What Is Blogging ?
A weblog or blog is a website that maintains frequently updated and ongoing entries or posts. Most blogs feature a community, comments and links to other sites or articles on the web. A blog is usually updated more often than other sites, which encourages readers to visit more often.
Definition
A blog is a specific type of website. It is typically arranged in order, from the most recent post at the top of the page to older posts and you scroll down the page. Blogs are usually written by a single person (although there are many exceptions to this) and a blog is usually written about a specific topic.
Features
For the most part, blogs have three features that set them apart from other types of websites. A blog's content is usually updated far more frequently than a regular site. Blogs can also be syndicated. You can read a blog through a web browser or through a feed, This means that people can read the posts on a blog without actually visiting the site. Blogs also offer a community feel and conversation.
Types
A personal blog is a commentary or online diary written by one person. This is the most common type of blog. Many personal blogs are simply intended to be seen by the writer or a small group of the writer's friends and family.
Corporate blogs can be used for business purposes. These types of blogs are used to facilitate communication in a company or for marketing and building the company's web presence.
Niche blogs focus on one particular topic. The topics can be virtually anything, from travel to politics.
Corporate blogs can be used for business purposes. These types of blogs are used to facilitate communication in a company or for marketing and building the company's web presence.
Niche blogs focus on one particular topic. The topics can be virtually anything, from travel to politics.
Posts
To keep a blog interesting, you can use several different types of blog posts. Your posts can be instructional or informational. You can use a post to review a product. A popular type of blog post is a list. You can also interview someone in the field that your blog addresses and make that into a post.
Benefits
There are several benefits of blogging. A blog is a great way to make contact and make new friends who have similar interests. If you have products or services to sell, a blog can help you attract customers. You can also use your blog to build your credibility and establish yourself as an expert in your field.
How to Start a Blog
When starting your own blog, first decide what you want to blog about. Choose something that you are interested in and passionate about. Decide if you want to host your blog yourself or if you want to use a hosting service. For those who are not Internet savvy, a hosting service is usually the best option.
How to Start A Blog Using Blogger :
Get started by creating an account
Email address - You can use any email account here. It doesn't have to be a Gmail account. The benefit to getting and using a Gmail account is that all your online services can be housed in the same area.
Password - Pick something fairly secure that you can remember.
Captcha - That's the weird letters that you have to type in to prove you're human.
Next, you'll give your new blog a name and a home.
Blog title - what you want to call the blog.
The best name is going to be something distinctive and descriptive, keeping in mind your purpose in establishing the blog. Example: I have one that is just reviews of books I read, mostly to help me keep track of what I've read in the past year. I call it "Book Bindings." My general blog is "The Life of Lewister." Think about the purpose of your blog and what might best help people scanning titles decide to read your blog.
Blog address - the URL where your blog will live
Your address can relate back to your title or your purpose for the blog. You don't want it to be completely unrelated, and you might find you have to get creative to get an URL to use. Type in the one you'd like to have, then click "check availability" to see if you can get it.
As you can see here, I attempted to start a new blog, this one about crafting. I typed in the word "crafts" for my domain URL, but it was taken.
I tried again, this time with something a little less generic, and it was available! (Does this mean I have to start a crafting blog now?
Step 3: Choose a Template
Blogger comes with 16 basic templates (12 of which you'll see here), some of those in a different color options. Pick one that appeals to your taste or fits with your theme. Then click the "Preview" button to get a closer look to see if you really like that design.
Don't get too hung up on the design at this point. It's probably the quickest and easiest thing to change later if you decide you don't really like lime green or polka dots.
Your Blog Settings
Your Settings tab gives you control over how your blog is seen and published. There are a lot of different options here and, for the most part, the defaults will work just fine for you as you get started. You'll need to "Save Settings" at the bottom of each page whenever you make changes.
Basic - Change the name of your blog, whether it can be picked up by search engines or (gasp!) delete it.
Formatting - How many posts per page, time/date formats, language and template.
For the most part, you're likely to be doing something different in every post, so the template might not be a useful feature for you. I use it for my book review blog because every review uses the exact same format.
Comments - Control how and who gets to leave comments on your posts. I have both of mine set to moderate the comments (meaning I have to approve them before they can be seen) and to use word verification (or captcha). That's the weird non-word you have to type in to verify you're a human. These help to keep spam at bay.
Archiving - You've seen the lists on the side of a blog page that allow you to go back to see what was written in July 2007? This is where you decide how that information will be presented - monthly, daily, etc. Or no archive at all.
Site Feed - You can determine whether people getting your feed should see complete entries or if you want them to just get a teaser so they have to come back to your blog to read the entire thing. You can also put in your feedburner feed here if you've established one.
Permissions - You can have several people as authors of your blog so you don't have to do all the work. All you need to have for them is an email address. You can also limit who actually gets to read your blog. This allows you to use the blog for private information sharing - within a family, for example.
Basic - Change the name of your blog, whether it can be picked up by search engines or (gasp!) delete it.
Formatting - How many posts per page, time/date formats, language and template.
For the most part, you're likely to be doing something different in every post, so the template might not be a useful feature for you. I use it for my book review blog because every review uses the exact same format.
Comments - Control how and who gets to leave comments on your posts. I have both of mine set to moderate the comments (meaning I have to approve them before they can be seen) and to use word verification (or captcha). That's the weird non-word you have to type in to verify you're a human. These help to keep spam at bay.
Archiving - You've seen the lists on the side of a blog page that allow you to go back to see what was written in July 2007? This is where you decide how that information will be presented - monthly, daily, etc. Or no archive at all.
Site Feed - You can determine whether people getting your feed should see complete entries or if you want them to just get a teaser so they have to come back to your blog to read the entire thing. You can also put in your feedburner feed here if you've established one.
Permissions - You can have several people as authors of your blog so you don't have to do all the work. All you need to have for them is an email address. You can also limit who actually gets to read your blog. This allows you to use the blog for private information sharing - within a family, for example.
Three-part series that covers each setting in depth, explaining what they are and why you might want them a certain way. Note that these videos are from early 2007, so a few things have changed.
Your Blog Layout
This is where you can change your template or just individual elements of the page to make it more uniquely yours.
Page Elements - Add items to the page or rearrange them. These are mostly the elements outside of your blog posts themselves - your profile, a link list, archive, etc. You can include AdSense, lists, polls, all kinds of things. The size of the elements will be determined by your template, as well as the way they look. You can also drag and drop to rearrange the order.
Preview the page to make sure you like the changes you made, then hit save to make them part of the template.
Fonts and Colors - This is the page where things can start to get dangerous. Here you can change the colors of individuals page elements - links, background, text - to whatever you please. But be careful! If you aren't the least-bit-design-savvy, you can end up with an unreadable mess! Remember that the point of having a blog is for it to be read, even if it's just by you a year later. And pale pink on white can't be read. You can also change the fonts used in different areas and the same rules apply. Just because there are six different choices doesn't mean you have to use all six!
Edit HTML - The main reason you might want to go here is to download a back-up of your template. This will save all the changes you've made in the first two areas. If you're feeling confident, you could edit the code directly or import a template you get from a free site. But remember that what you say on the blog is what's going to get people to your site. Google doesn't give you extra points on the search engine page because your blog is pretty!!
Pick New Template - Takes you back to the original 16 options so you can choose a different one. Note the warning that choosing something new will wipe out any changes you've made to your current template. You might want to make sure you're pretty content with your choice before you start playing with page elements and colors.
Page Elements - Add items to the page or rearrange them. These are mostly the elements outside of your blog posts themselves - your profile, a link list, archive, etc. You can include AdSense, lists, polls, all kinds of things. The size of the elements will be determined by your template, as well as the way they look. You can also drag and drop to rearrange the order.
Preview the page to make sure you like the changes you made, then hit save to make them part of the template.
Fonts and Colors - This is the page where things can start to get dangerous. Here you can change the colors of individuals page elements - links, background, text - to whatever you please. But be careful! If you aren't the least-bit-design-savvy, you can end up with an unreadable mess! Remember that the point of having a blog is for it to be read, even if it's just by you a year later. And pale pink on white can't be read. You can also change the fonts used in different areas and the same rules apply. Just because there are six different choices doesn't mean you have to use all six!
Edit HTML - The main reason you might want to go here is to download a back-up of your template. This will save all the changes you've made in the first two areas. If you're feeling confident, you could edit the code directly or import a template you get from a free site. But remember that what you say on the blog is what's going to get people to your site. Google doesn't give you extra points on the search engine page because your blog is pretty!!
Pick New Template - Takes you back to the original 16 options so you can choose a different one. Note the warning that choosing something new will wipe out any changes you've made to your current template. You might want to make sure you're pretty content with your choice before you start playing with page elements and colors.
Create - Here's where you'll come anytime you want to write a new post. Type your post title or headline in the Title box, then your text into the text box. You have the option of editing or typing your post directly as HTML or in Compose mode. The formatting options will change between the two. In order to see how your post is going to look, click the Preview link and the post will appear directly below in the same size and font that it will be in your blog.
Edit posts - Discover a great picture you need to add to something you already posted? Or need to correct something or add an update? Here's where you do that. Just click "Edit" and it will take you to the same type of window you used to create the post. Make your edits, then hit publish. You can also apply a label to a post, see which posts have comments, delete a post, generally just manage your posts.
Moderate comments - This is where you'll see comments made on your posts if you have chosen to moderate comments. You approve them for publication or reject them.
Edit posts - Discover a great picture you need to add to something you already posted? Or need to correct something or add an update? Here's where you do that. Just click "Edit" and it will take you to the same type of window you used to create the post. Make your edits, then hit publish. You can also apply a label to a post, see which posts have comments, delete a post, generally just manage your posts.
Moderate comments - This is where you'll see comments made on your posts if you have chosen to moderate comments. You approve them for publication or reject them.
How to Make Money With Adsense On Your Blog
1. step 1
Drive traffic to your blog. You need to have a large amount of traffic to make money with adsense on your blogs. The more traffic then the great possibility that someone will click on an ad on your blog.
2. Step2
Add adsense code to your blog. Google will provide you with the proper adsense code to add to your blog when you sign up for an account. This is easily done by simply highlighting the code, right click, and select "Copy". Go to your blog and insert the code where you want your add to display. Right click, click "paste", and save the file.
3. Step3
Make your blog appealing. Your blog needs to attract visitors to start earning money from adsense. Try to focus on one or two topics and only write about those.
4. Step4
Use keywords and SEO techniques. Keywords and SEO techniques, if done properly, will make your blog start earning money with adsense. A "robot" reads your webpage and decides what ads to display in the adsense space. You need to right quality, thorough, and relative content to your blog to display the right adsense ads.
How to Start a Blog and Make Money Online
If you are new to the internet and wondering what an earth this blogging craze is all about, or if you already have your own website and you're wondering why everyone keeps advising you to start your own blog, read on. I'm going to explain to you what a blog is, why you need one, how to set it up, promote it and of course, make money from it.
There are many ways to make money from your blog, but here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Google Adsense - this is free to join and easy to set up. The ads will match the content of your blog and you will get paid every time a visitor clicks on an ad.
- Affiliate Programs - sign up for affiliate programs related to the topic of your blog and display links to related products on your blog. Clickbank, Trade Doubler and Commission Junction are good places to start, or do a Google search for "affiliate program" + the topic of your blog to find more affiliate programs. Whenever someone clicks through your affiliate link and buys a product, you will receive a commission. If you are knowledgeable about your topic you could also write product reviews to help increase your affiliate sales.
- Sell Advertising Space - if you have a popular blog you can charge people to advertise on your blog. This could be in the form of a text link, a banner or a graphic.
You are not going to make money with a blog unless people can find it. As soon as you have started to post to your blog it's time to start promoting it. You can get your blog noticed by...
- Submitting your blog to blog directories - just search for "blog directories" in Google
- Asking other bloggers to exchange links with you - you put a link on your blog in exchange for a link from their blog.
- Writing an article related to the topic of your blog and posting it to article directories. Remember to include an author's resource box with a link to your blog.
- Pinging blog ping services every time you make a new post - pingomatic.com and pingoat.com are two sites you can use to do this.
- Participating in forums related to the topic of your blog. Put a link to your blog in your forum signature.
Finally, once you have your blog monetized and you have started promoting it don't forget to post regularly. The most important aspect of every successful blog is frequent posting, so be sure not to let the virtual dust gather over your blog!
