A blog is all about content… not moving pixels

Robb Sutton is a dad, blogger and business owner who writes about how to successfully grow a business and raise a family at the same time.

By sharing events of professional and private life he provides guidelines for those who want to find the balance between business and family life.

His experience as a blogger is interesting and you’ll find it useful to read his blogging insights below.

How and why did you start a blog?

Everything started with wanting to create a trail review site based on user reviews from mountain bikers. About 5 minutes in to the process, I realized it is really hard to have user reviews when you have no traffic.

The blog was started in an attempt to attract readers that would then review their favorite trails, but it ended up completely taking over. That is Bike198.com as you see it today and that is what got me first into blogging.

How much time do you spend on your blog?

All week. I don’t think there is a single moment of the day when I’m not at least thinking about it. Several hours of each day are spent physically doing something to the site.

What lesson would you share with people who want to start a blog?

Stick with what you are good at. There is going to be a time when you start bloggingthat you are going to want to create a blog for everything you like. That is a bad idea.

Allocate your resources to building up a solid blog that you enjoy. If you spread yourself too thin, you will not accomplish anything and your work will suffer.

What is your best advice on how to grow a blog?

Content. A lot of content. While marketing your blog is very important, if you have no content… none of that matters.

In the beginning, just get a simple logo and design then hammer out content. I watch too many beginning bloggers obsess over their blog design and that could be time they could spend writing. A blog is all about content… not moving pixels.

What is your biggest success and biggest mistake as a blogger?

Biggest Success: Mainstream media exposure.

Biggest Mistake: Picking a hard to remember domain name in the very beginning. Always pick a domain name that people can remember if you tell it to them on the street… they will remember it.