by Gordon Hamilton

Created on: February 06, 2009

Blogging has become the "in" thing of the twenty-first century. Tens of millions of people are doing it for a whole variety of different reasons and on an even wider number of different subjects. The concept of actually getting involved in this practise, however, can be extremely confusing or even daunting. The number of blog platforms and the different tools they provide the blogger can scare the potential blogger away before they even get started. Let us therefore consider some valuable tips and advice for taking the first steps to successful blogging.

Selecting the correct hosting site is imperative if we wish to make a success of our blog or blogs. We have to choose one that is both suited to our technical abilities and offers us the tools which we may require for our purpose. As one who has tried his hand with a great many hosting platforms, I have long since settled on but two, which I use regularly to assist me in promoting my other websites and articles and generating me occasionally some substantial revenue.

Blogger is Google's blog hosting platform. I would unhesitantly recommend this site as the one to start out with. It is extremely user friendly, it is totally free, and it doesn't have a lot of restrictive do's and don'ts which sites such as Wordpress inflict upon their bloggers. It also allows us to incorporate a Google AdSense ID in to our blogs to potentially earn some pay per click income on the automatically generated ads which will appear.

The first step I would suggest to anyone starting out with Blogger is to take the site tour which is automatically offered whenever we go to the home page. This explains everything from what a blog is and how they are impacting society on an ongoing basis to how to select a template for your blog and how to add photos. You are subsequently then guided through the process of getting your blog off the ground.

A blog should always be written to a very specific subject. Choose therefore something about which you know a great deal. This means that you are likely to have a lot of material for some time to come. The biggest key to success in blogging is in adding fresh, relevant content on a regular basis. Blogs set up and left to their own devices will not perform well on the Internet.

Once your blog is up and running, take the time to explore Blogger in greater detail. Look at your layout and settings options. Experiment with different displays. Remember, you can change it back to the way it was before at any time. In this way, you will not only learn about your various options but become comfortable with putting them in to practise.

Insert outward links on your blog to other sites relevant to your subject. The search engine spiders like this practise and so will your visitors. Join affiliate programmes such as Amazon and eBay and sell their products on your Blog. This can be a great way of giving your visitors the option of buying relevant products at bargain prices and earning you commissions at the same time. Do not ignore the potential of these schemes. If you find the right niche, a lot of money can be made in this way.

Be sure to promote your blog wherever and whenever you can. This may be on MySpace or Facebook, it may be on your websites, your Squidoo lenses or Hub Pages. It can essentially be anywhere that you have the capability of adding web content.

By putting all of these concepts in to practise and remembering to stick to them, we stand the best chance of our blog becoming "sticky," which essentially means popular and thus hopefully lucrative in revenue generating terms.

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