BLOGGING GUIDES FOR BEGINNERS

Welcome to the Blogging Tips Guides section. In this area our aim is to walk you through the basics of blogging and give you a basic understanding of the tools and skills which you will need to progress as a successful blogger.

·        A Beginners Guide To Starting Your First Blog

A selection of guides to help those who are new to blogging.

·                              What is a blog?

·                              What is RSS?

·                              Blogger or WordPress

        ·         Hosting

Guides to help you understand the concept of hosting a website.

·                              Basic Hosting Terminology

·                              The Different Kinds of Hosting

·                              The Truth About Unlimited Webspace and Bandwidth

·                              Never let a hosting company control your domain name

·                              How to upload files via FTP

         ·        Money Makers

A list of popular services which bloggers use to Money Makers.

A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR FIRST BLOG

You know what a blog is and you read blogs regularly so you have decided to start a blog; what next?

Well, there are a few things you need to decide before you start your first blog. The first thing you need to do is think about what you are looking for from your blog long term. It’s easy to get excited and rush into starting a blog however if you make a plan of action and decide what you want from your blog in the long run you, should enjoy blogging much more and find more success.

• Are you just looking for a place to publish your thoughts online?
• Would you like to make money from your blog in the future?
• Will the blog be used to promote yourself, a service or a product?

Another important thing you need to think about is your blogs topic. My advice to anyone who is thinking about starting their first blog is to choose a topic which they are passionate about. Choose a topic which you love discussing with others about and a topic which you read about regularly, be it from a book, magazine, blog or online forum.

It’s tempting to start blogging about a topic which apparently offers higher advertising commissions however you will quickly learn that writing for a topic you have no interest in is difficult, boring and….well pretty much a pain in the ass! Blogging shouldn’t be about that. If you pick the right topic then you will enjoy writing for your blog and this will show in your posts.

Hosted or Self Hosted

Before you start blogging you need to decide if you want to use a free hosting service or pay a little extra every month to host your own blog.

If you are just creating a small personal blog to post your thoughts on the web for friends and family then a free hosting service like Blogger or WordPress.com is more than sufficient for your needs. These services are perfect for beginners and require very little technical knowledge to get up and running.

However, if you are looking to develop your blog a little more and would like to monetise your blog (immediately or sometime in the future), then I strongly recommend hosting your blog yourself. Most popular blogging scripts like WordPress, Text Pattern and Life Type are free and you can purchase your own private hosting space for as little as $4.99 per month.

Hosted Blogging Solutions

Although there are many free blogging solutions available, most bloggers decide to go with either Blogger or WordPress.com. Please check out our ‘Blogger or WordPress‘ guide for help in deciding which one is best for you.

Pros:

• No Cost. The majority of hosted blogging services are free.
• Incredibly easy to setup. No technical experience required.

Cons:

• Limited control over the blog compared to hosting yourself.
• The host may remove your blog at any time without prior consent (this is rare though it has happened).
• Some hosted services integrate their own ads into your blog in order to cover hosting costs.
• Some services (like WordPress.com) do not allow advertisements of any kind to be placed in your blog (unless you upgrade to their premium service). This means you cannot make any money from your blog.

Self Hosting

Pros:

• Complete control over your blog and it’s identity.
• Webspace and bandwidth. Hosted solutions only offer you a limited amount of webspace so once a blog reaches a certain level, the blog will probably have to be moved to a dedicated hosting solution. Self hosting allows you more space to store your files and much more bandwidth to help with your blogs traffic.

Cons:

• Monthly Costs start from around $5 a month and upwards.
• Requires a little technical knowledge. Some bloggers may struggle with basic tasks like uploading the blogging script and customising the blogs design.

Buying a Domain Name

A domain name is vital for building a successful blog. It is your blogs identity, it is how visitors easily find your blog and it plays a major role in what traffic you receive from search engines.

As I mentioned before, if you just need a blog for personal reasons (e.g. a blog to post about your 3 month holiday to friends and family), a domain isn’t necessary and the url that the free hosting solution will be sufficient.

For the majority of bloggers though, a domain name is essential. Many bloggers make the mistake of starting their first blog using a free hosting solution such as Blogger or WordPress but don’t register a domain for their blog until their blog is established. In my opinion this is a big mistake and I advise you all to register the domain for your blog before you create the blog itself.

Failing to do so can be counter productive for a few reasons. Firstly, by developing your blog on a free host without registering the domain means that there is a great risk of the domain being hijacked. The domain might actually have been registered before you created your blog so it’s important to purchase the domain before you do anything.

Secondly, search engine traffic is tied to the url of a site. When changing the domain of a blog you can use a 301 redirect to tell search engines that the blog has been moved however you can still lose traffic.

A domain costs on average $10 a year for a top level domain (e.g. .com, .net etc), which isn’t really too much of an expense considering how important. So I encourage you all to find the right domain for your blog before you even write your first post.

WHAT IS A BLOG?

Whenever I tell someone what I do for a living they inevitably question how I make money through the internet as they believe that blogs are simply personal diaries. This is sometimes the case, however over the last few years blogging has evolved into something more and has become the most popular way of publishing content on the web for teenagers, adults, small businesses and large news sites too.

So what is a blog?

The word blog originated from the term web log, a term which was used for scripts which allowed users to publish data in reverse chronological order i.e. newest entries first, then second newest and so on. When blogging first became popular it was mostly used for personal diaries however over the last few years many large news websites have started publishing content using a blogging script.

This was no doubt in part to how easy it was to start a blog and maintain it. The first blogging scripts were quite limited however over the years the platform has evolved into a complete Content Management System (CMS). Thankfully, starting a blog is incredibly easy, even for those with little or no experience on the net (which is another reason why blogging became mainstream so quickly).

The video below was filmed by Common Craft. It is a few years old however it remains a great introduction to blogging for those who have never heard of the medium before.

BLOGGER OR WORDPRESS

There are dozens of great hosted blogging solutions available like TypePad, Live Journal and Blog. Though for most people the choice comes down to either Blogger or WordPress, which are by far the most popular hosted blogging services available today.

In this guide I will look at the pros and cons of each service, which I hope will help you make and informed decision about which platform to use.

Blogger

Blogger was founded in 1999 by Pyra Labs, a company which was co-founded by Twitter creator Evan Williams. It was later acquired by Google in 2003.

One of the pioneers of the blogging medium, Blogger has long been the choice of blogging newbies. It’s incredibly easy to setup yet offers a lot of freedom and flexibility that other hosted services do not.

All blogger blogs have a small banner at the top of the page which is about 30 pixels high. This banner lets search the blog you are on, flag the blog for a violation, visit the next blogger blog and sign in. Unfortunately, this banner can not be removed however the rest of the page is not changed in any way by Google.

Pros:

• Full Control over your blogs template design.
• Advertisements and affiliate banners are permitted.
• Can use your own domain name for free.

Cons:

• Beginners may find customising the blogger design very difficult.
• Need to use a 3rd party script for a contact form (which is why many ‘Blogger users display their email instead).
• Limited number of plugins and widgets available.

I have also hear many people claim that because Blogger is owned by Google, Blogger blogs appear much higher in the search engines that blogs using other platforms. I have yet to see concrete evidence of this myself and advise you to take any such claim with a pinch of salt.

You can find out more at Blogger.com

WordPress

The WordPress hosted service (not to be confused with their popular self hosting blogging script) is a simple yet elegant blogging service which is favoured by many authors and professionals.

Unlike Blogger, you cannot edit CSS code of your blogs design. However, there are thousands of free themes to choose from, many of which let you choose the colour of your blog design. You can also easily customise your sidebar and footer using widgets (plugins which offer more features and customisation). You can also choose a wordpress free feature upgrade to modify your css code for $14.97 a year.

WordPress also offer a VIP Hosting for blogs with a lot of traffic. This is used by many top blogs likeTop Gear and the NFL.

Pros:

• Lets you easily create static pages.
• Very easy to add a contact form to your blog.
• Has a built in trackback system/
• A better comment system than Blogger.
• A huge number of themes and widgets available to bloggers.

Cons:

• Cannot modify blogs CSS stylesheet.
• Cannot add 3rd party tracking scripts like Google Analytics. However, WordPress does provide it’s own stats and they are more than sufficient for most people.
• No advertisements are allowed on WordPress.com blogs.
• WordPress occasionally show small text advertisements in order to cover server costs. This can be removed with a premium upgrade.
• It costs $9.97 a year to use an existing domain name you own or $14.97 to register your domain with them.

You can find out more at WordPress.com. WordPress also have a good comparison between WordPress.org and WordPress.com at Get.WP.com.

BLOG HOSTING

Hosting your own blog is a step which most bloggers need to make at one point if they want their blog to be successful. This page lists some of the most widely used webhosts by bloggers today.

Many of these hosts offer unlimited webspace bandwidth. Please read our note on unlimited hosting offers for more information on this.

Recommended Web Hosts

BlueHost

BlueHost are incredibly popular amongst bloggers. Their starter package starts costs just $6.95 a month and offers unlimited domains, unlimited webspace and bandwidth*, 2,500 pop email accounts and 100 MySQL databases.

Visit Site : BlueHost

HostGator

HostGator have a range of affordable web hosting packages which are suitable for bloggers. Their cheapest package (hatchling) only costs $4.95 a month however you can only use 1 domain. Their next package (baby) costs $7.95 offers unlimited domains. All packages offer an unlimited number of ftp accounts and MySQL databases.

Note, the prices quoted above are only available if you pay in advance. Their packages are a little more expensive if you choose to pay on a monthly basis.

Visit Site : HostGator

Dream Host

A hugely reliable web hosting service with a great reputation, Dream Hostbasic package is around $9.95 a month. Other than a fair usage policy, there are no restrictions on the number of domains and databases that you can set up through them.

Visit Site : Dream Host

Just Host

With their cheapest package starting at just $2.95 per month, JustHosthave become a popular option for bloggers with a low budget.

Visit Site : JustHost

Laughing Squid

Boasting a basic website design, Laughing Squid may not be as well known as many other hosting services. However, they do have a great reputation amongst bloggers. Their basic package costs $8 a month and boasts an impressive 1GB of web space, 50GB of Bandwidth and 3 MySQL databases, more than enough for most new blogs.

Visit Site : Laughing Squid

Choosing a Web Host

Are you still unsure about what to look for in a web hosting package? Then why not download our free e-book ‘Choosing a Web Host : Helping You Choose The Right Host For Your Blog‘. It explains all the features that hosting companies offer and will help you understand what you should be looking for.

BLOG MONEY MAKERS

There are many ways to make money from a blog, either directly or indirectly. The websites listed on this page list some of the most popular sites that bloggers use to make money from their blog. It is not a complete list but I’m sure it will point some of you in the right direction.

 

	A Cost Per Action (CPA) affiliate network which lets you offer hundreds of offers to your readers. Most programs pay per lead or per sale.
	TLA is the most popular place on the net to buy and sell text links. You can also sell in content text links too.
	Kontera is an in-text advertising service which lets you place PPC ads within your content.
	BidVertiser lets you add text ads to your blog. You are paid on a per click basis.
	Adsense is the most used advertising network in the world. You can display text or banner ads on your blog. You can also add your adsense code to your youtube videos.
	Netklix is a text based PPC network. You can choose the type of ads that appear on your site and Netklix offer all major ad formats.
	SocialSpark offers bloggers a variety of ways to make money through their blog. You can review products, websites and services and you can display sponsors ads on a per day basis.
	LinkXL lets you sell a maximum of 10 links on individual pages on your blog. You can set the price according to PageRank and you have an option of using nofollow as well.
	Sponsored Reviews is a marketplace which lets you see paid reviews on your blog.
	The PepperJam ad network have a wide range of merchants for you to choose from. Most companies per on a CPA or revenue share basis.
	Performancing is a banner ad marketplace which is very popular with bloggers. Bloggers are paid 60% of the ad sales they generate.
	An advertisement marketplace which is popular with some bloggers. You can sell banner ads, text links and peel away ads.
	The controversial ad network which got into trouble with Google, PayPerPost remains a popular way for bloggers to make money through their blog.
	Brought to you by the same people as Text Link Ads, ReviewMe is a marketplace for paid reviews. You can let ReviewMe determine your review rate or you can set your own price.
	Similar to Performancing, BuySellAds lets you sell banner ads directly on your blog. They mainly concentrate on 125×125 pixel banner ads.
	LinkWorth have a wide range of ways for you to make money through your blog including text and banner ad sales, in text advertising and paid reviews.