Blogging can certainly be fun and profitable. In looking through my survey results, it seems many of you need help with blogging and where and how to start. With any project, the best place to start is at the end. In other words, what is your eventual goal? Do you want to make money with your blog? Do you just want a platform to write to the world? Do you want your family and friends to know what you are up to? So take a few minutes to write down how you visualize your blog, say, a year from now.
Back to the beginning, the very first thing you need to start blogging is a subject or a topic. In blog lingo, that is called a niche. There are several ways to choose a niche. First look at topics you already know something about–your hobbies, your job, or topics that your friends go to you for advice. Another technique is to look for subjects you want to know more about and you can blog about things you are learning. You could look for hot topics on sites like Google, You Tube, eHow, etc. and take advantage of the popularity of a niche. Take a look at Let’s Start Blogging For Money webinar recording for additional tips for picking a niche and researching keywords.
Next, you need to decide whether you want to use a free blogging platform or whether you want your own website. I started with a free service to get my feet wet, but soon felt limited and moved the blog to my own website. Two of the more popular platforms are Blogger, a Google service, and WordPress.com. You may have heard of WordPress, the free blog software. WordPress.com uses that software, but it is a self contained service.
With the free platforms, the domain name or web address that people will type into their browser to find your blog contains the platform’s name. For example, if you want your web address to be “Jewelry Making”, your Blogger address would be www.jewelrymaking.blogspot.com. And of course, your chosen web name would need to be unique or not taken by someone else.
If you want your own website, you will need several things:
- Domain name or web address
- Website host — a server to store all of your content
- Blog software — WordPress is the most popular and is free
- A theme for your blogging software — either free or premium
I have given you a list of resources I recommend on the blogging tools page. Once your blog software and theme are installed on your website server, you are ready to start blogging.
While starting your blog is a relatively easy step by step process, making a financial success with your blog can be a bit more challenging. Internet Marketing Success is full of great blogging success coaching. Subscribers to My Bonus Blog receive a discount code for this valuable resource.
Do you have specific questions about blogging and where to start? Please post them in the comments. Once you have 3 approved comments, your links become dofollow. Please–no spam!
[rapbank type=category cat=”Blogging / WordPress Plugins”]Chris Cobb
