Do You Know Someone Who is Wondering, How do I Start a Blog?

Then, to help them, have them read this! =)


The first time I encountered a blog, I had done a Google search for a bread recipe. Instead of turning up at all recipes, or recipezaar I ended up in a blog. It's a sad story that I do not remember who that blogger was. But she was famous, and made really good bread. As I looked at her blog, and all the others that I found that same day, I found myself asking, "How do I Start a blog?"
Really, starting a blog is very simple. Here are 4 steps you take when you are ready to start blogging.

Think of a name, a theme, and a niche. When starting my blogs this was the hardest part. Your name is what draws your readers in, your theme determines who will be reading your blog, and your niche determines what you will be writing about. Think about what your passions are. Think about what you could write about daily and not get bored of. Have you seen the movie Julie and Julia? She created a niche, cooking Julia Childs recipes. And because of that she created a following.

Decide who you want to host your blog. There are two main blog hosting venues out there. Blogger and WordPress. The pro's and con's of choosing one of these over the other could be a whole other article, so do your research and decide which is best for your purposes. Usually, when just beginning to blog, most people start with blogger because it is free.

Create Your Blog! Once you have chosen your hosting venue, it is time to create your blog. You will want to decide what kind of layout you want. Following that it is time to upload a bio about yourself, pictures that go along with who you are and what you are blogging about. The truth is, your blog will be constantly getting better as you continue to blog. There are always new widgets to install and new blogging communities to join.

Start blogging! Writing on your blog isn't where "blogging" stops. You will need get out there and start making friends. You make blog friends by reading other peoples blogs who are in your same niche, and comment, comment, comment! This is a mistake I made with my very first blog. I just thought people would "find" me. The internet is too big for people to just "find" you. You have to do some work to get found. For example, understanding key words, back links, and social bookmarking will help your blog get found and read. I ended up getting discouraged and quitting that first blog, I don't want that to happen to you!

I hope this helped you answer the question, "how do I start a blog?" I am by no means an expert, but I have helped many people start blogs and I would love to help you! I am learning new techniques to build my blog every day. To listen to Free How to Blog Videos head here!

To learn more about how to get more followers and optimize your blog, head Here!

Can Blogs Help a Business?

Yes! Blogs can definitely help a business. More and more people are starting blogs everyday. Whether they are personal blogs, sports blogs, movie blogs, product review blogs or business blogs they are popping up everywhere! So should you start a blog? Yes, it is time to join the ranks of business bloggers! Keep reading to find out 4 ways that you can use your blog to grow your business.

1. Find Your Niche. Look at your business and make a plan. What are you selling? What important points about your business do you want to communicate? Make sure that you are specific. The more your blog fits into a specific niche, the better. The more likely people are going to come back and read. You should definitely decide on some keywords that relate to your business that you can use in your blog. Write your posts around these keywords. Learning about Keyword marketing is essential to driving niche traffic to your blog.

2. Purchase Your Own Domain. One of the great things about starting a blog is that there are many sites where you can start a blog for free! This is a great opportunity for you to spend no money advertising your business on the internet where the possibilities for interest are endless. However, purchasing your own domain for your blog is an almost necessary idea. When you have your own domain the search engines recognize your blog as a unique site and they will push it closer to the top of the search pages. Especially if you use a keyword in your domain name.

3. Social Bookmarking. When people read your blog posts and they like what they read you can encourage them to bookmark your posts on sites like Digg, stumbleuponit, and delicious. You can also bookmark your posts. These actions along with learning about creating back links between your blogs and your other sites in your niche is a huge way that blogging can help your business.
 
4. Forums. There are all kinds of forums where you can meet other kinds of business bloggers and post links to your blog to share with people who are looking for what you have to offer.
As you can see these are just a few of the endless ways blogging can help your business. As you blog, you will become personal to your readers. You get to communicate the strengths of your business and your products. You can even take opportunities to have other bloggers review your products or offer giveaways to spread your name and the name of your business all over the world wide web. I hope you have seen how much blogs can help a business. Next, to learn about keyword marketing, social bookmarking, back linking and more ways that blogs can help a business go to www.stephaniempage.com and enter your information in the form on the sidebar. Then on the next page watch videos #2 & #3.

Next, learn more about Internet Marketing and How it can help Your business by reading here!