Pauline Bennett

Why do you want to start a blog?
There may be a few reasons for starting your own blog, some people just want to use it like an online diary so they can share their thoughts or daily activities with their family, friends or anyone that wants to read blogs.

Other people want to have a blog to tell others about recipes or their travel adventures, while others use blogs for business.
What ever your reason it is easy to set up and start blogging.

There are a couple of FREE sites to start you off, one is blogger.com and the other is wordpress.com, both are easy to join and you can have your first blog written and out there for all to see in a short space of time.

Don't be afraid, just do it!

If you are just starting out with blogging or just would like to do it as a hobby then the free blog sites I told you about are fine, but you are limited to what you can do with them as well as the Domain name you can use.

I did start out using Blogger.com myself for my first blog but then as I started my online business I wanted a more professional look. Wordpress .com is where you can sign up for a free blog but like I say it was basic and I wanted to do more with my blog so I use Wordpress.org which is a free download but you need a Web Host to be able to use it. I use Hostgator which is very good Click Here to sign up.

You will then need a Domain name which I recommend Godaddy.com as they are cheap and reliable, you can then transfer your domain name to your Hostgator account and you are on your way.


If you would like a series of video tutorials that teach you how to set up a Wordpress Blog, how to get traffic to the blog, and how to make money with the blog! then the Wordpress Classroom is a great way to learn! The videos are so easy to follow, I set up my blog in less than an hour.
Click Here to grab then FREE today.

1. Blog comments - Commenting on other blogs is an easy way to generate more
traffic. Taking part in the conversation and using your blog link as your site will allow
others to follow your link back to your blog. This is especially true when you add
value to the conversation with your comments.

2. Submit your blog to Technorati - It takes a few minutes to set up your account
and verify your blog with Technorati. As the largest blog search engine this will allow
you to show in their results for the topics you blog on.

3. Pinging - Adding in a list of sites into your WordPress dashboard will allow you to
automatically notify numerous RSS directories each time you post. If you do not
want to automate this you can use various pinging clients to manually perform these
pings such as Pingoat or Pingomatic. This is an excellent way to promote other sites
that are not blogs but have an RSS feed.

4. Submit your blog to RSS directories - It takes a bit of time but you only need to
submit your blog once to the directories and they will be looking for your pings and
adding back links each time you update your blog.

5. Write articles and submit them to the directories - This may sound like a lot of
work but as a blogger you are creating content already. It is very easy to re-purpose
your blog posts into articles. Add a signature file that will link back to your blog and
this can be a nice traffic source.

6. Be a guest blogger - Writing blog posts as a guest author on another blog can add
a lot of traffic to your blog. You get to make an impression on a different audience
and leverage the traffic of the other blog. Add in a link to your blog and supply them
with your best information.

7. Keyword research - Finding long tail phrases to target can make a huge difference
in the amount of traffic that you get from the search engines. These are two, three
and four word phrases.

8. Using tags - Tags are the keywords you are using in your post and, with a
WordPress blog, each tag creates an additional page. Tags can be used for letting
services like Technorati know the topic of your blog posts. The additional page adds
more content and internal links inside your blog. This helps you get quickly indexed
in the search engines.

9. Tag clouds - Another way to create dynamic linking for the search engines to
spider and find all of your information.

10. Add a sitemap - A properly structured site map allows the search engine spiders to
find all of your content. If the spiders aren't aware of the content then they cannot
possibly index it.

11. Use Twitter - Twitter is a perfect place to let others know when you add more
content. There are plugins that automate the integration of your Twitter and
WordPress blog so Tweets are automatically sent when you post new content to
your blog. Some of these plugins let your readers easily Tweet your posts to their
followers.

12. Set up a Friend Feed account - Adding your blog's RSS feed to your Friend Feed
account creates another easy way for people to find your content. That's because it
automatically updates your feed each time you post to your blog.

13. Facebook - You can add your blog feed into Facebook thereby making your latest
posts show up on your Facebook account. It's a great way to let your Facebook
friends see what your blog has to offer.

14. Squidoo - A Web 2.0 property which will allows you to add in your RSS feed to
each lens you create. This links to your blog and will allow visitors there to click
through to posts that are of interest to them.

15. Hub Pages - Another Web 2.0 platform similar to Squidoo. You can add your RSS
feed to your content page. In addition, you can add proper anchor text links to your
content again allowing you to help control the way the search engines view your
blog. This can help to improve your search engine rankings leading to even more
traffic to your blog.

16. Forums - Most forums allow you to add a signature file where you can link to your
blog. If you are a regular contributor on the forum and add value people will be more
likely to click on your sig file link. In most cases, you can add the anchor text again
allowing you to improve your search engine rankings.

17. Social bookmarking -Bookmarking your posts to sites such as Digg, Stumble Upon
and the many others lets other people easily share blog posts they find interesting.
The key is to be an active user who shares and bookmark other people's content as
well as spreading the word about you.

If you have a blog that you are particularly proud of,
and that you want to share with other people, there
are a lot of free ways that you can get your blog
noticed.

One of those ways is something that you do everyday,
and that you may not even consider as a way to share
your blog. Put the link to your blog in your email
signature.

Chances are that you send out emails more times than
you can count during the day, Each time you send out
an email, you can advertise your blog by putting the
address of your blog in your email's signature.

It's always a good idea to write something catchy
like "See what I am up to now" or "Read my latest
chapter here" depending on what type of
blog you have.

The thing to remember about putting an advertisement
in your signature for your blog is to make it short,
but eyecatching.

You want people to be interested enough to want to
click on it, but you also don't want to scare them
off.

Just like it is with any advertisement, you want to
give them just enough to be interested and take a
closer look at what it is that you are advertising.

Think about what it is that your blog is about, what
is really going to interest people about it and want
to visit.

That is what you should include in your signature,
and that is what is going to get people to go to your blog.

No matter what type of blog that you have, one of the
best places that you can advertise your blog is to
join a blogger forum. After all, everyone who posts
there has a blog and thats the main subject.

It's a great place to meet other bloggers and to
advertise your blog.

There are quite a few blogger forums that you can sign
up for on the Internet. One is known as Bloggeries,
where you can show off your blog, get your blog
reviewed or review other blogs, and find lots of tools
that you can use for your own blog.

Another good place to go is to Blog Forum.

Blog Forum, like Bloggeries, has spots for you to
market and show off your blog,

Blogger forums are a great place to advertise because
everyone in them are of the same mind and want to make
certain that their blogs get noticed and read.

If you use your blog to advertise something that you
are selling, or you want to get a lot of traffic to
your blog in order to make money, you want to go
someplace where it can get exposure.

When you advertise on a blog forum, you know that you
are placing your advertisement in a place where
blogging is something that people enjoy.

Just remember when you are posting to a forum to read
the rules and abide by them. That way you'll get your
blog noticed and you will know that you are doing the
right thing.

Something that has become increasingly popular since
the Internet has grown are the email groups that are
available through Yahoo, MSN, and other venues.

They are a great way to meet other people who have a
common interest, and are very similar to the
communities that are available through blogging sites.

There is plenty of diverse subjects and there are
communities for just about any subject.

These groups can be a great place for people who have
a blog about the subject and want to share it with
other people.

Most of the time when you join a group, you are
encouraged to take a moment and to introduce yourself.
This is a great opportunity to tell people about your
blog, but make certain that you don't overdo it.

Just like with any of the other places you will
advertise your blog, you want to make people want to
go to your blog. If you are too overbearing, you will
turn people off.

If your blog covers different subjects, you can
advertise it on the other groups that cover those
subjects as well.

Make certain that your post to the groups is
interesting and that you let people know what it is
that your blog is about. There's nothing worse than
getting taken to a blog under false pretences.

When people visit your blog, make certain that you
thank them for visiting and respond to comments that
they leave.

If they know that you appreciate the time that they
took, they are more likely to come back again.

Having a blog on the Internet that gives people some
good informaton doens't do a lot of good if people
don't know that it's there.

If you want people to be able to find your blog,
something that is important is that you have good
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

Whenever you put one or more words into a search bar
to look for something, the SEO of a website is what
helps bring up those websites.

For example, if your blog is about Harry Potter, you
are going to want to be sure that your blog includes
popular terms such as Harry Pottter, JK Rowling, and
other things that are related to Harry Potter.

Think about the things that people look for when they
are interested in Harry Potter, and the kinds of
things that come up when you search.

It's always a good idea to use your own experience
when you are optimizing your blog for searching.

Think about what has worked, what hasn't worked, and
use them for your own blog SEO. This way, when someone
puts one of the terms that you put in your blog into a
search engine it will be one of the sites that comes
up.

Of course, there are other factors that come into play
that determine where your blog will come up in the
list, but everyone starts somewhere.

The more keywords that your blog uses, the more people
will come to your blog. It just takes time and patience.

Video blogging has a lot of advantages over text-based
blogging, and it is little wonder that this new
technology is catching on all over the globe. Video
blogs very effectively grab the attention of web surfers,
and people are much more likely to become excited
about the dynamic content of a video blog than they are
likely to find a written posting very thrilling. The more
enthusiastic viewers are about a site, the quicker the
word of mouth spreads, and the more traffic the site will
get.

Of course, there are plenty of disadvantages to video
blogging as well. Hosting a video blog requires quite a bit
of server space, which can make it difficult to get
started. It takes more time to process and upload a video
file than it does to dash off a quick bit of text, which
means that running and updating a video blog can be
quite a bit of work. In addition, web surfers sometimes
grow frustrated with the slow loading times of the files
on many video blogs. Whether you opt for a video blog
or not depends on what kind of subject matter you want
to cover, and how much time you can devote to video
blogging. Before you decide to pursue a video blog,
consider if there is an easier way for you to get your
message across.

Many people dream of blogging for profit, and this goal
is not far beyond the reach of someone with average
intelligence, a willingness to work hard, and a basic
grasp of blogging technology. However, very few
people manage to reap the profits they want from their
blog. Most people who attempt to make money with
their blogs do not succeed for two reasons. Often,
bloggers have unrealistic expectations of how fast their
readership will grow and how much money they will
make, and when these expectations are not met the
disappointment can crush the desire to continue
blogging. The other trap that many bloggers fall into
has to do with lack of planning. If you want to turn a
profit as a blogger, the key to success is to make a
realistic plan and stick with it.

To succeed at blogging for profit, the main thing that
you will need is a large readership. The higher your
traffic, the more advertisers will agree to pay you.
However, cultivating the regular visitors that you will
need in order to make a profit isnt easy. As more and
more blogs appear each day, having a great idea or a
wonderful writing style is no longer enough to get
attention. You need to be able to market your blog
effectively.

Too many bloggers spend all of their time writing posts
and almost no time marketing their project. To be
certain, updating as often as you can is a great way to
keep your blog high on blogrolls and high in blog
search engines like technorati, and once your readers
know that you update frequently they will return to your
site on a regular basis. However, it does not matter how
often you update if nobody is reading your page, so dont
skimp on the time that you spend drawing visitors to
your site. To make your dreams of blogging for profit a
reality, try decreasing your number of posts and using
some of that time to draw new visitors by setting up
link exchanges with other bloggers, making contacts in
the blog community, and following other established
modes of winning traffic.

Of course, even if you are a marketing genius or have a
really great idea for a blog, success is not going to
happen overnight. Building the kind of readership that
blogging for profit requires takes time, and in all
likelihood it will be at least several months before you
are able to turn much of a profit. Try to stay committed
to your blogging project during this initial rough period.
To stay motivated, set goals for how often you will
update and how many readers you want to attract, and
then reward yourself for sticking with your plan.

If you already spend a fair amount of time blogging,
money may come to you literally as soon as you ask for
it. Once you have an established blog with a regular
readership, it is easy to turn a profit through advertising.
By hosting sponsored links or banners, you can see
income from your hobby almost overnight. Even if you
did not start your blog intending to turn a profit, making
supplementary income from your blog may be easier
than you think.

Of course, even for people who have spent months or
years blogging, money from advertising revenue may
not add up to a large sum. The amount of money that
you can make as a blogger depends on a lot of different
factors, but perhaps the most important element of the
equation is the topic of your blog. If your blog is on a
subject that appeals to a demographic that advertisers
have a strong desire to reach, you will be more likely to
be able to turn a large profit on your blog than if your
blog is on a fairly obscure subject that does not draw
the kind of audience that advertisers need to appeal to.
Of course, the only way to find out where you fall on
this spectrum is to try hosting some ads. If you are
already blogging, you have nothing to lose.

There are two major types of business models that
entrepreneurs use to make money blogging. The first
and most common way to turn a blog into a profit
making machine is to sell advertising to different
companies and brands who want to reach that blog's
readers. The second kind of money making blog is one
that helps a single brand improve its image by creating
positive associations between the blog and the product
in the mind of consumers. Both kinds of blogs can
make a lot of money, especially if the creator has a keen
mind for marketing.

If you are blogging with the goal of selling advertising,
there are two basic ways that you can go about
recruiting sponsors who want to put ads on your site;
you can let someone else do all of the legwork, or you
can do the work yourself and keep all of the revenue.
Within the first group, many people make money
blogging by selling space through Google's AdSense
program. The advantages of this program are numerous,
as it requires very little effort on the part of the blogger
or webmaster to begin raking in profits. However, most
people discover that they make less money through this
method than they had hoped that their blog would earn.

Selling advertising directly to companies who want to
put banner ads or sponsored links on your blog can take
quite a bit of time, but it is often fairly lucrative. If you
have a lot of contacts in industries that are related to the
topic of your blog, you may want to try to go this route.
People who have a strong background in sales and are
experienced at pitching proposals can make quite a bit
of money by renting blog space to interested companies.
The most serious problem with this model is that you
often have to build quite a sizable readership before you
can attract advertisers, which can mean that you have to
do several months of work before you start to make
money blogging.

As blogging becomes a more and more lucrative
business, a lot of established companies are considering
how they can get into the action. One way that
companies are capitalizing on the blog movement is by
having blogs that provide a kind of friendly face for
their corporation. Often, a company will employ an
established blogger to create a weblog designed
specifically to appeal to that company's customers and
to create positive associations with the brand in
consumers' minds. More than one writer who never
even dreamed that he or she could make money
blogging has been approached by a company and
offered quite a pretty penny for this kind of gig.

I want to share with you this great Blogging With Pride Masterclass from Samantha Milner.

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Blogging has been around for a few years now. Most people use blogs to record their thoughts and lives, while a select few use them as a free way to make a fortune.

One guy who uses this to his advantage is Rob Benwell. In 2006 he dished the dirt on the tips and tricks to making a fortune using blogging. But as time passes the old systems become obsolete and new techniques are required. This is where his brand new, fresh off the press Blogging to the Bank 2010 system comes into play.

For those who know who Rob Benwell is like me, you've probably made a killing using blogs.

For those who don't, he's the story:

Back in 2005 he was struggling to make any profit online, had dropped out of college and was getting deep into debt. He was trying all the techniques the gurus tell you and wasn't getting anywhere fast. All of that went in the bin and he started using his own techniques and started making more and more money using simple blogs. In early 2006 he shared this with the world and had a great ebook called blogging to the bank. Tons of people got rich from using these techniques (including me). He then spoke at Online Marketing Legend Yanik Silver's underground Seminar where he revealed even more of his underground strategies. Then July 2007 he released Blogging to the Bank 2.0 which showed users his new methods to creating online wealth using blogs. In total both versions have been read by over 50,000 people across the world.

But as I said earlier, the techniques used in these ebooks are now showing there age. Some of them are not even working in the slightest! This is where blogging to the bank 2010 comes into play.

It's full of great new techniques that work online right now! Everything's explained in plain English with all the fluff cut out. I got hold of an advanced copy of the book for a much higher price than what it actually sells for and it has been worth every single cent! I got it in the afternoon and by the evening I was creating new profitable blogs. Within a couple of hours of them being active I had made a nice little profit.

Blogging To The Bank 2010 teaches you Robs new step by step blueprint to creating highly profitable long term niche blogs using the newest optimization techniques. There's even a section on advanced Search Engine Optimization. Most people think SEO is difficult but Rob explains this nice and simply so even the blogging newbie will understand it.

Blogging To The Bank 2010 is a breath of fresh air and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to make easy money online.

Click below for more information about this system

Blogging To The Bank