Hi there!
Starting a blog is a lot of work but it can be an extremely rewarding experience both personally and financially.
It's hard to say exactly what a science blog ‘needs’ because the best way to know is to actively test content and strategies.
When
developing the idea you need to have an idea on what it is you want to
cover. Be specific, especially with science there are all kinds of
fields so pick one and stick with it. Maybe you like space so your blog
might cover projects and companies attempting to go to Mars like SpaceX
as well as the latest news from NASA. If you are an environmentalist, a
scientific blog about climate change would be great and you could talk
about changes in the atmosphere and oceans ands well as weather patterns
springing up.
This decision is up to you as
to what you want to cover. When you come up with an idea of that you
need to test it by writing down ideas for posts. You should be able to
write down at least 20 post ideas to get started, you can use Google to
find what the trending topics are in that niche if you need help.
Once
you've got a topic and know you can write posts for it, you'll want to
ask yourself “Is there a market for this?” My general answer is most
likely. Between the 7 billion people on earth, I can almost guarantee
that at least 1,000,000 have some interest in your topic, and you only
really need to reach 1,000 true fans to be a ‘successful’ blogger.
When
you know these three things, get started! You can build your own site
through software such as Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress to name a few.
You also have the option of hosting a blog on sites like Medium, saving
you the trouble of building a website.
These
tips should help you get started, if you have any more questions or
would like some help in the process, let me know and I'd love to help.
I founded a science blogging network in 2002 called ScienceBlog.com.
We have several dozen writers who cover topics ranging from air quality
to aging, cancer to endangered species. What these folks have in common
is that they are passionate about a topic. They follow that subject
habitually and, over time, have come to develop expertise. It helps, of
course, if you’ve got formal training in a subject (a Ph.D. never
hurts!). But because you’re not looking to do research via a blog, but
rather explain things to people, I wouldn’t consider it a requirement.
What is a requirement? Passion, a commitment to writing well and
regularly, and hustle. With so many news sources competing for readers’
attention, you need a little salesmanship to promote yourself. If you’re
interested in finding out more and possible joining our network, visit
us and select the Contribute/Contact link. Good luck!
You just start.
If you get overwhelmed by comparing your brand new blog to established blogs, you’ll never succeed.
Start
writing on topics you find interesting. If that’s mostly biology and
chemistry, write about biology and chemistry. You can always expand to
new topics over time.
If you need inspiration for formatting or style or length, etc., then I would check out futurism.com.
Each of their posts has a bullet point summary for quick scanning, and
not many of them are long. They respond to a variety of new scientific
breakthroughs, explaining it for laypeople. They, obviously, focus on
the future.
If you have some money sitting
around, you can invest in a designer, a virtual assistant, or a blog
writer to help you out. I do some blog writing, so I can point you in
the right direction, if you are looking for specific tips. You can reach
me on twitter at danielspencil.
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