Recently I started a series of posts aimed at satisfying the curiosity that of some of my friends and colleagues have about blogging. This is the second post from this series. If you’re reading this post, hopefully you’re doing so after reading: How I Make Money from Blogging Part 1. If not and you’re new to blogging, you might want to follow the preceding link and read it over before continuing. If you’re ready for Part 2, here we go.

OK. So, hopefully by now you have taken some time, visited the links that I recommended in the first post, read all of the information available and decided which blogging platform you want to use. Some of you may have even already purchased a domain name and/or a web hosting package. If you’re one of these people, congratulations, you’re well on your way.

The next step is setting up your stand alone blogging software on your hosting account web server. This can be a rather complicated step for those “less computer literate” people out there, but it doesn’t have to be!

If you’ve taken my advice from earlier and set-up your hosting account on HostGator, they have excellent step-by-step video tutorials on how use their Fantastico Deluxe script to help you install the free blogging platform from WordPress (also suggested earlier). In fact, Hostgator even has dedicated online support specialists that will do everything they can to help you through any problems you may encounter along the way.

Once you’re all set-up on your web server, you’re ready to start putting your own stamp on your blog!

Now, it’s up to you to get those creative juices flowing, but before you start writing posts there are a few things you will want to take care of first. The design, look and feel etc. of your blog is very important in making a first impression on the reader. Once again, it isn’t the sole factor that will determine your success, but good design and layout is always better than poor design and an ugly color scheme that will turn off your readers. Make sure that when you pick a WordPress theme to install on your blog (the default theme it comes with is boring) it fits your taste, niche, vision, color scheme, etc. There are tons of quality themes available for free from the WordPress Theme Directory, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding something that fits your style or niche.

Another thing you’ll want to look for in a theme is room for ad placement. Selling advertising is a major money maker when it comes to blogging. You’ll want to make sure that the sidebar of your blog theme is laid out in such a way that there is ample room for banner advertisements and ad widgets. When you first get started blogging, you probably won’t be able to sell much advertising space right away until you have a large enough audience and good quality traffic, so it’s a good idea to start out by placing ad widgets and/or affiliate banners in your side bar to monetize your blog until you can drum up that a large audience and command top dollar for your ad space.

Personally, I use the services of WidgetBucks and AdBrite. I have found that they perform the best by serving a mix of paid-per-click and paid-per-impression advertising models. Another popular choice is Google Adsense, but I have found that both of the others perform better for my particular websites. The same may not be true for yours. Always keep careful track of your ads conversion stats and test different ads from time to time to see which ads are performing best for you. You can also fill some ad space with affiliate banners to generate commissions from your traffic. If you need a refresher, I have written about how to make money with affiliate marketing in the past. It has it’s advantages, especially when you’re just starting out.

So, let’s re-cap. By now you should have decided which blogging platform you want to use, chosen and/or purchased a domain name, purchased a web hosting package, set-up WordPress on your web server, picked a theme/design/colors for your blog and chosen your advertising method to monetize your blog.

WHEW!

When you say it like that, it really seems like a lot of work. But it wasn’t so bad. Was it?

If you think about it in terms of what it takes to start-up a real, money making business, it really isn’t much work at all. You should have been able to do it all by yourself and if you’ve followed my advice up until this point, you’ve only spent about $20 US ($10 domain name, $10 first month web hosting) on start-up costs!

When you’ve reached this point successfully, you’re ready to start filling your blog with posts that will capture your readers interest, provide them value and make then want to return to read more. In the next post in this series I plan on covering how to monetize the content of your posts to provide your blog yet another income stream.

Stay Tuned!

Recently I have been flooded with questions from friends and colleagues about blogging. For the most part, people seem to want to know how much I make and how much effort I have to put in to make what I make. But more importantly, they want to know how THEY can make money from blogging. So, I decided to put together a series of blog posts here to share my two cents with the world and have somewhere to point all of those people to.

First of all, let me say this. If you want to make money online doing anything, I strongly suggest that you do your research on blogging and learn to properly incorporate blogging as a major part of whatever you are doing. Blogs lead to profits in many ways. They build brand awareness, promote your product/service, drive traffic to your websites and reel in new customers.

All great blogs have one thing in common. They meet the needs and wants of those who visit them and make them hungry for more. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. This takes time. If you’re just starting out blogging, you will (more than likely) not have a huge following of readers overnight. However, if you consistently write good quality content that engages your readers, they will come back for more and maybe even tell their friends about your blog. Believe me, there is NOTHING like FREE word of mouth advertising!

Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, there are a few necessary steps that every blogger must first deal with before getting started. The first thing you will need to do is purchase a domain name and find a web host for your blog. Sure, you can get a free blog from many of the available blogging platforms/services, but if you’re serious about carving out your own niche and making money with your blog for the long haul, I strongly suggest you get your own domain name and hosting account. GoDaddy.com is the World’s Largest Domain Name Registrar and their prices are very hard to beat. They also provide several web hosting packages that you can bundle together with your domain name purchase. This should save you some money (depending on your own individual needs) and keep everything all in one place.

I personally use the services of HostGator to host all of my websites. I have used them for more than 4 years now. They are extremely reliable, have excellent customer service and provide me with all the disk space and bandwidth I need for about $10 US/month. Oh yeah, in order to make paying for these online services (and many more) as convenient as possible, I also recommend getting a PayPal account. PayPal is a global leader in online payment solutions with more than 70 million active accounts worldwide. Their services are completely safe and reliable. I use them on a daily basis and if you’re looking to make money online, then so should you.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with starting out on a free service, like those provided by Blogger or WordPress.com. These services work just fine, but you do give up some control and you never really “own” your blog. Creating a stand alone blog will give you much more flexibility and control over content, style and design. Furthermore, you’ll control your own ad space, which is what you need to maximize your blog’s ability to make money.

Using this method to create and publish your blog is a little more work, but only slightly more technical thanks to the stand-alone version of the free blogging platform from WordPress.org. They have made it incredibly easy to install and once you’re up and running, future upgrades can be accomplished with one simple click. Their stand-alone blogging platform can be added to an existing website (or a new one) and will have added SEO (search engine optimization) benefits.

If you’re serious about starting a blog to make money online, I strongly suggest you take the time and put together a plan before starting. Try to figure out what you want to write about and who you want to address as your target audience. You may even want to write a few blog post drafts before you start so that you can get a good feel for what you want to write about. It’s always a good idea to keep a few drafts written ahead of what you publish anyway. Sometimes life can get hectic awfully quick. Having a little cushion of pre-written drafts that can be published during those times never hurts.

You’ll also want to choose a good, unique domain name that is easy to remember and in some way ties in with the topic of your blog. Take your time on this one. Do your best, but don’t kill yourself over the decision either. While your domain name will be with you for the life of your blog, it isn’t the sole factor that will determine your success. That being said, a clever domain name never hurts either.

Well, that should be enough info to get most of you aspiring bloggers out there started. Check out the info and services recommended at the links above, take some time to put together an outline of what you want to accomplish then come back here and look for the next post in this series. See you soon.