Blogging has quickly become a very popular internet features. Many people claim to have all the answers about just how to blog in order to make money. In fact, there is so much information out there it is easy to become frustrated and to simply give up before your blog has even left the ground.

To combat this “information overload,” below is a brief guide that gets right to the heart of blogging, its purpose, and just how to be successful at it. Following these simply guidelines is sure way to start your blog off right. Keep at it and in no time at all, your blog will be profitable.

Blogging 101

1. Blog about your passion – when you first consider starting a blog, spend a few minutes considering just what subjects you love and are passionate about. It stands to reason that you will have an easier time blogging about subject matter you are familiar with as opposed to something you know little about. Don’t start a blog about a subject you ‘think’ people will be interested in. Start a blog about what you know and love.

2. Pick a great domain name – picking a domain name that is catchy and easy to remember can be difficult. Consider including one or more of your keywords right in your domain name to make things simple. For example, if you are writing about childcare, try including words like “child,” “care,” and “baby” right in your domain name. Don’t forget that many of the ‘good’ domain names have already been taken, so you may need to spend a bit of time trying different combination of key words. Make Words Domain Search is a great tool to use when searching for a domain name. It will let you know if your choice is already in use. Finally, Bluehost is one of greatest domain services out there for bloggers.

3. Applications and features will make your life easier – Any serious blogger should install WordPress and Fantastico. They are both simple to install and to use. You don’t have to be a tech geek to get the most out of them.

4. Your hosting service matters – having a great domain name isn’t enough; you also must have an excellent hosting service. There are many options available, but you want to select one that has a reputation for reliability, so do your research here. Bluehost and HostGator has a great reputation, excellent support and is priced just right.

5. Changing your Domain Name Server – of course you have to point your own domain to your hosting service. You don’t need to do this process if you buy the domain name and the domain space from Bluehost or HostGator itself. This process is very simple, but most hosting service will provide you with a step-by-step guide. Bluehost and Hostgator does this particularly well with their guide entitled “How to Change your DNS to Bluehost/HostGator”.

6. Let your readers know how you are – Make sure to let your readers know just who you are by used the “about me” feature. If you want to become a blogger known for your credibility and honesty, it is important to avoid the ‘newbie’ mistake of trying to remain anonymous. Let your readers know a little bit about you and why you are qualified to write your blog.

Optimizing your Blog

Once you have established your blog, the next step is optimizing it. Optimization simply means making your blog as visible as possible. You want to drive a lot of traffic to your blog. This process can take some time, but is well worth it as it will cause your following to grow.

1. Picking the best WordPress Theme – WordPress offers a wide range of theme’s for you to pick from. Much like in ‘real life,’ you will only have a few minutes to impress a first time visitor. A good wordpress theme will catch the eye of visitors and hopefully impress them enough to stick around long enough to read your blog. If you can, find a theme that suits your blog, if not, look for one that fits your personality. Google is a great resource for this. Do a search for WordPress themes and spend some time checking out the results. Installing themes is snap as well, so try out a few that you like.

For a premium Wordpress Theme, you may want to try Woothemes, ThemeForest or DreamTemplate.

2. The best WordPress plug-ins – there are literally hundred of plug-ins available, all with their own unique purpose. There are ten ‘must have’ WordPress plug-ins. These nifty little codes will help you add functionality to your blogs. Don’t forget, that while WordPress is ‘plug and play’ plug-ins will allow you to really customize your experience.

3. You must use Google Tools – Google has several tools that every blogger should use. Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools make tracking blog performance a snap. These tools are designed to improve your search engine ranks. These are ‘must haves’ for anyone hoping to have a successful blog.

4. Setting up email subscriptions and RSS feeds – never forget that your primary goal is to get visitors to your blog or site and to have them follow your blog. Using a service like FeedBurner is a great way to manage RSS subscriptions while simplifying the subscription process. Unfortunately, not all of your visitors will understand RSS, so it is important to have an alternative for them. Email subscription usually works very well for non-technical visitors. A popular service, Aweber makes setting up and maintaining your email subscriptions simple.

5. Browser compatibility – never forget that not all themes are compatible with all browsers. The last thing you want is to drive a visitor to your site, only to have them be unable to view it as it was designed. Avoid this problem by using a service like IE NetRenderer.This free service will let you view your site for each of the versions of Internet Explorer.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the crucial step for driving traffic to your website. Simple put, SEO will increase your search engine result rankings. Spend some time working on Search Engine Optimization

1. Google – Many people don’t think that making an official submission to the Google Index is worth it. I disagree. Google updates and indexes billions of web pages every single day. Spending one minute submitting your site to Google can only help.

2. Permalink Structures – Right after you set up your blog, be sure to take care of Permalink Structure. Ignoring this step is a sure way to drive down your rankings.

3. Robot.txt Files – Robot.txt help to improve your site index by telling the search engine spider to index only your content page. This is done to avoid duplicate content. More simple put, most spiders will ignore any duplicate content and not index it. Robot.txt files are a great way to avoid being ‘blacklisted’ by Google and other search engines.

4. Sitemaps – Sitemaps inform search engine spiders exactly where you want them to search. It makes indexing faster and also makes your site easier to navigate. There are several great tools you can use for developing your sitemap. For search engine spiders, Google Sitemaps Generate will generate a sitemap almost all search engine spiders will recognize. For your users, Clean Archives Reloaded will ease navigation by providing a clean listing of past postings.

5. Ping Lists – simply put, ‘pinging’ is a system that will ‘ping’ search engine spiders or directories each and every time a new blog posts on your site. This forces the search engine spiders to touch your site and improve your index ranking. There are many great ping services available, but some of the most popular are:
• http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
• http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2/
• http://pingqueue.com/rpc/
• http://ping.feedburner.com/
• http://www.bloglines.com/ping
• http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
• http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
• http://api.my.yahoo.com/RP
• http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping

6. Writing for readers – perhaps the most important tip for SEO optimization is to avoid the newbie mistake of writing for the spiders. A lot of new blog writers try and cram as many keywords as possible into their blogs, in the hopes that this will increase their ranking. Unfortunately, this is often a clumsy way to write. Your ‘real’ readers are people and they will be able to tell if you are writing to them or to the spiders, so be careful.

Promoting your Blog

The best way to develop a following is to promote your blog. Get your name and your website out there in the public-eye and watch as your traffic increases.
1. Commenting – Commenting on other peoples blogs is a great way to get your name out there. Be sure to comment on blogs that are similar to your subject matter and to include only relevant and constructive information in your comment. This method of promotion is completely free and is a great way to get your name out there.

2. Article Marketing – Using strong writing skils is another way to make money, article writing can be a great way to promote your blog. It will also help you with link building.

3. Guest Blogging – this is exactly what it sounds like. You write articles for someone else’s blog. This works great if you are working with an established blogger with a great reputation. It will increase traffic to your blog, gain your subscribers and garner you very important exposure and notice’.

4. Social Sites – Using top social sites/top blog directories like Tweeter, MySpace and digg to promote your blog can be fairly successful. Most of the social sites have ‘groups’ which will allow you to get your name and site out to hundreds of like-minded people.

5. Forums – Forums can be a great promotional method if you have enough time to devote to it. By including your link right in your signature you will gain exposure each time you make a posting. The trick to using forums to promote your blog is to find forums that are relevant to your subject. Again, be careful when posting that your information is useful and not frivolous. Posting just for the link will get you nowhere.

Earning Money

At the end the day, the goal is to make money – right? There are a few very good options for people looking to earn money online.
1. Google Adsense – Most bloggers rely heavily on Google Adsense to earn money. It is a very simply advertising program that is simple to run on any blog. The only pitfall of Google Adsense is how ‘traffic’ based it is. Simply put, if you do not have a lot of traffic, you won’t earn a lot of money. If you have good promotional experience, this may be the way to go.

2. Affiliate Marketing - Affiliate marketing is the second option for many blogger. Under affiliate marketing, you use your blog or website to promote someone else’s products or services. You earn money for each sale that comes from a referral from your site. There are different options in programs and products, so the amount of money you can earn can vary greatly. Chitika, Amazon Associates, LinkShare, E-Junkie and Clickbank are excellent options.

3. Sponsored Reviews - Any one with a talent for writing should consider reviewing other people’s service or products. Simply write a review that is honest and you will earn money. Sites like Pay Per Post, Sponsored Reviews, Buy Blog Reviews, etc

4. Freelance Service – if you have a special skill like design, copywriting or coding, offering your skills as a freelancer can be very lucrative. Use your blog or website to showcase or talent or portfolio.

5. Private Advertising – A final method is that of private advertising using OIOPublisher(use the coupon “BLUE-LEVOLTZ” to get additional $8 discount). Under this scheme, advertisers buy space for their ads on your blog. This usually only works for well developed blogs that have a large following. Advertisers will want information on the number subscribers, your traffic stats and your rankings before they are will to advertise with you.

At the end of the day, starting up your blog is easy. The hard part is learning to promote your blog and use it to earn you money. You will need to devote a significant amount of time, commitment, patience and technical savvy in order to be successful. Your best weapon should be the passion you have for your subject and blogging in general.

Related posts:

1. Part 5 – Make money through Blogging
2. Top 10 Websites that Earn Money for Your Blog
3. Top 45 Ping Service
4. Part 7 – Getting a Domain Name For Your Blog
5. Part 2 – How To Making Money On The Internet – For Beginners