Should I use a free WordPress Blog? Or should I host my own WordPress Blog?

To be clear, a free WordPress blog can be obtained by simply signing up for one at WordPress.com. The username you use to join becomes your blog name. As an example I have a username "howdoyoustartablog". This translates to my free wordpress blog site "howdoyoustartablog.wordpress.com"

The self-hosted WordPress blog would be on your own domain on your own site you would install the WordPress software on. The WordPress software would then be the blogging system that manage the content of your website. These days, installation is quite easy with most hosting companies. Most use push button software such as Fantastico Deluxe or Simple Scripts to install Wordprses. Check out my website and watch a free video and watch before your eyes as I set up a blog and post to my blog all in about 10 minutes.

So now to address the question: which is the right one for you?

FREE WORDPRESS BLOG PLUSSES AND MINUSES

PLUS free to setup

PLUS installation is easy (done by WordPress the company)

PLUS maintenance is free (setup, upgrades, spam, security, backups are all done by WordPress)

PLUS reliable servers (hosted on WordPress.com servers)

PLUS inclusion into the WordPress.com community may facilitate community traffic

MINUS cannot update/upload your own theme. Must use WordPress.com themes

MINUS cannot edit any of the php code (useful for adding additional features from third parties)

MINUS cannot upload any plugins. The WordPress plugin community is huge by the way

MINUS no ad placements allowed. In fact, WordPress will place their own ads on your blog

MINUS WordPress brand (not your own brand)

MINUS no true ownership of content. Site is still a WordPress site

SELF HOSTED WORDPRESS BLOG PLUSSES AND MINUSES

PLUS can upload custom made and third party WordPress themes. There are thousands of third party themes you can choose from or you can make a custom one.

PLUS can change the php WordPress code as desired. This will allow nearly unlimited functionality in your site. There exists a large community of WordPress developers with many out-of-the-box scripts to add function to your site.

PLUS can upload plugins! iPhone's motto is "There's an app for that". WordPress's motto should be "There's a plugin for that".

PLUS your own ads allowed, better control of monetization

PLUS your own brand/domain name

PLUS you have ftp access to your hosted account which allows you a lot of control on your site outside of your actual WordPress blog

MINUS you need to set up yourself (though most hosting providers provide push button installation through "Fantastico Deluxe" or "Simple Scripts". Plus my free video walks you through this process.

MINUS costs involved to setup. You have to pay domain registrar fees which is about $15 a year. Hosting fees can be $5 to $10 a month.

MINUS you maintain on your own including spam control, backups, security, etc. There are many plugins available for this.

MINUS need to find reliable servers. Make sure to choose a good hosting company. Most of them have a pretty good uptime guarantee.

In summary, if you want just the most basic blogging features of the traditional blogging sense, a free blog is for you. If you plan to monetize it even with adsense, then you will want a self-hosted paid blog. Moreover, if you want to add your own custom look and feel, you will want a self-hosted paid blog. You also have access to many free WordPress themes as well. And finally the world of plugins is the big kicker. Think about apps for the iPhone. There is a quote that whatever you want, .there is an app for that.. Plugins are much the same from security to SEO to driving traffic to membership sites to just about anything.

In most cases, I recommend a self-hosted paid blog.

I hope this has been helpful. And please do contact me if you have any questions or post them here on the blog. And if you are thinking about starting a blog, check out my free video which walks you through the simple setup of a hosted blog in about 10 minutes with a hostmonster account.

Want to learn more about starting a blog with WordPress? Come by Emil Yau's site How Do You Start A Blog and watch his video as he creates and posts to a new WordPress blog in less than 10 minutes right in front of your eyes.

Want to know how to make money online? Of course there are several solutions to make money online but today I figured to avoid at the best of them...

1. Make Money Blogging and Site Building

Increasingly more people realize that developing a website is a superb approach to make money online. Which has a small charge, you are able to develop a dedicated as well as amazing target audience soon enough and also once you monetize the blog, you can also obtain lovely dollars which will arriving, in case you usually do not distribute something on the blog site for some time. There are numerous the possibility to create a blog. You should use Tumblr, WordPress or other free hosting platform. You'll be able to develop the blog utilizing a url of your website and the area registrar internet hosting program as well.

2. Earn Money Building Specialized Niche Internet Sites

You know that the finest possibility to make money online should be to attract a certain population group a distinct segment marketplace enthusiastic about a certain subject. By trying to be able to appeal to everyone very few or even nobody will purchase what we sell. Therefore, the websites along with specific articles are a great way to make money online. Only choose the subject, build a web site about it and also wait for cash to begin being released. If you focus on the rewarding theme, it is all totally merely a problem of energy until you are going to gain BIG money almost for nothing.

3. Earn Money Marketing E-Books

Unquestionably, selling e-books is a big online business. All you need, there will be an individual around promoting an e-book on it. One of the benefits about them is they provide the most that you can expect to start an online business. So long as you research your options and make an effort to scrimp, you could start to make money online within this industry in just a few days you determine to start off. There is significantly to find out, but none of this can be beyond anyone and even if you do not believe you are way up, there are lots of people you can ask for help but when you are considering to sell e-books to generate revenue, it is advisable to create your own personal.

4. Earn Money With CPA Programs

On the Internet as an important part of our life today a growing number of folks searching for possibilities to make money online. Even though some take action to generate extra money, other medication is trying to find full-time career and so are effective in their endeavors. Many marketers decide to make money using CPA and you'll make money online on the market associated with Cost per action bargains as well

5. Generate an income Taking Surveys

Browsing a legitimate approach to make money online? You may want a tiny extra money to shell out. Or perhaps you require the cash to cover charges. As a result, finishing surveys is usually a exciting and simple way to make money online. In reality, there are plenty of cash available as well as the positive thing is perhaps you can make them in your leisure time. Each and every time

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At its core, a blog is basically an online journal wherein you can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything that you want people to read. Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending on the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer built in features such as hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging sites, even allow you to put video and mp3's on your blogs.

So what is in a blog?

A blog consists of many blog posts.

A blog post has these basic features:

Title: which allows you to label your post

Body: this is the content of your blog post

Trackback: this is when other sites link back to your blog entry

Permanent Link: every article that you write has a URL

Comments: this section is for readers to post their comments about your blog entry

Blogging is especially easy today to jump right in and blog right away through the evolution of blogging software. WordPress and Blogger are the two most popular blogging platforms. Both are web based so you can blog from anywhere. Both also have the ability to change the look and feel and design of your blog at the push of a button. For example when the holidays come you can find a holiday design to put on your blog at the push of a button and then change it back later.

I have been focusing on online journal for your blog, but as you learn more about blogging keep your mind open as well because there are many uses for blogs. At its base it is a way to distribute information so blogs can be very useful for just about anybody who needs to get information out to others. So once you get used to how a blog works, don't be surprised if you want to start more than one for all your information distribution needs!

So just how do you start a blog? Come to Emil Yau's site and let his free video walk you through step-by-step how to start a blog today!

Get paid to blog online. If you have basic writing skills you could be blogging for money within minutes. What you need to know is how to set up a blog and generate traffic. Many great articles are writing and blogs created but fail at getting traffic. Online marketing services can help you with this.

You could generate traffic through various means such as social networks, link trading, search engine optimization and posting your link in other blogs comments. These are common practices. Most people when starting out fail to promote their own blog site and give up within weeks. There are unlimited methods for generating traffic or visitors to your blog and many new methods are discovered daily.

There are many places to set up a free blog just do a search. The best way to set up a blog is purchasing a one year hosting plan with a domain name and set up a blog. If your serious and would like to get paid blogging then this is probably the best method. Finding a topic to write about is not that difficult and 3 to 7 posts a week would be the minimum to be a success depending on the niche. You could have a blog on food, beer, bad girls or even a crime blog.

The trick is how to make money with a blog. There are several advertising networks that you can join for free. You could spend countless hours and precious time trying to find ways to make money online. Writing great content and creating blogs is one of the easiest method to make money blogging for dollars.

The internet in some ways is still like the wild wild west and there are still plenty of ways to make money online. Get paid to blog by utilizing the latest information and blogging tools. Blogging for money is much easier when you use web 2.0 technologies to their fullest.

Blogging for money does not require any specialized skill most people can learn blogging in a few hours having the right information. A free blog can be set up in minutes you just need to know what people are searching for to be a success and get paid to blog.

For more information Getting Paid To Blog

To succeed at blogging for profit, the primary thing that you will need is usually a big readership. The higher your targeted traffic, the much more advertisers will agree to pay you. On the other hand, cultivating the regular visitors that you may need to be able to make a income isnt quick. As more and additional blogs appear each day, having a great idea or a wonderful writing style is no longer enough to obtain attention. You need to be able to marketplace your web site effectively.

Too a lot of bloggers devote all of their time writing posts and nearly no time marketing and advertising their project. To be certain, updating as usually as you can is a great method to keep your weblog higher on blogrolls and high in weblog search engines like technorati, and once your readers know that you just update frequently they'll return for your site on a regular basis.

However, it does not matter how usually you update if nobody is reading your page, so don't skimp on the time that you devote drawing site visitors to your web page. To make your dreams of blogging for revenue a reality, try decreasing your number of posts and utilizing some of that time to draw new site visitors by setting up link exchanges with other bloggers, making contacts inside the blog page community, and following other established modes of winning site visitors.

Obviously, even if you're a marketing genius or have a genuinely fantastic idea for a weblog, achievement just isn't going to happen overnight. Building the kind of readership that blogging for profit requires takes time, and in all likelihood it will probably be at least many months before you are able to turn a lot of a profit. Attempt to remain committed to your blogging project during this initial rough period. To stay motivated, set goals for how often you'll update and how numerous readers you intend to attract, and then reward yourself for sticking with your strategy.

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The best indication that a blog is a success, is if you are getting the traffic you want, you make some money with just a bit of effort, and your advertisers are happy. But don't get carried away by your success. You might have the idea that that placing more adverts on a blog will boost earnings exponentially. What will happen is that you will join the advertiser's black list. They have guidelines on the number of ads you can place on a web page. This number depends on the sponsor, but it is normally between 3 and 5.

If you do not want to lose any good will between you and your affiliate or the advertising program you use, read and understand their policies and abide by them. If you don't, your blog could be classified a splog, and that is one of the worst things that could happen. Splog is the term for a blog that contains spam. So if the blog is no more than page after page of advertising, and has very little content, then rethink your strategy.

Your content will get buried under a lot of adverts, your visitors will become distracted and frustrated, and then leave your blog without reading or clicking anything. Do not let your blog look like an infomercial, If it does you can forget about generating an authority standing in your niche.

The problem with a blog that has too many advertising units is that it can confuse the visitor. When they are confused, they're less likely to click on an ad, much less subscribe or buy anything. That leaves your advertisers - and you - empty-handed.

A page will handle three adverts comfortably, which is usually acceptable to advertising and affiliate programs. And if you manage to place these adverts well then they will catch the eye of your visitors. Because there are fewer ads to look at, visitors will be able to select which they want to click on.

To use blog advertising correctly, first consider the type of programs you will be running. If you are going to be an affiliate to a brand or company, there are certain restrictions you have to work within. Some companies, for example, prefer not to have a competing brand's ad placed on the same blog.

Also put some consideration into where you are going to place the advertisements. Take a long look at the ad placements of the most successful blogs. Look at where they place their ads are placed and their sizes in relation to each other and to the content box. When you have checked out enough of these success stories, you will have completed another lesson in advertising.

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You could generate traffic through various means such as social networks, link trading, search engine optimization and posting your link in other blogs comments. These are common practices. Most people when starting out fail to promote their own blog site and give up within weeks. There are unlimited methods for generating traffic or visitors to your blog and many new methods are discovered daily.

There are many places to set up a free blog just do a search. The best way to set up a blog is purchasing a one year hosting plan with a domain name and set up a blog. If your serious and would like to get paid blogging then this is probably the best method. Finding a topic to write about is not that difficult and 3 to 7 posts a week would be the minimum to be a success depending on the niche. You could have a blog on food, beer, bad girls or even a crime blog.

Get paid to blog is you goal to making money. There are affiliate networks you can join for free that would share revenue with you when you make a sale. You could spend precious energy and time scouring the internet on ways to make money online. Blogging for money by writing great content is one of the easiest ways to make cash on the internet.

The internet in some ways is still like the wild wild west and there are still plenty of ways to make money online. Get paid to blog by utilizing the latest information and blogging tools. Blogging for money is much easier when you use web 2.0 technologies to their fullest.

You can get paid to blog using basic internet skill but having the right information helps. You can set up a free blog in minutes and be blogging for money within hours by using the correct techniques.

For more information Getting Paid To Blog or Get Paid To Blog

So, you need to find ways to get more traffic to your blog or website

Here's the first of the tried-and-true ways for getting the search engine spiders to visit, and then send you visitors.

Once Again, Content is King

Provide content that is of very high quality on your web site. This is the first and the foremost requirement for you to increase traffic on your blog. People (not to mention the search engine spiders) should have something interesting on your site to come and read.  Which brings us to the second half of the equation; how much content, and how often?

Update Your Content Regularly

You knew I was going to mention this at some point...how often is often?  It depends on:

• How much time you have.
• How much money you have.
• How much money do you want to make?

If you don't have a lot of time, it will be harder to update your content regularly, although there are ways around it.  But what of the burning question -- how often is often enough?

It really depends on your readers and niche.  As a general rule of thumb, I'd say once or twice a week should be enough to keep the search engines interested enough to keep sending their spiders.  Obviously, though, if you can update once a day, the search engines will give you more "brownie points".

If you don't have the time, but you have some money, you can outsource a lot of the content.  There are some very good article writers who will create a unique 400 word post for less than the cost of a fast-food lunch.  It's a great way of getting more content.

If you don't have the money and don't have a lot of time, there are always the article directories that can provide you with content.  Just abide by the rules for making sure you give the author proper credit, and you can have fresh posts for free!

More Web Site Traffic

Did you notice my last bullet point of how much money do you want to make?  The money you make is in a direct relationship to how much time you spend updating your site.  Granted, a site that's been around for years and has hundreds of pages may only have to update once or twice a month to stay up in the rankings.  But, for the brand new or fledgling site?  You need to work harder at first.

The tough part is this; you won't always see your work rewarded quickly.  Granted, sometimes you'll happen upon a niche and it will be earning money early and fast.  For most of us, though, it will take a few months to start seeing a regular income.

But here's the better news; once you have built your blog or website up, it will pay you a residual income.  I have some sites I might touch a few times a year, but which bring me in a nice check every month, like clockwork.  But I had to spend the time up front, in order to reap the benefits now.

More web site traffic is what we all want as web owners.  If you're reading this post, it's likely that you want your blog to be profitable.  Feed it with content to keep the spiders happy, and they'll reward you with traffic.  And the traffic in turn will reward you with income.

Author: Rahul Vaidya

Once you have your blog ready to go, you probably want to find some other ways to monetize it with your main products or services.

A very effective way to use your blog to make "extra" cash is by writing product reviews. While reviews are a great way to convert visitors, it does take some time to write a good review.

In case you are not looking towards writing anymore than you already are but would still like to find some quick ways to make some money from your blog, then the three that I have listed below should do the trick for you.

1. Put an AdSense or other textual ad block on your sidebar or post. Putting an ad block like AdSense is very easy related to just a couple of lines of code. As I mentioned, AdSense is only some of the game in town. There are other textual ad services out there that operate like AdSense and even offer more flexibility.

2. Banner ads. Banners have evolved quite a bit since the era of the long flashing banner you would see along the top of a page. Now you will see smaller block banners and narrow banners going vertically rather than horizontally across the top. Quite a number of the top products you could become an affiliate for offer many different banner ads that you should use on your blog.

3. Text ads within your posts. You can include text links to products that are based on the posts that you make. When writing about a topic that includes the use of a products or services, you can include a link to a vendor within your post. These are very effective at conversions along with reviews.

Of course, if you actually don't want to hassle with setting up those but you still want your blog monetized, you can opt for a theme that will do it for you. There are WordPress themes that are specifically designed to place those links and ads on your blog for you.

Just do a search for WordPress themes or blog themes and layouts. Locate a theme that helps you build and place your ads in the blog.

To Make Money Online from blogging, it is not necessary to have a lot experience. Using the above mentioned 3 techniques can easily yield good earnings for your blog.

There are several free blog software available. Some have some features others do not. But the biggest benefit of the free blog software is that they are free. You cannot beat that. With a blog you can build a community of followers when you continue to provide valuable content to your readers.

If you are an expert in your field, let us say your business, then you can give your readers information they might not be able to find anywhere else. This builds a loyal following because they know when they come to your blog you will share information they can use. Are you familiar with search engine ranking?

If you are not familiar with search engine ranking this refers to how high your site is listed on the search engine results pages. You want to appear on the first page of the search for a particular key word related to your online business. The great advantage with blogs is that since they are updated frequently search engines rank them high on their results pages.

The good thing about blogs is that the search engines love them. Blogs are ranked high on the search engines because they are usually updated with fresh content. Search engines reward sites that have new content related to a specific keyword or phrase. Your job is to make sure you post if not everyday with new information related to your website then at least three to five days per week.

If your budget for advertising is limited then a blog is a great way to invest your time. It will cost you only your time and no money to build your online presence for your business. You will not even have to pay for hosting. And you will be able to do it all yourself and not hire someone to do this for you.

This means you will not have to pay someone to build your website. If you know from your own experience that you have visited websites and you notice that the content has not changed in weeks or maybe in months. So you choose to stop visiting the website.

Because a blog is changing every day or almost every day people will keep visiting to see what is new. Also, most blogs have an RSS feature this means that people visiting your blog can sign up and get a message letting them know you have updated your blog with new content. Overall a blog is a great way to promote your small business online.

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Choosing a Niche

This is probably the most important step; choosing your niche.  There are two main considerations here. 

First, do you care about search engine traffic, or do you just want to express yourself?  If you're writing a blog because you are passionate about a subject, but it doesn't matter how many or few people read it, then write about it.  Don't worry about choosing a niche; your subject will take care of itself.

On the other hand, if you do want search engine traffic, you need to be a little more careful in choosing your niche.  And that brings up two points.  Do you want people to read what you have to say, but don't care about monetizing your blog...or do you want it to earn a regular (even if small) income?

If you're wanting search engine traffic but don't care about monetizing, choose the method I described in my last post.  Find words in the free WordTracker tool, then check the two supply numbers in Google.  As a very general rule, keep your in quotes keyword under 1,000.  Now you can go over this at times, but I wouldn't normally look higher than 2,000 -- just too hard to climb to the top of the heap (i.e., page 1 of the Google search results).

How to Identify Your Niche Market to Monetize

Most people wouldn't mind making a bit of money from their blog, and some want it to earn a regular income.  Indeed, some want it to replace their current income!  Here are some tips for this for you, if it's your ultimate goal.

Pick your niche carefully.  For example, maybe I wanted to be an affiliate for shoe sales.  Well, "shoes" is a mightly big topic.  So I'll winnow it down some.  Do I want men's shoes?  Women's shoes?  Boots?  a specific brand?  Well, how about boots?

Put the word bootsinto WordTracker and see what comes up.  Hmmm, it's a really big list, but maybe harley davidson boots?  Click on that, because we want to winnow it down even further.

As a very general rule, we want more words in the keyword phrase; less likely to find other pages that have all these words.  The phrase "harley davidson boots" (in quotes) turns up 157,000 for a supply -- far too much.  Keep looking...

Whoa, here's a term -- "harley davidson megamotor harness boots"  In quotes that has a supply of just 6!  Now that could be a winner!  Especially because people searching on that term know exactly what they want, and are far more likely to have a credit card in hand (so to speak) before they get to your blog!

This post has gotten a bit longer than I wanted, so I'll continue this topic of how to identify your niche market when blogging on the next post.  See you then!