It is believed by most experts that blogging is a financial mistake for most small businesses. Blogs are best used for news-oriented sites, or sites that feature “the latest” or “the thought of the day.”

However, blogging can also be a strong “add-on” to a successful, profitable website. For this reason, we will examine how to look at blogging vs having a website and how to know if you should start a blog.

Several companies offer blogging software, and Blogger is probably the most widely used free blogging platform available. Blogger, owned by Google, allows you to set up a blog quickly using its design templates. Other widely used blogging software include WordPress and TypePad.

Blogs must be updated frequently — several times a week, if not daily or even several times a day — in order to hold readers’ attention. Bloggers must scrupulously adhere to the golden rule of blogging: “Thou must update frequently.”

It is a time-consuming process because people who read blogs expect a certain amount of fresh content on a regular basis — at a minimum, weekly — preferably several times a week. This is not true of a theme-based website.

Blogging should definitely be used in combination with other marketing methods and not in isolation. They should NOT be used to build career momentum because they are not right for everyone — especially if you don’t have a strong viewpoint or valuable information to share.

Blog posts, in contrast to conventional websites, do not have a specific order. The software lacks what businesses do need to actually make money (which is the ultimate goal). They interlink to each other with gusto, creating what they call “the blogosphere.

Ultimately, they merely keep adding new posts, one after another, without editing out the old and without pulling related posts together into cohesive and fresh articles whereas, theme-based content sites develop and update the content into more complete, useful, cohesive articles called “web pages.”

Bloggers rave about how blogs are “more dynamic” and “promote conversations,” but many prominent bloggers turn commenting off! This communication medium is heavily covered by both online and offline media because they “get” the concept.

Bloggers, of course, form part of the online media and is actually for a very small percent of the population. It has become very popular in the last few years and even the most non-technical of netpreneur are now using a blog to promote their businesses.

Blogs have come a long way in a very short time, but again, they’re not for everyone. A lot of people don’t want to read their own company blogs. It has to fit into the corporate culture.

Blogs about your company and your products may sound interesting to you, but people rarely tune into a “commercial” blog unless there is additional information of real value.

Blogging may not be suitable for all small businesses, say blogging experts in a New York Times report. However, they do provide a simple way for family and friends to stay connected from different parts of the world by sharing stories, photos, videos and more.

It is logical for a beginners guide to blogging to begin with information on how to start a blog. However, first a brief introduction to what a blog actually is. A blog is nothing more than your online diary or journal, in which you can express your feelings, thoughts, and opinions or even advertise your products. There are few rules apart from keeping it clean. For that reason they come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and designs, and your blog page is literally yours to anything you want with.

You can include pictures, hyperlinks to your websites, MP3s and videos. Much depends on the type of blog you have and who is the provider, but Wordpress allows more than Blogger or Blogspot, especially if you have downloaded it to your own website. However, it is also more complicated and you might prefer to start off easy and then work your way up as you become more familiar with what you are doing. Many cPanel web hosts offer Wordpress facilities.

The basic components of a blog are:

Title: You can use the title to label your posting.
Category: You can add a category to keep blogs on similar topics together.
Body: This is the main content of the blog.
Trackback: This allows other sites to link back to your blog.
Permalink: This is the URL that goes with every blog that you write.
Comments: This allows readers to make comments on your blog – some good, and some bad.

By means of just one or two templates you can easily create new pages. It’s a bit like having a website and copying your home page as a template for all the rest of the pages, only the blog template is blank with spaces for the title, category and all the other aspects of your blog. The blogging websites that you sign up with offer a number of templates and you can choose one and literally start blogging immediately.

Blogging can be more that just your own personal thing, and you can join groups that blog about specific topics, such as football, movies, music, blogging, etc, etc. You can all share your expertise and knowledge and some are literally operating as forums. You can also use your blog to advertise a product, and to drive traffic to your website, while others have no website and use their blog as their sole communications window on the internet.

I could go on all day about what you can do and, sometimes, cannot do with a blog, but the best way is to get started and then find what you are capable of. The best way is to log onto the blog provider of your choice and sign up for a blog. Most newcomers to blogging find it easiest to start blogging from a provider’s website, and then graduating to installing blogging software on their own website

This is a bit trickier, but it allows you use all the plugins that allow total personalization of your blog so that it is completely unlike that of anybody else. You cannot use plugins when you run your blog from the provider’s site, whether it is Wordpress or any other blog. You cannot beat having your own blog software and being able to design any page that you want.

However, although this sounds great to be able to do, on the whole you are likely best to start blogging from the blog hosting site, and then graduate to your own website once you are comfortable with blogging. You will have enough to take in and learn when you upload to your own web space without having to worry about how blogging works.

Blogging is fantastic fun, and it can also be very profitable. However, there are specific techniques involved in making money using blogs, and it is very easy to get your fingers burnt if you are unaware of the pitfalls and the right way to do it. Nevertheless, blogging can be very rewarding, both personally and financially, so best of luck, and get blogging now. Don’t leave it a minute longer because you might have a lot to learn yet.

Once you have learned how to start a blog, then you can think of running your own from your own website.

How to Start Blogging – Steps for becoming a Blogger

1) Find your Niche – Now when I saw this Tip, I didn’t even knew what’s a niche. What it means to me is your interests. For Eg. -My Blog Realtrix is about Internet & Web and Computing Stuff. Similarly you should find your Interest about what you are going to Blog about. Some Ideas I think you can be blogging about are Blogging, Computing, Tech, Motivation, Entrepreneurship, Music, Bollywood, Parental, Personal & Education.

2) Find which Blogging SW you are going to Use – The are many. The most Popular is WordPress & Blogger. Lets be straight Wordpress is much better than Blogger. BUT is better as it not 100% free. Hence, Blogger is the Best Option. I am using Blogger as Its highly Customizable. Also Blogger is a part of Google Services.

3) How to Start & what to write – Before making your own blog see what other Bloggers are doing and writing about on the same topic you are going to write about. Then make a list of Stuff they are not Writing about but you think should be written about. Now you know what to write about in your Blog.

Tip : If you are a regular reader you might have seen that I use Images for every Post I write. So you can start collecting Photos for your Blog Post in advance.

4) Starting Your Blog – Check Out the Video here to know how to Get a Free Blog at Blogger.Com. Set Up the Blog there following the Video Tips. Read : How to Create a BlogSpot Blog for Free ? – Video Guide For Beginners

5) Search Engine Optimization – This is very Important when Starting a Blog… See Below “Tips for New Bloggers”

6) What Template to Choose and Where to find Them – Your blog Template, I think is one of the Factors which will keep bringing back Visitors. I means think it this way if you see a very Nice Looking Blog … Don’t you try to remember it and Go back to See what’s new going On there ??

Best Tips for New Bloggers

Do you want to increase traffic to your blog? Well, here are some ready tips to make a move in the world of success blogging. Get started with the following tips that make your task easy. Some of the Easiest Ways to Improve your Blog, SEO and its Traffic/Visitors.

• Make a habit of posting regularly in the blog.
• Choose a proper template for your Blog. You don’t expect people to like it if you have a cooking theme in a Technology blog.
• Write a topic and post it in different sections and thereby create a series. This increases the curiosity of the web visitors who turn to the blog for the interesting follow-ups.
• Optimize your blog to make it load Faster so that new visitor don’t get annoyed to sit idle while your blog page loads.
• Try to blog out breaking news first. It increases the popularity and creates an authentic image in the web community.
• Use right keywords in the body content. The placement of the keywords in accurate density proves to be search engine friendly.
• It is very important to encourage comments of web visitors in your blog. Highlight the most relevant comments on the blog. Try to build a cordial relation with the web visitors so that they visit your blog over and over again.
• Submit your blog in blog directories and the RSS feed in RSS directories respectively.
• It will be fruitful if you use the Ping-O-Matic service. Enter your blog name and its URL and select the directories according to choice. Any updates in your blog are automatically updated in the directories. The web visitors in these directories will able to access your contents.
• While designing your blog it necessary to make an email subscription button and form. This proves to be very user friendly.
• Try to comment on other blogs. This will introduce your blog in the blogger community.
• List your favorite blogs in the blog rolls. You must also try to list your blog in other blogs.
• It is highly important to add your blog’s URL to your email signature and any profiles other social networking sites. This will also introduce your blog in the web community.
• It is essential to use Digg, Stumble and other social bookmarking sites for your blog. Once you send a post in the aggregators, it will reach millions in no time.
• Write on related topics. Post related Articles in a row. This helps in stirring up the interest of the web visitors.
• Show the topmost posts in the your blog which received great popularity. This will bear evidence of your blog’s authenticity and significance.
• It is mandatory to add “previous” and “next” post buttons. This helps the user to quickly and easily navigate through the Blog.
• Try to build up inbound links in your blog. This will help the web visitors to access other important pages in your blog and thus enhance traffic flow.
• Rework on the previous Old posts. Try to check out every detail in your post and make it exciting.
• Track your Visitors. See where they Come From, Searching for What. When they leave. etc.
• Use photos in your post.
• Make a Translation Widget In your Blog to help foreign visitors read what you have written.
• Utilize your Online time when Not Blogging.Find Important Things to Do when Not Blogging.

Also Read : How to Boost Blog Traffic – Must Read