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A blog is an online version of diary where people write and
display almost anything - their opinions, photos, jokes, thoughts
for the day and more. People also share stories about their pets,
their passion for soccer, stamps, etc. The limit is only your
imagination!
In the last few years, blogging has emerged to become a much more
meaningful activity than simply maintaining a personal diary.
People use it to advertise their products and services, in fact,
quite a number of companies even create their online presence by
using a blog instead of a website.
Starting Your Blog
Starting a blog is free. You can create one at
http://blogger.com
- a free service from Google Inc. You don't need to register a
domain name or buy hosting. When you sign up at Blogger,
everything happens online. Your blog will be hosted by Blogger and
you get an URL like http://yourdomain.blogspot.com. You simply log
in to your account and start to write. This is much easier and
cheaper than buying your own domain and hosting, then hiring
someone to do the web design, writing and coding.
Another free blogging service available online is WordPress which
is also very popular and easy to use. WordPress supports more
features than Blogger while allowing you to customize your blog
with various plug-in. You can check it out at
http://wordpress.org.
Monetize Your Blog
While blogging for your own interest, you can in fact maximize the
potential of your blog for many marketing or commercial purposes.
The quickest and easiest way to turn a blog into a money-making
enterprise is to include advertising on your blog. This can be
done with contextual ad programs like Adsense - an advertising
program by Google. Basically, you get paid when people click on
the ads displayed on your website or blog. Google Adsense program
is free to sign up. You can visit
http://www.google.com/adsense to learn more about the rules
and guidelines of the program. Other similar adsense type ads that you can
use for blog monetizing are SearchFeed, AdBrite, and Yahoo's
Publisher’s Network (YPN).
Affiliate program is another potential way to make money blogging.
By focusing on the subject of your blog post, you can promote
relevant products from cost per sale affiliate programs like
ClickBank and
Amazon. You
can write a review about the product or service with your
affiliate links embedded inside so you get the commission whenever
a sale is made.
Boost Your Blog Traffic
Blogs are quickly indexed by search engines, but you need to
update it regularly. Search engines love fresh content. Regular
update will ensure that your website is indexed and ranked high up
as well. The higher up it appears, the more traffic will come to
your site, which means more sales. You can actively participate in
forums discussion or post comments on other blogs to get more link
back traffic.
Whether you use your blog for fun or for work, remember that it’s
a highly potential tool any which way. So what are you waiting
for? Start blogging away right now!
About the author:
Lewis Low is founding editor of OnlineBizPromo. For more practical
online business ideas and work-from-home opportunities, visit
http://www.onlinebizpromo.com. |
