What Is A Blog

When seeing before and after pictures on social media about my business and home projects friends encouraged me to start blogging. At the time I had no idea what a blog was! I spent a lot of time googling and watching YouTube videos, after three months of research, I published my first post.

If you’ve stumbled across this post, chances are it’s because you’re curious about blogging and interested in starting your own blog. However, I know that the world of blogging can be confusing, especially when you are just starting out.

That’s why I created this short, to-the-point guide to explain what a blog is, how to start your own blog, and how to make money blogging. I am by no means an expert but if you’re thinking about starting a blog, read below for a few things I wish I would have known before starting one.

Blog Definition

In simplest terms, a blog is a website that is updated regularly with articles (known as blog posts) presented in reverse chronological order (newer content appear first). Blogs started in the ’90s as online diaries referred to as a “weblog” later shorted to “blog”. These days blogs are also used by entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations to get more online visibility.

The Difference Between A Blog And Website

The terms blog and website are often used interchangeably. This causes confusion. Let’s break down the difference between blogs and websites.

A blog is a feature that can be added to a website if needed. It’s a like an online journal that has entries. These entries are typically called posts. You’re currently reading a post on my blog which is part of my website. Often businesses have a blog section where they regularly create content to inform and educate their customers.

Typical websites are static in nature where content is organized in pages, and they are not updated frequently. Whereas a blog is dynamic, and it is usually updated frequently.

In simple terms, if someone says they have a blog they most definitely have a website. A website can exist without a blog. But a blog can’t exist without a website.

Domain Name

When you’re about to create a website, there are two things you need: (1) someplace to host your site like Bluehost, and (2) a name for your site.

These two things act like your virtual property and address where people will come in order to find you online. Both are rather easy to jump into and pick out as far as getting them, but CHOOSING them is another story.

When it comes to your domain name, the world is your oyster. There are hundreds of thousands of names you can pick from and an ever growing selection of extensions to choose from in order to become your new digital home address.

In fact, much like buying a home with the best address in town, your domain name is probably one of the biggest choices you have to make because picking the wrong domain name can be like buying the perfect house in the wrong zip code — bad investment choice.

You basically have four options:

Use your own name.
Use a company name.
Use a niche name.
Use a project name.

Let me give you a little insight into my domain name choices. When I first started out I use a product name, a year later, I no longer wanted to promote that product, so I had to change my domain name.

Then I picked PinkJenson.com, I thought it sounded good at the time. LOL Turns out a european car driver was nickname Pink Jenson so every time someone would start to type in PinkJenson, he would pop up before they typed in .com. My website was listed on the third page of google search.

Next I came up with a blog name LadyWiser.com however when I started sending out newsletters people did not know who Lady Wiser was so they would unsubscribe. Thats when I decided to use my personal name and redirect Lady Wiser to it, I think this is the best option if you have a personal business.

A few things to keep in mind when brainstorming possible domain names:

The shorter the better. Consider how you might use your domain in various types of marketing and promotion like business cards and other printed media. A long domain might pose some logistical challenges for you. Also, a long domain is often more difficult to remember than a shorter one.
Be careful about trademark/copyright violations. This is why I’m a big fan of using your personal name or business name for your domain name. It’s hard for someone to make a trademark/copyright claim against you for using your own name.
Stick with the .com extension when possible because that’s what people are conditioned to expect. A .net or .org extension is ok, but .com is still the preferred choice.

I know this is a lot to think about. But if you are just starting out, I recommend you build a site based on your name first. This will give you the maximum flexibility. You can use it to find your voice and begin building a tribe.

Once you get that up and running, and depending on your business interests, you can add a portfolio of other sites to it.

How Bloggers Make Money

Bloggers make money blogging and you can too! Cha-Ching!

First, you have to create high-quality content. Your content will help drive traffic to your blog and build trust with readers. Once you have visitors to your blog you have the potential to make money. Even modest blog traffic can bring in a nice side income.

There are 4 main ways to make money from your blog.

Displaying Ads – Most bloggers start displaying ads through the use of Google Adsense. When traffic grows large enough, other advertising opportunities will likely outweigh the revenues from Google Adsense.
Affiliate Marketing – This is where you make a commission from the promotion and sale of other peoples products and services. For many bloggers, myself included Amazon Associates Program is our first step into the world of affiliate marketing.
Brand Ambassador – My personal favorite because unlike the above this one comes with residual income. With Ads you get paid a very small amount when your reader clicks on one. Affiliate Marketing will pay you if your reader makes a purchase. As a brand ambassador I get paid for every sales and reorder!
Sell Your Own Products – Selling your own products through your blog takes more time and effort than displaying ads or promoting affiliate products. It also offers a greater reward! The low overhead involved with developing your own digital downloads and digital courses offer especially lucrative opportunities!

Some Bloggers make enough money to quit their day job and focus full-time on blogging. The main key to making money with a blog is to provide quality content.

People buy from people they trust. Quality content builds trust, reader loyalty, higher SEO potential, higher traffic, and greater revenue.

Choose The Right Blogging Platform

Choosing the wrong blogging platform will limit options, especially for making money with your blog. Certain blog platforms place restrictions on what you can do with your blog.

The blog platforms that place restrictions on what you do are called hosted website platforms. These would be Blogger, WordPress.com, Wix, Weely and similar networks.

Their platform is very limited in terms of customization of the design of your themes.
No HTML editor
You can’t run any sort of third party ad networks on your site, like Amazon.
You will never own your site. WordPress.com can shut down the site if it feels that you are violating their terms and conditions.
You can’t upload plugins

What you need is WordPress.org it is by far the World’s most popular blogging platform. It is used by some of the biggest blogs and websites on the web, and is an open source platform. This means that it’s free to use and has a vast and active community that are constantly building new plugins, widgets and functionality to make it even better.

Complete control of your website and blog in terms of customization and monetization.

Vast amounts of FREE plugins to use to add additional functionality to your blog.

WordPress.org makes it easy to add in features such a forums, ecommerce and email subscription sign up forms.

There are literally thousands and thousands of free and premium themes that you have access to. This will enable you to have a very professional and slick looking blog without the need of a web designer.

WordPress.org is known for its search engine friendly platform, which means that you have a much better chance of ranking high in Google so people can find you.

Don’t get confused with its .com counterpart. To gain access to WordPress.org, you will need a web hosting provider to be able to self host your website. I recommend Bluehost for WordPress hosting. Have a look at their latest offers

Eliminate restrictions and protect your blog by having a self-hosted website. To do this you will need a publishing platform to write your blog on and a web host that will store your blog and serve it to everyone on the Internet. That’s where WordPress.org and Bluehost come in. The nice folks over at Bluehost have agreed to offer our users a free domain and discount on hosting. They are one of the biggest hosting companies in the world and are officially recommended by WordPress.

→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←