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If you are wondering how to set up a blog and what the best way to create a blog is-then you have come to the right document! I’ll give you advice on which method(s) to use to create your blog depending on what kind of blog you want, whether you desire to make income from it, and how long you want to dedicate to setting up your blog.

Topics that I will help you with will be:

1. When to make a blog using a hosted blog site (like blogger.com or Wordpress.com) or to create a blog using a blog platform (like Wordpress.org, Typepad, Blogsmith, Movable Type).

2. Comparing hosted blog websites–Blogger vs. Wordpress.com.

3. Comparing the Wordpress.org blog platform to additional blog platforms.

4. Whether you should learn HTML, CSS, or some Programming.

5. What’s the best option to make money with your blog.

So read on if you desire to learn about making a kick butt blog!

Hosted Blog vs. Host Your Own Blog

Option 1) Use a shared domain blog

A shared domain blog is a type of blog costs nothing to host. You can set these up at https://www.blogger.com/start, http://wordpress.com/, etc. If you want to use this option, you’ll be creating what is called a “shared domain blog” because there will be a .blogspot or .wordpress after your blog’s domain name like http://nameofyourblog.blogspot.com or http://nameofyourblog.wordpress.com. Making a blog with a hosted blog is very simple to make and free. You can actually have a blog up and running within a couple minutes if you use blogger.com or wordpress.com!

Blogger vs. Wordpress

If you are trying to figure out which to use– I’ll tell you that both are very simple to use and set up. In my opinion, blogger is a little more user friendly while Wordpress is a little more pleasant to look at. Also, Blogger.com has nice ways to simply use Google AdSense Ads within your blog so you can earn money but Wordpress is a little more customizable.

Option 2) Use a Host (that you pay for) to Host Your Site

If you decide to use this option you would use a blog platform (like Wordpress–*from Wordpress.org and not Wordpress.com) and you pay a web host to place your blog on their servers. So then why would you want to pay and use a host you have to pay for you could use at blogger.com or worpress.com and host your blog for free? Actually, there’s several reasons:

1. You have more control over how your blog is designed.

2. You can monetize your site much better (more monetization options = more money for you!)

3. You’re blog will look more original-giving you more credibility.

If you are thinking about setting up a blog using this way the good news is it is pretty simple to do. Blog platforms can be uploaded to a server and created in a matter of minutes. There’s instructions on how to do this at all of the blog platform’s sites (ex. wordpress.org).

If You Want To Set Up Your Blog with a Host–do this:

1. Go to the host’s website and sign up for a hosting plan.

2. The majority of good hosts will place a one click installation button on their site for different blog platforms (like Wordpress, Typepad, Blogsmith, Movable Type)-so just click that and you’re ready to start blogging (it’s that easy)!

*If the host you choose does not let you use a one click installation option for the blog platform you want to have, just follow these instructions:

1. Download a blogging platform (like Wordpress (from Wordpress.org), Typepad, Blogsmith, Movable Type, etc) from their different websites.

2. Start an account with a host.

3. Upload your blog platform to the host you choose.

4. Start blogging!

Wordpress vs. the Rest:

I have tried out many blogging platforms and Content Management Systems (CMS) over the years and I have determined that the best blog platform is Wordpress. It is very user friendly, it has a huge network of people using it (and updating it and pointing out any problems it has to developers), there are tons of helpful websites and forums to assist you if are having problems, and there are a lot of ways to easily customize your blog. Also, Wordpress is venturing out and creating more complex features that other blog platforms don’t have. So, if you may want to make your blog to look more like a website that includes things like forums, shopping carts, or other advanced aspects–Wordpress is the blog platform for you. Also, Wordpress one of the most easy blog platforms to put together.

Should You Learn HTML, CSS, or Programming?

If your blog’s at blogger or Wordpress you do not need to learn these skills. Learning a couple basic codes for HTML will help customize your blog sometimes but you can always look for a certain code online when you want to do something on your blog. But, Set up your blog using a blog platform (like Wordpress from Wordpress.org) teaching yourself some HTML will definitely go a long way. I wouldn’t suggest spend a lot of time learning it however if you have a very basic skill set you can do a lot with your blog. *note-you can still set up a great blog without ever teaching yourself HTML, CSS, or Programming.

Make Money While Blogging?

Some bloggers can make a great living from just one blog! However, if you just want to blog about your life, a subject, or to get a reader base for an issue–than setting up a blog using a hosted blog site (like wordpess.com or blogger.com) is probably your best bet. Hosted blog sites are very easy to use and you don’t have to pay for hosting. That way you can just blog and not waste time with administrative things. However, if you want to create a blog to make money than creating a blog with a blog platform (like Wordpress.org) is your best option because blog platforms give you many more ways to customize your blog, all the ways you can use ads on your blog, and what types of features you can use with the blog.

I’m hoping that this article has helped you figure out the ways to make a blog. Blogging is a very fulfilling hobby but the best thing about this hobby is that it makes me a lot of money! Surprisingly there are many easy methods to earn money with your blog that will make you income for many years. If you are interested in learning how to blog and earn money, about the five major pitfalls bloggers get themselves into, and how to decide on a niche for your blog then check out this free report at my website! This has got to be the best free report out there and it is made by Jason Gazaway- a 26 year old blogging legend who earns tens of thousands of dollars a month from blogging.

–article by Steve Sick from “How To Set Up A Blog“

I’m an internet entrepreneur with a passion for the possibilities the internet gives people in business and life.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/blogging-articles/how-to-set-up-a-blog-1475256.html

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After investing hours of work into your blog, it’s time to reap the rewards. Advertisers love blogs since the content is keyword rich and the general online population trusts bloggers more than ecommerce sites.

Why Sell Advertising Space Direct?

There are several reasons why selling Advertising Space for Banner Ads is a better alternative to Adsense and ad networks. Here are a few:

• You don’t lose a chunk of your profits to commissions. Ad networks charge anywhere from 20-50% for placing ads automatically on your web page/s.
• Since Ad Networks have an oversupply of inventory (Ad Space) to sell, they discount your space to advertisers up to 90% according to the Internet Advertising Bureau. That means less revenue in your pocket.
• You have complete control over who advertises on your site and when.
• You can sell your Ad Space based on time and not rely on clicks or impressions to get paid.

How do I find Advertisers?

Advertisers have learnt that it’s better to place their Banner Ad on a directly relevant website or blog which appeals to their target market. Find websites which come up for keywords your blog ranks highly for. Contact the non-competing websites which you believe would be interested in advertising on your blog.

Send them a polite email stating why you believe their advertising on your blog would be beneficial to them. Give them some pricing options together with your website analytics or statistics. You can link to your “advertise here” page if you have one. If not, you should create one.

Personalise each email by using the contact’s name or the site’s name. Keep a record of who you’ve contacted in a spreadsheet together with their responses.

Should I use an Ad Space Auction?

Ad Space Auctions (also known as a Banner Auction) provide an additional means of showcasing the Advertising Space you have up for sale. It’s like selling items on a normal auction website, only you sell Ad Space.

You normally have a couple of options for creating the listing including the standard auction, buy-out for a specific price and allowing potential advertisers to make you their best offer.

A link to your website on your auction page allows buyers to browse and see what’s on offer. You can also capture a screenshot, upload your site statistics and specify your terms and conditions.

The benefit of using an Ad Space Auction is you get additional exposure without giving up direct sales you find yourself.

If you have multiple spots to sell, you can either sell your quantities at a specified amount or use the Dutch auction feature to list a series of static banners or multiple rotating spots.

How much should I charge for Banner Advertising?

Many bloggers and content site owners remain unsure of how much to charge for Ad Space. Overcharging will turn advertisers away whilst undercharging means cutting yourself short.

Compare what other blogs are charging in your niche. Take into account their page rank and unique visitor count. You can find this information in on their “advertise” page or request a media kit.

You can test the waters by putting your Ad Space up for auction. Of course, you can set a reserve price so your space doesn’t sell for less than you’re willing to accept.

Ad Space Pricing Indicators

There are a few things to look for when costing your advertising space:

• Positions above the fold (visible without scrolling) are worth more;
• Horizontal banners cost more since they’re more readable;
• Less advertiser competition means more value;
• Niche content is more valuable to certain advertisers than a general topic website;
• Traffic levels, particularly unique visitor count. However, this isn’t everything. If your blog is niche, it’s more likely to get the targeted visitors advertisers are looking for.
• And the most obvious: the bigger the Banner Ad, the more it should cost.

Costing Methods for Advertising Space

Before placing your available space for sale, consider how you’re going to charge advertisers:

• Cost Per Click (CPC) – you get paid each time a site visitor clicks on the Banner Ad;
• Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) – means you sell bundles of 1000 Banner Impressions. This means you must deliver the amount of impressions.
• Cost Per Action (CPA) – you get paid a commission or flat fee each time your visitors clicks on a Banner Ad and perform some sort of action (like making a purchase, subscribing or registering). This is basically an affiliate program.
• Cost Per Time – this involves selling Banner Space for a number of days, a week, a month or whatever period you propose.

If you’re accepting payment via any method other than time placements, you will need to keep thorough records and provide reporting to your advertisers. Software is available to assist you.

Most bloggers don’t offer direct advertising based on some action or event taking place. It makes their income is too dependent on the quality of the advertisement. Many just look to sell time-based advertising.

What Conditions Should I Impose?

Remember to always specify your requirements and creative specifications, such as:

• Ad dimensions;
• Format;
• Flash requirements;
• Maximum file size;
• Animation restrictions (eg: maximum animation time, loop maximum)
• Appropriateness (eg: no adult content)

Selling advertising space yourself is definitely more time consuming. The process has been made simple with the help of Ad Space Auction websites. However, it’s still not a passive option. Just like any other business model, the more work you put in, the higher the rewards are.

Author of banner-advertising.info, an information source on Banner Advertising and online marketing strategies.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/blogging-articles/how-to-sell-ad-space-on-your-blog-1476240.html

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For the experienced webmaster, nothing beats a website stocked with well-written content coupled with eye-catching design. But for the regular blogger, it’s hard to look for a good free blog templates design considering the number of styles available online. Aside from that, downloading just any can run the risk of being typical. Fortunately, there are certainly ways on how to look for the right blog design you want.

Host Library 

After setting up your free blog, you are automatically given a default blog template. You have the option of sticking with it or swapping it with a well-designed one. But where should you look? Surprisingly, there you don’t have to look any further than your own host’s library of template design. 

Bloggers of the same host you’re subscribed with often submit their own creations to the website. This is the best chance in finding good free blog templates. You might even stumble upon a design that will perfectly fit your blog’s message. If you’re worried about the price, well, they would certainly not cost you any penny because they’re most likely to be offered for free. And since they are submitted to you’re host blog site, they’ll be easy to use and configure. These types of templates are already optimized for use. Installing them will only take a few clicks. 

Other Blogs 

Other users like to post their personally designed templates on their own blogs. Looking for these designs is as simple as doing a simple query at the search engines. From there, you just have to look for the best blog site, which for you carries the well-designed templates that will surely fit your style. 

Furthermore, professional web designers also put up their own blogs. Oftentimes, they post designs of their own for everyone. This is the best opportunity for you to grab a professionally designed template. Although the design will probably be nothing compared to paid designs, you can expect to get top-notch styles. 

Designers 

If you’re an experienced blogger or website owner, you can opt to hire a professional designer to provide you a specially designed template. While they will certainly cost a lot more than free blog templates, you can expect your blog to be unique. These types of designs typically run from a mere hundreds to a few thousands. What you must remember, though, is to choose a designer who has an extensive portfolio and experience in the business. Don’t forget that you are paying a fortune for the design and must imperatively get your money’s worth. 

Mark Michael Ferrer 
Free Blog Templates

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/blogging-articles/searching-for-the-perfectly-designed-free-blog-templates-1466244.html

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Submitting your internet site to Search Engines

If you have got a web-based business or if a serious portion of your business is done on the web thru your website, then the best advertising and selling is done by submitting to a search website. No sort of press release, newspaper or radio ad, banner ad, spam e-mail or newsletter will achieve the same results, though, perhaps useful in a small proportion.

watch out for firms that guarantee automatic submission of your web site to hundreds of search engines which are but only false promises. The best way to submit your website for search site ranking and inclusion is to do it yourself or to hire an expert to do it by hand by establishing contact with the search site companies and directories.

Before you begin to submit your website to search engines ensure your websites are comprehensively built to the professional quality using the right key words, good graphics and photographs and the important content. Don’t submit internet sites that are incomplete. While submitting to a search engine, make sure to provide information about your internet site, keywords and any other info that may be pertinent, including the name and contact information of your business.

Mere submission to search engine companies does not guarantee that your site would be immediately listed and the ranking will be high. Because there are thousands of new internet sites coming up each day and it may take quite sometime before they take up your site for review by human editors. One important factor to remember while submitting site is to include a site map of your site which makes the crawling straightforward for the web robots. Search engines like ‘Google.com’ hardly considers submissions without sitemaps.

There are many online corporations that accept search site submission services. You can choose to do it yourself with a software package and service like this one : Webposition.com/order/trial

Or if you would like pro help try the following sites :
addpro.com/professional_submission
submitawebsite.com/aboutus.html

Do not use the automated submission services. Here’s a list of the most well liked Search Engines and catalog firms :

Search Engines
Go.com/InfoSeek AltaVista
Google, HotBot
Excite/Webcrawler

Directories
AOL Search Inktomi
Lycos Open Directory
MSN, Yahoo!
LookSmart Snap

Aside from the above there are thousands of search engines and catalog firms, where you can submit your internet site to as many companies as possible. The following links gives information on other search engines and directories :

websearch.about.com/library/searchengine/
hwebsearch.about.com/library/tableofcontents/.

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Making Money 24 Seven Online Business

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doing so we aim to be a valued partner each of our Associates will be proud to represent.

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The rise in Twitter users has been nothing short of remarkable. It has captured world-wide media attention and consequently sparked an explosion of users — from approximately 2 million monthly visits a year ago to 27 million today.

In our exploration of social media, we have draw several parallels to our pop culture trends. We’ve found Twitter is in-line with our Creative Geek trend. The Creative Geek trend is about creating tech geeks by infusing creativity into technology. In Twitter’s case, the microblogging site was discovered by and for techies, and is extending to appeal to non-techies. Twitter is riding this new trend in pop culture by offering an accessible, manageable platform that allows users to express themselves:

Accessible
To cross the chasm from early adopters to early majority, it’s essential to develop a product that is accessible. Twitter is a highly accessible web service. The premise revolves around one key element: short, 140 character messages. What you do with those messages is completely up to you.

Apple was built on a similar premise: cut the fat. A cell phone doesn’t need dozens of buttons. No, five would do. Overcomplicating a product can create a barrier-to-entry for many users.

Self-Expression

Self-expression puts the creative in the creative geek. Just as Apple apps or Wii Mii’s allow for personal expression, hashtag games, other platforms that use the Twitter API and tweets follow a similar concept. #HesNotThatIntoYou is an example of a Twitter-type game. He’s not into you because… Twitter games allow for users to get creative and show an edgy side.

Twitter is also a platform to share opinions, favorite links and industry insights to shape your personal or company brand. Mypict.me is the #1 most visited site by Twitter users, according to Quantcast.com. The photo sharing site illustrates the creative personality of Twitter users.

Manageable
Though Twitter is not inherently complicated — it’s very stripped down in fact — it can be re-purposed and customized based on your objective. As Twitter is an API, it can be re-purposed into many different formats to create a unique user experience. HooteSuite, TweetDeck, TwitPic, WeFollow and TweetPhoto are several uses of the Twitter API. The latter websites are the top sites Twitter users follow according to Quantcast.

Twitter is riding the crest of a very large wave. Part of that wave is comprised of creative geeks that might…

To read more about Twitter and the Creative Geek Trend, go to Sparxoo, a digital marketing, branding and business development blog.

Sparxoo is a business blog that inspires breakthrough by tomorrow’s leaders. We are a strategy consulting firm with a pulse on marketing, branding, and development.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/blogging-articles/connecting-to-the-creative-geek-1473020.html

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