Day 4 – Starting with a free Blog Host

To be a successful blogger, you will need to learn how it all works and practice. As you begin to develop your blogging style, you will need to learn things like:

• Choosing topic to attract readers
  
• Mechanics of putting together a good post
  
• Building good writing habits
  
• Monetization
  
• Interacting with readers
  

Knowing that I was probably going to take a while to get the hang of things, I have chosen to start with "Blogger.com". It is totally free and extremely easy to setup.

Here are links to 5 of the top free blog hosts. Check them out and pick one that suits you and get started!

https://www.blogger.com/start

http://www.livejournal.com/

http://wordpress.com/

http://www.thoughts.com/free-blog

http://clearblogs.com/

Like I always say, "If it's free, it's for me!"

Day 3 – What should I write about?

So this is day three of my blogging! I hope you know I really am serious about this. I am only trying to figure it out – what better way to learn to blog that to write a blog about me learning to blog! Not unlike Cramer's coffee table book about coffee tables.

So how do I pick something good to blog on? This seems to be the great challenge to starting a good blog and actually keep it going. In fact, this is where my previous attempts have failed! So what makes a good blog for both the reader and the blogger? That is really the question I am trying to address in the post.

After doing a little research and thinking about it for the past 24 hours or so, there seem to be a couple of key's to succeeding in creating a good blog that people will read and that is enjoyable to create. I have boiled into two key points, expertise and passion. Blogging on a subject that you have clear command of, or are developing yourself into "expert" status is a great way to get yourself out there, expand your skills on the subject, and attract others to benefit from your knowledge. Passion for a particular subject is also a great motivator.

The main problem I working to overcome is focus. In past blog startups I have attempted to either be too broad, covering a broad range of topics. After a couple of weeks I was already losing interest. I just couldn't keep up with all of the topics. So, from my experience, the breadth of the topic seems to be an issue as well.

So, 2 simple rules to get started:

1. Write about a topic you are either an expert on, passionate about, or both.
   
2. Start with a narrow topic to keep focused.
   

I would also add #3: Start short! Don't start attempting to write War and Peace – just get the habit of writing on a routine basis down then start worrying about the length and breadth of your ideas…

Adios for now amigos…

Day 2 – Why do people Blog anyway?

 

First, let's level set what a Blog is in the first place. The term "Blog" is a conjunction of the word "Web" and "Log". A blog is an information sharing tool with many possible uses, accessible to everyone, both for free or with a cost.

Reason's for blogging vary from further a political view or reporting on cousin Stew's birthday party. Here are some coming purposes:

1. Demonstrate expertise in a particular field to advertise professional services. Let's say you are the best darn landscaper the world has ever seen and you want to get the word out on your expert status. Simply developing a blog discussing landscaping techniques, tools and tricks will expand your exposure to the world.
   
2. Share events in your life with friends, family, or total strangers…
   
3. Help further a cause that is important to you, like Keep Kid's Alive, Drive 25.
   
4. To help someone do something, whether it is simply how to program a new television remote or working through a tough semester of discreet math.
   
5. Selling a product
   
6. Collecting favorite videos from YouTube
   
7. Telling everyone about the quirks in a new piece of software and how to deal with it.
   
8. And on, and on, and on.
   

So you get the point, people can and do blog anything.

In conclusion, why do people blog? Because blogs are a low cost and highly effective tools that gives everyone an opportunity to speak up and, hopefully, be heard on any topic imaginable. Plus, some say its fun!

Day 1 - Make Money Blogging?

Yes, this is my totally unashamed attempt to make money blogging! Well sort of…

Like many people a speak with, I am totally intrigued by the idea that you can actually make money simply by finding a topic you are interested in and writing about it. I have tried to blog before, but frankly found it boring and tough to focus on.
Well, times have changed! I have met my first REAL person that is making money on line. Not big money, but enough to pay some of the bills. That’s good enough for me!

I’m in!

So this is entry # 1 – Welcome to my nightmare… Ugh… I mean dream

Entry # 2 will be: Why do people bother to blog in the first place? (Or something like that)