Blogger Basics (Tutorial) How to Create Blog on Blogspot

Due to Lot of changes day by day in Blogger.com interface and its features, it comes in my mind I should update this article for providing exact and updated information about how to create blog on blogger.com (blogspot) with new interface and tell you about its best features to get well experience and most out.

Check Out the Best features you should know about blogger.com

Blogger Basics

Launched in 1999, Blogger, Google Service, is a great way to create your own blog to start. Blogger completely free with free hosting.

Blogger is for:
To share your thoughts, photos, and more with friends and the world.
Easy to deploy text, images and videos and the Internet or from your mobile phone.
Unlimited resilience to customize your blog with themes, tools, and more. There is also some site which provides online blogging courses from which you will learn complete blogging, how do I blog and start make money from your blog with traffic and the help of SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

How to Create Blog on Blogger (Blogspot) New Interface

Step 1: Sign Up for a Google Account

You will need a Google account to build your own blog on Blogger. If you already have one, you do not need to create a new account, simply follow these steps.

Step 2: Go to Blogger.com then Sign In

How to create blog on blogger new interface

Just Simply Add Your Blog Title in the Title Field i.e. An Island for Blogging Tips and Tricks
and Insert Your blog URL address in the second field i.e. my-personal-photo .blogspot.com
In last select any theme from the templates section and click on the Create Blog Button.
finally you have created your free blog on blogger and thereafter its take you to Blogger dashboard. check the following screenshot

Blogger Dashboard New Interface

Enable Meta Description for  Blogger Blog

This is the major issue which is mostly avoided by newbie and they still don’t know what is it. but after lot of changes in Search Engines algorithm and SEO factors this information must be shared with all blogspot user to enable meta description for your blogspot blog and every post.

How to enable meta tags description in blogspot

Note : After making enable this feature you can add meta description to your every blogger post from post settings.

How to Write Post in Blogger.com

Some newcomers still unaware how to create post in blogger because I have found and notified some blogger are creating pages instead of blog post. Check the above screenshots there is an orange button of New Post click on it and you will see the following page where you have to write your article or any post for your blog.

How to Create Post in Blogger new interface

As i have mentioned above about meta description, after enabling this feature as stated above, there will be another option in Post setting tab of Search Description where you have to describe search engines what you have written means a small description for search engines i.e. Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. about Your written post.
Creating Writing Tips for Blogging

Add Blog Description

You can easily add or change your Blog title and add brief description for your blog. Check this screenshot

How to Change Blog Title and Description in Blogger

Fix Duplicate Meta Description in Blogger

How To Create Page on Blogger

Check the Following Screenshot for creating pages on Blogger Blog.

How to create pages in Blogger

Check Traffic Stats in Blogger Dashboard

For checking blog traffic you don’t have to use third-party tool or any other stats website, Just use your Blogger Dashboard and check all out stats of your blog. Go to Stats tab and check traffic sources, traffic per post, audiences location easily from single click.

How to Check Blogspot Traffic Stats

Best Analytic Tools for Website and Blogs

Read More...

How To Add Animated Flash Clock To Your Blogger Blog

mated Flash Clock To Your Blogger Blog

Hello! `How are you guys? here's the cool Clock.this tutorial will show you how to Add animated flash clock gadget your Blogger blog. A clock gives a beautiful look to a website. A clock is a necessity for a personal website, forum, blog etc.Isn’t it exciting when you get a highly quality flash Clock absolutely Free? you can add this flash animated clock your blog easily.i've tested this Flash Clock on internet explorer, mozzilla firefox & many other web browsers. it's very fast and fresh.You simply have to copy the code below each clock and add it to your blog.

Live Demo

How To Add Aniamted Flash Clock Widget To Blogger?

• Choose a type of clock below
• Provide Require widget title
• Fill Height and Width of the Widget
• Click on "Genetate" button
• Finally click on "Add to Blogger" to add it to your blog.

Add Animated Flash Clock To Your Blogger blog


Now let's start adding it...

Step 1. Login to Your Blogger Account.Go to your Blogger Dashboard.Click on Layout tab from left pane and click on Add a Gadget link.

Step 2. After click on Add a Gadget link A pop-up box will open now
with many gadget list, Choose HTML/JavaScript from the gadget options by clicking the blue plus sign for that gadget.

Step 3. Select 'HTML/Javascript' and add the one of code given below.

Step 4. Now Click On Save 'JavaScript' You are done.


Happy blogging!





Special Thanks http://flash-clocks.com

Picture From http://www.2dayblog.com/2009/10/19/manual-digital-clock/

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9 Tips To Reduce Blog Loading time

tips to reduce blog loading time

How to Optimize and Speedup Your WordPress Blog or Website

 M Ehsan Qureshi   8th March, 2014   Blogging, Blogging Tips, Blogging Tutorial, Guest Post, Tips and Tricks  

Today I am gonna discuss with you a most essential SEO factor which surely can help you to increase blog  ranking and boost blog traffic. Blog load time is most important SEO factor and every bloggers and webmasters should care their blog’s loading time and most of always try to reduce it. Because readers don’t like those sites which take too much time to load and than finally readers go to another website for searching the information. If your blog load faster than obviously many major search engine consider your blog as a good ranking especially Google. Reduce blog load time better helps for search engine and also your visitors/readers.

9 Tips To Reduce Blog Loading time

Below are some most important tips about how to reduce blog or wordpress loading time. Which you should consider and use it for better ranking.

How To Check Blog Or Website Loading Speed?

I have some best tool which you can check blog time speed and can improve performance.
Go to PageSpeed Insights and check blog load time.

1. Don’t Use Unnecessary JavaScript Coding:

Avoid using unnecessary JavaScript coding in blog it makes page load time slow Because it is so much heavy coding and can effect blog load time by a great margin. Most of newbie bloggers and webmasters use unnecessary widgets in their blog sidebar which is really harmful.

2. Choose Your Blog Template Wisely:

Select a clean and SEO friendly theme it is an amazing choice for blog. Before choosing a blog theme make sure that JavaScript usage not too much and don’t choose such type of blog theme which is already over designed.

3. Minimum Number Of Post On Blog Home Page:

Don’t show too much posts on blog homepage because it may possibility effect and helps to raise loading time. Always try to show 5 to 8 posts on homepage for better SEO ranking. If your website load faster than definitely readers will stay and glad. So avoid to show too much posts.

4. Avoid Too Much Optimize Images In A Single Post:

Relevant images in a single post is obviously play vital role for improve SEO ranking. But make sure 3 to 4 images is enough in a single post. Avoid too much use images per post because every image has use separate memory capacity.
Add Auto Image ALT Tag Generator for Blogspot Blogger

5. Use Resize Images:

Don’t forget to resize blog images with any resize image editor. Always Use JPG images because JPG images uses less size memory as compare to other images formats. To resize images use Photoscap or Photoshop.

6. Avoid To Display Too Many Ads On Blog:

I have seen most of newbie bloggers join many CPC networks program and implement all ads inside their blog which ads banner coded with JavaScript which full of use heavy size memory and can slow blog loading speed which is bad impact for SEO ranking. So please don’t use to many ads.

7. Avoid To Display Popup Ads:

There are dozens of blog sites which are exists in Google search engine who are display popup ads in their blog to increase earning. But as I recommended, It is a bad way to increase revenue. I have seen many time that such blogs or websites are not loaded, But it is hang by popup advertising campaign. So totally avoid to display it.

8. Avoid To Use Unnecessary External Links:

In case you are using stats counters widget to check blog traffic and also use website welcome widget in blog site. You may use Google analytic tools instead of stats counters widget and you have to remove unnecessary website welcome widget into blog.

9. Avoid to Using Unnecessary Social Media Buttons:

Social media buttons is most important which helps blog to increase traffic. Social media sites also help us to connect with world. But you may remove unnecessary social media buttons.

Final Words:

Read More...

How to Create Blog on Blogger (Blogspot) New Interface

Step 1: Sign Up for a Google Account

You will need a Google account to build your own blog on Blogger. If you already have one, you do not need to create a new account, simply follow these steps.

Step 2: Go to Blogger.com then Sign In

How to create blog on blogger new interface

Just Simply Add Your Blog Title in the Title Field i.e. An Island for Blogging Tips and Tricks
and Insert Your blog URL address in the second field i.e. my-personal-photo .blogspot.com
In last select any theme from the templates section and click on the Create Blog Button.
finally you have created your free blog on blogger and thereafter its take you to Blogger dashboard. check the following screenshot

Blogger Dashboard New Interface

Enable Meta Description for  Blogger Blog

This is the major issue which is mostly avoided by newbie and they still don’t know what is it. but after lot of changes in Search Engines algorithm and SEO factors this information must be shared with all blogspot user to enable meta description for your blogspot blog and every post.

How to enable meta tags description in blogspot

Note : After making enable this feature you can add meta description to your every blogger post from post settings.

How to Write Post in Blogger.com

Some newcomers still unaware how to create post in blogger because I have found and notified some blogger are creating pages instead of blog post. Check the above screenshots there is an orange button of New Post click on it and you will see the following page where you have to write your article or any post for your blog.

How to Create Post in Blogger new interface

As i have mentioned above about meta description, after enabling this feature as stated above, there will be another option in Post setting tab of Search Description where you have to describe search engines what you have written means a small description for search engines i.e. Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. about Your written post.
Creating Writing Tips for Blogging

Add Blog Description

You can easily add or change your Blog title and add brief description for your blog. Check this screenshot

How to Change Blog Title and Description in Blogger

Fix Duplicate Meta Description in Blogger

How To Create Page on Blogger

Check the Following Screenshot for creating pages on Blogger Blog.

How to create pages in Blogger

Check Traffic Stats in Blogger Dashboard

For checking blog traffic you don’t have to use third-party tool or any other stats website, Just use your Blogger Dashboard and check all out stats of your blog. Go to Stats tab and check traffic sources, traffic per post, audiences location easily from single click.

How to Check Blogspot Traffic Stats

Best Analytic Tools for Website and Blogs

Read More...

Add Cute Custom Facebook Like Box To Blogger

Custom Facebook Like Box To Blogger

Facebook Like Box is very useful widget to show visitors the authority and love of the people for his blog. Facebook offers a simple Like Box plugin that you can easily integrate into your website But the default Facebook like box is not having good look at ugly all. This tutorial will show you How To Add Cute Custom Facebook Like Box using CSS To Blogger. Facebook Like Box is the best way to get more fans on Facebook. A Fan Box allows great attract your Blog more visitors or readers to like your Facebook fan page not leaving the like go here. you don't need to do any think you only need to copy and paste the code. Im Sure that this Cool Customize Facebook Like Box With CSS widget attracts your facebook fans increase the count of Likes.


How To Add a Custom Facebook Like Box to Your Site


Now let's start adding it...

Step 1. Login to Your Blogger Account.Go to your Blogger Dashboard.Click on Layout tab from left pane and click on Add a Gadget link.

Step 2. After click on Add a Gadget link A pop-up box will open now
with many gadget list, Choose HTML/JavaScript from the gadget options by clicking the blue plus sign for that gadget.

Step 3. Select 'HTML/Javascript' and add the one of code given below.

Step 4. Now Click On Save 'JavaScript' You are done.

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Die Blogspot-Grundlagen: Das Dashboard

Auf der "Startseite", Ihrem Dashboard, finden Sie in der linken Menüleiste alle wichtigen Funktionen:

• Der erste Punkt "Neuer Post" führt Sie direkt zum Textfeld für einen neuen Blogeintrag. Mehr dazu im nächsten Absatz.
• Posts: Hier finden Sie alle Blogeinträge in einer Liste und können ältere Posts bearbeiten, löschen und von der Webseite nehmen oder sich die Zugriffszahlen der einzelnen Artikel ansehen.
• Seiten: Fügen Sie verschiedene "Seiten" ein, können Sie Ihren Blog in Abschnitte gliedern. Der Unterschied zwischen "Seite" und "Posts" besteht lediglich in der Anordnung: Seiten sind nämlich (je nach Layout) im linken oder oberen Menü angeheftet.
• Kommentare: Einzelne Blogeinträge können von Usern kommentiert werden. Die Kommentare müssen Sie hier freischalten.
• Google+: Ihr Blog ist mit Ihrem Google-Plus-Account verknüpft. Alle neuen Beiträge werden dort automatisch gepostet, dies können Sie hier jedoch auch deaktivieren.
• Statistiken: Wer hat wann von wo mit welchem Gerät Ihren Blog angesehen? Unter "Statistiken" finden Sie es heraus. Wird der Blog fast nur von Smartphones angesehen, sollten Sie die Inhalte auch für die mobile Ansicht optimieren.
• Einnahmen: Gute Blogs sind eine kleine Geldquelle, zumindest wenn Sie Werbung schalten. Wie Sie dazu vorgehen, lesen Sie hier.
• Layout: Menüs, den Header und viele Gadgets für Ihren Blog können Sie hier ändern. Tolle Features von Facebook, twitter und Co stellen wir Ihnen in den nächsten Absätzen vor.
• Vorlage: Die Vorlage konnten Sie bereits bei der Erstellung des Blogs auswählen – jetzt können Sie dies noch einmal ändern und ins Detail gehen. Schriftart, Farben, Hintergrund und auch das HTML-Skript des Blogs ändern Sie in diesem Abschnitt.
• Einstellungen: Einen Vertipper im Namen können Sie hier ebenso leicht ändern wie die Blogbeschreibung und die Blog-URL. Zudem bestimmen Sie hier die Anzahl der Posts auf der Startseite, nehmen Einstellungen zu den Kommentaren vor und können die Blog-Beschreibung für Google eintragen.

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Tutorial: Mit Blogspot einen neuen Blog erstellen

Als erstes müssen Sie natürlich einen Blog erstellen. Haben Sie dies bereits getan, können Sie zum nächsten Abschnitt springen.

• Melden Sie sich bei Google an oder erstellen Sie einen neuen Account. Anschließend müssen Sie Blogger öffnen.
• Dort erstellen Sie über "Neuer Blog" eine neue Website, für die Sie noch einen Hintergrund und ein Layout auswählen müssen. Beides können Sie später jedoch wieder ändern.
• Geben Sie noch einen Blog-Namen ein und klicken Sie auf " Blog erstellen"

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Privacy and permissions

By default, your blog is completely public, and can be read by anyone on the internet. However, if you want to keep it private, you can do that, too. You can change these settings on the Settings | Basic tab.

1. Under the 'Blog Readers' section, you'll probably see 'Anybody' selected as the default. When you change this to 'Only these readers,' you'll get an Add Readers button.
2. Click the Add Readers button and then enter the email address of a person to whom you'd like to grant access to your blog. To add multiple people, separate their addresses with commas.
3. For each address entered, the Google Account associated with that address will be given access to view your blog. If an address is not associated with an account, that person will receive an invitation email with a link allowing them do one of three things:
   • Sign in to an existing account.
   • Create a new account.
   • View your blog as a guest (no account required).

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Customize

Your template is a fun way to customize your blog. When creating a new blog, you're first asked to choose a default template, this is the basic design of your blog. You can choose from many templates for your blog; simply pick the one that best fits your needs.
Once on the Template tab, you can either click on the orange Customize button to get started with our easy-to-use WYSIWYG (“What you see is what you get”) template designer, or choose one of our many default templates. If you’d like to edit the HTML of your blog, just click the gray Edit HTML button.
In addition, you can customize your blog's design using our intuitive drag-and-drop interface. You can also add powerful gadgets such as slideshows, user polls, or even AdSense ads. If you want more precise control over your blog's layout, you can also use the Edit HTML feature. To edit your blog's layout, follow these steps:

1. Click Layout from the drop-down menu on your dashboard below the blog you would like to customize.
2. From there, click Edit to edit existing gadgets, or Add a Gadget to add new ones.
3. To add a new gadget after you've clicked Add a Gadget, simply click the plus sign next to your desired gadget. You can choose from gadgets by category, or search for a specific gadget in the top right of the pop-up window.

4. Once you've added the necessary information to your selected gadget, click the orange Save arrangement button. Your layout changes will appear instantly.

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Write your post

Once you've signed in to Blogger, you'll see your dashboard with your list of blogs. Here's what you need to do:

1. Click the orange pencil icon to write a new post, and enter anything you want to share with the world.
2. Next, you'll see the Post Editor page. Start by giving your post a title (optional), then enter the post itself:
   
3. When you're done, click the Preview button at the top to make sure it's ready to go, and then click the Publish button to publish your post.
   

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Add an image

You can add an image from your computer or the Web to your blog. Click the image icon in the Post Editor toolbar. A window appears prompting you to browse for an image file on your computer, or enter the URL of an image on the Web.
Once you've selected your image, you can then choose a layout to determine how your image will appear in your post:

• The 'Left', 'Center', and 'Right' options allow you to customize the way your blog text will flow around your image.
• The 'Image size' options will determine how large the image will appear within your post.

Click UPLOAD IMAGES to add your image, and then click DONE when the notification window appears telling you that 'Your image has been added.' Blogger will then return you to the post editor, where you'll see your image ready to be published to your blog.
You can also publish images to your blog using your mobile device, Google's free photo software Picasa, or a third-party service like flickr.
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Add a video

To add a video to your blog post, click the film strip icon in the Post Editor toolbar above where you compose your blog text. A window appears prompting you to 'Add a video to your blog post.'
Click Browse to select the video file from your computer that you'd like to upload. Note that Blogger accepts AVI, MPEG, QuickTime, Real and Windows Media files and that your video must be less than 100MB in size.
Before uploading your video, add a title in the 'Video Title' box and agree to the Terms and Conditions (you'll only have to do this the first time that you upload a video with Blogger). Then click UPLOAD VIDEO.
While your video uploads, you'll see a placeholder in the post editor showing where your video will appear. You'll also see a status message below the post editor letting you know that your upload is in progress. Depending on the size of your video, this usually takes about five minutes. When it is complete, your video will appear in the post editor.

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Blogger Getting Started Guide

Dashboard

Your Dashboard, as always, is your starting point. This is where all your blogs are listed, and you can click on the icons next to them to perform various actions on each blog, such as:

• Writing a new post: Just click on the orange Pencil icon on your Dashboard to access the Post Editor.
• Viewing your posts: The gray Post List icon will take you to a list of your published and drafted posts for a specific blog.
• Catching up on your favorite blogs: Below the list of your own blogs, you’ll see a list of the blogs you follow with an excerpt from their latest posts.
• Everything else: Check out the drop-down menu next to the Post List icon for a quick link to:
  • Overview
  • Posts
  • Pages
  • Comments
  • Stats
  • Earnings
  • Layout
  • Template
  • Settings

Note that the Earnings tab will only show if AdSense supports your language.
Back to top

Overview

On the Overview tab, you can see your blog’s activity, news and tips from the Blogger team, and recent Blogs of Note.

Read More...

The Cost of Web Hosting Is Less Than $4 Per Month

Choosing the right hosting company is far from simple. Although all hosting companies might seem the same, some are slower than others, some have bad customer service and others are quick to scam you out of your money while offering horrible services.
The internet is also cluttered with thousands of people who recommend bad hosting companies. Individuals who do this are some times even paid by companies to write fake reviews about their services.
For this reason, I only speak from experience and recommend web host that I have used myself for many years without any complaints. The two web hosts that I recommend for beginners are Bluehost and HostGator. I use these two hosting providers to power nearly all of my online sites. The only two exceptions are my larger sites that I host with either WebSynthesis or WPengine. As you can see, I only recommend web hosting services that I actually use.

Creating Your Website: How It Works

Note that we focus on utilizing the WordPress content management system.

WordPress is a content management system or software that allows website owners to manage their site, add custom graphical elements, layouts, and more without needing to know any code. WordPress is the easiest to learn, most used website software in the world for blogging, e-commerce, and much more.
With WordPress you do not need to hire a web designer or design a layout yourself. Instead you can purchase predesigned web layouts or themes. WordPress website themes cost a fraction of time and money that you would spend designing a layout yourself or hiring a web designer. Another major advantage of WordPress is the fact that the software is installed on your website, and can be accessed online through any computer.
The layout of a WordPress site is customizable, however by default all WordPress sites come with a default graphical theme. If you wish to change the main WordPress layout, you can download new themes for free or buy one of thousands of WordPress themes available for purchase. Finally, before you start building your blog, let’s discuss the necessary steps to becoming an authority blogger.

How to Setup Your Blog

In this simple step-by-step website building process, you are going to work through purchasing your hosting, installing WordPress, installing the theme of your choice, then securing your new website.
For this tutorial, I will use the Genesis Framework and a Genesis Theme. If you decide to use another WordPress theme (not Genesis), then you will follow a similar approach with the theme of your choice.
If you are ready, let’s get to work!

Tools That You’ll Need

• WordPress Hosting: Bluehost
• WordPress Theme: Genesis Framework & Theme
• Recommended plugins: Yoast SEO, Akismet, & Stop Spam Comments

Read more: http://blogbasics.com/#ixzz3mxjDKqRK
Follow us: @kbyrdjr on Twitter | blogbasics on Facebook

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Creating Your First Website

In this guide, I will discuss the overall process that is involved in creating a website. This article is specially useful for those who wish to make a website, yet they lack the knowledge and the guidance to start the website of their dreams.
In this website setup guide, I will discuss some of the requirements needed prior to launching your site, how to buy a domain name and much more.
Unlike many people believe, with today’s simple technology, making a website is easier than ever and does not really require programming skills. Another misconception revolves around website expenses. In reality setting up a website with a personal domain can be as cheap as 3 to 4 dollars a month.
So if you wish to join the millions of business owners, bloggers, and other people who have set up their websites successfully, this guide will help you by guiding you every step of the way.

Setting Up Your Site

There are two fundamental parts of setting up your website and publishing it online:
1. Buying a domain name (example: www.blogbasics.com)
2. Purchasing web hosting services

Get your free domain name with Bluehost when you purchase hosting for only $3.95 per month

Once you have these two elements your site will be online and available for the world to see. However, before we get there, we must understand domain names and web hosting.

What Are Domain Names?

A domain name is the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or website address of your site. Think of Google.com, Facebook.com, Twitter.com; all of which are domain names.
In order to set up your site you will have to purchase (also known as register) a domain name that has never been registered before or is currently available.
For example, a website owner closed down his or her website and the domain name is waiting for someone to “reactivate” it or purchase it for personal use. With this in mind, follow these tips when you are ready to buy your domain name.

Read more: http://blogbasics.com/#ixzz3mxizCXZ4
Follow us: @kbyrdjr on Twitter | blogbasics on Facebook

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Getting Started with Blog Basics

Definition of a Blog

In order to build a successful blog, we must first understand what the term blog really means.
The definition below is what I will discuss most often on Blog Basics:

A blog is a means of communication used to examine a topic that often consists of written text, video, audio or other ways to exchange information.

Now, that we’ve level set, let’s dive in and discuss specific tactics for setting up your blog.

Why You Should Build a Self-Hosted Blog

Many people decide to use a free hosting service when they initially start blogging. There are several free hosting platforms and new platforms continue to be released.
Two of the most popular free hosting platforms are Blogger.com and WordPress.com. You may decide to use one of these free hosting platforms initially and that’s fine. However, if you’re serious about building a popular blog, I don’t suggest utilizing one of the free hosting providers.
When you use Blogger.com, WordPress.com or any of the other free hosting platforms, they almost always add their domain name to the preferred domain name of your website.
Here is an example: If I had decided to use WordPress.com for Blog Basics, the domain name would be blogbasics.wordpress.com instead of blogbasics.com.
The result of using a free hosting service is a less professional domain name that is likely more difficult to remember for your audience. You will also have fewer options to customize your blog with limited plugins, themes, design options and monetization opportunities.
The only way I would recommend using a free hosting provider is if you only plan to blog for fun. This means that you have no intention of ever building a business around your blog or monetizing your blog. If there is even a remote possibility that you eventually want to have a serious blog, then I suggest you build a self-hosted website.

Free setup & domain for only $3.95 per month – professional Bluehost web hosting

Below is a walkthrough of the steps that you will need to complete to setup a self-hosted WordPress.org website. I only recommend using WordPress.org due to simplicity, customization options and ongoing support. It’s easily the best self-hosted blogging platform available.

Read more: http://blogbasics.com/#ixzz3mximZdOO
Follow us: @kbyrdjr on Twitter | blogbasics on Facebook

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Find domain name and web hosting provider

To set up a self-hosted WordPress blog, you’ll need two things:
Domain name – This will be your personal blog address where people find you over and over again. For example Google’s Domain is www.Google.com. Your new blog domain name will be www.YourBlogName.com, except you’ll choose what’s going to be behind YourNewBlog. The cost of a domain name is usually $10/year.
Web hosting – This will be the home of your blog address and content that’s on the blog. Without web hosting, you’ll be unable to use your domain. Think of it as a computer hard drive that stores all your content. The cost of web hosting is usually somewhere between $2-5 per month.
It’s less than an XL coffee at Starbucks, so it won’t break the bank. But it’s an important investment to your blog success.

Where should I get my domain name and hosting?

There are hundreds of different web hosting companies like BlueHost, GoDaddy, iPage and so on…
They all offer you a similar service with a similar price, but after managing dozens of blogs and experiencing a ton of headaches with hosts, I now only use and recommend www.HostGator.com for domain names and web hosting. 

But if you want, you can always go with another web host as long as it’s reliable, secure and with unlimited storage & bandwidth. That way you won’t run into troubles later on.

How do I choose a good domain name?

Choosing a bad domain name is one of the most common mistakes I see bloggers make. Be sure you choose a domain name that is…
1. Easy to Remember – Don’t choose a nonsense name, something tough to spell, or a long name full of dashes. “www.best-tech-gadgets-in-the-world.com” won’t ever stick in someone’s head, but something like “www.techgeeks.com” rolls off the tongue.
2. Unique and Descriptive – You want a name that reflects who you are and what you care about. Be creative and build an identity you’re excited about!
3. Trustworthy – Domain extensions like “.com”, “.org” or “.net” are the most popular, with “.com” being the one most people think of first. Try to avoid crazy extensions like “.rocks” or “.biz”, as these are less commonly used, tougher to remember and not as trusted.

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Make a decision: non-hosted or self-hosted WordPress?

 

In short, there are two types of blogs – free blogging (non-hosted) services and self-hosted blogs. WordPress is no different than others. I’ll explain you the difference in a second, but first have a look at this chart:

	SELF-HOSTED BLOG	FREE BLOGGING SERVICES
Your blog address (URL, WWW.)	Your blog address will look professional and neat. You’ll be able to set up your own domain name like: www.YourNewBlog.com	Your blog address will look like: tumblr.com/yourblog or yourblog.blogspot.com. Hard to remember and not really something you’d trust as a visitor, right?
Who controls your blog content?	The only one who controls and moderates your blog is you. No-one will be able to remove/edit your content, you decide what you publish.	Your blog content is controlled and owned by the free blogging service provider. If they think it’s against their TOS (which can happen), they can take down your blog without any warnings. All your hard work and time put on the blog can disappear within seconds.
How about monetization?	You decide which ads to place, which products/services to sell. You can even set up an email subscription.	Not really. On a free blogging platform, you’ll have some limitations. For example; “Selling ad space or running Adsense are prohibited on free blogging services.”
Customisation?	You’ll have access to over 1,500 free themes/layouts and over 2,000 free plugins. You won’t run out of features.	Limited. Fewer plugins and themes to choose from (around 100). If you want more themes and plugins – you’ll need to pay as it’s only for Premium users.
Sample blogs?	www.SmartPassiveIncome.com www.MichaelHyatt.com	www.reciperifle.blogspot.com www.jessica.wordpress.com
What about the cost?	Domain name: $10 / year Web Host: $2 – $4 / month	Free, but if you reach 25,000 monthly visitors, you’ll need to start paying.
How about bandwidth and storage?	Depends on your web hosting company, but it’s usually unlimited.	3GB for free (no videos, though).

Still confused? Let me help you to decide.

So should I create a free blog or self-hosted blog? I know that this is one of the hardest decisions for people who want to create a blog. I’ve heard this question so many times, so I’ll do my best to keep things simple:

• Free blogging services: If you have no plans to blog more than a few months about something random, hands-down go with free blogging services. It doesn’t cost you a dime, you can signup within 5 minutes and start writing blog posts right away.

• Self-hosted WordPress blog (recommended): If you have plans to dedicate more time and effort into your blog and make it successful at some point, start with a self-hosted blog from day one. All the successful bloggers I personally know are using self-hosted blogs on their own domain names. You’ll have no limits, it’s a MUCH better option.

Drawbacks? It’ll cost you some money. Domain names (www.YourNewBlog.com) are around $10 / year and web hosting is roughly $3 – $5 / month.
However, choosing one or another is totally up to you.

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Choose a blogging platform – WordPress

There are a lot of different blogging platforms to choose from: WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger and many more. However, given that there are over 72 million active users using WordPress today, it’s clear which platform is the boss. Even my own sites and blogs are built with WordPress platform. Here’s why:
1) It’s FREE for everyone to use.
2) It’s super easy to set up.
3) It’s secure; WordPress are always updating their software and keeping everything sound and secure, so there’s rarely a worry of having your blog come under hacking attacks. No wonder Sony, NASA and even university blogs are using WP.
4) There are hundreds of free themes and plugins that add more functionality to your blog, from contact and subscribe boxes to plugins that improve blog performance and more.
While the other blogging platforms are generally all pretty great, nothing in my opinion has ever come close to matching the freedom and customisation options that WordPress offers. So without a doubt, go with WordPress.
HOLD UP! You don’t need to install nor download anything at this point. I’ll show you this in a minute, but first…

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Choose your blog topic (… and meaning).

Finding a niche, topic or category is ESSENTIAL for your blog. Otherwise, you’ll fail from day one. Believe me, I’ve mentored hundreds of beginner bloggers who all wanted to make it work, but failed since they didn’t choose a blog topic.
Here’s a simple rule I usually suggest: Choose a topic that you’re INTERESTED in. If you KNOW more about something than 99% of the rest of people, go with it. That way you can write about something that you’re passionate about.
If you don’t know what to blog about – don’t worry. You can still create a blog (you can figure it out later).

Here are some tips for you (when you click, it expands)

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