The short answer is: yes. Instead of just idly consuming whatever social networks and news outlets send your way start to share your own thoughts, feelings or expertise online. Remember – besides the greatest tool to find information, the internet is also a great way to share it with others from all corners of the world.
What do you need to start a blog of your own?
First of all, you need a name by which others can find you online. There are two options – some turn their own names into personal brands, building the audience around their own persona online. Others choose aliases by which they publish their mind’s products, building a brand from scratch. Both versions are acceptable today, and used in the world of blogging.
(On a side note: sometimes the brands are not chosen to perfection. Take a look at the Major Tom brand, created by David Bowie in the 1970s, that has ended up being the brand of a completely unrelated thing: Major Tom Mobile Casino – the best games for mobile, wherever you go.)
When you know the name or brand you intend to use, it’s time to look for the appropriate means to share your thing. Again, there are two major options: either register a domain name – this is considered the more professional thing to do – or go with a sub-domain on either of the many available free blogging platforms, like Tumblr, WordPress, or many others.
Speaking of domains – this is a very exciting time from this point of view. After decades of ccTLDs (Country code top-level domains like US, DE, ES and BR) and just a handful of gTLDs (Generic top level domains like .com, .net and so on) a whole new group of alternative domain names were cleared, allowing their users to express themselves through their domain extension: .club, .center, .top, .uno, or even .bmw.
If you go with your own domain, and decide to do it professionally, you have to choose the right CMS for your needs. Most personal blogs, corporate and professional websites can make do with WordPress, this free and open-source solution that is highly customizable and very popular. When you take things to the next level, you might want to build or have built a completely custom solution from scratch to serve your own needs (just like Kinja, the blog engine used by Gizmodo).
When all this is done, you can start creating and sharing online. Don’t despair if success comes slow – blogging is not a sprint, but more like a marathon. Building a loyal audience takes time. In time the right kind of readers will come, and as long as you keep them well fed with quality content, they will also return.
