“I want to start blogging but I’m not sure where to begin. What advice can you offer on how to start a blog?”

This is a common question that people ask, and one that I receive about once a week via email. I think that most people have underlying questions as well. So the complete inquiry might go like this: How do I start blogging without wasting a lot of time on setup?

So in this brief tutorial, I’m going to teach business owners how to start a blog without wasting a lot of time on the research and setup process. In fact, this guide to starting a blog will show you how to get up and running in just a couple of days.

Technical notes: This lesson will focus on the self-hosting model of blogging. In other words, it will show you how to set up a web hosting account for your blog (as opposed to hosting the blog with WordPress or Blogger).

• Step 1: Get a Domain Name - This will be your web address. If you already have a website, you can just add your blog onto that if you want. This is certainly the easiest way to start blogging because your hosting account would already exist. In this case, you would install your blog as a sub-folder or sub-directory of your website (such as www.yourwebsite.com/yourblog). If you don’t have a website domain already, you can register one for about $10 per year through a company like GoDaddy (www.GoDaddy.com ).
• Step 2: Get Web Hosting - Here again, if you already have a website and will be adding your blog as an extension of that site, you can skip this step. Web hosting simply refers to the servers (big computers) that will host all of your blog files. Web hosting is very affordable. You can expect to pay between $7 and $10 per month for web hosting. For example: GoDaddy.com Hosting Plans
• Step 3: Choose Blog Program - Some blogging geeks will argue all day about which blog program is superior, and why. In my opinion, blog programs all do the same thing … they publish your content onto the web, quickly and easily, and in an organized manner. I recommend using either Blogger or WordPress. If your blog is going to be fairly simple, you might choose Blogger. If you think you might be “tweaking” the blog code to achieve certain effects (not necessary, by the way), you might prefer WordPress.
• Step 4: Install Blog Program - Now you have a domain name, a web hosting plan, and a blog program all picked out. The next step in your path to start blogging is the installation process. Here you will install the blog onto your hosting account. If you chose Blogger, this process will be simply. You just log into your Blogger account and tell it where to publish the blog (onto your domain). If you chose WordPress, you will actually install the program directly onto your web domain / hosting account. It’s a simple process, but you might want to get help from somebody who has done it.
• Step 5: Do Some Testing - Now you are ready to start blogging away. But before you do, it’s a good idea to make a few test posts. A “post” is new information published to the blog, like an article. You can make some test posts to learn how the blogging program works. Experiment with hyperlinks, formatting the text, adding images, etc. You can always delete your practice posts when you’re one.
• Start Blogging - Congratulations. You’ve tackled the technical side of things and you are now ready to start blogging by writing and publishing information online. Once you have a blog up and running, and you’re comfortable with how to use it, you can move on to “loftier” topics such as increasing your traffic and growing your web presence.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide on how to start blogging and I hope it helps you get started with your own blog. If you have questions or need help, check out our blog support services.

If you are a one-man or one-woman business, then the choice for blog writer is an easy one. You’ll have to do it yourself (our outsource it to a blog writing service). In this case, you may ask yourself if blogging is even right for your business to begin with.

But what if you are part of a larger organization? For example, let’s say you are the marketing / communications person for a company of 150 people, and you want to start a company blog in order to grow your web presence and attract new business. In that case … who is going to write the blog?

I ask this question, because you have many candidates to choose from in a business of this size. So it’s important to choose the right person (or people) for the job.

Who you choose to write your company blog is an important consideration, because the writer alone will determine the blog’s success or failure. Sure, it helps to have something interesting to talk about on a company blog — like a truly popular product or service. But in the end, it’s the blog author who makes it sink or swim.

• The person chosen to write your company blog must:
• Be passionate about the company
• Be a decent writer
• Be enthusiastic about the idea of blogging

These are the absolute essentials for your blog writing candidate. You probably have a few criteria of your own in mind.

If you choose the wrong person for the job of maintaining the company blog, it will be off to a shaky start from the beginning. But if you take the time to find the ideal candidate, you will have much greater success. It may surprise you to find out who is up for the job.

One of the great things about publishing a business blog is that you can have it up and running quickly. So there is a tendency to rush forward and start cranking out content. I know this from experience. Blogging can be addictive, and you may find yourself publishing new material on a daily basis — or even twice a day.

Energy and enthusiasm are great ingredients for business blogging success. But slow down for a moment. Before you start blazing forth in all of your blogging glory, try to figure out what you hope to accomplish with your blog and how you will work toward that goal.

In the previous post in this series of tips I talked about your blogging purpose. Today we will take that a step further with a brief but helpful writing exercise. I promise it will be easy, so don’t use that “I don’t have time for homework” bit on me!

Get out a notebook or open up a Word document. Write down your primary blogging goal. Then write down how you plan to accomplish that goal. By taking this simple step, I think you’ll find that your wheels will start turning. And before you know it, you will have brain-stormed all kinds of stuff.

Here are some key items to include with your blogging plan:

• What is your blogging goal?
• Who is your audience, and what do they want?
• How can you help your audience?
• How often do you plan to blog?
• Will you invite others to be guest bloggers, or go it alone?
• How will you generate traffic to your blog?
• What topics will you cover on your blog? What categories do you need?

Start with that, and see where it takes you. The purpose of this exercise is to force yourself to think ahead. By doing so, you will have a much clearer picture of what you need to do .. and, ideally, how to do it.

Okay, first thing’s first. Before you can get off and running with your business blog, you need to define your blogging purpose. In other words, you need to know the reason you are blogging in the first place … and it should be a good reason.

Here are some examples of bad reasons to start a business blog:

• Because my competitors are blogging
• Because a buddy of mine said I should start
• Because search engines love blogs

Now here are some good reasons to launch a business blog:

• I have a lot of information to share with my readers
• I can genuinely help my audience succeed with [blank]
• I love to write and want to put that to use for my business
• A blog is the perfect tool to help me grow my business online

Define the blogging objectives you hope to achieve along the way. Define the audience to whom you are writing. Define your blogging purpose and how it relates back to your business.

If you do these things in advance, it will be a lot easier to keep your business blog going over the long haul. When you know where you’re going, the journey becomes a lot easier. On the contrary, when rush off without a plan or a purpose, it’s easy to get lost.

Here’s an easy way to define your blogging purposes. Write it down in a single sentence. If you have trouble with this little exercise, you haven’t yet arrived at a purpose. For example, here’s the purpose of this blog in one sentence: To teach business owners how to use blogs to get more business from the Web.

Can you define your blogging purpose in a sentence?

If your blog is about kittens, then this article is not for you. However, if your blog is about your business, and your goal is to generate more business from your blogging efforts … then these blogging tips are aimed at you.

I’ll use this page as a compilation as well. Each time a new article is posted, I’ll link to it from this page. An ongoing chronicle of blogging tips and wisdom … or so I like to think.

Tip #1 - Define Your Blogging Purpose
For what reason will you publish your business blog? If you can’t answer this fundamental question, you have some homework to do. This article explains why.

Tip #2 - Put a Blog Plan on Paper
Before you start blazing forth in all of your blogging glory, try to figure out what you hope to accomplish with your blog and how you will work toward that goal.

Tip #3 - Choose the Best Writer
Who you choose to write your company blog is an important consideration, because the writer alone will determine the blog’s success or failure.

Here today, gone tomorrow. It seems that’s the lifespan of many business blogs these days. The blog goes up, it fails to deliver the desired result, and the blog is abandoned. It’s an endless cycle of waste.

Wasted time, wasted energy and, in come cases, wasted money!

In order to break out of this cycle and ensure the success of your blog, you must first understand the reasons why business blogs fail. This will give you insight into what not to do, as well as revealing the things you should be doing.

Reason #1 - The Blog Lacks a Purpose

A business blog that lacks a purpose will also lack direction. When that’s the case, the blogger does not know who the intended audience is or what kind of information they want. Without these essential ingredients, how would you even begin to write the first post?

Ask yourself the following questions with regard to blogging. What are my goals? What do I hope to get out of my publishing efforts? How will my blog support my company’s marketing and communications goals? You should answer these questions before you even write your first post.

You should be able to state your blog’s purpose in one or two sentences. For example: “The purpose of my blog is to educate small business owners on the benefits of Internet marketing.” Notice that this statement has an action (to educate), an audience (small business owners), and a subject (Internet marketing).

Reason #2 - The Blog Lacks Originality

There are literally millions of bloggers publishing content online each week. So how will your blog stand apart from the rest? Even within your topical niche and specific area of expertise, there is guaranteed to be dozens, hundreds or even thousands of bloggers publishing new content on a regular basis.

In order to succeed in such a crowded space, a business blog must offer something original. Originality can come from many sources. A blogger can provide tips or instructions that are hard to find elsewhere, offer a fresh new insight into a particular topic, or even create a new topic that nobody else is blogging about. These are just three ways to add originality to a business blog. The main thing is to be original in some way, shape or form.

Reason #3 - The Blogger Lacks Patience

In some cases, a new blogger will already have an audience from day one. For example, if a popular news columnist ventures online to start a blog, he or she will soon have fans flocking to the new site. But such cases are rare.

It is more realistic that when you first start blogging you will have an audience of one (yourself). But this can change over time, as long as you put in the effort to publish quality content on a regular basis. Many business bloggers lack the patience and determination necessary to build an audience. It’s hard work, and it usually takes weeks, months or even years to accomplish.

It’s really all a matter of expectation. If a business blogger expects to generate a vast amount of leads or sales from the blog in a short time, he or she will normally come away frustrated. On the other hand, when the publisher outlines clear objectives for the blog and publishes quality content over a period of time, the audience will eventually grow. And with that audience comes blogging success in general (leads, sales, subscriptions, or inquiries).

Your Roadmap for Success

Now that you understand the common reasons why business bloggers fail, you’ll be better able to avoid the same mistakes in your own publishing efforts. Establish your blog’s purpose early on. Strive to make it unique and interesting in some way. And be patient but persistent with your blogging efforts. Success will come eventually.

About the Author: Brandon Cornett has published several e-books with blogging advice for small business owners. He also provides a wealth of tips and advice through his own blog. Visit the author online at http://www.ceoblogwatch.com

In fact, there are so many benefits of posting quality content that I’m going to dedicate this entire blog post to the subject…

Increase Blog Traffic With Quality Content

Let’s start by discussing the reasons why people visit a blog in the first place. Think of your own web habits for a moment. Specifically, think about the blogs that you visit a lot. What do they have in common? I’m willing to guess that your favorite blogs do a good job of entertaining you or educating you … or both. And they do this with quality content.

So that’s one of the ways to increase blog traffic with quality content. It turns random visitors into regular readers!

But the benefits of quality blog content don’t end there. Other bloggers and webmasters are also more likely to link to and/or cite one of your blog posts (or your blog in general) if it contains great information. And as you probably know, increasing the number of links to your blog from other websites also increases your search engine ranking. This of course means even more traffic to your blog.

So that’s another way to increase your blog’s traffic levels with quality content. It encourages other bloggers and web publishers to link to your blog, which increases your search engine visibility.

Now I’ve given you two good reasons for publishing great information on your blog. But there’s a third reason that’s closely related to the link popularity mentioned above. When all of those other bloggers and website publishers link to your blog as a resource of some kind, they will send you direct traffic as well. In other words, those links will help you improve your blog’s search engine ranking as well as sending visitors your way. So the links now have a direct and indirect way of increasing your traffic levels.

What Is Quality Content?

Now we know how to increase blog traffic with quality content. Specifically, we have outlined three ways that great content increases traffic levels. It turns visitors into fans, it helps you improve your search engine ranking, and it generates referral traffic from other websites.

But what is quality content and how do you create it?

In my opinion, quality website content has the following traits:

• It explores the subject matter in great detail, regardless of the subject being addressed.
• It is well-written with proper spelling and grammar. Thus it is easy for people to read.
• It is interesting and insightful. It doesn’t just rehash what everyone else is saying — it speaks for itself.
• It is updated often to address current events / changes within the subject matter.
• It is written with a clear purpose in mind. To entertain, to educate, to persuade, etc.

So now you know how to increase blog traffic with quality content. The only thing left for you to do is start generating that great content! Good luck.

Six of the twelve sections are done — including the following topics:

• Planning your business blog
• Creating your business blog
• Design considerations
• Increasing usability
• Writing blog content
• Optimizing the blog for search engine visibility

I’ve just started on the next 12 sections of the booklet, which will probably be the most popular sections for most bloggers. It will include ways to promote your blog, generate leads and sales with your blog, and much more. Oh so much more.

Check it out here.

The latest manifestation of this trend is the so-called “work at home blogs” and the bloggers who operate them. In truth, the concept of blogging for a living is not that new. Some bloggers have been making a living from their blogs through various advertising programs for several years now. But what has exploded recently is the popularity of this concept.

That’s why I call work-from-home blogging the “New American Dream” … a lot of people want it.

Now, I don’t make my living from blogging. Not entirely, anyway. My blogs contribute to my overall revenues, but I also have several other revenue streams in place that, when combined, help me earn a living while working from home.

With that said, I know enough about bloggin’ for a livin’ to be able to offer some advice on the subject. Here are some ways you can run a home-based business from your blogging efforts.

• Affiliate programs — Regardless of your blog’s topic, I’m willing to bet you could find an affiliate program that’s related to that topic. Affiliate programs are perfectly suited for bloggers, and they can be a good way to work from home via the blog. The premise is simple. You send traffic to the affiliate’s website, and you earn a commission from the people who go on to purchase the marketer’s products / services.
• Business blogger for hire – I know several people who make a living by blogging for companies who don’t have time to do it themselves. This is sometimes referred to as “ghost blogging” — the same thing as ghostwriting, only it’s done through a blog.
• Advertising revenue — This is probably the most popular way to earn money from a blog. There are endless advertising opportunities for bloggers. You can use Google AdSense. You can create your own ad space program. Et cetera. Of course, success with this approach is directly proportionate to the popularity of your blog (an obscure blog won’t make much money from advertising programs).
• Blogging for product sales – If you sell software, e-books, or other things that can be purchases from the Internet, you can use your blog to promote these items. I have created an e-book in the past, and it still sells well to this day … mainly because of the blog that’s associated with that e-book.

Millions of blogs fight for readership online (over 75 million by some counts), with thousands more being created every day. Making yours stand above the rest may seem like a daunting task, but here are ten suggestions for making your blog posts stand out from the crowd.

1. Write each post title so it grabs the reader’s attention. It is the first thing someone reads, and it should get your reader’s attention right away. Your title should both pique the reader’s interest and be informative. Do not write “Business Writing Advice”; instead, say “The Best-Kept Secret to Reducing Your Business Writing Worries.” Longer titles have the advantage of describing in detail what your post is about; 8-12 words are a good range.

2. Keep sentences short and clear. A little goes a long way. Readers are busy people and they will not spend hours detangling complex syntax or sifting through blocks of text. Also, use strong language. Start a new paragraph every few sentences, and limit each post to 250 words, if possible. If you cannot write it in under 250 words, split it into two entries.

3. Break up the text. Use numbered lists, bullet points, and subheadings to make your posts easy to scan. Lots of white space on the page is a good thing-it allows your reader to take mental breaks and let the knowledge soak in. In addition, with the inevitable clutter of banner ads and side text, this technique puts some distance between your writing and all those distractions.

4. Keep current. No one wants to read old news. Your job is to stay up-to-date so your readers do not have to themselves. Read newspapers. Scour the web for references. For example, if you write a blog about business communication, subscribe to Google News Alerts using keywords related to the field, such as blogs, podcasting, instant messaging, business letters, memos, and business reports, so you will always be well informed. Posting items from last month or last year will lose your reader’s interest faster than you can say “Enron.”

5. Be bold. Timidity is an easy path to anonymity. Do not be afraid to create and state your opinions. Of course, there are some situations in which objectivity rules-but you have to give people a reason to read this blog by you and not by the person next door.

6. Be accurate. If you make a statement, be prepared to back it up. Know what your sources are and quote them accurately. Misinformation spreads like wildfire online; do not be the spark that sets it off or the wind that fans it.

7. Contribute to the conversation. Links are great-but then what? Do not just post links to the same tired sites, offer your reader something new. Contribute to the conversation. Your goal is to be the site to which everyone else is linking-so you had better have something worth writing about.

8. Stay focused. Once you have defined the theme of your blog, stick to it. A blog about piggy banks has no business posting about the latest innovation in alternative energy. Such a deviance will only confuse your reader and chip away at your virtual authority.

9. Use key words liberally. Keywords are, well, key. Harness your blog’s search engine potential by dousing your title and post with effective keywords that will help interested parties find your page in the vast, muddled blogosphere. This is one of the most important elements of getting your blog read-go at it with gusto.

10. Be consistent. Keep a schedule and stick to it. Post frequently-at least several times per week if you want to increase your potential of attracting new readers. Let your blog languish for weeks without updates and your audience will move on to fresher ground.

Maintaining an informative blog that people want to read takes hard work and good writing skills. Find what makes your writing unique-and flaunt it for all it is worth.

About The Author
Courtland L. Bovee, one of America’s leading instructors in clear and effective communication, co-authors several leading college-level texts with John V. Thill, a prominent communications consultant and current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global Communication Strategies. Their website, Business Communication Headline News, the #1 business communication site on the web, is at http://www.businesscommunicationheadlinenews.com

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