How To Make Money Blogging

Once you make a decision to start blogging, there are a few concepts you will need to know about and one of them is the difference between a page and a blog post. A page, as it’s called, is simply that: a static page that will not change. It is generally used for an About Me page, a Mission Statement, a Contact Us page or anything else that will not need to be updated on a regular basis.

A “post” is where you will write regularly. These writings are dated and appear in your blog in reverse chronological order normally, although you can usually change that. Posts can have pictures, videos and of course links to other posts. An important part of the post is the Title since this is where you can define what the post is about and entice the reader to read more.

Since blog posts can be on any subject at all, it’s a good idea to organize them into Categories. Categories can be set up ahead of time or you can create them as you go along. My preference is to try to set up as many categories as you feel you will be writing about because this actually helps you to stay on track and even helps you to write better. Since a category can be very specific, it can help you keep a train of thought from post to post and will enable you to organize your thoughts as you go along.

Another cool thing you can do with categories is to have sub-categories. For example, this post is in the category “Making Money Online” and that subject can be quite broad since there are many ways to do this. I could for example have sub-categories of Setting Up A Blog, How To Add Advertising, Increasing Your Readership, etc. These are all topics that would fall under the category of Making Money Online. Maybe in the future I will separate them but for right now we are going to keep it as simple as possible.

That is all for today. We will start getting in to the look of your blog in the next post. See you then!

You probably already know that blogging has been increasing in popularity over the last few years and shows no sign of slowing down. On the contrary, statistics show that more and more blogs are coming online everyday. So… there has never been a better time to get started, and the best part is you won’t need to spend any money!

There a lot options when it comes to choosing what software you want to use for blogging. The most important question you can ask yourself now is - will my choice today limit me in the future? Will I have to pay a monthly fee? How flexible will my options be?

In my opinion, there is only one answer and that is Wordpress. It dominates the market and for good reason. There are literally thousands of quality themes to choose from and an incredible variety of plugins that integrate with Wordpress to expand it’s capability even more. This blog you are reading now is built on Wordpress. What can you do with Wordpress? You can actually do more using Wordpress than you can with a regular HTML website, and as a web designer I know this well.

As I have mentioned before I have been designing web sites for customers for years, but when I found Wordpress my whole world changed — for the better. The options are endless. For example you can create an E-commerce site to sell products online, you can host a photo gallery, post videos, create an online book and of course write a blog. To make a good thing even better, recently I have seen some premium themes that make Wordpress look more like an online magazine or a high end Content Management System.

There are two flavors of Wordpress. One is the totally free version you can sign up for at www.Wordpress.com. Just register and start writing. It’s that easy. The second one allows you to use the Wordpress software on your own host. You can find this at www.Wordpress.org. Many web hosting companies even have a one-click install feature that will install the software for you automatically.

The other blogging software I would recommend is Blogger from Google. you can find it at www.Blogger.com. It is very, very simple to use but may limit you in the future when you start to stretch your wings.

I hope this post has shed some light on how to start blogging. We’ll cover more details as we go along. The most important thing I want to convey is to just get started. Once you do, a world of possibilities will begin to open up for you and you will be glad you did.

Stay tuned for the next post as we take a look at how to put things in order before you start. Having the right foundation will actually help to write more later on.

-vj

As a web designer I create pages for businesses and individuals looking to have an online presence. Since being digital is what I know, it often creeps out into my analog life as well. For a long time I would tell my sister about blogging and was met with relative indifference until one day she told me she had set up a blog on Wordpress.com. “Cool!” I thought.

A few months after that, she approached me asking questions about having her own domain and certain other technical concepts and that is when I knew she was hooked. She now has come a long way since then and has her own monetized blog and writes quite frequently. I still help with pictures and I helped customize her theme but the point is… Have you tried blogging?

While it may seem there’s a lot to know, the concept is really quite simple. Write about what you know. Express what is in you and the rest will fall into place over time. Yes, there are a lot of people making good money writing blogs but don’t focus on that. Yes, there are a gazillion blogs out there but you need not worry about that either. Once you get started and you find your groove, you come to realize that it is quite therapeutic.

The hardest part of all is just getting started, finding “your voice” and what you feel comfortable writing about. After a while, you will find yourself actually “thinking” in your blog persona and anticipating your next post. The more you do it, the easier it becomes and who knows, you might just find yourself making a living writing about what you love.

I will be discussing the art and science of blogging in later posts so if you want to know more about it, this will be a great place to bookmark.

See you next time!

Victor Julian