How to Write a Blog

April 12, 2014 – 1:44 am

Blogging has become an extremely popular pastime, and for many enthusiastic bloggers, it is also a way to make a little extra money by way of things like pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, affiliate programs or even direct sales. Whether you want to run a small hobby blog or provide an online showcase for a traditional business, blogging is a great way to do so. Thanks to a number of popular content management systems, you can design your own blog without needing to have any knowledge of HTML or other programming languages. By far the most popular blogging software is the open-source WordPress platform which we will be using for the purpose of this guide. WordPress is used by numerous individuals and businesses, including some of the world’s major online news websites. A popular alternative is Google’s Blogger software, although it does not provide nearly as much in the way of themes and features as WordPress does.

Finding a Suitable Host

With WordPress being as popular as it is, numerous Web hosting companies offer a special WordPress hosting package which allows you to install the platform and required database by way of the one-click installation method. This is far simpler and quicker than manually installing WordPress, since it allows you to get started with publishing your first post right away. Alternatively, you can sign up with wordpress.com to create a free blog. However, using wordpress.com does not allow you to have your own domain, and its version of the platform is also much more limited with regards to plugins and themes.

Introducing the WordPress Administrator Dashboard

Once installed, you should be able to log into your WordPress administrator dashboard by navigating to yourwebsitename.com/wp-admin or yourwebsitename.com/wordpress/wp-admin. Create your administrator account and log in to the dashboard with your user name and password. The administrator dashboard allows you to customize and work with just about every aspect of your website, including on-page elements, visual styles, themes, plugins and more. Most of the options are fairly self-explanatory, and you will likely want to spend some time customizing your new blog before writing and publishing your first post.

Publishing Your First Blog Post

Before you being, it is important to understand the difference between a post and a page in WordPress. Pages are static webpages, such as a Contacts or About page which are typically accessible from the menus on the homepage and elsewhere on your blog, whereas posts are organized in chronological order as is usually the case on news sites. To get started with writing your first post, simply click “Posts” in the sidebar followed by “Add New”. WordPress provides a basic Web-based word processor where you can write your posts and save them as you go by clicking “Save Draft” to the right. However, most people will prefer to use Microsoft Word or another word processor thanks to the wider range of features offered by such programs. If you choose to write your posts using a traditional word processor, you can simply copy and paste the contents into the Add New Post page in WordPress. You may need to check through the formatting before publishing. Following are a few additional tips to help you get started with the WordPress editor:

.   To insert an image, video or audio clip, click “Add Media”. If you don’t currently have any media uploaded, click “Upload Files”. Be aware that there will be a maximum upload file size which will be specified here.

.   To add HTML code, including embedded HTML code from things like Google Maps or Flickr, you can do so by clicking on the “Text” tab above the word processor. This will display the HTML code for your post.

Before publishing your post, it is advisable to assign a category and some tags to it. You can select or add a new category from the Categories section in the column to the right. Tags are also useful for associating your post with certain relevant search terms, and you can enter as many as you like, separating each key word or phrase with a comma in the Tags box in the right-side column. Finally, you can also set a featured image which will represent your post on your homepage and when people share it on social media websites or find it in the search engines.

Once you have completed writing your first post, simply click “Publish” and it will appear on your website immediately.

By admin | Posted in Blogging, Writing | Comments Off on How to Write a Blog

5 Tips to Overcome Writer’s Block

April 23, 2014 – 8:47 pm

Whether you’re an inspiring or even a published novelist or a freelance writer, you are bound to experience the dreaded writer’s block on occasion. There are always those occasions when writers become frustrated by a lack of inspiration. Sometimes it is caused by burnout, and sometimes by boredom, and it inevitably leads to reduced quality in one’s work or a lower degree of productivity. Sometimes, there seems to be no way to overcome writer’s block, but the following tips may help you to get back on track whether you write for your career or just as a hobby.

1. Get into a Routine

In order to become a successful writer, particularly if you write primarily for money, it is essential to approach it in the same manner as you would approach any other job. Getting into a routine requires a degree of discipline and the ability to overcome the many temptations to procrastinate. If you are a freelance writer, you probably chose such a career path primarily because of the freedom that it brings, but it is also this freedom to choose your own working hours that leads to laziness. While it can still be flexible, it is important to get into some manner of routine. Dedicate a certain amount of time per week to reading, researching and coming up with ideas as well as actually writing itself.

2. Write Down Your Ideas

As a writer, you never know when ideas will come to you. Spontaneity is key when it comes to getting inspired and coming up with ideas, and when something suddenly comes to you, you need to be able to write it down so that you will have something to refer to later on. Any writer should make sure that they are always armed with a notepad and pen, so that if the time comes when they have a new idea or something inspires them, they can write it down and refer back to it. While many writers should set aside a certain amount of time to brainstorming, it is also important to be spontaneous and keep an open mind both inside and outside of your actual working hours.

3. Read More

There aren’t many successful writers who aren’t also avid readers. However, contrary to popular belief, you don’t necessarily need to stick primarily to reading subject matter which is directly relevant to your niche. Instead, it is wise to scour over the broadest range of subjects, since you never know where the ideas will actually end up coming from. Whether you’re a lover of fiction or an avid reader of the news, frequently reading books, blogs or any other kind of media will ultimately help you to build up and extend your areas of expertise while feeding you with a steady supply of inspirational material.

4. Get a Change of Scene

Writer’s block is most commonly a result of boredom, and we all experience it when suffering from burnout. In many situations, this boredom is a product of repetitiveness, but fortunately, it is also something which can usually be conquered quite easily and effectively. In many situations, a simple change of scene can work wonders. If you are in the habit of working in the same place all the time, you will likely end up yearning for a change of scene after a while. If you want to try something different, try taking your work to a café or coffee shop or even a public park. If the weather is good, try taking your work outside for a while. Being stuck in your home office day in day out is never going to be the best approach.

5.  Take a Break

Sometimes, the burnout is such that nothing else seems to work when it comes to trying to overcome the bane that is writer’s block. There are only so many ideas which can come to us, and sometimes it is better just to take a break. In order to write while maintaining a high degree of quality and authority, you need to be in the right frame of mind. Writing when you cannot get into the mood to do so will inevitably lead to lower quality work and less of it. If you have tried everything else to overcome writer’s block, try taking a day or two off to get a change of scene and stop thinking about work. In many cases, taking a break is the only practical and effective solution.

By admin | Posted in Writing | Comments Off on 5 Tips to Overcome Writer’s Block

How to Make Money Writing a Blog

April 16, 2014 – 1:45 am

While few people make a full-time income from blogging, many do make a decent secondary income from their blogs. However, in order to turn your blogging into a viable money maker, you will need to be dedicated to providing frequent updates, and it will also take quite some time before it starts to generate a reasonable level of revenue. This guide takes a look at the process of monetizing your blog.

When to Monetize Your Blog

 

Choosing when to monetize your blog can be a complicated decision, particularly since certain methods of advertising are likely to irritate your visitors. For this reason, many people monetize their blogs straight away by placing advertisements on the site as soon as they start publishing content. In other cases, bloggers prefer to leave it until they have already built up a larger readership, although this might not be the best idea if you have already given people the impression that your blogging is just a hobby with no intention to make any money out of it. Even if you choose not to join any affiliate programs or place any advertising on your website, be sure to give your readers the right impression from the very beginning. For example, if you are working on an e-book which you plan to sell once it’s finished, be sure to make the occasional reference to it. Provided that your website displays relevant advertisements and partakes in suitable affiliate programs, the backlash from your readers when you monetize your blog should be minimal.

 

 

What Are the Most Popular Ways to Make Money from Blogging?

 

The first thing which most people do when they monetize their blogs is to join an advertising program. By far the most popular one in the world today is Google AdSense, a free service which webmasters use for displaying contextual ads on their websites. This pay-per-click advertising program requires you to have a free Google account, as well as your own domain and website. It will take a few days for your account to be verified after which you will be provided with your AdSense code. This code may then be pasted into your website for displaying advertisements which are chosen based on the contents of the page they are displayed on. You will earn a small amount of money every time someone clicks on one of the advertisements on your website. You may also prefer to sell ad space on your blog directly to advertisers, and there are various services, such as buysellads.com which facilitate this.

 

Affiliate advertising is what generally makes the greatest amount of money for bloggers and other website owners. With any affiliate program, you will basically take a percentage of the sale price when someone buys an affiliate’s product or service having found out about it from your website. Some of the most popular affiliate advertising programs are Amazon Associates and Commission Junction. Such services are free to use.

 

Another way to make money from your blog is to sell your own merchandise through it. There are various online services which make it easy for bloggers to build their own online stores. WordPress, the world’s most popular blogging platform, also has an extremely popular free plugin called WooCommerce which allows people to easily sell products and services from their blogs. If you don’t know what to sell, perhaps you should consider writing an e-book which greatly expands on your niche and provides an in-depth guide or look into a specific subject.

 

 

Other Ways to Make Money from Blogging

 

While displaying advertisements in one form or another on your blog is by far the easiest and most popular way to monetize it, there are some other ways to turn your blog into a business:

 

.   If you are a freelance writer, you can use your blog to showcase your best work and seek out new clients.

.   Some companies will pay you to write reviews or guides relating to certain products or services which they sell.

.   You can use your blog as a platform to advertise guest posting services in which case other bloggers may hire you to write for them as well.

.   Finally, asking for donations might not make much money, but it costs nothing to place a PayPal donation button on your website.

By admin | Posted in Blogging | Comments Off on How to Make Money Writing a Blog