09/16/08

Blogging is a fun thing to do, but how do you start one?  To someone who has no knowledge of creating websites or starting a blog, it’s a intimidating task to think about.  The thing is, creating and running a blog is actually very simple.  There are a few things you have to decide first, then it’s downhill from there.  Here is a good outline of the things you should take care of before starting.

1.  Pick a topic.  It can be as general or specific as you want.  Specific topics are called “niches”.  If you have a niche you are particularly interested in, choose it.  It’s always easier to write about things you know.  General blogs about what’s going on in the world are good too.  The only thing is, the more specific or “nichie” you are, the less competition you will have.  There are thousands, if not tens of thousands of general topic blogs out there, while there might be 10% of those that focus on water color painting for example.

2.  Decide if you want to use a free hosting service or own your own website.  There are lots of free blog hosting websites.  blog.com, blogger.com, Yahoo 360, Google, and many more.  You can purchase your own domain name and host your blog at a hosting company.  Free services are limited to what you can do and you run the risk of having problems and not being able to do anything about it.  There are a lot of horror stories out there of people losing their blogs.  Owning your own is real easy.  You purchase the domain name for about $10 and you purchase a monthly/yearly hosting plan from a hosting company that offers free blogging software built in.  You then install the software and start creating your blog.

3.  Design your blogs look and start writing.  Most free services will give you a fair amount of choices for the design, while owning your own gives you unlimited choices.  There are lots of places to get different “themes” for your blog.  Themes change the look, color and layout of your blog.  People pre-make these themes and you can use them for free.  You just decide what you want your site to look like.  Once you’ve got the look you want, it’s time to start writing.  The more you write the better.  People like to visit websites that have new content.  Write things that people want to see or learn.  Write things that people want to comment on.  Give people new or interesting information.  Whatever you want… just write!

4.  Advertise your blog.  Now this is the tricky part.  You are competing against a million blogs.  How do you get your blog out in the publoc eye?   Well, you can pay for advertising.  This is a quick way to get your site noticed.  Yahoo and Google ads based on search requests, paid ads on popular websites and email or traffic campaigns are just a few.  The real trick is to get FREE advertising.  It’s definately not the easy way to do it, but it’s not that hard either.  I’ve started a few websites and had traffic within days.  Sometimes 100’s of visitors a day within a day or two.  You just have to know the secrets and be willing to work on it an hour a day or so.

That’s pretty much it.  It’s really not that hard and the rewards of having a nice blog are great.  Show your friends and co-workers.  Be an expert in your niche.  Tell the world what you think.

I personally just created my first blog after creating and hosting websites for the last 5 years or so.  I’ve got a design I like, I write about things that interest me and I have visitors coming to view the  blog in less than a weeks time.

If you would like help in creating your own personal blog, drop me a note.  The domain name is just under $10 and I can host your blog for $1.99 per month.  You would own the name, the site, the design, everything.  The $1.99 per month comes with the blogging software, free email addresses, website stats, a control panel and more.  I’ll even give you my secrets to getting people to visit your blog and getting listed on the search engines.

You can email me at jac@longblog.com with questions.  You can also try one of the free services, but I think you will find that owning your own site is the best option, just like owning a house as compared to renting one is the best option if you can afford it.

Good luck and happy blogging!

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