6 Awe Inspiring Things I Learned About Starting A Nursing Blog

Have you ever wanted to start a blog, but felt that you were not qualified?

Or maybe you read blogs of nurses that you enjoyed and wanted to share your experience but from a different viewpoint.

Well, if you answered yes, let me share with you 6 Awe-Inspiring Things That I Learned About Starting A Nursing Blog and I hope that it will be an impetus for you starting yours.

1. What is a Blog?

Some of you may be asking what is a blog while others already know? For those of you that don’t know or not sure, here is the definition of a blog:

“a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style”

In other words, it’s like telling a story to your friends. So, some blogs will look and read differently from each other.

Your blog should be unique.

What is a Nursing Blog?

I’m happy that you asked. A nursing blog discusses many nursing and health-related topics.

For example:

• the blog can be about how a nursing faculty can communicate effectively with nursing students
• how to perform a skin assessment on a patient
• how to administer blood transfusion safely or other health-related topics

Check out The Nerdy Nurse’s Blog on Starting a nursing blog.

2. Am I qualified?

One of the six things I learned about starting a nursing blog was that I was qualified to start a blog much more than I thought. It didn’t appear that way initially. I felt I wasn’t smart enough like the other bloggers that I read about. Additionally, I had no idea how to get the information on to the website.

Are you resonating with what I am saying already?

I didn’t think anyone would read my blog posts. After all, I was not famous like these other bloggers that were writing about topics that were getting so many responses.

I didn’t think I had the experience nor what it took to avoid being ambiguous. Moreover, they have been blogging for years and knew the ins and outs, which I didn’t.

I realize that I was self-imposing mental barriers to my destiny.

So I gave myself self-talk on who I am and what I am capable of accomplishing. How I knew I was qualified to blog?

The truth of the matter was that I already had experience in the nursing field, worked as a bedside nurse for over ten years, taught nursing in the RN & LVN program, mentored new nursing faculty.

Consequently, this introspection made it abundantly clear that I had something to share with my audience on topics that we could connect on and solve problems.

More importantly, it taught me not to doubt or compare myself with others.

What can you do to become qualified as well?

Write down your strengths and accomplishments. Remember that many of these bloggers had the same thoughts as you and took the leap and started their blogs. Today, their blogs are shared around the world and impacting the lives of others in a meaningful way.

If this sounds like you, please know that you’re qualified. You have what it takes to start your blog. You are gifted in areas that you don’t know you are.

3. Ask for help

Usually, we have a saying that when people have a wealth of knowledge or a large following, they wouldn’t want to share their expertise with you, out of fear that you will accomplish more than they did. This was not the case.

In nursing school and the healthcare setting, we’ve always taught each other and nursing students that when you don’t understand something always ask for help, but somehow I didn’t apply this to my situation.

How did I go about seeking help?

I remember it was at the end of November 2017 around midnight and I was browsing the internet looking for other avenues to share my nursing experience to help others. I didn’t think that anyone I contact will want to help me for free, initially anyway.

However, I typed in nursing business owners, and Brittney Wilson’s name came up in the search from thenerdynurse.com. An email was sent out to her later that evening and told her about my interest. She was generous with her time and gave me tons of information and guidance.

More importantly, I am not stating that everyone will respond in the way that Brittney Wilson does. Nevertheless, don’t be afraid to reach out to other people in your niche, because many of them are willing and waiting to give you the help.

What are you’re waiting for?

Ask for help now!

4. Stop Procrastinating!

Procrastination is something that many of us suffers from. Wouldn’t you think that after I had gotten all this assistance from the Brittney Wilson from the thenerdynurse.com and those free bees from Ruth Soukup on how to start your blog that I would have implemented that right away, right? Wrong!

Unfortunately, I started my blog a year later which could have been done in one week or less.

Don’t wait for everything to be perfect

I wanted the perfect website, perfect images, and about 3000 words at the beginning. However, after working on this website for several months alone, I came to roadblocks.

I now know that I don’t need to be worrying about everything being perfect. You need to start somewhere and perfect your blog site as you go along. As a result, I got the experts and hired a website developer who did a great job on a previous project of mines and did a great job in creating Your Nursing Voice.

What I’m trying to tell you is that once you have the idea or topic, do some research and implement it unless there are some credible reasons not to. Consequently, if you’re not good in a specific area, get the experts to do that part for your website or project and free yourself to do other essential tasks.

5. What do I blog about?

Deciding on what to blog about is not a small feat. There are millions of bloggers in the world today. According to WorldOMeters, there are over two million blogs written as of this post.

Therefore, it can be challenging to choose a topic when so many others are writing on some of the same issues. Knowing what you’re passionate about will steer you in the direction of what to write. Moreover, it will be coming from your voice.

What did I choose to blog about?

This blog post is the first of many more to come. I contemplated so many other blog topics to start with. The decision was made to write this first blog post to help others who may be stuck in a similar situation.

Other topics that I will be blogging about are the ones in which I am passionate about and have a lot of experience in.

Here are some of the issues I am knowledgeable about and excited about:

• teaching nursing students
• effective teaching strategies for the nursing classroom and clinical
• new nursing faculty mentorship
• successful communication techniques, and professionalism, etc.

I listed a number of these topics that will be on the blog in my niche in a calendar software called Trello. I also asked nursing colleagues and nursing students what their concerns were and took that into perspective when choosing blog topics. So, when you decide to write something that you are passionate about, and you feel that you can make an impact in, then that is what you should do.

What should you blog about?

First of all, refrain from trying to do the exact thing that other people are doing, which you probably have no interest in. If you do this, you’ll find that after a while you’re not going to be interested in it anymore and your blog is going to suffer. Therefore, make sure you find something that you love and that you’re passionate about.

For example, what things that are out there that aren’t being solved or how can your experience make a difference in another person’s life? You want to make a change in this world.

Secondly, you can find ideas for blog topics by asking your friends, co-workers or family members about things that you’re good at. Then write those ideas down and research it. This method can be used as a gauge or yardstick to narrow what you can blog about.

Not writing a list of ideas down and researching was the problem for me as well. Don’t be afraid to blog about a topic that others have already addressed. Remember that they haven’t heard it from your point of view. Be yourself! That’s the bottom line.

6. How do I get resources to start this blog?

I already mentioned above that I had contacted the The Nerdy Nurse and she was very generous in assisting me and getting me started.

This is not to say that everyone you approach will provide you with the same assistance or resources that I received, but it’s worth a try. I am challenging you to contact people in your niche for some guidance.

Also, many of these bloggers allow you to subscribe to their blogs and will send out daily tips or webinars about starting a blog? Please take advantage of this opportunity. Don’t forget the library and interlibrary loan. Purchasing books and blogging courses will also  give you a better understanding going forward, but you don’t need this initially.

Other resources that you will need are website, hosting and your brand that can reach your audience more effectively. You can build your blog or get someone to do it for you.

I hope after reading these 6 Awe-Inspiring Things That I Learned About Starting A Nursing Blog will be an impetus for you to start yours and share your unique voice on your topic.

Be the motivation that you need to start your blog and share your unique voice with the world.

Happy blogging!

Natacha Miller, MSN-Ed, CMSRN, HTC, RN

Additional resources

Healthy Work Force Institute

The Nerdy Nurse