The Basics of Blogging

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.

70 responses to The Basics of Blogging

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  1. Madison Parker says:
    October 21, 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.

  2. Guy Hogan says:
    October 21, 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.

  3. Guy Hogan says:
    October 21, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    chitragopi, a lot of new bloggers need basic information just to get started.

  4. rkm123 says:
    October 21, 2009 at 6:05 pm

    thanks for little help still trying to learn good luck

  5. Melody SJAL says:
    October 21, 2009 at 8:31 pm

    Thanks for this inforamtive post. Now Im seriously considering signing up with blogspot.

  6. Guy Hogan says:
    October 21, 2009 at 8:43 pm

    rmk, good luck. Just keep learning and keep blogging.

  7. Guy Hogan says:
    October 21, 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.

  8. clafleur says:
    October 21, 2009 at 8:56 pm

    thanx 4 sharing the info

  9. zoella says:
    October 21, 2009 at 10:48 pm

    Thanks for the info! Very helpful!

  10. zoella says:
    October 21, 2009 at 10:50 pm

    Thank you for the information. It is very helpful.

  11. Ron Fields says:
    October 22, 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

  12. WriteEditSeek says:
    October 22, 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.

  13. Gijo George says:
    October 22, 2009 at 8:25 am

    Encouraging article. Consistency in blog posting as pointed out in this article can make a blog lively.

  14. Jamie Myles says:
    October 22, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    Great article for the new blogger. I” liked it”

  15. Olivia Van Logum says:
    October 22, 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.

  16. sihana says:
    October 22, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    Next time please try to tell us something we don’t already know instead of this blablabla

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