INZAIN Cycling Adventures

This is a sample post originally published as part of The blog university. Sign up for one of our ten programs and start blogging the right way.

You are to publish a post today. Don't worry about how your blog looks. Don't worry if you haven't given it a name yet, or if it feels insurmountable. Just click the "New Post" button and tell us why you're here.

Why should you do this?

• Because it gives new readers some context. Who are you? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it helps you focus your ideas about your blog and what you want to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal presentation of your life or a description of the purpose of the blog, something to strive for in the future or a simple description of what you intend to publish.

Here are some questions to help you get started:

• Why do you blog publicly instead of writing a personal diary?
• What topics do you think you will write about?
• Who would you like to connect with through your blog?
• If you manage to blog for the entire next year, what do you hope to achieve?

You don't lock yourself into any of this. One great thing about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn new things, grow and interact with each other - but it's good to know where and why you started. By formulating your goals, you can also get good suggestions for some posts.

Don't know how to start? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book about writing we love, says you have to allow yourself to write a "lousy first draft." She has a good point – the most important thing is to start writing and worry about editing later.

When you're ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe the focus of the blog—writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, you name it. These tags help others who are interested in your topics find them in the reader. Make sure one of the tags is "zerotohero", so other new bloggers can find you too.