Blog News Watch

As I’ve blogged before, I’m in the midst of prepping a new blog for launch next month. This is the first time I’ve taken a monetized blog public from the ground-up (outside of my law practice blogs). In the past, if I wanted a new blog, I just hit first Typepad and then Wordpress.com and started one - no fuss, no fanfare, no problem.

But I’m a grownup blogger now, and this is a whole new ballgame, I’m finding out. There’s so much to do!  I’m sitting here staring at a to-do list that’s growing out of control and I don’t even know how to corral it - and that? Productivity and corraling to-do items? Is supposed to be one of my strengths, people!

Breathe, Sisk. Breathe deep. In with the good air, out with the bad.

So then it hits me. Dude. Opportunity. I can blog about launching my blog! We can all learn together, right? Therein is born a new category: Countdown to launch! In this category, we’ll explore all those to-do items, and hopefully get a better overview of how to launch - and, undoubtedly how not to launch - a new blog.

Here’s a rundown of where we are so far.  The URL (which I’m not going to publish until later - it’s password -protected right now while I and some buddies add content and put it through its beta paces) is established. The blog design has been completed by Lisa Sabin-Wilson of eWebscapes - and I, for one, am thoroughly entranced by it. It’s gorgeous. More on that process in another post. Lisa designed my two practice blogs as well, which I’ve received many compliments on from other lawyers, and she literally wrote the book on Wordpress - the Wordpress for Dummies book, coming out in September 2007. I’m in the process of making some notes for Lisa that I’d like to correct - things like bullet points not showing up correctly or a font being too light in color. 

I’ve put in some content - the backstory of the blog. This is going to be a niche blog about reinvention - how to change some or many aspects of one’s life. So the “why” is important - why this blog, why this topic, why me. Instead of one static “About” page, I elected to tell my story in blog posts. Once I have that story completed (there’s about five or six entries I plan in total), I’ll re-edit them via timestamp so they’ll appear in chronological order, top to bottom, and a reader can see the whole thing in story format.

The blog itself, in finished form (or at least “in finished launch form”), will feature shorter blog posts, a page with links to full-length articles and eventually books on the subject of reinvention and change, a page with exercises and journal-writing prompts to help people undergoing the process of reinvention, a page of resources (other books and websites that can help with specific changes, like losing weight, quitting smoking, changing jobs, etc.) that will be monetized through Amazon’s affiliate program (at least for the books). Long-term plans include the addition of a forum for subscribers. I haven’t yet decided whether subscriptions will be paid or free.

Sources of monetization include: ads (which need to be included), affiliate programs (such as Amazon), and sale of books and articles.

Some of the things on the to-do list:

• Work on the content. I want 10 posts and at least five articles up by launch. 
• Insert Google AdSense code. I’ve set up the account - just need to figure out how and where to install the code, or ask Lisa to do it.
• Complete beta. I have three people signed up right now, with various browsers represented.
• Install Amazon affiliate program code on new page for resources. 
• Design prelaunch publicity campaign.
  

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