How Do I Start Blogging?

If you have been asking yourself how do I start blogging, and you want to set up a blog but have no idea how to go about it then help is on it's way.

Here is my ultra fast and simple blogging tutorial for fun and profit!

There are two main blogging platforms I recommend: Blogger & Wordpress.

While both are good if you have never created a blog before then you should probably start with Blogger as Wordpress is a little more complicated. As an added advantage Google owns Blogger so gives them a boost in the search engine rankings.

Get a good Blog Name! It will help in both SEO and for people determining the style and content of what the blog is about.

Example:

Good Blog Name: cheap-dog-toys.blogspot.com - automatically you will know what that blog is about and since it has your main keyword in the name you will rank better in the search engines.

Bad Blog Name: princess-candy-writings.blogspot.com - what on earth is that blog about? Unless you told people specifically, it's probably that no one would ever find this on Google.

1. So first thing is to head over to Blogger and set up an account.

If you already have an account with Google (such as a gmail email account), then log in at the top, otherwise click the orange arrow that says 'Create Your Blog Now'.

2. The second step is to choose a name for your blog. The name of your blog is going to be yourblogname.blogspot.com so try and think of a good domain name for your URL.

I think it's a good idea to try and name your blog something that fits the theme of what you are going to write about. So if its chocolate you could name it chocolatelover.blogspot.com or something. You can even choose your name if you like. Of course there is nothing stopping you having more than one blog, so if you want a personal blog with your name, and a business blog with your topic that is absolutely fine!

Enter your Blog Title, your Blog Address, type in the word verification (this is there to make sure you are a real person signing up for a blog and not a computer program). And finally press continue.

3. The next step is to choose a look for your blog. Blogger has a few designs to choose from to begin with so pick one you like. You can always change this at a later date if you want so don't worry too much if you can't find the perfect design.

Press Continue and Voila! Your Blog has been created! Now it's time to get posting.

Click the Start Blogging button and you will immediately be taken to a screen where you can start writing your first post.

4. Now go for it and write anything you like. When you are finished, Publish your Post and you are done! Try and add to it a few times a week to really get some good content and advice in your blog.

To help promote it, start using your blog web address in your email signature as well!

I hope this has helped you get started and create your first blog!

If you want to change the look of your blogger blog then it's actually quite easy to do.  I'm not talking about the default templates that come with blogger which are VERY easy to change (just a click of a mouse button), but regular templates made by designers to give your blogger blog a unique look.

TIP: For most of them to work without giving you an error, make sure you have at least one post written already

Do a search online for free blogger templates and choose a design that you like.  Download it and save the file to your desktop (or somewhere easy to find).

Then log into your blogger account and choose Customize your blog, Layout, Edit HTML.

I suggest you save a backup of your existing template by choosing Download Template first in case you need to go back to it for any reason.

Then go back into Edit HTML and choose upload template, search for the template file that you want and select Upload.

The reason why using free blogging platforms like Blogger (or HubPages) for your online marketing is that you don’t have to worry about buying domain names, setting up websites or creating graphics (on the most part).

Blogging is one of the easiest and quickest ways that you can get started making money online.

That’s because most free blogging platforms like Blogger already have pre-built in templates that you can use to get started straight away and all you need to do is add some content and you’ll have a website up and running.

The reason that they are so great for people starting out online marketing is that you can post articles, video’s, images and (of course) your affiliate links right into the blog and then send traffic there and it won’t cost you a cent.

I hope this hub has helped and you will no longer need to ask how do I start blogging, because you'll already know!