How to Blog for Fun and Profit

Many people have no idea how to blog, or even why to blog. For others, it is an every day activity. Millions of people enjoy communicating through blogs. Some blogs are used for sharing personal news; others for political viewpoints and others for news, business or many other reasons.

This article will introduce you to blogging. You can use your blogging for money-making or just for fun. But, you will know how to blog by the time you finish this page; that is, we will give you a step-by-step guide to follow. If you follow each step as you read it and its sister page, you will have your own internet blog business at no cost and with no strings attached.

First, you need to know something; if the thought of having a business scares you, it is only because you don't have information. In that case, I suggest you read our article, Business Fear, which opens in a new window. Then return here to How to Blog.

Before You Start
This guide will take you through the steps you need to get you started in your blog activities or business – even if you know nothing about the internet, or how to blog. (You do know enough to have gotten here – that's enough.) We (you and I) will create a real, working blog that can earn money for you. We're doing a blog instead of a website because it is easier and faster to start.

If you follow all of these steps, you will know how to blog and you will have a real business, including something to sell. More importantly, you will have started; and knowing how to start any activity is very useful. Your cost, in money, will be absolutely zero. Your only cost will be about an hour or two of your time. After that, you can expand your blog and then do it all over again with another blog and another and another.

Here's the Plan
First, you are going learn how to blog by starting a blog. Then we will help you write your first blog page. We will also show you how to get ideas to write additional blog pages or articles. In the next part we will help you get into affiliate marketing and become an affiliate of Amazon.com. Then we will help you find a book or something to sell from Amazon. A later lesson will show you how to bring traffic to your blog business.

To really do this right, you should commit about an hour or two of non-interrupted time for each part.

Ready? Okay, let's start, but first bookmark this page so you don't lose it, press "control d," (that is, while holding the "ctl" key, press the "d.") That will place a link to this page in your bookmarks. However, you will see that each link that you use here will open a new page or tab for you, so you can make this an interactive lesson, coming back to this page for instructions.

How to Start a Blog
Before you start a blog, you need to decide what it will be about and what you will call it. If you read about why a niche is important, you will understand this better. If not, read Find a Niche Since most people use the internet to look for information about something, you want your blog to offer free information. The best place to start is with something you already know about; dance, make quiche, build birdhouses, tell jokes; anything you can do that someone else might want to learn how to do.

For a name, you might want to start with the words "how to." Why? Because last year there were 338 million searches a month starting with "how to." There were 68 million searches on "how to start." There were 3.3 million searches on how to start running and 268 thousand searches on how to start a story. Got the idea? Here are a few more ideas:

• how to start a farm
• how to raise a baby
• how to start a restaurant
• how to knit great gloves
• how to blog
• how to start your car in cold weather

If you already have a business, a blog may be a good way to advertise your expertise to customers and prospects.

If you are president of your local archeological group, a blog is a great way to communicate articles and other information.

Knowing how to blog is useful for many different activities.

Where do I start?
Many places will allow you to create a free blog. They all offer you a chance to upgrade your blog. Do not spend any money to upgrade until you see whether this will work out for you.

Some of the free blog places will not let you advertise. Others will let you advertise only if you pay to upgrade. I use a couple of blog hosts, but prefer http://blogger.com because you don't have to upgrade to start your blog business. I have a couple of my blogs there and find them easy to use and learn how to start. Also, they are owned by Google, one of the largest advertising companies in the world. Google has a bunch of free tools to help you succeed because your good information makes the look good.

Later you will want to learn about Google's Adsense to make more money. For right now, we want to start your first blog.

When you go to blogger.com, you will see a "Get Started" link. Just click it. They will lead you though the whole process. They will show you how to choose your "face," or "look and feel" and help you to look good. It really is fool-proof. Don't worry about doing anything wrong. Just get started. Even if you change your mind tomorrow, you can always change the blog or even delete it; but you will have learned something today. In today's economy, every bit of knowledge you have could be a lifesaver. Do it now, before you blow it off.

Go now to Blogger and set up your first blog. Don't forget to save your user name (if any) and password so you can get back in.

I'll be waiting for you.

Back already?
Now you should know how to blog and have your first blog. You have learned that knowing how to blog also includes knowing what to write about. Congratulations. You have graduated from this page. It's time to go to the next stage, Blog Business , where you'll learn to write a blog page.

Good luck.

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