博客写作——别重蹈我的覆辙！
原文链接：https://createartwithme.com/mistakes-blogging-made/
日期： 2016-07-22
作者： 米歇尔·伊斯
分类： 博客写作
标签： 艺术教育博客、美术教师、美术教师博客、博客写作、博客常见错误、在家教育家长、通过博客赚钱、用博客创收、初建博客常犯错误、将博客变现或开设网店、博客变现、创建博客、创办美术博客、开启个人博客
你是否曾考虑过开设自己的博客？我在起步阶段犯了不少严重错误——请在创建你自己的博客时，务必从我的错误中吸取教训！
无论你是想创办美术教师博客，还是其他类型的博客，这些经验教训适用于所有初涉博客写作的人！
我为何开始写博客？
十三年前，我踏入了教学生涯。当时我是一名全职艺术家，拥有艺术学位，但教学经验极少。开学前一周，我所在的学校突然失去了美术教师（她临阵辞职），急需立即招聘一位接任者。我在周五参加面试，当场就被聘为幼儿园至十二年级的美术教师。我毫不怀疑，这一切都掌握在我天父手中！我于次周一参加岗前培训，周三便正式开课。
校方完全不清楚前任美术教师将课程资料放在何处，也根本找不到她的任何教案（我们始终未能找到那些教案）！兴奋迅速转为挫败…… 毫无疑问，我当时迫切需要帮助，于是转向互联网寻找教学资源。网上虽有不少优质资源，但许多博主仅展示项目成品图，却未提供完整教案或操作步骤。而我当时要教授大量班级，又毫无现成课程体系可依，实在没有时间去自行推演他们的教学方法；我甚至手头连一本美术教学参考书都没有（除了一些自己收藏的书籍）。正是这一困境促使我创办了自己的美术教育博客。我希望为其他美术教师及在家教育的家长提供高质量、即拿即用的教案。我的一位朋友运营着一个极出色的博客——MomFabulous，正是她激励我相信：我也能做好博客写作这件事！四年后，历经无数次失误，我们推出了“与米歇尔一起创作艺术”（Create Art with ME）！顺便说一句，“ME”即米歇尔·伊斯（Michelle East）的缩写 🙂
请务必从我的错误中汲取教训！
错误 #1：从一开始就选择正确的博客平台！
先回答这个问题： 你为何要写博客？ 你想与亲友分享日常生活吗？你有全新的创意想法想向世界展示吗？你是否希望借此获得一些额外收入？ 我认为，几乎每一位潜在博主内心深处都暗自期盼自己的博客取得成功，并能带来一定副业收入。千万别让任何人告诉你、或让你因“靠博客赚钱”而感到羞愧！ 感谢互联网，感谢这个奇妙而崭新的商业运营渠道！
请慎重考虑以下两点：
- 如果你完全不打算将来对博客进行变现，请选用： WordPress.com 或 Blogger
- 如果你希望未来对博客进行变现，或在博客上开设网店，请选用： WordPress.org（你必须通过托管服务商来托管你的博客；我目前使用的是 Nestify（原Hostgator）。WordPress.org 的初始设置相对复杂，但它支持变现、添加购物车系统、接入 PayPal——所有你将来可能需要用来从网站获利的功能，它一应俱全。
错误 #2：选择一个能“包揽全部功能”的主题！（自定义、图库、视频、网店、广告等）
我花了数小时又数小时，只为找到最合适的主题！关于主题，最重要的是要牢记一点：确保它具备你所需的一切功能：
- 主题的可自定义程度如何？能否轻松更改字体、版式等？（这点对我而言至关重要）
- 是否支持显示特色图片？（你希望这些图片以何种方式呈现？例如轮播图？）
- 是否能很好地展示视频？（如果你计划发布视频或教学内容）
- 是否具备响应式设计，以便在移动设备上正常显示？（我仍在调整自己当前主题的响应式效果——对此并不满意）
- 如果你未来计划在博客中开设网店，必须找到一个信誉良好且与你的主题兼容的购物车系统——这一点极其重要！！！ 若从一开始就选对方案，就能避免数小时的返工和重新编辑文章/商品。例如，如果你想使用 WooCommerce（我正在使用，总体比较满意），那么务必确认所选主题支持 WooCommerce（或其他你选定的购物车系统）。
- 我在个人艺术网站 Michelle East Art 和教学网站 Create Art with ME 上均使用了 Repose 主题*，该主题来自 My Theme Shop。
错误 #3：选定名称后就坚持使用！
花时间认真决定你的博客网站名称——一旦开博后再更改名称，将造成巨大损失！ 我最初命名为 Michelle East Fine Art Blog（同时展示个人作品与美术课程），之后才改为 Create Art with ME。长远来看，Create Art with ME 更契合我的身份与博客定位。真希望当初起步时就能想到这个名字。
这次改名让我损失了大量流量，还严重扰乱了我的 Pinterest 图钉（pins）——它们无法正确链接回我的新博客名称。我花了数小时重返 Pinterest，逐一查找旧图钉并尝试修改。所以……请从一开始就选对名称，并且切勿更改！
这样做的目的主要有两个：一是让图片与图形更具视觉吸引力，从而抓住观众注意力；二是保护你的图片不被盗用！ 任何人都可能窃取你的图片并据为己有——这种情况我亲身经历过，维权非常困难！
防止此类事件发生的有效方法之一，就是为照片添加水印。操作起来非常简单，而且绝对值得投入时间！我大部分的照片编辑与图形制作工作都在 PicMonkey 上完成。该网站提供免费版本（但字体与功能有限），而我则订阅了年度付费版 **PicMonkey：超赞的照片编辑工具*！价格非常合理，尤其考虑到它所能实现的丰富功能。此外，它还提供大量时尚字体（我特别喜欢！）。它拥有超强照片编辑器，还能用照片制作拼贴画、设计图形、修图、添加酷炫滤镜与文字、加入自定义叠加层与水印，等等等等！我超爱 PicMonkey！
错误 #5：社交媒体账号须与私人账号分离
务必为社交媒体（及 PayPal）设立商业专用账号。日后若需更改，代价会很高！你将不得不重新积累粉丝，从头开始建立新账号！
另外，不必强迫自己更新所有现有社交媒体平台。只需专注运营几个最适合你博客类型的主要平台即可。对美术教师而言，目前效果最好的似乎是 Pinterest（最佳！）、Instagram、Facebook 与 Twitter。我知道这仍不算少，但可尽量简化更新内容，并保持 Pinterest 的定期发布。我个人主要聚焦于 Pinterest、Instagram 与 Facebook。
经历上述教训后，我的网站流量大幅增长，并为家庭带来了额外收入。过程中我还学到更多经验，但只能留待下一篇文章再分享！请谨记以上这五个我曾犯过的错误，助你从起步阶段便走向成功！
如你选用本文中的任何内容（文字、图形或图片），请务必附上回链至我的博客 Create Art with ME！
*含联盟链接
Blogging – Don’t Make my Mistakes!
Original: https://createartwithme.com/mistakes-blogging-made/
Date: 2016-07-22
Author: Michelle East
Categories: Blogging
Tags: art education blog, art teacher, art teacher blog, blogging, blogging mistakes, home school parents, mak money blogging, make money with blog, mistakes starting your own blog, monetize or make a store on your blog, monetize your blog, staring a blog, start an art blog, starting your own blog
Blogging Mistakes start an art teacher blogHave you ever thought about staring a blog? I have made some big mistakes getting started blogging-please LEARN from my mistakes while starting your own blog!
It doesn’t matter if you are starting an art teacher blog or some other type-these lessons apply to ANYONE starting a blog!
Why I started blogging?
I was led into teaching 13 years ago. I was a full-time artist and had an art degree, but I had little teaching experience. My school had lost their art teacher one week before school started (she quit on them) and they needed to hire someone immediately. Well, I went in for the interview on a Friday and was hired on the spot to teach Prek-12th grade. I have no doubt that this was all in the hands of my Father! I started in-service the following Monday, then school started Wednesday.
The administration had no clue where the previous art teacher had placed any of the curriculum and had NONE of her lessons (we never found the lessons)! Excitement led to frustration…Needless to say I was desperate for help and turned to the internet for resources. There were many good resources out there, but a lot of bloggers just showed pictures of projects not full lessons or instructions. Since I was teaching SO many classes with NO curriculum I just didn’t have time to figure out how they did them, I didn’t even have any art books (other than some of my own) to draw information from. This predicament is what led me to start my own art education blog. I wanted to provide quality, ready to use lesson plans to other art teachers and home school parents. I have a friend who has an amazing blog called MomFabulous who inspired me that I could do this blogging thing! Four years later, with MANY mistakes along the way, we have Create Art with ME! ME stands for Michelle East BTW 🙂
PLEASE Learn from My Mistakes!
Mistake #1: Choose the Right Blogging Platform from the Start!
First answer this question–why are YOU going to blog? Do you want to share “life” with friends & family? Do you have new creative ideas to share with the world? Are you hoping to make a little money along the way? I think secretly almost every potential blogger hopes their blog is successful and they can provide some supplemental income along the way. Don’t let anyone tell you or quilt you into thinking that making money blogging is a bad thing! Thank goodness for the internet and this crazy new venue of running a business!
Consider this very carefully:
- If you have absolutely no intention of ever monetizing your blog use: WordPress.com or Blogger
- If you hope to eventually monetize or make a store on your blog use: WordPress.org (you must have a hosting company to host your blog, I use Nestify (changed from Hostgator). WordPress.org is more involved to get set up, but you can monetize, add shopping cart systems, add PayPal-everything you need to possibly make some money from your site.
Mistake #2: Choose a Theme that will Do ALL you need it to! (Customize, Galleries, Video, Store, Ads, etc)
I spent HOURS & HOURS looking for just the right theme! The important thing to remember about the theme is making sure it has ALL the features you want & need:
- How customizeable is the theme-can you easily change the fonts, layouts, etc? (this was very important to me)
- Does is show featured images (how do you want these to show up or be displayed-in a slider?)
- Does it showcase video (if you plan on showing videos/tutorials)?
- Is it responsive so it will show nicely on a mobile device (I’m still working on fixing this one with my theme-not happy with it)?
- If you ever plan to have a store on your blog, you MUST find a shopping cart system that is reputable and WORKS WITH YOUR THEME–I can not tell you how important this is!!! It will save you HOURS of headaches and redoing posts/products if you just do it right to begin with. For example, if you want to use woocommerce (that’s what I use & am mostly pleased with it), then make sure the theme you choose works with woocommerce (or whatever shopping cart you decide on).
- I use the Repose Theme* from My Theme Shop both on my Create Art with ME site & my personal artwork site Michelle East Art.
Mistake #3: Pick a Name & Stick to it!
Spend the time to decide on your blogsite name–it will set you back BIG TIME if you choose to change your blog name after you have started!** I started out as Michelle East Fine Art Blog (I showed my personal work along with art lessons), then later changed to Create Art with ME. In the long run, Create Art with ME fits me and the purpose of the blog much better. I wish I would have thought of that name when I was just getting started.
I LOST tons of traffic when I did this and really messed up my Pinterest pins that couldn’t link back properly to my new blog name. I’ve spent HOURS going back into Pinterest & trying to find my old pins to edit them. SO…Pick the right name in the first place & DON”T CHANGE THE NAME!
There are 2 main purposes for this-to have visually appealing photos with graphics that will grab viewers attention and to PROTECT your images for thievery! ANYONE can steal your pictures and call them their own-I have had this happen & it is hard to fight against!
One BIG way you can prevent this from happening is by adding a watermark to your photos. It’s VERY EASY to do & 100% worth the time to do it! The majority of my photo editing and graphic building is done using PicMonkey. There is a FREE option for using the site that has limited fonts & abilities, but I have a yearly paid subscription PicMonkey: crazy-awesome photo editing*! The price is very reasonable especially for ALL you can do with it. Plus it gives you access to tons of trendy fonts (which I love!). They have an AWESOME photo editor and then you can do all kinds of things with the photos-make collages, make graphics, edit photos, add cool filters & text to photos, add customized overlays and watermarks, and SO much more! I LOVE PICMONKEY!
Make sure you have business accounts for the social medias (& PayPal). This is something that hurts to change later!! You will have to regain those followers if you change and create a new account later!
Also, Don’t kill yourself trying to update ALL the social media sites out there. Stick with the major ones that are best suited to your genre of blogging. For art teachers it seems to be Pinterest (BEST!), Instagram, Facebook & Twitter. I know that is still a lot, but keep updates simple & be regular about pinning to Pinterest. I focus on Pinterest, Instagram & FB.
As a result of these lessons learned, my site has grown greatly in traffic and provides extra income for my family. There is ot more that I have learned along the way, but that will have to be for another post! Just remember these 5 mistakes I have made and you can start off successful from the beginning!
If you choose to use ANY part of this post (written, graphic or photo), please link back to my blog Create Art with ME!
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