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Choosing which blogging platform to use is one of the
most important decisions that you can make as a
blogger. The right platform can make blogging a
breeze, and the wrong platform can make blogging a
chore. Because the program that you use to blog with is
such a powerful part of your blogging experience, it is
well worth putting in the time to find a platform that
provides your ideal balance between a user-friendly
interface and a flexible framework that allows you to
make your blog look and feel unique. Finding the right
platform isn’t always easy, but with a little bit of
contemplation and a little bit of research, you will be on
your way to finding the perfect blogging platform.

Deciding what your priorities are in terms of ease of use
versus customization. Most highly customizable
blogging platforms, like moveable type, are a bit more
difficult to use than very automated platforms like
wordpress. If you are new to blogs and to internet
technology, you might want to sacrifice the ability to
create a custom background design or to integrate a
unique font into your template in order to find a
program that will be easy for you to use. On the other
hand, if you are a veteran web designer with knowledge
of html or javascript, you will probably find the
limitations of a user-friendly platform to be frustrating.

There is no such thing as a blogging platform that is
objectively the best platform, because every blogger has
unique needs. The blogging movement is very much
about individuality, so it makes plenty of sense that
there would be many different platforms available that
are designed to meet the needs of different kinds of
individuals undertaking different kinds of projects. This
diversity is a good thing, because it means that you will
almost certainly be able to find a program that suits
your level of technical aptitude.

However, the fact that no two bloggers need the same
thing from a blogging platform can make your search
for the right platform a bit tricky. When you are reading
reviews of different platforms, try to keep your
priorities in mind and do your best to take into account
the position that the reviewer is coming from. For
example, a negative review written by an accomplished
software designer who complains that a popular
platform is too limited may tell you that the platform in
question is ideal for a beginning blogger. There is no
such thing as the perfect platform for everybody, so
instead of looking for the “best” platform, look for the
best platform for your specific criteria.

Barry McKillip

The best thing about blogging is that there are no rules.  You can write about anything

you want.  A self-publisher’s dream!   There are some things you can do though to maximize

your Google Adsense profits.  Narrow your subject.  Don’t just write about shopping. 

Write about shopping for antique dresser drawer pulls.  Write every day. Have a blog at

more than one site. If you develop a readership, you’re more likely to increase your

profits.

Write about something you know or want to know or at the very least care about. If you try

to write a great blog based on a “hot keyword” yet it’s something you could care less

about, you’ll likely not stay with it long. Experiment and see what works for you. You can

write based on your own opinion or something factual. You can review a product or service

or a movie.  Read other people’s blogs and notice how many reads they’re getting.  Above

all, have fun.  After all, it’s free and if you’re persistent you’ll see your Google

Adsense dollars adding up.
Barry McKillip

Choosing which blogging platform to use is one of the
most important decisions that you can make as a
blogger. The right platform can make blogging a
breeze, and the wrong platform can make blogging a
chore. Because the program that you use to blog with is
such a powerful part of your blogging experience, it is
well worth putting in the time to find a platform that
provides your ideal balance between a user-friendly
interface and a flexible framework that allows you to
make your blog look and feel unique. Finding the right
platform isn’t always easy, but with a little bit of
contemplation and a little bit of research, you will be on
your way to finding the perfect blogging platform.

Deciding what your priorities are in terms of ease of use
versus customization. Most highly customizable
blogging platforms, like moveable type, are a bit more
difficult to use than very automated platforms like
wordpress. If you are new to blogs and to internet
technology, you might want to sacrifice the ability to
create a custom background design or to integrate a
unique font into your template in order to find a
program that will be easy for you to use. On the other
hand, if you are a veteran web designer with knowledge
of html or javascript, you will probably find the
limitations of a user-friendly platform to be frustrating.

There is no such thing as a blogging platform that is
objectively the best platform, because every blogger has
unique needs. The blogging movement is very much
about individuality, so it makes plenty of sense that
there would be many different platforms available that
are designed to meet the needs of different kinds of
individuals undertaking different kinds of projects. This
diversity is a good thing, because it means that you will
almost certainly be able to find a program that suits
your level of technical aptitude.

However, the fact that no two bloggers need the same
thing from a blogging platform can make your search
for the right platform a bit tricky. When you are reading
reviews of different platforms, try to keep your
priorities in mind and do your best to take into account
the position that the reviewer is coming from. For
example, a negative review written by an accomplished
software designer who complains that a popular
platform is too limited may tell you that the platform in
question is ideal for a beginning blogger. There is no
such thing as the perfect platform for everybody, so
instead of looking for the “best” platform, look for the
best platform for your specific criteria.

Barry McKillip

There are two major types of business models that
entrepreneurs use to make money blogging. The first
and most common way to turn a blog into a profit
making machine is to sell advertising to different
companies and brands who want to reach that blog’s
readers. The second kind of money making blog is one
that helps a single brand improve its image by creating
positive associations between the blog and the product
in the mind of consumers. Both kinds of blogs can
make a lot of money, especially if the creator has a keen
mind for marketing.

If you are blogging with the goal of selling advertising,
there are two basic ways that you can go about
recruiting sponsors who want to put ads on your site;
you can let someone else do all of the legwork, or you
can do the work yourself and keep all of the revenue.
Within the first group, many people make money
blogging by selling space through Google’s AdSense
program. The advantages of this program are numerous,
as it requires very little effort on the part of the blogger
or webmaster to begin raking in profits. However, most
people discover that they make less money through this
method than they had hoped that their blog would earn.

Selling advertising directly to companies who want to
put banner ads or sponsored links on your blog can take
quite a bit of time, but it is often fairly lucrative. If you
have a lot of contacts in industries that are related to the
topic of your blog, you may want to try to go this route.
People who have a strong background in sales and are
experienced at pitching proposals can make quite a bit
of money by renting blog space to interested companies.
The most serious problem with this model is that you
often have to build quite a sizable readership before you
can attract advertisers, which can mean that you have to
do several months of work before you start to make
money blogging.

As blogging becomes a more and more lucrative
business, a lot of established companies are considering
how they can get into the action. One way that
companies are capitalizing on the blog movement is by
having blogs that provide a kind of friendly face for
their corporation. Often, a company will employ an
established blogger to create a weblog designed
specifically to appeal to that company’s customers and
to create positive associations with the brand in
consumers’ minds. More than one writer who never
even dreamed that he or she could make money
blogging has been approached by a company and
offered quite a pretty penny for this kind of gig.    
    

Barry McKillip

Many people dream of blogging for profit, and this goal
is not far beyond the reach of someone with average
intelligence, a willingness to work hard, and a basic
grasp of blogging technology. However, very few
people manage to reap the profits they want from their
blog. Most people who attempt to make money with
their blogs do not succeed for two reasons. Often,
bloggers have unrealistic expectations of how fast their
readership will grow and how much money they will
make, and when these expectations are not met the
disappointment can crush the desire to continue
blogging. The other trap that many bloggers fall into
has to do with lack of planning. If you want to turn a
profit as a blogger, the key to success is to make a
realistic plan and stick with it.

To succeed at blogging for profit, the main thing that
you will need is a large readership. The higher your
traffic, the more advertisers will agree to pay you.
However, cultivating the regular visitors that you will
need in order to make a profit isn’t easy. As more and
more blogs appear each day, having a great idea or a
wonderful writing style is no longer enough to get
attention. You need to be able to market your blog
effectively.

Too many bloggers spend all of their time writing posts
and almost no time marketing their project. To be
certain, updating as often as you can is a great way to
keep your blog high on blogrolls and high in blog
search engines like technorati, and once your readers
know that you update frequently they will return to your
site on a regular basis. However, it does not matter how
often you update if nobody is reading your page, so dont
skimp on the time that you spend drawing visitors to
your site. To make your dreams of blogging for profit a
reality, try decreasing your number of posts and using
some of that time to draw new visitors by setting up
link exchanges with other bloggers, making contacts in
the blog community, and following other established
modes of winning traffic.

Of course, even if you are a marketing genius or have a
really great idea for a blog, success is not going to
happen overnight. Building the kind of readership that
blogging for profit requires takes time, and in all
likelihood it will be at least several months before you
are able to turn much of a profit. Try to stay committed
to your blogging project during this initial rough period.
To stay motivated, set goals for how often you will
update and how many readers you want to attract, and
then reward yourself for sticking with your plan.

Barry McKillip

A lot of blogging software such as WordPress is
 specifically designed to besimple to use, but
even the least intimidating bloggingprogram
 can feel very overwhelming to somebody who
has not spent a lot of time learning the ins and outs of
different kinds of software. Particularly for newer
bloggers, learning how to use the interface of blogging
software is the most difficult part of blogging. If you are
somebody who feels comfortable expressing themselves
in another medium, it may prove to be well worth your
time and effort to learn blogging software, but that
doesn’t mean that the task will be easy.

The main thing that will help you find success as you
learn how to use a new kind of blogging software is to
try and take things slowly. Many people get so excited
about learning to blog that they try to rush into the thick
of it and start exploring the most complicated features
of a program right away. This can lead to getting
confused and feeling frustrated, and all too many
potential bloggers burn out during this stage of the
process. If you take your time learning the basics of
your blog software program before you move on to
more advanced techniques, you will be more likely to
retain what you have learned, and to keep feeling
positive about your ability to understand the world of
blogging.

BarrY McKillip

 Joining an established blogging site like live journal or
blogger has plenty of advantages, especially for the blog
novice. Sites that host a lot of different blogs often have
very useful tutorials about building and updating your
blog, and you are likely to encounter a very user-
friendly software interface at an established blogging
site. In addition, these sites provide a kind of instant
community of fellow bloggers who can provide advice,
insight, and feedback. These established sites often
keep directories of their members, which can be great
news for your traffic logs because it means that other
bloggers on the site will find out about your pages.

However, there are also some downsides to linking up
with a large blogging site. By posting within the
established templates of a site like blogger, you run the
risk of having your blog look and feel like everybody
else’s. The blogging movement is very much about the
creation of distinctive sites and the development of
individual voices, so it makes plenty of sense that many
bloggers would shy away from the cookie-cutter look
and feel that these blogging sites often promote. Many
bloggers feel that the content of a blog is what makes it
distinctive, not the look of the blog, but many members
of the blogging community feel that the visual impact
of a blog should match the originality of the writing.

Barry McKillip

For first time bloggers, a free blogging web site is a
great way to get started in the blogosphere. Popular
blogging web sites like blogger and eponym allow users
to set up and host a blog without paying any fees at all.
This encourages people to start blogging, because the
fact that one of these sites can provide you with all of
the tools that you need to get your blog up and running
without spending any money means that you have
nothing to lose by starting a blog. The fact that it is so
easy to find a way to blog for free is one of the reasons
why so many people who have never had any other kind
of web presence before find themselves drawn to
blogging.

By signing up with a free blogging web site, you may
find it easier to get listed in search engines that you
would if you were starting your own blog from scratch.
For example, google runs the free blog hosting site
blogspot and crawls its pages very often looking for
updates, so if you have your site hosted by blogspot you
are almost guaranteed to be listed on google’s blog
search engine. This easy access to search engines can
take some of the work out of promoting your blog, and
can help you gain a following with a minimum of
marketing effort.

If your blog attracts a large readership, you may want to
consider moving your site. Many people feel that being
hosted by a free blogging web site gives a blog a kind of
amateur flavor that is fine for a new member of the
blogosphere, but is not appropriate for a high-profile
blog. Having your own domain can help you make your
blog feel professional, and finding a company that will
host your domain is not difficult or expensive. Once
your blog takes off, you will probably be able to sell
enough advertising space to be able to afford to buy a
domain and pay for a hosting package, and still have
money left over. However, it does not make sense in
most cases to invest in these glossy luxuries before you
have a sizable readership.

Starting your blog on a free blogging web site is a great
way to build a following before you spend any money
on your blog. If and when your blog becomes popular
and you are ready to take the next step and purchase
your own domain, your readers will follow you to your
new home. The fact that it is possible to use a free blog
host like blogspost, blogger, or eponym as a kind of
incubator for your blog is great news for bloggers
everywhere.

Barry McKillip

If you run a small company, you may find that the world
of blogging for business owners is a world that you
want to be a part of. Blogging is a great way to get the
word out to consumers about your product or service,
and it can even be useful for inspiring employee loyalty
and helping you keep your workers at peak morale. If
you are looking for a way to take your business to the
next level, consider what starting a blog might be able
to do for you.

Blogging for business owners has a lot in common with
all other types of blogging, but it has its own unique
pitfalls and strengths. The key to having a successful
blog as a business owner is keeping your goals clear
and concrete at every step of your blogging adventure. It
can be all to easy to get sidetracked, especially if you
are just learning about the exciting possibilities of
blogging technology, but if you want your blog to
succeed you need to stay focused. Write up a plan for
how often you will update, how you will promote your
blog and retain readers, whether you will feature
photographs or video, and other aspects of your blog,
and then stick to it with the same kind of determination
that you used when you built your company. 

Barry McKillip

www.marketingtarp.com