Where Do I Get My Degree in Blogging?

You've heard that blogging has turned out to be an honest-to-goodness career option for some folks. You're now wondering-

• Can I get a degree in blogging? 
• Is there a certification process? 
• Will it be too expensive for me to explore?

The answers: No, no and no.

First Start Blogging 

Let's make something clear: if you are reading this over an Internet connection and you have a keyboard in front of you, you can already be blogging. You start at any free blog hosting site (I use Blogger because I am sort-of Google addicted) and you start writing. The minute you start doing that, believe it or not, you can start calling yourself a blogger.

Recognize When You Need Help - Don't Give Up!

If you have already gotten that far then perhaps you have come to realize that just because you write something, no matter how brilliant it might be, that doesn't mean readers will be reading it. It's not their fault, they probably don't even know that it's there! This is when every blogger starts asking all those big blogging questions:

• How do I build my audience?
• How do I engage my readers? 
• How do I get people to actually follow my blog?
• How the heck does anyone ever make any money doing this?

This is a time when it seems like maybe you should throw in the towel and start using your time doing something else entirely - my advice? DON"T GIVE UP! While I have yet to rake in the millions, I am happy to say that I have learned the answers to these questions in the last couple of months, with help. Here's a sampling of my little success story so far:

• I have taken my food blog Searching for Sustenance from less than 50 pageviews in September of 2010 to over 4,000 pageviews in March of 2011. 
• I have started this blog, Rivera Runs Through It, written guest posts on blogs around the Internet and was invited to be a contributing author to The IH Brain Pain Blogs. 
• I have just started to begin to earn very small amounts of money (you never saw anyone get as excited as I did over $2 this past Valentine's Day), but I am now understanding how money can be made here. 
• ****I am doing all of this while on medical leave*** In other words, I about half as healthy as you are. I know that with just a little more effort - which would equal to that of someone working at this part time, or after work, real money could have been coming in by now.

So here's the real question: Where did I get my help? Simple - from the ProBlogger! Darren Rowse has been my professor in Blogging Basics, Blog Promotion, Building Audiences and even Finding Finances in Blogging. It's better than a degree in blogging because it is an ongoing conversation with a professional as you learn the ropes.

How to Learn About Blogging From THE Pro

1. Purchase Darren Rowse's eBook 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. This is the single financial investment I have made into my blogging endeavor up until this point and it was well worth the twenty bucks. (It was announced that the price will be increasing to $29.95 on May 10, 2011. That still works out to be less than $1 per lesson and believe me each lesson can be revisited day after day!)
2. Follow the ProBlogger blog. This is free and extends all that is learned in the eBook.
3. Follow Darren Rowse on twitter @problogger
4. Come back and let me know how it is all going! 

Extra-Curricular Activities

While going through the ProBlogger program is not exactly the same as the time spent at university, there are still some extra-curriculars you should not ignore while obtaining your new knowledge:

• Become a blog reader
• Join blog communities (I, personally, love Blog Frog)
• Build your web presence using social media

Come to think of it, this is sounding just like college after all: engage in classroom conversations, join groups like fraternities, sororities, clubs or teams, and, above all - keep your social life bubbling!!

Well, thinking of it that way maybe we DO deserve a degree after all! And, guess what? I just found one on Amazon:

 

Blogging Blogger Blog Degree: Custom Gag Diploma Doctorate Certificate (Funny Customized Joke Gift - Novelty Item) 

I stand corrected. You CAN get a degree in blogging if you really want one. Just keep in mind, just like any degree, if you want it to really mean something, then you will have to do some work first!

Related Reading from Rivera Runs Through It:  
How Darren Rowse Has Forever Changed My Life in 10 Days


Graduate and diploma image by LuMaxArt and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License