The Ten-Minute-Guide to starting a blog

<b>This article is a fast-and-furious guide to starting a blog - with a focus on getting started rather than researching to the nth degree.</b> <br /><div style="clear: both;"></div><a name="more"></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkXz_SFQL68xh2j8NIJfrvMoUEiAUxrU___T6emKGIskt5pC1znjSI64869nI5IKWs8xec1TFrlGiotsHoNnKhrLXsIJUN7ZjYkQ2km6djiHRIFNeBm3r8VKoHq5H0DMa3Jblikzw_0h5/s720/starting-a-blog-quickly-objectives-platform-name-setup-write.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbkXz_SFQL68xh2j8NIJfrvMoUEiAUxrU___T6emKGIskt5pC1znjSI64869nI5IKWs8xec1TFrlGiotsHoNnKhrLXsIJUN7ZjYkQ2km6djiHRIFNeBm3r8VKoHq5H0DMa3Jblikzw_0h5/s720/starting-a-blog-quickly-objectives-platform-name-setup-write.png" width="280" /></a></div>Months ago, I started a properly researched article about "how to started with blogging". It's still a work in progress, and when it eventually gets finished it will have some great advice about researching blog-concepts and choosing great names.<br /><br />But today I needed a quick-and-dirty version, for someone who doesn't need SEO or a fancy name. Here's what I shared with them.<br /><br /><br /><h2>How to get started with making a blog</h2><h3>Know your objectives</h3>Think about what you want to do, what you want to write about, and what you want to achieve from it.  <br /><br />Write this down.<br /><br />Be prepared to revisit these objectives every time you need to make a decision about something.  Imagine you need to choose between a girly-pink looking template or rugged-outdoors one.  Simple - just look at your objectives and see who you're writing for.<br /><br /><h3>Choose a platform</h3>There are lots of alternatives for tools that you can use. Mostly though, it boils down to <a href="http://www.wordpress.org/" target="_blank">Wordpress</a> or <a href="http://www.blogger.com/" target="_blank">Blogger</a>. <br /><br />Wordpress disciples will tell you that it is The Only Way, usually with a far-away look in their eyes.<br /><br />Personally, I don't like zealots, and I think that Blogger is good-enough to get started with - and there are ways to change to Wordpress later on if you want to put the work into learning it.<br /><br /><h3>Choose a name</h3>Every blog needs a name. What that name is really doesn't matter that much. You just need one that you can live with: If you become wildly popular, then the rest of the world will love whatever you chose. If you don't, then it won't be due to the name you chose.<br /><br />So go to the platform you chose, and start a blog with any old name that isn't taken already. Just make sure that you can remember what it is, and that you're not too embarrassed to tell your mother about it (this alone will stop you from choosing anything really stupid).<br /><br /><h3>Do some basic setup</h3>My guide to what this involves with Blogger is <a href="http://blogger-hints-and-tips.blogspot.com/2010/05/getting-started-with-blogger.html">here</a>.<br /><br />Even if you don't use Blogger, you probably need to think about the issues covered there, especially about security vs public access.<br /><br /><h3>Write</h3>Start writing<br /><ul><li>Write two posts of 300+ words each.  <a href="http://blogger-hints-and-tips.blogspot.com/2012/09/linking-blogger-posts-to-each-other.html">Link them to each other:</a> for example If post one is about crossing Australia by camel, then post two might start "When we got to Adelaide after our camel ride, we decided to try ... - and you need to put a link from the words "our camel ride" back to post one: this is called cross- linking.</li></ul><ul><li>Write another five posts. Put cross-links between them. Don't link every post to every post. But make sure that every post has 2-3 links, and that every post is linked to at least once.</li></ul><ul><li>Write five more. Cross link them to each other and the first seven.</li></ul><br />Then go back to your objectives, think about how hard it's been to get this far, and figure out if you want to spend any more time on this hobby.   If you do - keep writing.<br /><br /><br /><h2>How to get readers</h2>If getting other people to read your stuff is one of your objectives, then in no particular order:<br /><ul><li>Email a link to your mum or your dad. Ask them to visit every day, just in case you've said something new.</li></ul><ul><li>Put a link in your email signature.</li></ul><ul><li>Share your posts on Google+ (even if you just share to Public - it seems to make a difference)</li></ul><ul><li>Contribute to some forums / bulletin boards where you can put links to specific posts as part of an answer.  But I really do mean contribute. Your other content should vastly outweigh your self-links, so you aren't seen as a spammer.</li></ul><ul><li>Set up a Twitter account for the blog, and do the same thing.</li></ul><ul><li>Set up a Facebook page. Invite all your friends to like it. Every time you post to the blog, post a link to it on the FB page too.</li></ul><br />f you think that Google+, Twitter and Facebook are a waste of time - then that's fine as far as your personal life goes. But if you want to promote a blog or website, then you simply have to get over yourself and <a href="http://blogger-hints-and-tips.blogspot.com/2012/05/blogs-your-other-communication-tools.html">use social media for blog promotions</a> anyway.<br /><br /><br /><h2>How to make your blog stand out from the rest</h2>If you've got some big objectives about having lots of readers or being famous, then you'll need to make your blog really stand out. This is a never-ending process, but here are some good first steps:<br /><ul><li>Stir up trouble: Be controversial or outrageous in what you write. But do be sure you have the stomach and the stamina needed: People will discover that it's your who's writing the posts, even if you try to hide it. You will get abuse, and maybe legal threats. <br /><br />Also, remember that writing 2 witty posts is easy, doing it every day / week or even month is a lot more difficult.)</li></ul><ul><li>Choose a niche, ie specific topic to write about, that no one else has written about. Or one that others have covered, but go for a different angle - eg if everyone else has described how they partied through Australia on the Oz Experience Bus, you focus on how befriended pensioners as you crawled through Queensland on the local bus, travelling only one town a day. Or something.</li></ul><ul><li>Spend some time googling possible niches before you start. But don't get caught in the trap of forever researching and never writing.</li></ul><ul><li>Read some other similar blogs, see what is successful, and do your own variation on that. Not the same thing - that's just plagiarism and you'll get caught. But something similar.</li></ul><ul><li><a href="http://blogger-hints-and-tips.blogspot.com/2010/12/get-your-posts-right-before-you-publish.html">Prepare your posts in private</a>, publish when they're pristine. No one wants to read your typos.</li></ul><ul><li>Use good photos or <a href="http://blogger-hints-and-tips.blogspot.com/2014/04/use-diagrams-to-illustrate-your-blog.html">illustrations</a>. If you don't have a picture to go with something, don't bother blogging about it.</li></ul><br /><br /><h2>Job Done!</h2>That's it:   getting started with blogging in one 10-minute stream of consciousness (+ editing time :-) )<br /><br />There are about 494,432,987 million similar articles on the internet, so if you need more suggestions, Google "how to make a blog", and take it from there.<br /><br />Happy posting.<br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>TL/DR</h2><div>If the ten-minute guide is too much, try this 45 second one:</div><ul><li>Go to h<a href="ttp://www.blogger.com" target="_blank">ttp://www.blogger.com</a>. </li><li>Sign up if it makes you. </li><li>Accept the terms and conditions. </li><li>Click New Blog. </li><li>Follow the prompts. </li><li>Start writing.</li></ul><br /><br /><hr /><h2>Related Articles:</h2><a href="http://blogger-hints-and-tips.blogspot.com/2010/05/getting-started-with-blogger.html">Getting started with blogger</a><br /><br /><a href="http://blogger-hints-and-tips.blogspot.com/2012/09/linking-blogger-posts-to-each-other.html">Linking two blog posts together</a><br /><br /><a href="http://blogger-hints-and-tips.blogspot.com/2012/05/blogs-your-other-communication-tools.html">Using social networks to promote a blog</a><br /><br /><a href="http://blogger-hints-and-tips.blogspot.com/2010/12/get-your-posts-right-before-you-publish.html">Preparing a blog post in private</a><br /><br /><a href="http://blogger-hints-and-tips.blogspot.com/2014/04/use-diagrams-to-illustrate-your-blog.html">Use diagrams to make pictures for blog posts</a>

The Ten-Minute-Guide to starting a blog

This article is a fast-and-furious guide to starting a blog - with a focus on getting started rather than researching to the nth degree. ...

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Getting Started with AdSense and Blogger

<div><a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=gracey"><img alt="Bookmark and Share" height="16" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" style="border: 0pt none;" width="125" /></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=gracey" type="text/javascript"></script></div><br />Everyday on the Google AdSense forums you'll see lots of questions about using AdSense with Blogger blogs. Today's post will help you get started using AdSense on Blogger. More complex questions will come later, and of course you can always post a specific question to the comments, or use <a href="http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdSense?hl=en">Google's AdSense Help Forum</a>.<br /><br />1. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Can I use AdSense with Blogger?</span><br /><ul><li>yes, Blogger blogs accept AdSense code very easily.</li></ul><br />2. <span style="font-weight: bold;">What's the best way to sign up with my blog?</span><br /><ul><li>Blogger has a "monetize" link which many people use to get an AdSense account, and currently, if you try to apply for adsense without using this monetize link, you'll get rejected for "domain ownership issues.</li><li>Adsense does not accept "subdomains" for their applications, so signing up at the Adsense home page with a blogger URL will get your application rejected because a blogger URL is a subdomain. To avoid that, you need to apply using the monetize link.</li><li>Using the monetize link in blogger lets Adsense know that this is a blogger URL, which is acceptable to use for Adsense, so please do not try to sign up at the Adsense homepage for your blog.</li></ul>3. <span style="font-weight: bold;">My Adsense account for my blog was approved. How do I add the code to my blogger?</span><br /><ul><li>There are different options for adding AdSense code to your blogger. You can use the monetize link to place the ads, you can use the Adsense Gadget in Blogger, or you can use a Text Gadget and add code you generate from your AdSense Account.</li><li><a href="http://helpfulinformationfornewbies.blogspot.com/2013/10/putting-adsense-ad-code-on-your-blogger.html">See this step-by-step tutorial (includes snapshots and text) for the ways you can place your code on blogger blogs.</a> </li></ul>4. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Why don't all of my ads show up on my blogger? I have all the code, but you can't see all the ads.</span><br /><ul><li>The main reason for this is that you probably have too many of the same kind of ad on one page.</li><li>AdSense only allows for 3 ad units, 3 link units and 2 AdSense for search boxes on one page.</li><li>When you choose to have the AdSense ads display below each post, the number of posts <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik5LUnC8Gs4uT7GJ6pfJhgGmmoCiqHyjFmgtJkmKSo-Uv2qBZsMMMA9W4OT3iINmEKaxyQIiik16pn5NK5HN5ZuAQwRrSHs7Ga24mzn7cQiX_NJjIcdcMDvO9uIodeRH8tJqRT8VjSn_o/s1600-h/Stickboy5.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383895818147567058" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik5LUnC8Gs4uT7GJ6pfJhgGmmoCiqHyjFmgtJkmKSo-Uv2qBZsMMMA9W4OT3iINmEKaxyQIiik16pn5NK5HN5ZuAQwRrSHs7Ga24mzn7cQiX_NJjIcdcMDvO9uIodeRH8tJqRT8VjSn_o/s200/Stickboy5.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 137px;" /></a>allowed to display on a page has something to do with this problem. Many people leave the "posts per page" set at the default, wich I think is 5. That means there may already be three ads on the page (one ad after every 2nd post). What happens is that any other ads of the same type you put on your page won't display.</li><li>There are two ways to remedy this. Set your post count per page to 1, 2 or 3 posts per page. This will result in one or two ads being displayed leaving you one ad of the same type for another spot. Or you can change the add type. You can use ad units between your posts, and ad links in your sidebar, or vice versa. This allows you to display 3 ads between your posts, and 3 ads in your sidebar (or below your header if you choose).</li></ul>5. <span style="font-weight: bold;">How much does it cost to use Blogger and AdSense?</span><br /><ul><li>Nothing. Google provides both services freely. If anyone asks you pay anything for a Blogger blog or an AdSense account, then you are in the wrong place.</li><li>There are many websites on the internet that ask you for money in exchange for providing information about earning money with AdSense, and they trade on the Google name, but they aren't associated with Google, and their practice is not condoned by Google.</li><li>Information about AdSense or Blogger is available freely from their respective home pages at Google. You should never pay for something that is offered free. Any payments you might make to these other sites go to them, not to Google and Google cannot help you get your money back, nor will they refund you something they didn't charge you for.<br /></li></ul>

Getting Started with AdSense and Blogger

Everyday on the Google AdSense forums you'll see lots of questions about using AdSense with Blogger blogs. Today's post will help yo...

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What Is Adsense? And How do I Start?

<p></p><div><a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=gracey"><img alt="Bookmark and Share" height="16" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" style="border: 0pt none ;" width="125" /></a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=gracey"></script></div><br /><div class="postbody"> Welcome to the Basics - this is a very basic explanation of AdSense and how it works. <a href="https://www.google.com/adsense/support/?sourceid=asos&subid=ww-ww-et-u2u_breadcrumb&medium=link">More details and further explanations can be found at the AdSense website</a>, and you should be sure to visit that to gain a better understanding of the program.<br /><div class="content"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkcWBVellY6tJasJp1x0d8n-ReJ9T_8dnZf_KDXt1VHWPEzjEGRofNBFuAFfW8x9KKFmrimA5yPi-S4YCmbeeQoVkayZfDRg_CtqHjckLftazOOQgpISyj9pjmkxXUGfe_V014pPWtXk8/s1600-h/Stickboy3.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384334319441734306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkcWBVellY6tJasJp1x0d8n-ReJ9T_8dnZf_KDXt1VHWPEzjEGRofNBFuAFfW8x9KKFmrimA5yPi-S4YCmbeeQoVkayZfDRg_CtqHjckLftazOOQgpISyj9pjmkxXUGfe_V014pPWtXk8/s320/Stickboy3.png" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 320px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">What is Adsense</span><br /><br />Adsense is a marketing and advertising platform that serves up advertising paid for by the businesses, companies and individuals who advertise using the Google AdWords program.<br /><br />If you qualify to use AdSense you are allowed to place these advertisements on your website and collect earnings for ads that display. The advertisers who use Google's AdWords program buy advertising through the program, and they pay Google to advertise for them. These ads are then served to prospective customers through the AdSense program, using third parties to display the ads (that's the AdSense Publishers - people like you and I).<br /><br />Effectively, the advertisers pay Google, and Google takes their cut, and then pays us.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Does it Cost Anything to Get An AdSense Account?</span><br /><br />No, AdSense is free to apply for, and free to use on your website. Google does not charge the publisher any fees at all.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Does Google or AdSense Provide Me With a Website?</span><br /><br />No, AdSense is not in the business of providing pre-built websites or hosting websites. Google does provide free site space and a free blog platform that you can sign up for, but you must build the site yourself using your own content. google.sites is a website building platform that you can use for free, and blogger.com is a blog platform that you can use for free.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How Much Money Does AdSense Pay Me</span><br /><br />How much you can earn using this program depends on how much time and effort you put into maintaining and updating your website, and how much traffic you have, and how much the ads on your website pay. There are a number of factors that go into earnings.<br /><br />Don't let all the hype you see on the internet take you for a ride. Average publishers do not make thousands of dollars a week, or even a month on this program. It's more like a couple of hundred dollars a month. There are quite a few publishers who can pay most of their monthly bills using this program, but to get there is hard work, and takes time to grow your site holdings. If you just want to plunk some ads on your site and forget about it, then the program isn't for you...not if you expect to earn a lot of money doing it.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=8446">See more information on the AdSense website about earnings.<br /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How Do I Get Started with AdSense?</span><br /><br />AdSense has requirements that each prospective publisher must follow in order to qualify for an AdSense Account.<br /><br />You must first have a website. One that is already established, and has already started to draw traffic. You don't have to have traffic in the thousands to get started, but a site with zero traffic isn't ready for AdSense. Your website should also have a lot of good, originally produced content. AdSense isn't really looking for sites that are simply made in a hurry in order to make money. Some get accepted, but most are in error, and large numbers of these sites lose their accounts. Original content is "stuff" you produce yourself - whether it's stories, articles, tutorials, photos or other images, wallpapers, videos - original content has more value because it can't be found in other places.<br /><br />If you have your website built, then you need to find out if your content would qualify.<br /><br />Your website must also have content that follows the AdSense policies - no adult content, no content relating or linking to things like drugs (prescription or illegal), weapons, illegal software, music or video downloads, no content that is considered a copyright infringement, no sites that are nothing but big long lists of links, among many other things. All of the policy requirements can be found on the AdSense site, under the Help section in the AdSense Policies subsection. It's important that you make yourself aware of these, and it's also important that you read and understand the Terms of Service before you get involved in AdSense.<br /><br />There are a lot of rules, and it's important that you do more than just read those rules, you also need to understand them. If you don't understand something, then don't be afraid to ask for help.<br /><br />Once you have gone through the policies and you are sure your site is ready, then you fill out the AdSense application and provide them with the url of your website. Then you wait for them to review the site and application, and when they have, you'll receive an email from them. If you are accepted to the program, you are off and running - but attention should always be paid to the policies when adding things to your site.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What if I'm A Business Who Just Wants to Advertise?<br /></span><br />If you want buy advertising, then you would sign up for the AdWords program, rather than the AdSense program.</div> </div>

What Is Adsense? And How do I Start?

Welcome to the Basics - this is a very basic explanation of AdSense and how it works. More details and further explanations can be found at...

Read more »