Blogging is easy. Here are a few tips to get you started.
The word “blog” comes from “web log”. A blog is an online journal. Someone who keeps a blog is called a blogger. Publishing a blog is called blogging. Okay, I know you probably already know all of this stuff but this article is about the basics of blogging. I wish I would have found an article like this just ten years ago.
Image by CLF via Flickr
A blogger can blog about anything. There are two kinds of blogs. There’s the blog of personality and the subject driven blog. My blog, Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, is a subject driven blog. It’s about flash fiction. People come to my blog to read flash fiction stories and to learn how to write flash fiction stories. I also publish the stories of other flash fiction writers, especially new writers.
People read a blog of personality mainly because they like the personality of the blogger; this kind of blog works well for people who are some sort of celebrity. The blogger doesn’t have to be a big celebrity but it sure helps.
Probably the easiest way to make money from a blog is to put ads on the blog. When people search the Internet and click on your content an ad on your blog may catch their attention and if they click on the ad you get paid a fee. If you’re just starting out as a blogger let me suggest Blogger, blogspot.com as a blogging platform. The service is free. You can set your blog up in three quick steps and start blogging right away. Also, blogspot.com will put Google Ads on your blog for you. I’m suggesting blogspot.com because it use to be my old service. So, I know what I’m talking about. The reason I left the service is because I was banned by Google for having adult reading material on my blog. In other words, I screwed up. Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is on WordPress; but WordPress doesn’t allow ads. I make money by sending readers to my Triond content.
Let’s see now. What else do you need to know to get started? Blog often. Maybe just 80-100 words every other day. If you want to get 20 or more hits a day you’ll have to blog about something 20 or more people want to read about. 20 or more people will probably not want to read about your everyday life. If the number of hits are of no concern to you then don’t worry about it.
Now you’re ready to blog.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:05 am
thanks for the simple informative piece on blogging
October 20th, 2009 at 5:10 am
Helpful article. Thanks.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:13 am
great article!
October 20th, 2009 at 5:18 am
Thank you for sharing this article guy hogan…
October 20th, 2009 at 5:43 am
I opened a blog about six weeks ago and haven’t been back to it since. I just can’t drum up any personal interest in fooling with it.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Great Job good articles
October 20th, 2009 at 7:34 am
It is kind of interesting, Guy, that I am moving in an opposite direction from you. I’m actually working on an idea to re-structure my blog to a topic blog and pulling back from Triond to an extent.
I had been using my blog as a personal, on-line journal. One cool thing about blogger and, I’m sure Wordpress, is the ability to keep multiple blogs from one account. So I can take my journal-type entries and move them into a new blog.
The reason I plan to do that rather than launch a new blog for the topical content has to do with signing up to do sponsored blog entries.
How do you go about sending your blog readers to your Triond content? Do you just use the widget or do you blog the first few sentences and link over with a “read more”?
October 20th, 2009 at 7:56 am
good job.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:19 am
I like the statistics you give at the end. Since starting to write articles I kind of neglect my blog. I have the same question as Lloyd in his last paragragh, perhaps write an article about that :”How to send traffic from a blog to Triond”.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Thanks for sharing this..really useful!
October 20th, 2009 at 8:45 am
cutedrishti8, ten years ago when I was first introduced to computers and the Internet this is the exact kind of article I would have been searching for.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Katien, I thought that a simple explanation of blogging might be useful to a lot of people.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:57 am
lillyrose, I still spend most of my computer time on Triond but my personal blog is really useful in promoting my Triond content.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Teves, the Gazette just recently passed 20,300 hits after 13 months of publication.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:07 am
ken, I started publishing the Gazette months before I joined Triond. I find the Gazette is useful for promoting my work on Triond. So, I may post something on the Gazette once or twice a week.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:16 am
royee, after I started publishing on Triond I actually considered deleteing the Gazette. That would have really been stupid. What was I thinking? One year of work would have been lost. Well, I came to my senses and now the Gazette brings readers to my Triond content.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Lloyd, I put the titles of my Triond content in a posting or in the sidebar and just hyperlink it back to Triond. You can check out what I’m talking about here http://www.pittsburghflashfictiongazette.com Look at the sidebar on the right.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:28 am
martie, Triond is my focus but the Gazette is my marketing tool.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Petalm, just put in a hyperlink on your blog back to your Triond article.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:35 am
giftarist, I use the Gazette to support my work on Triond. This setup works pretty well.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Thanks for the tips, Guy!
October 20th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Lady Sunshine, you’re welcome. Blogging is one way to connect to the world.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Simple and superb
October 20th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Okay… got your point.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Good article, I do actually have a blog now that I think about it… But I don’t remember my username or password and I don’t think I’ve ever writen anything on it. Maybe I’ll make another account and give it a try.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Great article very informative and interesting!This is helpful to all of those seeking to start a blog!
October 20th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
A very informative article. Before choosing a blogger blog people should take account of the new limits on tags, it will cause many of us to move away from blogger.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Thanks for this helpful informative article. I needed this when I was trying to set up my blog. I finally gave it up.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Mythili, I think a simple explanation is the best explanation.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Sourav, a blog can be a marketing tool or it can be just for fun.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Great article. thanks for the tips;)
October 20th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Aleena, I have to keep all my information on index cards in a box.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Mystify, I sure could have used this information when I set up my first blog years ago.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Frances, I didn’t know about the new limits on tags.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
PR, yes I figured other people just starting out could use the information.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
marlene, writing the article brought back some memories. I had to learn the hard way.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Thanks for the information. I learned the hard way too wishing there was somewhere I could get help-I had so many questions.
Great tips. Thanks for sharing.
Darlene
October 20th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
It is a good piece of information. Thanks for sharing.
October 21st, 2009 at 3:27 am
Go article simple and to the point.
All the best.
http://www.WorkFromHomeJobs.webnode.com
October 21st, 2009 at 5:04 am
Really good, you have quite an accomplished blog there! 20k+ hits! That’s impressive. My blog has around 40 hits per week at the moment, I’m trying to promote it a little more really
October 21st, 2009 at 7:05 am
Good tips. I try to earn some cents through my blog, too. But lately I spend more time on Triond, making my blog just a way to promote my articles.
October 21st, 2009 at 8:06 am
Very clear useful tips.
October 21st, 2009 at 8:25 am
I got banned by Google, too. Bummer.
I’ve been trying to promote my articles on Facebook, but my friends tell me that they get some virus alert.
I try to promote my stuff on my blog, but I am just not getting as many hits as I would like.
October 21st, 2009 at 9:03 am
Useful, started my blog not lond ago, wish i had of found this then. Thanks Anita
October 21st, 2009 at 9:45 am
I’m not blogging but this is sure useful for those who’s into it.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:01 am
Darlene, there are new bloggers every day so I thought this would be a good topic to write about.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:11 am
Sorry for being banned by Google. But your advice will help many bloggers, for sure.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:48 am
Ann, more and more people are connecting to the Internet every day and a lot of them are setting up blogs for the first time.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:51 am
goindia, simplicity is the best policy, especially when you are trying to explain something.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:57 am
emma, be sure to use tags that the search engines will be looking for. That’s always important to do.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:58 am
Thanks, Guy. Good info. I’m currently fighting with my wordpress page builder. I’m hard-headed so I decided to use WP rather than blogspot because I will have more control. I is complicated for a first-timer, whereas, as you said, Blogspot was simple to set up.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:02 pm
athena, that’s exactly what I do. I spend %99 of my time on Triond and only %1 of my time on my personal blog. My blog sends a few hits to my Triond content every day. Over a period of a month it adds up.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:05 pm
chitragopi, a lot of new bloggers need basic information just to get started.
October 21st, 2009 at 6:05 pm
thanks for little help still trying to learn good luck
October 21st, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Thanks for this inforamtive post. Now Im seriously considering signing up with blogspot.
October 21st, 2009 at 8:43 pm
rmk, good luck. Just keep learning and keep blogging.
October 21st, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Melody, it will be an extra responsibility. It will take more time away from other things. That’s the one disadvantage.
October 21st, 2009 at 8:56 pm
thanx 4 sharing the info
October 21st, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Thanks for the info! Very helpful!
October 21st, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Thank you for the information. It is very helpful.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:51 am
Wow! It seems so easy. I will have to decide on what to blog about and then start doing it. If there were only more time in the day.
Thanks, Guy. Your pieces are inspirational and you thought they were just informational.
Ron
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:14 am
Good info on blogging, Guy. I took a look at your flash fiction site. It looks awesome–so professional. I’m going to study it to get some ideas.
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:25 am
Encouraging article. Consistency in blog posting as pointed out in this article can make a blog lively.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Great article for the new blogger. I” liked it”
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Relly interesting article – I had already set up a blogger account about 2 months ago, but haven’t really utilised it to it’s fullest potential.. I’ve only just started to make a real effort over the last 2 weeks, so I’m looking forward to seeing how I get on.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Next time please try to tell us something we don’t already know instead of this blablabla
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:15 am
nice article.
October 25th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
cool article!
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