Introduction to Blogging

If you're new to blogging, you may have questions like:

By popular request, we put together this Getting Started Guide for new bloggers. It walks you through the thinking process of starting a blog so you can get up to speed quickly.

FAQ: What is a blog?.

1. Decide What to Write

First of all, you don't need to be controversial or break news stories. You can write just about anything in your blog but the key is to write regularly. Don't create another 1996-era static home page. Write about things you think about or do on a regular basis. A blog's time-ordered format is ideally suited to frequent, informal posts combining links and commentary. Here are some examples:

For any of the above, you can use Zoundry to insert affiliate links in your blog to products that you mention and other related products. Think of yourself as providing a service to your readers by informing them of products that they may want to purchase and use.

2. Creating a Blog

This is very easy, which is one reason why blogs have become so popular. The easiest approach is to go with one of our supported blog hosting services:

For those of you who have a web site through your ISP that you aren't using, you can use Blogger to create your blog and then have it FTP your blog pages to your web site. Go to their web site to review their service offerings and follow their simple instructions on how to set up a blog.

3. Naming Your Blog

As part of the blog setup process, you have to think of a name for your blog, which defines its URL if you use Blogger's Blog*Spot or TypePad. For personal blogs, you can use a nickname or a favorite phrase; for a family site, you can use a variation of your family's name. For a topic-oriented blog, you can use a name based on the subject, such as PVRblog or Low-Carb Blog.

4. Making your Blog Public or Private

You also have to decide whether you want to make your blog private or public. These terms can be a little misleading. All blogs are on the Web and accessible to anyone who types in the URL, unless you choose to make it password protected (a feature offered by some blogging services.) The distinction between private or public is based on visibility within the blogging service's community. For example, if you make your blog public, it may be listed by your blogging service under "Recently Updated Blogs" each time you make changes.

If you want to keep your blog in stealth mode just for your friends and family, you should make it private and also consider password protection to limit access. But if you want to drive more traffic to your blog and increase the number of readers who might click and buy through your blog, then make it public. You can easily change this setting so you can experiment a bit first in private and then make it public when you're ready.

5. Start Blogging and Keep It Going

Now you can download and install the Zoundry Blog Writer. Once you set up your Blog Writer, it's as easy to use as a word processor. Write your blog post, format text using the style buttons, and drag and drop images. Create regular or product links by highlighting where you want the link and right-clicking to select Create Link or Create Product Link. When you're ready, publish to your blog by clicking the Publish button.

After an initial burst of energy, it might be hard to maintain your momentum. You don't need to spend a lot of time on your blog (15 minutes a day is a good start) but you should get into a regular routine. Try to type a few posts in the morning as you make your rounds through the news sites. Or write in the evening before you go to sleep. One of the advantages about using our Blog Writer is that you can write drafts and save them on your laptop - even if you're not online - and then publish them later when you get online.

Blogging Suggestions

Finally, here are some general blogging suggestions to help you earn money from your blog. We're not promising that you can make enough money to quit your day job, but we know the amount of money you can make depends on the quality of your writing and how many people visit your blog and purchase through it.

If you're already writing a blog, recommend books and other products related to your content, or create affiliate links to products that you naturally mention. For example, say you wrote about your recent vacation and described how much you liked the features of your digital camera. Use the Zoundry Blog Writer to create a product link to the camera instead of a regular link. Readers who are curious to learn more about your camera may click through and decide to purchase it after reading additional information at the merchant's site.

Stay focused. Write about a subject matter that interests you or where you have expertise. Think about what product areas your friends ask you for advice. By picking a focus area, you'll have more targeted readers who will more likely click through and purchase from your links.

Write honestly. People will more likely click through and purchase if you do.

Include product images so people can see what the product looks like.

Write and post regularly so your blog doesn't get stale. Get into the habit of writing a short "book report" after each book you read or a quick review after you listen to a new CD.

Create a group blog where each of you can take turns posting so there is less individual pressure to write everyday. Share product and gift recommendations with each other as well as your readers.

Make your blog "public" within your blog hosting service, unless you want to keep a private blog or giftblog for only your friends and family. By making your blog public, your blog hosting service will include it in a list of recently updated blogs to give you more exposure.

Create an RSS feed to your blog. Many blog readers use tools called "news aggregators" or use web-based aggregators (including My Yahoo!) in which they can subscribe to your blog and automatically receive notifications of your new posts. You can select whether to include your entire post within the feed or just the title and a brief excerpt. This way, subscribing readers do not have to visit your blog in order to check whether you have published a new post.

To create an RSS feed in Blogger, log in to your Blogger account and go to your blog. Under the Settings menu, click on Site Feed at the top. Select Yes to Publish Site Feed, and choose Short or Full Descriptions (summaries or full entries in your feed.)

To create an RSS feed in TypePad, log in to your TypePad account and go to your blog. Under the Configuration menu, click on Publicity & Feeds at the top. Under the Feeds section, you can choose whether to enable a feed with a short excerpt from your posts, or a feed with the entire post.

Get your friends and family to visit your blog often or ask them to add your RSS feed to their My Yahoo! or news aggregator.

Good luck and have fun blogging!

Back up