A Beginners Guide to Blogging

To Blog, or not to Blog? If you are thinking of sharing your thoughts and feelings with the rest of the world, there are a few questions you should ask yourself to get the most out of your new venture. Ever since blogs have become a popular way to reach out to the world, everyone seems to want to use them as a way to make money, rather than offer anything of real value to the public. As soon as google released AdSense, everyone feels the need to spam their readers with all types of ads, and most of the time their blog acts almost more as a journal than anything else. So, If you are looking to make some money with your writings, at least make sure you are developing some kind sort of valuable content to ensure people recognizing your worth, and thus feeling more compelled to click on your page.

Your best bet for a beginners space to start blogging is on Blogger.com. There are a few other styles of blogs you can use, free or paid, but I swear by Blogger and their service. Blogger offers a great service, with a simplistic interface, and plenty of customization options, all for free. Set your title, your URL, and just start blogging.

Do you want to follow a certain subject matter of your articles, or are you just going to follow a chaotic path of things you will post to the world? Your title should reflect this, so people will know what to expect from your page. When I started, I had roughly three articles already in the works, and I released one every other day, always maintaining a healthy level of professionalism in each.

Now that you have your blog, a direction for your writings, and a few articles line up, you just need some readers. Many people quit blogging after a month or two because they realize that no one is coming to read their work. What most people never realize is that there are a couple of simple steps you can take to start earning those visitors now.

There are a plethora of blog directories out there created to solve just this problem. Go to google and search 'Blog Directory' or 'Blog Submit' The list should be populated with many sites that allow you stop by, submit your site, and give a brief description. Most sites take less than 30 seconds to use, and the payoff is worth it.

Secondly you should practice being active in your blogging community. Blogger adds a little toolbar to their blogs that allows you to randomly browse all of the blogs in their network. Your best bet is to take 20 or 30 minutes, and browse through other blogs, and leave meaningful, applicable comments to their content. These are the most effective hits to your page because you went out to earn them. The more links you have leading to your site, the more valuable it will become.

There you have it. I wish you the best with your blogging, and hope you become a success to yourself in the Web Log World.


by Robert Abby