I'm an 8th grader interested in exploring blogging. Where is the best place to launch a blog site? What platform would you recommend,- and what are some ways to get critical mass around a blog cross-market my blog.

Great question! Starting a blog is a great way to learn, meet others, and potentially build a business or get free product from brands.

My recommendation, the best free place to start is https://wordpress.com/

Wordpress is a highly popular blogging platform used by large and small sites and is very easy to use and Wordpress.com is free!

In terms of how to promote your blog, start with creating great content and then sharing that content via social media and start building an audience that way, as well as sharing and writing/linking to other blogs in your topic area to help make them aware of your blog.

Hi Piper,
I agree with what Daniel said -- great advice. One other platform I like is Medium. It's very simple and even easier to get started than Wordpress, IMO.

There are a lot of great resources on the web for your PR/marketing question. I'd recommend checking out the Content Marketing Institute, KISSmetrics and Buffer App. I've learned a lot from their blog posts. If you want more ideas for what to write about, search for Buzzsumo. You can see which posts have gotten the most traffic or shares and then do a riff for your own blog. Don't copy, of course... but it's a great resource for brainstorming.

I recently met a bunch of bloggers who are in business for themselves. It can take time and hard work, but it's an investment that tends to pay off.

Have fun!

You can also consider a Blogger site, or even Tumblr. It really depends on the type of content that you are blogging about.

Beyond that, you should start actively engaging in blogs that are similar to yours. Post comments, link to them in your own blog, and reach out to the writers. A great way to build an audience is to do a relevant guest post on another blog, or have a prominent blogger guest post on yours.

While I was running a blog in college, I found some of my most popular posts to be interviews. I would reach out to people who are doing cool things and ask them questions your audience might be interested in learning more about. This will also build your confidence for reaching out for things beyond blogging - just remember the worst thing that can happen is the person says no!

Hi Piper--

You've got some great input and responses with doing blog research! To build onto the thread, I'd add that you should be passionate, curious and excited about the theme and topics that your blog might cover. You will be the brand behind the blog, so be sure to create content (writing, images or otherwise) with subjects that authentically bring you joy.

As for types of blogs and platforms, you could do a search and identify a few blogs that you like. Compare the styles, features, platforms. They don't need to cover the same topics, but you could keep these blogs in mind when looking for inspiration for your own blog. Add to that a search on youtube and watch the free how-to tutorial videos which can be helpful when learning how to build your first blog.

Lastly you could consider reaching out directly to the bloggers (of the blogs that you admire) and ask about the pros/cons of what they used (wordpress, squarespace, blogger, etc.). If you introduced yourself as a 8th grade student, you might be able to get an email thread or a call scheduled with a few bloggers who would be happy to share some further tips with you.

Good luck and have fun!

Best
Danielle

Piper,

Platform depends a lot on the kind of content you want to post. Medium and Wordpress are both excellent, but if your stuff is visual, Instagram may be your best bet.

Whatever you do, specialize. Pick something you can know inside and out and be first and best at. Then, study everything anyone else is posting on that topic. Whether it's photos, stories or data, you'll find a way to stand out. If you keep at it for a year or two like that, paying attention to your followers and what they respond to, you'll build an audience.

Seems like the blog platform question has been answered - and I'd suggest Wordpress.com myself. So on to how to get traction.

Start off acting like a sponge - read everything you can find and soak it up. Find other websites that write about your subject matter. Get on Twitter (with parent's permission / awareness) and follow people that tweet about the topic. I suggest twitter because you'll get their opinions and suggestions for resources. Write but write for your blog. Learn how to write well on the subject. Build up a library of articles before you begin any promotion. 10-15 should be a good start. 7-8 at a bare minimum. Make sure your blog can be indexed by the search engines and that it offers an RSS feed for syndication so RSS readers like Feedly can share your content.

Join the conversations on Twitter and in the forums and let people get to know you. Do NOT market your blog or yourself - it will turn people off very quickly if you do. Simply engage and be helpful. Offer your opinion but be gracious if it's not accepted or challenged. Once you have earned some credibility in the Twitter space, you can occasionally post a link to your own content. Do this sparingly while you continue to help others and discuss your topic. It is a long process to build up the audience that wants to read what you write but going slow and writing quality content, and helping others will carry you far in the online world. Sharing and being helpful are the #1 traits of successful bloggers.

I highly recommend Wordpress.org because Wordpress is a valuable skill to have today. If you can learn how to make a Wordpress blog then you can charge small businesses to create them websites.

Check out to make a Wordpress blog here - http://michaelhyatt.com/ez-wordpress-setup.html

As for getting people to come to your blog - that is going to take time, but you should promote it through social media, social bookmarking tools, such as Reddit and comment marketing tactics (in a non-spammy way).

Here's a in-depth guide by Search Engine Journal - http://www.searchenginejournal.com/content-marketing-guide/ - on content marketing. Also, there social media marketing guide is great too - http://www.searchenginejournal.com/social-media-strategy/

I think the blogging platform is really dependent on the type of content you want to write and the type of audience you want to engage.

For example, if you're interested in writing more thought pieces about a specific industry or field, then I think Medium would be a great platform since a lot of the content on Medium tends to be around how a specific industry looks. I've also seen a lot of personal, self-reflective posts on Medium. Since you mentioned you want to explore blogging to help you decide on a career, I could imagine Medium working well as a blank canvas to write out your thoughts about different careers. Since it's a platform with very little to worry about in terms of layout and design, it'll really allow you to focus just on the content and your thoughts!

All of the above is great advice, I will also advise you to leverage platforms that have momentum like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

Figure out who your audience is first and how you can reach people. Are you talking to young people who like sharing pictures? Then Snapchat makes a lot of sense, snap away, creates a story etc. Is your content visual? Then you have to look into Pinterest and Instagram. If you want to invest in Instagram, find the most relevant hashtags for your content.

As Gregg mentions, don't self promote your blog shamelessly, try adding value. The most important thing is to put your content out there and don't get discouraged!

Must read article for you: https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/the-one-thing-gurus-always-get-wrong-about-blogging/

There is already a lot of great advice here! I have some experience using tumblr, which works well for me because at the level I blog, I just wanted to use something that made it simple for me to get started. And that's probably the most important piece of advice: just get started!

If you're trying to get followers, I'd also suggest that you look for other blogs that are similar in content or somehow tied in theme to yours. Following and connecting with other bloggers can help you build your community and possibly get cross-traffic from those blogs.

Have fun!

I think WordPress is probably a great platform to learn and use. I personally use it for my own blog. Not only is it very popular as as a blogging site, but also as a website content/platform. Learning about WordPress can expose you to different skills that might be useful in college and after school. Try it out! If it requires more time to learn/manage than you have right now, you can always try a simpler platform like Blogger. Good luck! :)

I would recommend first you start with Wordpress, it's very easy and quite a popular blogging site.

If you want to reach out to more people than try posting same content on different blogging websites.

You can get millions of daily active users on MEDIUM, Quora.