Do you have something to say? Want to share it with a larger audience? Blogging may just be your ticket. But how do you start? This is a question I recently faced as I started Cultivating the Educational Technologist blog. It’s a little bit finding your voice, identifying the tool you want to use, and promoting your blog (because, whats the point, if no one is going to read it!).
I would like to argue that part of finding your voice is reading what others’ are writing in blogs. What’s being talked about and how are people expressing themselves with blogs. How provocative are they? How are people navigating the sticky wicket of offering criticism without losing their jobs!
Finding good blogs can be time consuming. If you find a good blog, it might lead you to other blogs, but this circuitous process can be painstaking. Scott McLeod, a professor at Iowa State University, and accomplished blogger himself, launched a valuable project this summer in which readers add their favorite blogs, by discipline, to a wikispace. It is a great starting point to find blogs that might tie to your interest or content area.
There are lots of online blogging sites you can use to create your own blog. Two of the most popular free blog services are Blogger (now a part of Google) and WordPress. I decided to use WordPress purely on aesthetics—Wordpress allowed me to manipulate the look and the feel of the page more, giving me a cleaner, simpler look. Setup literally takes just minutes!
Promoting your blog—that’s a topic for me to develop more in the future, since upon this writing, I think my blog has been visited less than 35 times. Clearly, I need to blow my horn more!
Making Connections 
Here’s how you blow your own horn: Twitter!!! Create an account (quicker than setting up a blog) and post something about your blog or most recent post. Be sure to include some of the key buzz words in education: technology, integration, 1:1, etc.
I personally guarantee an increase in blog readership of at least 10 from one blog post. Twitter is amazing for sharing info.
I even get inspiration for new blog posts from the people I follow.
Can I do an inservice on Twitter someday. Me and Dan McGuire from Marcy could do a great presentation. Maybe during June Tech. Academy?