Matthew Starner

A year ago today, I started a little project called “beyond the noise”. My humble little blog has grown quite a bit in the last 12 months. In just one year, I’ve logged well over 1600 visits to my blog and have numerous subscribers. While the number of subscribers isn’t too horribly impressive yet, I’m not worried. I blog mostly for me. It’s a way for me to share thoughts and happenings in my life and reflect on what’s going on in my ministry. If there’s anyone out there who gets some encouragement, ideas, or entertainment from something that I’ve posted, then my work has not been fruitless.

It has been quite a journey this first year of blogging, so I thought I’d share some things I learned along the way:

1. Find your rhythm – I read LOTS of blogs (last count was somewhere around 100). Some bloggers post once a day, some once a week, others go in spurts. When I started, I felt like I needed to post something everyday, but I don’t always have something earthshaking to say, which can leave you with posts that are really weak. Figure out what your rhythm is and get into the grove.
2. Don’t be afraid to share something you’ve read elsewhere, but add something to it. Don’t just regurgitate a paragraph or post that someone else put up, but add to it: respond, react, question, reflect, challenge… do something!
3. Figure out who your audience is – are you writing to your peers, your friends & family, your congregation, etc.
4. Connect with other bloggers – This is one that I definitely need to take more action on. As I’ve said before, I read lots of blogs – but that’s pretty much all I do is read them. Rarely do I comment on them or take any action based on their posts. One of my goals for this year is to get more active in the blogosphere and make more comments on other blogs.
5. Ask questions – Sharing information is great, but it’s even better when that information invokes a response or reaction.

It’s been a fun first year and I’m looking forward to what the future has in store!