Over the past few years, blogs have become incredibly popular. Just about everyone who uses the internet also has a blog. You want to get in on the action, but do not have your own website or not the techie type and you’re not sure how to get your own blog.

Luckily for you, sites like Blogger.com wordpress.com and many others have made it easy to set-up and make posts on a blog. Let’s go over everything from signing up for a blog on Blogger.com to choosing a template (look) to finally making a first post.

What is Blogger.com?

Simply put, Blogger.com is a site that hosts blogs for free. This makes it even easier for you to have a blog because there is no need to set up a web site and host the blog yourself. All you have to do on Blogger.com, once you’ve signed up, is login to your blog, write a blog post and click submit. It‘s that simple.

What will my web address be on Blogger.com?

Your web address will be http://yourname.blogspot.com. One thing that people dislike about Blogger and other free blog sites is that they don’t have as great of a freedom in choosing a name. You are limited to choosing only what is available. So if you’re looking for http://mattgaines.blogspot.com, you probably won’t be able to find that.

Signing up for a blog on Blogger

The first thing you’ll do is go to blogger.com. Next, you’ll scroll down the page and click on the button labeled “Create Your Blog Now”.

You will then be taken to a page where you will enter an email address(used to log into your blog), a password, and a word verification. You’ll also have to check “I Accept Terms of Service”. Click continue.

Next, you will be taken to a page where you will choose the blog title, blog address, and another word verification (which is done to prevent auto-signups). When you type in your blog address, you can click a link that says “check availability”.

This will tell you whether or not the desired name is available. If the first name you wish to have is not available, keep typing in different variations of the name until you find one that is available.

After you have put in all the information, click “Continue”.

Choosing a Template

After you click “Continue”, you’ll be asked to choose a template. The template can be changed at any time after you sign-up for the blog, so you don’t have to choose an “official” template now.

If you scroll down, you’ll see a variety of different templates. Click on the one that you like best and then click “Continue”.

Your First Blog Post

After you’ve chosen a template, you’ll see that your blog has been created and that there is a button to “Start Posting”. Click that button.

You’ll be taken to a page that is similar to the posting page at a message board. There is a “Title” field, where you can put in the title of this particular blog posting. Then there is a bigger field, which is the body of your post. Type all you want in this “Body” field, as there is no limit.

Note that there are options above the field to bold, italicize, underline or spell check the text. There is also the option of changing the size and color of the text, plus the ability to add bullet points, numbered lists and even pictures. For now, you’ll just do a simple ‘Welcome’ post.

In the ‘Title’ field, type ‘Welcome!’ In the ‘Body’ field, type your message. You could start with a simple introduction, talking about yourself and the purpose of the blog. When you’re done typing the message, click the “Publish” button. It is worth noting that you can choose to save the post as a draft, if you want to go back and later finish the post.

After you’ve clicked “Publish”, you’ll see that your blog has been published successfully. Click the “View Blog” link to view the results of your work. You’ll now see your post.

Logging into Blogger after the first post

You’ll go to Blogger.com and click on the “Old Blogger” link at the top right of the page. Type in the email address and password that you signed up with. You’ll be taken to the “Dashboard” of your blog. If you want to enter a new post on your blog, click “New Post”.
Then follow the instructions mentioned in the previous section. Or if you want to edit the
template, add/edit elements to your page, you’ll click “Settings” and then “Template”.

That’s all there is to it. Blogs, whether they are hosted at blogger.com or another free blog site like wordpress.com, livejournal.com, are incredibly useful and fun. For more Free blogs just go to Google and search for “free blog sites”

To your success,
Matt Gaines

P.S. Blogger makes setting up and running a blog very easy for those who have never done it before. So what are you waiting for? Sign-up for a free blog at Blogger.com today and enjoy
posting!

P.S.S. I will be getting into lead generating soon so stick around!

I thought it would be a good idea to start off about blogging, it is another tool to assist you in your list building and Business.

Blogging, what is it? You’ve heard talk about blogging but are one of those people who don’t quite understand what it is. That’s alright, as we’ll go over what a blog is, the history of blogs, and what they are used for you will start to understand why they are important to your online business.

What is a blog?

A blog is essentially like a journal where people can post their thoughts and have them read and commented on by anyone.

What is a blogger?

A blogger is someone who creates a blog and posts information on it.

Brief history of blogs

Weblogs, simply known as blogs now, haven’t been around for that long. The roots of the blog can be traced back to 1994 when people kept online journals (diaries) in which they wrote about things in their life.

Our current blog has been around for an even shorter period of time. In 1998, Open Diary created a site in which its users could post blogs that had the ability to be commented on by other people.

The popular free blogging site called Blogger was created in 1999 by Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan. Blogger was later purchased by Google in 2003.

Despite the fact that blog sites have been in existence since 1998, they have only been popular for 5 or 6 years. In 2001, how-to-blog manuals were published and the phenomenon has only taken off since that point.

What are blogs used for?

In the very beginning, blogs were usually used to talk about a person’s life. People would make blog posts about things happening in their life, thus using the blog as a public journal.

Over time, the use of the blog evolved. People began using the blog to post their opinions about everything from politics to religion to sports to music, among other things.

Nowadays, blogs are even used to make money—one 20-year-old makes $5,000 from Google per month because he has Google Ads on his blog. Businesses have also begun to effectively use blogs for their own purposes.

Why are blogs important to your online business?

Millions of people from all over the world read blogs every day. Those who have a blog are given a lot of exposure—there is the potential for them to have millions of unique readers each day.

Can you imagine having a million people see your business’ name each day? That sounds pretty incredible, doesn’t it? Yet, that’s exactly what could happen if you create and maintain a successful, well-read blog. And that’s actually a pretty easy thing to do.

So how exactly can you use the blog to help your online business? Well, you can use it in a variety of ways.

You could:

• Use the blog to discuss things related to your field of business. For instance, if your business provides web hosting services, you could discuss things related to web hosting, thus showing potential customers how much of a guru you are.
• Let your employers have their own blogs to talk about your services/products. The more active blogs that reference your business, the more exposure you’ll get.
• Use your business blog to keep current customers updated on new services/products available.
• Post news about your business, as well as start rumors about potential happenings in your online business.
• Get feedback from current and potential customers on your products/services. For instance, you could make a post on a new product, giving details about it. Then your existing customers or potential customers could give their opinion on it.
• Promote your online business on your blog by making blog posts with information on what your business offers.
• Install Adsense on your blog and make extra revenue from ads clicked, thereby helping your business to be more profitable.

There are really a lot of possibilities to how you can use a blog to help your business, even more than those listed here. Blogs that are hosted on your site (by using a program like WordPress) can help your site achieve a higher ranking in search engines.

 This is because blogs are search engine friendly (Google is known to list them after only a few days, whereas it takes regular web sites weeks to appear on a search engine).

Having a high search engine ranking is crucial to having a successful online business. Blogs help you to increase your ranking, which will increase your business.

This will really help youin setting up your Newsletter. Place a capture page on your Blog and start Building your list. This is becoming a very popular trend. List Building is really the heart and soul of any busniess. If you are not building a list you are throwing money out the window.

In closing you need to realize this ~ The great thing about blogs is that they are easy to use and also very effective. Start a blog today and watch your business’ notoriety grow.

To your success,
Matt Gaines

P.S. Blogs offer your business the chance to be known by millions of people. If you’re looking for a surefire way to gain customers and increase revenue, try business blogging!