|
When you start a Blog there are quiet a few things to look
into, a few important decisions to make before you even put pen to
paper, or fingers to the keyboard. Get these wrong and you could end up making your Blog a lot harder
than it should be. Getting it right will make it much easier to start a blog and keep it running
Especially if you plan on making money from your Blog.
You can easily make over a $100 a month - that's enough to cut your house mortgage duration by a third, and as you gain experience you'll start to make more money.
That's $100 a month from 1 blog, now imagine you had 10 blogs, getting exciting?
What if I tell you that once you build them you can stop working on them and your blogs will still continue to earn more money month after month? Now it starts to get interesting...
How to start a blog? Well there are a few things we need to consider first.
What Is Blogging?
Blog is short for weblog, it is easiest to think of it as an online
diary, except you can do so much more. Another more advanced
description would be it is a text based CMS (content management
system). It allows you to organise and publish your content
(information/photos/etc) quickly and easily.
Today many Blogs are used as simple easy to manage Google friendly websites, this is how and why I use them.
In the old days of HTML programming you had to go and rewrite your
webpage in a text editor, then upload it to your webspace then test
that the new page worked in Netscape and Internet Explorer - this would
take hours even for the simplest updates. All photos had to be manually
edited for size and uploaded seperately, then linked in.
Forget that.
Blogging makes it easy for you to pop online and write and publish a
new article in about 15 seconds more than it takes you to actually type
the message from scratch.
In fact if you can write an email you have all the technical skills you need to write a Blog, if you want to make money from your Blog then you'll need a bit more knowledge, but not a lot.
Do You Need To Start A Blog?
Well that depends, I am guessing, since you are here and reading
this then you want one. No one actually needs a Blog but it is an
extremely easy way of getting online.
If you want a personal website
to keep in touch with your family and friends then you should start a blog, it is probably the best option for you.
If you want an easy to manage website then you should start a Blog.
If you want to cash in on the Internet gold rush then to make money from your blog is a good, probably the best way to start out and get the ball rolling.
Knowledge You Need To Start A Blog
When you start a Blog the only knowledge you need is what you want to
write about, knowing how to type is a huge advantage as would be some
basic html skills, basic marketing and advanced copywriting would also
be of great use. So would php programming, java programming, a fast
reliable 'always on' internet connection, a stable computer with
regular backups. But none of this is needed.
You just have to have something to write about, something of interest to somebody (besides your mum)
There are services set up for people who are completely computer
illiterate, like blogger.com or wordpress.com, where you can go and set
up an account and start Blogging within minutes
Which Service Should I Start My Blog With?
If you just want a personal diary for family and friends to share
experiences then a service like blogger.com or wordpress.com is
probably easiest and cheapest for you.
If you are more serious then you should head over to Godaddy.com and register your own domain name and then head to Dreamhost and grab some server space and set up and run your own site.
With your own Blog you also have control over layout, template, advertising and content and of course how much money you make.
What If I Want To Make Money From My Blog And Run It As A Business?
Then in that case you definitely should not use a Blogging service -
why? Because they own your business - you have no control. If they go
out of business so do you. If they change the rules, you have no
recourse. You have little control over layout or ad placing, also you
cannot do additional deals with affiliates as easily.
Remember the dot com bubble? It has happened before and it will happen
again internet companies will go bust. In fact Enron proves that any
company can go bust.
I am not saying that the examples mentioned above will go broke but
you do not want to spend you entire spare time building a business that
has any chance of being pulled away from you for whatever reason.
You should have 100% control of your assets, your Blog is an income producing business, and therefore an asset.
Without the easy pre-set up methods available to the serious Blogger
then this means you will have to choose a Blog software package. I can
personally recommend Wordpress and Movable Type, yet there are many other packages available.
If you get your hosting with Dreamhost then they have a simple 1 click install of wordpress - it could not get any easier than that
Which Blog Software To Use?
On my Blogs I use Wordpress, on this Blog I use Joomla because this is a content rich site that needed additional features and integration that would take too much time to develop with Wordpress, in fact it is better to call Joomla a Content Management System rather than a Blog.
For several reasons I use wordpress, firstly I am familiar with it. I have used it
before for other Blogs before. Secondly it is FREE, and thirdly it is Open
Source - that means I (and you) have access to the "source code".
The source code is the information that runs the software. Open
source means that this is freely available (as in no cost and easy to
get) so that we can modify anything we do not like or make any
modifications we want. Even if you are not a programmer you will find
Wordpress is very easy to modify, or failing that you can find someone
in the Wordpress community who can make the changes you want for a
nominal fee.
In a nutshell Wordpress is free and cheap to maintain or make changes to.
You Will Also Need A Hosting Company And A Domain Name(URL)
This is space online to keep your website and a name for your blog website.
Choosing a Domain Name
You should choose something that reflects what your blog is about.
www.FranksGardeningTips.com would be a good example. People reading it
know what your site is about. But you should also choose something that
is Search Engine Friendly (SEF). This means that the name should help
people find your site if they use a search engine.
Say your site was about gardening but your speciality and passion
was rose and tulip bulbs, then something like
www.RoseAndTulipGardening.com would be even better - it tells the
search engines what you write about - this will give you better
placement in the search results - thus getting more people to your site
AND it tells a human who reads it (OK with a little difficulty), it
tells them what your site is about too. Ideal.
Go to www.GoDaddy.com to get your domain name ($9.95).
They are the biggest and the cheapest domain name registrar on the
internet. Why are they so cheap? They aren't greedy. They realise that
a few cents every day from millions and millions of domain name registrations is
enough to run a massive profit.
The others who charge $30 or more are really taking advantage of
you. In fact it would be fair to say they are bending you over and
using the wrong end of a broomstick to punish you for being so silly as
to give them any of your money.
Choosing a Web Host for Your New Blog
There are millions available. You can either use one that is
personally recommended to you by a friend or search the net and try to
find the one that has the best deal for your needs.
Personally I have already done this and found that for me Dreamhost is the best value for money. They offer so much space and bandwidth with an easy to use control panel that it is hard to beat.
Now add in one of the lowest prices in the industry and it is a very
hard package to beat. I can stay with Dreamhost with all of my sites
for a long time before I have to upgrade - a potentially painful and
tedious process.
If I upgrade within Dreamhost then they will make the move for me
making sure everything is working before switching me over to my new
plan.
If you as yet don't know who to host with then have a look at Dreamhost for your hosting - at $7.99 a month (approx $96/yr)
This will also get you a 1 click install of a anti-spam modified
Wordpress Blog, as many email addresses as you like, 200Gb of storage!
and 1Tb of traffic. ie More than my sites all use combined - ever. I
think you'll find it sufficient.
Got That What Next?
There! You are now ready to start a blog - your new business ready to run at a
total cost of $105 per year, with each additional Blog costing you $9 per year. My first Blog made that in the 2nd month -
I didn't have ads to make money off for the first month!
This makes Blogging is the cheapest startup business on the planet.
If you want to make money from you blog get started, andwork at it, it might take a while or it might not but the money will come
|
