Starting A Blog: Where To Begin?

You may have heard quite a lot about blogging and maybe you think it sounds a bit interesting? Would you like to start a blog but have no idea where to begin? It really is quite simple, even someone who is not html savvy can start a blog. There are many choices when beginning a blog, but how do you know which one to choose? Here are some simple steps to get you on the right track for your new blogging adventure.

The most important first step to your blog is deciding what to blog about. What will your "niche", or subject be in your blog? Perhaps it will be about fashion, or making money online, parenting, building a house, or strictly a personal blog. The possibilities are endless and there is no limit on what you can write about. You can focus your blog on anything that you are interested in, or knowledgeable about. It's your blog; you get to choose!

Once you have decided on the focus of your blog, you then need to come up with a name for your blog. You should make your blog name something catchy that everyone will remember, or take notice of. Something that will catch reader's attention and will make your blog stand out. 

1. Sign up for a blogger.com, or wordpress.com blog. Both of these platforms are a bit different and have various things to choose from. Do your research on both platforms so that you can make an educated decision on which one you think will work best for you and your blog.
2. Once you have signed up for your blog account, you need to work on the layout of your blog. Most platforms have standard plain layouts to choose from, however these layouts will not make your blog stick out. Do a basic search for blogger layouts, or wordpress layouts. You will find an array of different layouts that you can use. If you are html savvy you can make one of your own, or pay to have someone make one specifically for your blog. If you are not html savvy, don't worry, most layouts are made to just copy and paste the code into your blog (there are many how-to webpages out there to tell you exactly where to paste your new layout code to if you are not sure).
3. Design your own header. The header is the oversized banner at the top of every blog. You don't want just a boring headliner, you want something that is specific to your blog, and helps your blog to stand out. If you are not sure what kind of header to make, just look at other blogs to get some basic ideas. These headers are easy to make in photo shop, or paint shop. If you don't know how to do it there are plenty of people out there who do and they may make one for you for a small fee. Example 
4. If you are going to use any pay per click advertising schemes, be sure to copy and paste those codes into your blog so that the ads will show up when people look at your blog.
5. Write! Now that your blog is ready to go, all that's left is for you to write. Most bloggers start out a new blog by introducing themselves a bit, telling them who you are, where you are from, what the blog will be about and any other information you are comfortable sharing.
6. Once you have written your first post, start promoting it. There are many ways that you can promote your website. You can send emails to your friends, you can promote it on social networking websites like facebook, or myspace, you can join blog communities, or add your link to your signature on forums. Do what you have to do to spread the word about your blog, just be careful not to spam anyone.

Once you get the hang of blogging and working with your platform, you can do more customizations and add widgets and links to your blog.