How To Blog Your Way into a Small Fortune

Yes people really do earn a living blogging. It can be absolutely daunting when beginning a blog and trying to figure out the best ways to monetize it. The quickest way to see results and learn the art of blogging is to join Hubpages. The reason for that is Hubpages is a writing platform that has a high Google ranking. That means that if you write an article about Opera singers here on Hubpages and then writing a similar one on a new blog and someone types into their browser, "Opera singers" the Hubpages article could quickly be found on page one or two, but the new blog article on the same subject could by on page 100. In other words, impossible to find. In order for your blog articles to be easily found on search engines your site needs to gain popularity with Google, and that takes time. So, joining Hubpages where you can learn all about blogging, linking and SEO through the Hubpages community will make you a better blogger in the long run, and you will see money coming in a lot faster.

To start writing for Hubpages, just create a profile and begin writing articles. Don't worry about creating a masterpiece, as with anything else, the work will teach you to become a great blogger.

After publishing a few articles on Hubpages start your blog and begin linking your Hubpages to your blog. That way your blog ranking will be greatly boosted in the eyes of Google.

You have decided to start a blog and need help deciding which platform to use. This is an important step because you don't want to start a blog only to find out its limitations. A general bloggers tip is that you need to enjoy, love, and have a genuine passion for what you are writing about. Don't just start one because you think everyone else is into this subject. How you feel about what you write will come through in your writing. Here is a list of some of the most popular blog providers to date. I will keep this list updated as there are bound to be more options as the months pass. Platforms such as WordPress, TypePad, and Blogger are free, and easy to set up. A blog on either of these platforms can be set up in minutes. Once your blog is established there are many ways to market and grow your readership to expand customer base.

Making money blogging; how is this possible?

Many bloggers are able to make money from their blog by capitalizing on the traffic their site gets. This traffic is used as a selling point to potential advertisers. If your blog has a significant number of readers, and if falls within a specific topic, advertisers may be willing to pay in some form for exposing their product or service to an audience who are specifically suited to that product or service.

To host or not to host, that is the question:

One major decision you will need to make is whether you want it to be hosted or self-hosted. A self-hosted blog means that you manage the blog's software yourself and organize your own server space to store your blog's content. For most people, this means paying a monthly fee to have their Web hosting company look after it. Besides its cost, the main issue with having a self-hosted blog is that you need to set up and manage the blogging software yourself which requires that you have a certain level of technical skill. If you do not have technical skill you will need to factor in the added cost in time and money to find someone who does. Although having a self-hosted blog costs more money and requires more technical resources , you are less restricted in terms of how much data can be uploaded and you have maximum flexibility with its structure and look. In general, most businesses that want an optimal brand experience for their audience on a blog that is highly customizable opt for a self -hosted blog.

Hosted blogs involve signing up with a third party to host your blog on its domain, The main advantage with a hosted blog is its cost savings: in many cases it's free to sign up for a basic option, and you don't have to pay monthly fees. The other advantage is simplicity: you don't set up or manage the software yourself and setting up and posting your blog is quick an

Bloggers tip: If you are new to blogging, its best to start with a hosted one. This option is the simplest to come to grips with during the learning process.

There are literally thousands of users publishing their blogs on WordPress. It is a highly respected platform, and at this time it has more users than any other blogging platform. There are actually two types of WordPress Platforms, WordPress.com and WordPress.org. You may choose to start a free blog at WordPress.com, or pay for hosting and start your blog on WordPress.org.

WordPress.com features:

• Upgrades and security are handled for you.
• The site gives instructions on setting up your blog.
• There is no software to download, and the platform provides social media-friendly apps.
• WordPress.com has hundreds of hosting servers, making it unlikely to go down
• WordPress.com backs up your posts automatically
• You may get extra site traffic from blogs of the day and tags.
• You cannot upload plugins or run your own custom themed blog. Themes that you may modify are provided for you.

WordPress.org features:

• Custom themes may be uploaded.
• Supportive community.
• You have complete control to change HTML code.
• Monetizing through advertisements.
• Pay for your own web hosing.
• You must download software to get your blog set up and running.
• You are responsible for stopping spam and baking up your blog.
• If you get a big increase in traffic, your blog may go down.
• You have more control with this platform.

Blogger is a free site offered by Google that can help you get a blog started in minutes. A great feature is that when you create your blog, you can choose an available URL and later, change it.

Blogger Pros:

• Free
• Simple to set up
• Easy to associate your own domain with you blog name
• Owned by Google, making it easy to integrate Google Analytics and Google Reader
• Offers a wide range of highly customizable templates

Blogger Cons:

• Limited functionality in terms of menus and pages.
• Only allows content to be organized by labels, not by categories

• TypePad charges minimal fee, but offers the capability of customizing the look and atmosphere of your blog. TypePad also has several different subscriber levels that can easily upgraded to other service levels without harming your blog.

Pros of TypePad:

• Easy integration of advertising programs such as Google AdSense
• Build-in image up-loader for hosting your images straight from you computer
• Mixed media templates available
• Allows guest accounts
• Incorporates easily with Facebook and LinkedIn

Cons of TypePad:

• Monthly subscription fee
• May be complicated to have a blog hosted on your own domain.

Tubmlr is a generic blogging platform compared with the others mentioned here. It is known as a tumblelog, Some have referred to Tumblr as a microblogging tool like Twitter. Tumblelogs are an excellent place to get started with blogging practice. Tumblr can also be a supplement to blogs that you already have.

Your tumblr blog can integrate with other social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, or blogger. Each time you post on one of these sites, you can have it cross-posted to Tumblr by importing RSS feed from those services.