can post your videos to your blog. This is especially good if your blog is related to fashion or beauty products. Watch my YouTube channel here https://m.youtube.com/user/cpchick81

15. Take lots of photos. Photos are great, and add interest. 

Finally, HAVE FUN BLOGGING! 

Note: this guide is not exhaustive, and you may be able to think of ideas I haven't thought of.