What Is Blogging

It’s easy to get confused when it comes to the internet, it seems like there is a new fad popping up almost daily. Between Facebook, and Tweeting, it’s very easy to feel overwhelmed and while I don’t pretend to be an expert about all things internet, I can help answer the question: what is blogging?

Blogs started as online journals, a web log (blog). For the most part it started as a way for people to have their own website online and share their thoughts and expertise with anyone who might be interested. Over the last few years though more and more people have learned that having a blog can also help them make some money online.

There are many places where you can start a blog for free, some of the most popular are WordPress.com, Blogger.com, Squidoo.com, HubPages.com. If you want to learn more just do a search online. These places will allow you to set up your own blog for no charge.

The actual steps may vary somewhat from one place to another, but here is an overview of the basic steps you will take to set up your own blog:

1. First you will sign up, at that time you will be asked to pick out a name for your blog. It can be anything you want it to be, Cathy’s Kittens, or Sally’s Sewing, etc. Just pick something that you like and reflects the nature of your blog.

2. Once you’ve signed up you can pick out the theme you want to use. A theme is just the template for your blog. They come in all types of styles and you can find many of them for free. Just do a search for themes online and you’ll see what I mean.

3. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the theme and how it works. It’s not hard, but you want to be comfortable so you don’t miss out on any great options you may have.

4. Start making posts to your blog. Every time you write an article for your blog it’s called a post. Most blog themes will allow you to easily upload pictures, videos, and music. They will also have helpful features like spell check.

Once you’ve got your post looking just the way you want it, you can click on the ‘publish’ tab and your post will be uploaded to your blog so that all your visitors can read what you’ve written or look at your pictures.

These are the basic steps you will need to take when starting a blog. The important thing for you to remember is that if you are starting a blog as a business you will want to change out some of these steps:

1. The first thing you will want to do is to figure out what subject your blog is going to be about. This isn’t a difficult step but it is a vital one. When it comes to making money online with a blog, half the battle is picking the right niche market. Find a market that has a lot of people who are passionate about it… and who spend money on it, and you’re well on your way.

2. When you find a good niche market you can take a keyword related to that market and buy a domain name with that keyword in it. With a business blog you don’t want to use the free sites, you will want to buy a domain name and get a hosting account. I know this can sound overwhelming if you are new, but just take it one step at a time, it’s not that hard or that expensive. A hosting account and domain name will cost you around $30, maybe a little less.

3. At this point the process is basically the same as the above method. You just pick out a theme that reflects the topic of your website and start making posts.

I hope this overview has helped answer the question: what is blogging? Just get started and you’ll see how easy and fun it can be.