Blogging

[PlanetEarth]

I am not sure whether this is a "SEO,PPc and online marketing" or "IT and Internet"
I am interested in knowing about blogging and I cannot get my head around it. I will say what I think I know and hope someone can confirm my understanding, or, more likely, tell me I am wrong.
Blogging is like a on line diary? Yes?
People follow your blogs? Yes?
You should write about something you have expertise on? Yes?

Now I could probably do this as I have a particular expertise that I know people are interested in - judging from the amount of free advice I give and how much people want to know about my subject.

What I don't understand is where you publish your "blogs"

Do you do it through your own website if you have one. Or is there a central list of bloggers.

Now judging from the amount of people I hear talking about "blogs" everyone who blogs cannot have their own website. So how do they do it, and where do you get your followers from?

Also, how do you make it pay?

I realise this must be very basic information for some people, so please excuse my complete ignorance.

 

[fisicx]

Put the blog on your own site.

Install the FREE wordpress application using your control panle, sett up a nice theme or ask someone to replicate you site layout and start writing.

You get followers via google. People doing searches pick up on your musings, visit the site and keep coming back.

You make it pay by making sure people click on the links to your services.

But....

If you have lots of great info to share it might be better to add your knowledge to the existing site.

Or...

Make wordpress your whole site - that way everything is fully integrated.

 

[PlanetEarth]

Thanks fisix
But what about those who have not got their own website?
I read recently about some child who photographed her school dinners. Surely she has not got her own website?
I am about to develop a website but it is fairly complex and will take some time, but am just wondering about what to do in the meantime and what people who don't have their own website do.
You hear about all these novices (presumably without their own site) making money from blogging. How do they do it.

 

[Faevilangel]

There are free blogging platform such as blogger.com, wordpress.com and tumblr.com

Personally I would say do it on your own site but the above are good if you don't have / want your own website at the moment.

 

[PlanetEarth]

Faevilangel
Why do you say do it on your own website?
And how do these people make money from it?
The little girl and the school lunch photos, if I wanted to (why I would I don't know) look at her blog, what would I do?
Before the press got hold of her, why would anyone follow her blog and how would they know it existed?

 

[fisicx]

You buy some cheap hosting and a domain name and install wordpress. It's all automatic and takes about 5 minutes (doing myself out of a job here).

You make money by publishing stuff people want to read. When you start getting loads of visitors you can begin to add adverts or sell stuff or get sponsors and so on.

Remember that for every site that makes money there are a thousand that don't.

The school lunch thing is very popular with school children. There another one that is only airline meals and one about fast food expectations. How much money they make I don't know but I have a site with about 3000 visitors per day and I make $2/day with doing any blogging. Just need to find your niche.

 

[Faevilangel]

Faevilangel
Why do you say do it on your own website?
And how do these people make money from it?
The little girl and the school lunch photos, if I wanted to (why I would I don't know) look at her blog, what would I do?
Before the press got hold of her, why would anyone follow her blog and how would they know it existed?

1) Doing it on your website means people are in your 'sales funnel', you can sell them your services / products as they are already interested in what you have to say. If you use an external service then they are likely to see adverts for other blogs on the network and click away quite quickly.

2) Adverts or affiliate links. They get paid for either having adverts on the website (like the ones on this site) or they get paid a comission when someone buys from a website they have linked too (my affiliate links below are examples). Affiliate links are better for low user / new sites, and adverts do better on established sites.

3) You would look at the blog because you have an interest in the articles she was posting. The blog she wrote had a niche that made people want to read as it's somethng we all have been involved in (eating school lunches).

4) See #3, but the main source of referral would have been search engines and recommendations. People would have been posting it on Facebook etc.

 

[ownage]

I agree that owning your own blog is much more beneficial than starting it on blogger or some other platform, or even something like FB or Google+.

Think about it like working for someone else vs owning your own business. When you start a blog in a platform every visitor you attract is benefiting the platform, where as the audience you build for yourself can benefit you though advertisement, affiliate, list building, and marketing products to them if you want

 

[Marketing Oxford]

Blog on everything related to your business, business services and topics that relate to your business. It's great for SEO if done correctly. Provide helpful information to your customers via your blog.

 

[John013]

You can post your blog on sites like blogger.com, wordpress.com, tumblr.com, metroblog.com..

 

[traveloworld]

Hi,
Free blogging can be help for get a back link for the site and avoid the spamming too.