A blog is basically an online journal wherein you
can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything
that you want people to read. I call it the mother of all online businesses. I
have never heard anyone claim that setting up a blog reduced his or her Online
profit potential, rather a blog makes you more money ( this may be after
sometime though); this is why I recommend you set up a blog right from the beginning
of your online business.
Blogs comes in different styles, formats, and
settings, depending on the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer built
in features such as hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging
sites, even allow you to put videos and MP3’s on your blogs. Some bloggers
choose to make heir blog more audio friendly, by using spoken word entries
instead of writing texts. This is called Audio
blogging.
The most popular Blogging platforms used by bloggers
are Google Blogger (otherwise called Blogspot) and Wordpress. If you are new to
blogging, you should start with blogger because it is easy to use. Although I
agree to the fact that Wordpress is better than Blogger but I would advise you
to begin with Blogger before moving to Wordpress because it is easy to use.
A Blog is especially useful for first time users,
since they can start blogging right away. They can choose from a number of
templates that blogging websites provides. Anyone who wants to start a blog can
do so by becoming a member of a blogging website of their choice. Once they’ve
become members, they automatically become part of the particular blogging
community.
They can browse through other bloggers pages, and
link them back to their own blogs, this is known as backlinks. They can also make comments in their member’s blog.
Blogging is not just limited to personal usage. There are a lot of blogs that
follow a theme such as: Sports, politics, education, computer, philosophy,
social commentary, etc. These blogs
stick to their specific themes that correlate with their niche. This way
blogging becomes a medium which people can share their knowledge and opinion
abut a variety of theme and topics.
Some bloggers even use their blog as a means to
advertise. Some authors advertise their books on their blogs. While other
bloggers, use their blog to shed light to current issues, events, news and
catastrophes. Nowadays, in education, blogs also play an important part.
Professors use blogging to document the lessons that have discussed and taught.
This way students who have missed classes, can easily catch up with their
assignments.
A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by
promoting their businesses on their blogs, with millions and millions of people
logging in to the net everyday, blogging have become a lucrative move. Some
bloggers who run online businesses promote their merchandise online while
others profit through advertisement.
But by far, the most popular blog type is the one
that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the type that is usually
used by first time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily
struggle of their everyday lives, poems, rants, opinion, find that blogging
offer them a medium in which to express themselves. Bloggers usually
communicate within themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It
creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts and comments with
each other. Blogs vary in topics, themes and set-ups can be found in log
directories. First time users, who wants to get an idea of what the blogging
world is all about can browse through a number of blogs using these
directories. This way they should get an idea of what these blogging
communities are like.
Blogging is popular all over the world. Blog is
short for the term Weblog. There are no rules when it comes to blogging,
bloggers have the freedom to express themselves however they want, and the best
thing about blogging is that most blogging websites are free. There are
numerous blogging website to choose from in the net. This gives first times the
option of joining a blogging community that appeals to their interests. Just
search any blogging directory and you should get a list of blogging sites that
are available on the net. It’s easy to search a blogging directory, because it
is organized according to category. This way you would get exactly what you are
after. Blogging is really for everyone. It’s fun, simple and easy.
According to statistic, about 150,000 new blogs are
created on a daily basic. But could you believe that more than half of these
blogs are abandoned by their owners within the first 3 months of their
creation? Yes, that’s the truth! The reason is that, most newbie bloggers,
after setting up a blog, expect the traffic to flow in spontaneously. And when
this doesn’t happen, they get frustrated and abandon their blogs – forever in
most cases.
Have you just set up your own blog or you are just
panning to create one? Or are you on the verge of quitting because the traffic
isn’t coming? Here is good news. You’ll soon discover the Basic Techniques
for
creating your new blog. But wait! You need to get something clear…… Never start
marketing your blog when you have nothing to offer yet. Start promoting your
blog only after you’ve posted enough valuable content to engage your visitors
Some newbie bloggers (probably out of anxiety) start
promoting their blogs after writing just one post – one which, usually won’t be
succeeded by a new one until after months! And these clowns (excuse the
language) expect visitors to check back for more after reading just one post!
That’s rather too clownish. Once again, to attract readers to your blog, and to
retain them as well, you must post lots of quality content – I’ll say at least
10 valuable articles for a start – on your blog.
Your blog post must be well researched, helpful,
informative, practical, educative, well-outlined and free of grammatical and
typographical errors. Only post with these qualities can fascinate first-time
visitors and turn them into frequent readers. If you cannot write such powerful
posts yourself, consider hiring a professional ghostwriter.
Now let
me walk you through the simple process of setting up your new blog on blogger.
Just follow the following steps:
Building
with Blogger
Before you can use
Blogger, you must first have a Google account. This is not a difficult thing to
get and it’s free. In fact some people already have a Google account but they
may not realize it. If you have a Gmail address, it means that you already have
a Google account .To register your new blog, go to www.blogger.com
The website looks
like this:
As mentioned earlier,
if you already have a Gmail or Google email address, that is if you have an
email address that ends with @gmail.com or @googlemail.com it means you can log
in to Blogger directly because you already have a Google account.
But if you don’t have that type of email
address then you will need to first create one before proceeding.
Tip:
We strongly advice that you create a separate Gmail and yahoo
address to use for the exercises in this course. Something more like your
corporate email address because you are in business now.
This is the email
that you will use to register for your Google account and other things related
to your online business. It can be something like onlinebusiness@hotmail.com or
emmalexconsult@yahoo.com.
Don’t use your personal email address.
1.
If you already have a Gmail or Google email address or you already have an
account with Google
In this case, you can
sign in directly and then move on to the process of creating your free blog. On
the right hand side of the page as shown below, you’ll see a section that says Sign
in. Enter your user name or Gmail or Google email address and password as
indicated and then click on Sign In.
If you are browsing
from a cybercafé or with a computer that is not yours then do not click the
check box that says Stay signed in. If you do then you will not be
logged out even after you close the browser and someone else might be able to
access your account.
If this is your first time
signing in to Blogger with your Gmail account, you will be asked again to sign
up specifically for the Blogger service. Fill the form as shown on the next
page.
On the Confirm Your Profile page, you will see two tabs. Click on the one
by the right (Create a Limited Blogger
Profile).
An empty column will pop under for your
display name. In this column, enter the name you would like to be displayed on
your blog and on your posts. You can use your real name or a pseudonym.
Check the “Feature Announcements” box.
Click “Continue To Blogger”
On the next page (Your Name’s Blogs), click on “New Blog”
Some examples of good blog titles are:
Nigerian Jobs
Recruitment and Careers Website
Nigerian News – Hot
News, Breaking News and Popular Nigeria Issues
The Personal Blog
of Marcus Ndukwe Jamieson
Weight Loss for
Nigerians
Tip:
Although Blogger is primarily used to create blogs, such blogs
can easily be made to look like different kinds of websites like Corporate, CMS
or magazine websites. This can be achieved through the use of templates which
shall be discussed in the coming sections.
The Blog title is a
very important aspect of your blog because it plays a huge role in determining
how easily people will find your website when they search. In conjunction with
the blog address, the blog title is among the most important aspects of your
blog. More about the importance of the blog address and title is discussed in
later Lessons.
The title you use for
your blog should not be too long and could be between 5 to 10 words long. This
title can be changed at any time after creating the blog but it’s not advisable
to change it frequently, if at all.
It is important here
to point out that whatever subject your blog is talking about, the title ought
to be related in some way to that subject. In the examples given above and on
the previous page, the first is for a job blog, the second is for a news site,
the third is a personal blog and the fourth is for a weight loss site.
If you are building a
corporate website for an organization or a company, you could use the company’s
name as the blog title e.g Gold Finger Enterprises.
After entering the
Blog title, the next thing is to enter the blog address. As shown in the image,
whatever you enter here will become the part of your blog address that will
appear before .blogspot.com.
For example, if you
picked Nigerian jobseeker as your blog name, then that is what you have
to enter here. In the end, the full website address of your blog will be www.nigerianjobseeker.blogspot.com.
This is what you or other people must type to visit your blog.
Tip:
Remember that since this is a free name, you must always include the
.blogspot.com as part of the URL when you or other people want to access the
website.
So Assuming that the name you
chose for your blog (as discussed earlier) is Nigerian jobs, then under
blog address, you should enter Nigerian jobs.
To know if this name is still
available, you can click on Check Availability and it will tell you
whether that name has already been used by another person or not.
If it has already been used, it
will suggest some names that you can use. If you don’t like any of the
suggested names then you can type in a new name and click on
Check
Availability to
check again if the new is available.
You have to keep trying until you
find a name that is available. While at it, bear in mind that many of the
common combinations you may think of have already been used by other people so
you have to be quite creative while selecting a name. When you finally find one
that is still available, take note of it and then click on Continue.
In the spaces provided, enter the
title of your new blog and your preferred URL address.
Choose a template from the
displayed options to start with. I prefer “Watermark”.
Hit the “Create Blog” button.
If everything has been done
properly, you will be taken to a new screen which tells you that your blog has
been created; all very easy.
Congratulations! Now
you have your very own website. Click on Start
Blogging to start using your new website.
With this your one
account, you can actually create as many blogs as you like.
Getting
Started
Click on the “Start Blogging” link, and you will be taken to the
overview page. On the left side of this page, there is a menu with a list
of tabs – Overview, Posts, Pages, Comments etc.
·
Overview: Displays summarized information about the blog
activities such as comments, page views etc.
·
Posts: Displays your published posts as well as those
saved as draft.
·
Pages: Displays your blog’s stand – alone pages such as About
page, Contact page etc.
·
Comments: Displays the comments left by readers on your blog
posts.
·
Earnings: Displays your Google Adsense earnings after you have
set up your blog for Google Adsense. Do not tamper with this for now.
·
Layout: Displays your blog’s layout, you can modify this
according to your preference.
·
Template: Displays your blog’s template.
Updating
Your Blog
To update your blog
with new information, you need to create a new post. The act of creating a new
post is sometimes referred to as composing. It can be done from the Posts tab.
You can get to the Posts tab by clicking on New Post from the dashboard.
Remember that if you
logged out before, you will need to log in first so login now to get to the
dashboard and click on New Post.
This will take you to
a blank Compose screen:
Now click on Compose (1)
and make sure that the icons labeled (2) are visible. The large white area
labeled (3) is the actual compose area. This is where you type in or paste the
information that you want to post. All your editing takes place inside this box
before you publish the post.
Fill in the title. The title of
the vacancy is also known as the headline. This is what will show up as a link
on your website that people can click on to view the post. Click on “Preview”
to see what the new post will look like on your blog
Next, we move on to the bottom to
set some more options for the post.
Each post has something called a
label associated with it. A label is a way of classifying your posts into
categories. They can be very helpful in grouping related posts together and
also assisting people to quickly find the information they need on your blog.
You can assign more than one
label to a single post. Multiple labels must be separated by commas.
Always endeavour to use labels in
your post where possible because in certain cases it also helps in getting
visitors from search engines. Labels are similar to categories in WordPress and
are discussed in greater detail in later Lessons.
When you have entered
the labels, click on View Post. To
view it in a new window will then see the message telling you that the post has
been pub
Save
Now button will not publish your post but will save it as a draft
which you can go back to later and do additional
To see what the new
post looks like, or tab, click on the new window icon (located in the View Post
Link. You should also check your homepage to see how the post appear there.
To make changes to
the post use the Edit Post link (red
post) to create another new post, click on Create a new post (red arrow). To view and edit all of your
previous posts, use the Edit Posts sub-link (green box).
Future
Posting
At the bottom of the
post compose box, there some further options that allow you to configure
additional settings related to the post that you are creating.
Click Post Options to
reveal the options dropdown:
Each of the four settings in the
post options dropdown control different things. The default settings for these
options are okay so you do not need to always modify them whenever you post.
The two settings at the bottom (Edit HTML Line Breaks and Compose Settings) are for more
experienced users so do not change them unless you know exactly what you are
doing.
The second option (Post date
and time) allow you to specify the
day and time the post should be shown on your blog. The default setting
is automatic which means that your post will appear on your blog as soon as you
click on Publish Post.
If you do not want it to be
published instantly, select Scheduled at
to reveal more:
The time shown by
default in the dropdown is the time that you started composing the message.
Note that the date format is Month/Year/Day. Change the date and
time to when you want
it to become visible on the website the click Publish Post.
Now you can see that
setting up a blog is very easy on Blogger. I will also be explaining how to set
up a Wordpress blog in another post that would come later or register for my
free E-course by clicking
here. Now following these simple
steps and set up your new blog, if you have any questions or additional
contributions, maybe I missed something let me know by leaving a comment. Be
Sociable, Share this post with your friends by clicking the share button. Better still you
can like the facebook page for this blog http://facebook.com/Internetsuccesslimited.
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