Here it is, staring at me: a pristine online WordPress blog! Awe-inspiring, because everything is there for the world to see. The technical bits and pieces are working. Intimidating also, because everything is there for the world to see. With no content, and no fancy templates set up, it feels… naked.
Introducing the inner critic
This blog is about expressing myself. That sounds so easy. Just go, just write! But with a highly vocal inner critic in the back of my head, it feels paralyzing. Nobody is interested in my self expression. Nobody will visit my site. Google won’t even make the site findable in the first place.
Everyone in social media will tell me that one should have a main topic, provide value, build an audience. Collect, or rather: hunt views, likes, comments and email subscribers. Learn SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques. Network with other bloggers around the same and related topics. And of course, the site should look wonderful with the greatest graphics. Then monetize the whole thing. And this is still nothing…
Shutting up the inner critic
We’ll get there, maybe. Successful blogs have taken years to develop. And many more blogs never got that far. We are just kicking this off. True, nobody cares about this blog. And that is also a blessing. I can do whatever I want. In order to find my voice, I have to use my voice.
Quality isn’t important right now. I can just ramble about anything I like. Once I feel that I have found my voice, the content will get more focused. I have my writing skills to lean on. And I can learn about SEO when I have some more focused content. So that, once I have some value to add, I can find an audience.
Enjoy the process, not just the result. I like writing and I can see if blogging is also my thing. As long as I feel it is fun rambling here, the blog will grow organically. And over time, we’ll see some trends, some direction. And if a visitor stumbles on this blog, welcome!
That’s it for now. I’ll be back tomorrow!
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