Today the Panel wants to help you with your dreams of starting your own Disney blog! Learn about how and where to start and find out some tips and tricks from the Betamouse crew! Questions? Email show@betamouse.net!
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- Henry introduces the Panel.
- Thank you to our sponsor Touring Plans. Check out Touring Plans to see a brand new site design and an update to the Crowd Calendar!
- Scott leads off the show by explaining how to start your Disney site: find your Disney passion.
- Scott then explains some different blogging platforms:
- Blogger
- WordPress
- Drupal
- Squarespace
- Katie explains the importance of being comfortable on the platform that you choose to blog on.
- The Panel then discusses overcoming the fears of duplicating subjects and “biting off more than you can choose.”
- Jeff discusses being consistent in blog posts and content production.
- Henry touches base on the importance of production value is to bloggers and also encourages the launch of the blog rather than waiting for perfection.
- Henry gives the tip of linking back to many other blogs in your own to build a network.
- Scott and Jeff talk about writing the first post and overcoming the nerves.
- Katie talks about committing to the blog but the importance of having fun with your posts.
- To end the show the Panel gives one last bit of advice for having a successful blog.
- Do you have a blog? Let us know about your ideas of starting it or starting one in our FriendFeed room!
I’m still fairly new at bloggging, and I just wanted to say I enjoyed this episode. I’m currently a freeloader on WordPress.com, mainly because I’m a cheapskate and don’t see the point in paying when I don’t have too, and it’s just a hobby/side interest (for now). I figure until it starts making money for me, or I’m using it to make money, then why invest in a domain name?
I wanted to let you know about a tool I found that I use for writing/posting my blog entries. It’s Windows Live Writer from Microsoft. They advertise that it will publish to Blogger, WordPress, Typepad and others, and of course theirs as well. It does an okay job of editing and has a few decent plug-ins too. I’ve been using it for a couple months now and like it.
Thanks for this episode! I started a Disney blog last year and got through one or two entries before I started to panic that it was a waste of time. I don’t really believe it, but I didn’t know how to get over that creative hump. I have a lot of notes from where I brainstormed — I need to go back to those again.
So you’ve prodded me to go back to my blog. I’ll post a couple more entries then report back with my address.
Also, a topic I was hoping you’d cover is making money with your blog. Unless none of you do?
There’s a lot of info online, but it’s hard to tell what’s garbage and what isn’t. Thoughts?
Ah, interesting points!
We could definitely cover this on a future episode.
However, one note: the blogging business is hard. Getting to break-even on hosting / domain fees is hard, even. It’s not easy to create a revenue stream from disney content. Best hope is sponsorships, which you may be able to hook up if you have decent enough traffic!
I want to say thank you for this episode. It’s what gave me the idea of starting my own blog detailing my personal Disney vacation plans. Even if no one reads it other than my own family and friends, it’s still a lot of fun to put together.
I’m in the process of starting a blog, and the biggest issue on my mind right now is whether I should be concerned about using “Disney”, “Disneyland”, or “Magic Kingdom” in my domain name and blog title. Do you know of any copyright/legal issues I might have if I were to do that? (I know you’re not lawyers, I’m just looking for what experiences others have had.)
Thanks!