How to Start a Blog

Like many other things on the Internet, blogs and blogging have become an overnight sensation, going from nothing a few years ago to competing with mainstream media for news and opinion. Of course , blogs are much more than news and opinion.

So, how do you get started in the world of blogging? It is really very simple. For starters you have two broad options from which to choose when starting blogging. The first is to begin writing for an existing blog, such as HubPages, where all the work is done for you and you just write. The second option is to start your own blog. We will discuss this second option first because it is a little more involved.

There are sites which will host your blog for a fee, but if you are just starting you will probably want to take advantage of sites that provide free hosting. Blogger.com, which is owned by Google, provides free hosting as well as free templates and instructions. If you have a website, either free or one you pay for, check your package, as a blog may have been included with the site.

A major appeal of blogs is their ease of use. If you have access to a computer with a connection to the Internet and you know how to type, you can be a blogger. You don't need to know how to program or understand HTML code - this is all taken care of for you. Before signing up with either a site that gives you your own blog or one, like HubPages which provide space for you to write on their blog, it is a good idea to explore the site.

If it is a site like HubPages you would want to check their layouts and see what others are writing about. Similarly, with sites that give you your own blog, like Google's Blogger.com, see what types of layouts are available and review the blogs of others on the system looking for ideas for graphic layout as well as possible content.

You should also take time to read the Agreement and Terms for the site to make sure you know what you can and cannot do as well as check to verify whether you will be able to retain the intellectual property rights to your work or if the site acquires these rights once you publish your work on the blog. There is always the possibility that an electronic or traditional media outlet might take an interest in your work and offer to pay for the right to republish it and that is not the time to find out that the outfit hosting your blog, and not you, is the owner of the work and will receive the money rather than you.

There are some other factors to consider as well before choosing where to write. One of these is whether or not you want to make money with the blog. The main source of revenue for most bloggers is revenue from advertising. Google's AdSense program is a major source of advertising revenue for bloggers and other website owners and this program is very easy to work with. Google AdSense is free to participate in and they pay out when your accrued earnings reach $100.

If you do want to make money from Google or other advertising programs, then you are going to need a large volume of readers in order to make any money. If you have your own blog you get to keep 100% of the revenue that Google or another service pays for advertising on your site. If, on the other hand, you write for another site, like HubPages, you will split the ad revenue, 50-50 in most cases, with the owners of that site.

While it may seem like a no brainer to go it alone and collect 100% of the revenue, you must remember that, to generate revenue you need a lot of traffic in the form of visitors to your site. Unless you are able to successfully market your site (and simply writing good articles won't bring people in - they have to be told about your site and given some incentive to visit it) your traffic and revenue will be low. When writing for a site owned by someone else you have the site owner's efforts and the efforts of the other bloggers on the site added to your efforts to attract traffic. While it wasn't much, my Google AdSense revenue from HubPages my first month was almost as much as the combined earnings from my other two blogs (which I work alone) for the past 18 months.

Another factor to consider is what you are going to write about. The blogesphere is a giant free-for-all where almost anything goes. There are, literally, no limits on what you can write. However, if you want to be read, and especially if you want to make money, you have to give people what they want.

First of all, spell check and grammar check your work before posting. Bad or careless writing turns many readers off. Second, learn what people want to read and, so long as you have the knowledge and expertise to write articles on those topics, write on the topics people want. HubPages is helpful here because, among their many tools, is a screen that shows each hub you have written and how many people have visited that hub. The higher the traffic number the more popular the topic.

Also look at the Yes and No responses to the question Was this helpful that HubPages has at the top of each hub.

Finally, read the comments people leave as this will also give you clues as to how well you are connecting with your readers. Of course write with passion but inventory your passions and concentrate on those that your readers also share. I always like to keep Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in mind when writing. His passion was writing historical novels but what sold, and what he is remembered for today, are his short stories about the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. You can write whatever you want but, your financial success is controlled by your readers.