Should you use WordPress for your new gaming blog? It’s a good question, and one that you should think about very carefully before you get started.
WordPress is the largest blogging platform in the world, and for good reason. The product is free, it’s simple to use, and the developer community is incredible. Thanks to an amazing repository of free (and premium) themes and plugins, adding new functionality to your site can be as easy as clicking a button. From a purely technical point of view it’s great, but it can leave a lot to be desired when it comes to getting your content read.
The simple truth is that in today’s world, publishing is the easy part. Getting read is something entirely different. Statistics show that more than 80% of bloggers abandon their blog within the first few months. The primary reasons for this are simple: it is very hard to get a new site noticed on the internet, and it often takes years to build an audience (if you’re lucky). Bloggers get frustrated with the lack of readership, and burn out trying to maintain a daily posting schedule.
While there are some benefits to publishing your own content on your own domain, there’s no denying the fact that it sucks when all of your hard work falls on deaf ears. If nobody is reading what you’re writing, what’s the point?
That’s where GameSkinny comes in.
GameSkinny gives you an instant audience
Thousands of people visit GameSkinny each and every day, and they’re eager to read what you have to say about your favorite games and platforms.
When you choose to post your content on GameSkinny, you can take advantage of our existing audience. You don’t have to worry about groveling for blogroll links, or doing long (and exhausting) outreach campaigns. All you have to worry about is creating content about games you love. We’ll take care of getting it read.
Post only when you’re inspired
When you start a WordPress blog, it’s just about impossible to build an audience if you don’t post every day (or at the very least, a few times a week). The constant pressure to post about the latest and greatest news causes many bloggers to burn out in only a few months’ time.
On GameSkinny, you won’t feel the pressure to maintain such a demanding schedule. Publish as much or as little as you like. The audience will always be here waiting.
You don’t need any technical knowhow
If you want to install WordPress on your own domain, at the very least you will need to know how to use an FTP client, how to setup an SQL database, and how to make basic edits to PHP files. If you aren’t sure what any of that means, then you have quite the learning curve ahead of you.
And when it comes time to customize the look and feel of your site, you will need to learn some more advanced HTML, CSS ,and PHP. While none of these things are incredibly difficult, there can be a very steep learning curve (especially if you’ve never so much looked at a line of code before).
You don’t need to break the bank
Sure, anybody can spin up a ‘mysite.wordpress.com’ site in a minute and be on their way. But if you want to be taken seriously by the gaming community, a wordpress.com domain isn’t going to cut it. This means that you will need to buy your own domain. And when you buy your own domain, you will need a hosting package to go along with it.
Yes, there are many free WordPress hosts out there, but I can universally say that these services are not worth your time. They are notorious for poor service, and since they don’t have any paying customers, there often isn’t a huge incentive for them to get the site back up when it goes down. And if you need support? Good luck with that.
A decent host will cost you $10 – $20 a month (at minimum). It’s safe to say that you will definitely need to spend at least $100 a year. And if your site gets really popular? You’ll need to upgrade your plan to an even more expensive option.
It’s completely free to post on GameSkinny, and it always will be.
Get your writing in front of a passionate community
One of the worst things about starting your own WordPress blog is the lack of interaction with your readers. At least at first, very few people will leave comments, leaving you feeling like you’re just shouting into the wind.
On GameSkinny, our readers are very active and love to let you know what they think about your latest post. This is a great way to get feedback. Plus, doesn’t it just feel good when you’re noticed?
Published: May 28, 2013 04:10 pm