How to Create a Blog 

Creating a blog isn't hard, in fact you can learn how to create a blog in just a few easy steps and have it up and running in a few hours.

Blogs are free to create, easy to install and they can be fun. So if you're here to learn how to create a blog, let's get started...

The 3 most popular blogging platforms are:

Blogger.com - Blogger is a free blogging tool from Google. It's a subscription service that creates and hosts your blog. Blogger makes it easy to post text, photos and video onto your personal or team blog. There is no need to purchase a domain name or find your own hosting service, blogger does it all for you.

Wordpress.com - Wordpress.com is also a free subscription service very similar to Blogger.com. It also creates and hosts your blog for you and provides you with a Wordpress domain name. You simply subscribe and start creating your blog on the spot. There are no hosting fees and no domain name services to deal with.

Wordpress.org - Wordpress.org, on the other hand, is blogging software (also free) but you must download the software to your own hosting server. To use Wordpress.org you must purchase your own domain name as well as a hosting service.

If you're starting your own online business and want to create a serious income with a more professional looking blog, Wordpress.org will be your best option.

Because Wordpress.org requires a more specialized process to get set up we'll be discussing in detail how to create your blog using Wordpress.org.

How to Create a Blog Using Wordpress.org

There are two versions of Wordpress, www.wordpress.com and www.worpress.org.

Wordpress.com is a free subscription service that creates and hosts your blog for you, it also provides you with a Wordpress domain name. You simply subscribe and start creating your blog on the spot. Blogger.com works in much the same way. There are no hosting fees and no domain name services to deal with.

Wordpress.org, on the other hand, is blogging software (also free) that you download to your own hosting server. To use Wordpress.org you must purchase your own domain name as well as a hosting service.

I personally prefer Wordpress.org because I like having my own blog on my own domain. However don't let finding a domain name and hosting service scare you. Neither of these things is expensive and if you feel technically challenged you can find plenty of people that will set it up for you and they don't charge much either.

If you choose to install Wordpress.org yourself here is what you need to do:

Find a topic for your blog

You'll have to find a topic on what you want to blog about. This could be a personal blog or it could be something business related. That's up to you. Most people start blogs to make money so finding a topic that people want to know about and then promoting related products is ideal.

Decide on a domain name for your blog

Get your domain name through Godaddy, they are a very secure domain service so that's just a given for me.

Before choosing a domain name spend time thinking about a name that accurately describes your blog as a whole. For example, a blog about Chinese cooking should have the words 'chinese cooking' in the domain name. These might all be fine domain names:

chinesecooking101
mychinesecookingblog
lovechinesecooking
chinesecookingcraze

Find a Hosting Service for your blog

Next, find a hosting service. This is the place where your blog will reside.

I use Hostgator (here's a link to a coupon code). Hostgator is not only very secure they offer great service. They also come equipped with Fantastico, which is an application designed to make installing scripts like Wordpress, super easy. If your host doesn't have Fantastico, then installing Wordpress is significantly more difficult.

If you feel technically challenged as a whole and aren't up to installing Wordpress yourself even using Fantastico, I highly recommend ReliableWebs. Their pricing, services and security are comparable to Hostgator and they will install a Wordpress blog for you, it's included in the price of their service.

If you would like to tackle installing Wordpress.org yourself there is a step-by-step guide you can download for free by signing up for my tips newsletter and I'll send you the guide immediately

Customizing your blog

After you have created your blog, it's time to customize it. One of the great things about having a blog are the plug-ins. Plug-ins are small applications that you can download for free. They are the customization features of your blog.

You can install any plug-in with just a few clicks of your mouse. For example, there are plug-ins that block spam, plug-ins for search engine optimization, plug-ins for adding Google Adsense ads, plug-ins for adding content and social networking plug-ins. Whatever you want to do on your blog, there's a plug-in for it.

Monetizing your blog

Once you have your blog installed, it's time to start making money.  John Yeo's self-study course Bloggers Paycheck takes you through all the steps for profiting with your blog and doing it quickly.

In Summary...

Let me just say that if you’ve hesitated creating a blog because it seemed like too much work or you aren't sure about the technical aspects, there are NO more excuses.  The above steps are easy to implement and you could have your blog installed in a day.

Blogs are simply a great communication tool. They make it easy for viewers to provide feedback because of the ability to make comments right on your posts. By the way, the more comments you get, the more content your blog receives and that's what the search engines love, fresh content.