How To Get Started With Your First Blog And Earning $5

There are many options when considering starting a blog. A great way to start blogging quickly (and for free) is to use an online "standalone" service like WordPress or Google's Blogger. These are free, highly customizable tips that support both new and more imported bloggers. The downside is that you cannot use your website domain name. For example, if you are using Blogger, your blog address will be something like 'yourblog.com'. You can link to it from your existing website, but search engines won't know to 'credit' you for extra content because it's a different domain. However, with creative cross-linking, you can still benefit from the increased exposure you can get from a blog. These free services provide a powerful software tool that balances value, quality, and ease of use. While some people prefer to use more basic blogging services, they too can really take advantage of the "built-in" benefits of WordPress or Blogger with the large user community available. One of the key advantages of these services is the ease of use and enhanced functionality of the service compared to some blogging software applications. Neither Blogger nor WordPress require you to know any "coding" and allow you to create and publish your blog with easy-to-use icons similar to what you would see in a word processing program. Having the skills to use a program like this allows people to create blogs as complete as hi-tech and complete websites. If you're "offline" occasionally, you can take advantage of WordPress' import posts feature. This means you can put your blog together and then take it offline. If you are already using another blogging service, you can also export your posts directly to Blogger or WordPress. Another benefit of these services is the extensive library of widgets or elements and themes that allow you to instantly add useful features and professional looking styles to your blog. A very simple drag and drop interface allows you to add features like RSS feed in a few clicks. Another option to consider would be blogging software that you can integrate directly into your website. Some hosting services like GoDaddy allow you to use your existing domain name for your blog. The advantage is that the content of your blog becomes part of what search engines see for your domain name. In these cases, you are more likely to pay an additional monthly fee to your hosting provider. Alternatively, Google's Blogger lets you publish to an FTP site, which means you can blog from your own domain. You lose some flexibility of the "out-of-the-box" service, but with a little effort you can have a customized template on your domain and a pretty easy submit feature. If your needs are growing, or you're a more technical blogger, you may also want to consider blogging software that can be integrated directly into your website. One to consider is the b-Blog. B-Blog is an open source PHP/MySQL application. If you don't know what the last sentence means, this is not for you. If you know, you can take advantage of the expanded flexibility an integrated application can provide.