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Should I start a blog?


LenaCa

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So I don't really have a portfolio yet. I don't even have a logo, even though I did make one, I don't like it enough to use. With all of that said, what is there for a brand new beginning web designer without clients to do??? I have a friend (sort of non-paying client :) ), who wants to be able to manage her site easily and so I offered to integrate CMS into it, and decided on WordPress because I read it's easiest for people without technical experience. I also have another personal project for a social site, that I'd really like to do, but it seems too complex for my skill level at the moment. So to practice, I figured I would make a WordPress blog, except I'm stumped on what topic I want to write on. I don't want just a generic personal blog, as that sounds way too boring. Any ideas?

 

So primary goal is to learn WordPress and making or at least customizing themes.

 

This is just for fun, so if you want to play along, I would love any fun and creative suggestions.

 

Some of my ideas so far:

 

Blog about being a web design student

 

Blog about dreams (I'm interested in psychology, symbology and spirituality of dreams)

 

...

 

Ha ha They say to blog about what you are an expert on, but I don't really feel I'm an expert on anything at the moment.

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Do you have anything to say? Do you have enough to say? A comment a few times a year will not cut it usually, you need to post often. That said is it anything people would care about?

 

You can blog for your friends or you can blog for the public. Two different animals. Friends you can blog garbage, like what you do speaking in person.... what you did last night etc.

 

But for the public you need to blog intelligently. There are to many blogs out there for people who like to hear themselves talk. Nothing like another "I'm Bubba and this is my blog where I blog about my rusty beer can collection."

 

That said, a Blog about being a web design student could be a good idea. A useful blog for beginners to understand or avoid traps you stumble into. Even advanced people may find it useful as a reminder how simple things for us can be confusing for beginners.

 

Just go about it smartly.

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Yes definitely start a blog it will give you first hand experience with wordpress.

 

You do not need to be an expert but if you are passionate about something write about it. There is always someone with less knowledge on a subject than you whatever the subject!

 

I agree with Kyle though - dont bother doing it commercially to the gen public unless you have something interesting to say!

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I see this as 2 independent issues - you can blog in Wordpress just for the sake of blogging - or you can work in wordpress to learn how everything works and even develop your own themes. Just for practice of the latter, you don't need the former. You can design entire websites with Wordpress without any blogging option at all.

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I would say blog about anything you want. When you're working on a project, blog about what you've done and your progress with it. You can blog about what it's like to be a web design student and what you're learning and using in your work. You can still blog about anything all in one blog, it doesn't have to be limited to one certain topic. Check out w ww.gizmo do.com and see what they blog about, it's my favorite blog to read. It's mainly a tech blog, but they blog about a lot of things that aren't tech related. It's all up to you, and good luck!

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Thanks for playing everyone.

 

LSW: I will explore web design student blog idea. I just don't want to be stuck being a student forever. It seems a bit contradictory, like what I really want to do is to have clients, who take me for a professional, and on the other hand, I'm still learning and still a student, and will be for a while probably, but I do want some clients along the way too. Yes, I agree a nice intelligent blog would be nice, where I write articles, that move people, not just about my daily adventures into how it took me a few hours to get PHP running and how I spend 1/3 of my day changing diapers.

 

DrPPC: That's a very good point. Whatever I choose must have a heart and a passion for me.

 

Andrea: You are right. I don't doubt that I want to learn WordPress, but I don't need to set up an actual live site or a site with any kind of meaningful content, in order to learn it. So I guess, then I need to figure out if I want a blog. I guess what I was asking was really this: Would a blog help me to learn WordPress better than just playing around with it? And also, would my own blog help me to get clients, even though I don't have a portfolio to show off yet? There is another question hiding in there too, and that is, do I want a blog for its own sake, not just for learning? I'm not asking anyone specific, but that clarified it for me.

 

Kyle: I was just worried that my learning right now is not much of anything interesting, since it's so simple, like I started with PHP a few days ago, but I don't feel like I would have much to report on it right now ha ha I'm just watching Lyn da.com video and following along, not that exciting! I'm enjoying it, but somehow I don't think that web development is something I'm strong at or something I could be great at. I think I could become good enough. I love CSS, on the other hand, but that's probably because it's so tied into the visual design and lay-out of the site. That was a long side note.

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Just a quick comment...

 

It is possible to be a student and still be considered a professional. If your portfolio is good enough, whether you claim you are a student or not shouldn't matter to clients.

 

In my case, I have decided to include the word "student" in the way I describe myself to help weed out clients I don't want to work with. You'll notice the word "student" prominently on my website. The way I figure things, I want clients who understand that I have other time commitments that are important, and that I do web design on the side in addition to school. If they can accept that I have a few limitations and that I am not perfect, I can provide them high quality work at affordable prices.

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When I first started on my blog, I talked about how the day at work went and what went on that day. Then it moved to me doing IT work for my parents, now it's about me redesigning my site. I don't blog constantly, it's been a few days since my last post, I know my content isn't very interesting right now since I'm not focusing on that. Web development is one of those things, you either like it or you don't.

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