Want to start a blog, can you help?

24 replies
I'm a broke college student (like everyone else :p) and I want to start a blog and have some money come in from it. Any tips on what to make the blog about, and what software to use? Thanks!
#blog #start
  • Profile picture of the author omrishabbat
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  • Profile picture of the author Willie Murray
    I'll second WordPress for a blog, hostgator is a good all round solution... Why don't you blog about trying to make some extra cash? or whatever subject your passionate about?
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    • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
      Go through this guy's website. It will help you a lot

      Starting Your First Blog? 29 Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers

      Additionally, I have set up dozens of WordPress blogs, both for myself, friends, associates, as well as clients who originally came to me for writing tasks. Contact me, if you would like some experienced help.
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    • Profile picture of the author Laurie Rogers
      I'm going to give some of my homie's a big recommendation because, they know their stuff, they will go out of their way to help you and well, you can try them out for free for a month. Meaning, they will give you a free wordpress blog and hosting, so hopefully you can make some cash before the month is up. Free Blog Factory, owned by Russell Yermal and Bradley Will, and even after the month is up, their rates are DIRT cheap. Really good people and highly endorsed

      Edit: I have posted this thread link to both of their walls, so one of them or both may come in here and talk to you. They've got wicked tutorials, webinars, plugin suggestions, they pay attention to what their customers are saying and on their fan page (FB), they're always discussing methods of blogging, asking for input, making suggestions on how to improve your blog .. etc. etc.
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      • Profile picture of the author yesacpow
        I would advice that you do some initial research based on something that you are passionate about. This way you wont get bored and you will give it 100% and that's when you will experience real success. There are lots of information on this forum so just do a search and you will find what you are looking for.

        Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author NiallR
    Hi there,

    If you're really strapped for cash you could start with a free blog platform like Blogger or Wordpress although you run the risk of them deleting your account or just refusing to allow you to promote affiliate offers.

    Wordpress is the most popular and support blog platform right now and you get a basic hosting account with anyone there should be a one click install option for it. Plus there's plenty of free online tutorials in how to set it up.

    The topic. Now there's the clincher. Most people don't know where to start. There's 3 bits of advice here:

    1. It takes as much effort to sell an item for a $1 commission as it does to sell an item for a $25+ commission.

    2. Go with affiliate programs that pay commissions every 2 weeks like Clickbank or at least monthly. Amazon is really popular these days but it takes 90 days to get paid.

    3. Avoid anyone who has a "loophole", a "secret system" or promises you a way of pushing a few buttons and getting rich - they're scams.

    If you're prepared to work hard and apply yourself you can generate a healthy residual income for yourself online :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author fahadabrarkhan
    I will get you started. Private message me with your phone number and I will call you.
    I am just bored and looking for someone I can talk with.

    It will be a good way to end my boredom and I can help you out with your blog.

    Yes. I live in America.
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  • Profile picture of the author LOLRECONLOL
    Thanks all! What levels of success have you had on your blogs?
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  • Profile picture of the author debranighosh4
    i would suggest you to host your blog site using word press plate farm .. keep-in mind to have paid domain and a paid hosting space.. else in future you may face some problems..
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  • Hi LOLRECONLOL,

    I'm sure you have specialized expertise in certain subject areas. Which of those subject areas do lots of people, especially those in your social networks, have immediate needs and urgent problems, immediate and urgent enough for them to prefer looking and purchasing solutions online, than in offline outlets? Which specific set of keywords do they frequently use in Google and other Internet search engines to search for useful content, products and services?

    Which online social communities do they frequently hang out, since they expect to find useful content in the form of info, advice, tips, strategies, techniques, product reviews, service offers and products in those online communities, as well as to talk to other members of those online communities with substantial expertise in relevant subject areas?

    Which products or service offers in the market have a good amount of positive recommendations and reviews from buyers? What benefits are lacking from those products, service offers and the content of the websites where those products and service offers are posted? What enticing relevant Cost Per Action offers are available from advertisers? Are there good products and service offers being advertised via Pay Per Click advertising?

    What income method do you prefer and believe as the most rewarding ones for your online marketing venture? Selling your own products and services? Promoting affiliate products? Promoting CPA (Cost Per Action) offers? Publishing CPC (Cost Per Click) ads? Renting out private ad spaces on your website? Enticing people to subscribe to your free or paid membership website?

    Which websites offer contextually relevant authority content, products and services useful for your target audience? Do those websites have contextually relevant pages top ranking in Google for your target keywords?

    At this point: I believe you can now develop your business name, tagline and domain name. Register your domain name with NameCheap.Com or some other domain registrar and sign up for a CPanel Web host server account with Hostgator or another Web hosting company. Install a Wordpress instance in your CPanel server using the easy Wordpress installation wizard under Fantastico. Select an excellent looking Wordpress theme, download it, upload it to the correct directory in your server, activate and configure its settings. Download Wordpress plugins useful for onsite SEO and marketing...

    Develop your logo banner and other graphics. Improve the visual page layout of your blog. Optimize the overall look and feel of your blog, particularly for your target viewers, since they have specific preferences when it comes to Web browsing, website navigation and visual appearance...

    Write the content of your static pages, i.e. "About Me", "Privacy Policy" and "Contact Me" with email form pages...

    Integrate your autoresponder's mailing list subscription box into your blog, most prefer to place it in the right sidebar. Most recommend offering a free digital info product to entice your target viewers to sign up to your mailing list...

    Write blog posts, some of which can be subtle promotional materials or reviews of your affiliate products and CPA offers. If you have your own products and service offers: Write excellent sales pages for those...

    Negotiate ad placement arrangements and guest authoring deals with webmasters of authority websites offering contextually relevant content, products and services useful for the relevant problems and needs of your target audience...

    Hang out where your target viewers hang out, most of whom can be found in online social communities with contextually relevant discussion pages top ranking in Google and other Internet search engines for relevant keywords. Build your reputation as a friendly expert resource of useful content, products and services...

    Build mutually beneficial relationships with your target viewers, mailing list subscribers, customers, possible joint venture partners and other bloggers...
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  • Profile picture of the author Zaney
    I advice that you start of with wordpress platoform to create your blog, its easy to understand, and its to the point.

    If you are going to start your own blog, i advice that you do research on the type of niche your blog is going to be in. Pick a niche you are passionate in

    hope that helps
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  • Profile picture of the author richgrad
    Use wordpress hosted on your own domain... I wouldn't recommend free hosting. Go for something reliable like the hostgator baby plan. Use a coupon code to get a discount.
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  • Profile picture of the author golf69
    wordpress has worked great for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    I'd use Wordpress and Hostgator hosting. As for the niche, you need to learn to do niche research to find potentially profitable niches. It doesn't matter what you have a passion for if you can't monetize it and convert visitors to paying customers.

    You can also use it to build a list and sell to your list. In that case, you need an autoresponder service as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author rhinocl
      There are a lot of component skills that you must learn before you are likely to make any substantial money from a blog. The good news-as you learn each skill you can sell your services at performing it-writing copy,creating and swapping out blog headers etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author hamzah3
    I would recommend you to go with wordpress because its the most popular blogging platform used and there are lots of themes and plugins already available for it.And for hosting you can choose Hostgator.
    I would like to share my experience with you.I started my blog approximately 1 month and 10 days ago and now I'm getting 120 visitors everyday .I'm trying to write 1 post everyday because in starting you need to create content on a regular basis.And within a day or two I will install aweber opt in page also.There is lots of information available on how to start a blog you can check problogger.net for more information which is one of the most authentic source on blogging.
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  • Profile picture of the author cyriljeet
    For creating a blog and getting start benefit out of it these are the steps:
    create a blog in wordpress
    use useful wordpress plugin like allinoneseo and other
    Use some original and popular content in it.
    Use google adsense in it.
    and start the promotion..
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  • Profile picture of the author Manny Derek
    If you want to create a blog without spending a single cash, try Wordpress. Create quality content and put your Google Adsense. You can even promote a product in your blog or do some backlinking.
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  • Profile picture of the author hgy
    you dont need a lot of money to start a blog, use adwords keyword tool, see what people like and what can you write about , use Market Samurai to see what is your competition , you can use a free 7 day trail.
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  • Profile picture of the author Yaros
    Hi, LOLRECONLOL
    If you want to find the most popular theme I want to recommend to use google) As for me, the most popular themes are: diets, music, loans, medicine, beauty and tourism. But the competition in these ones are really active! For software to use: wordpress - the most effective cms with lots of beatiful templates! Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
      Originally Posted by Yaros View Post

      Hi, LOLRECONLOL
      If you want to find the most popular theme I want to recommend to use google) As for me, the most popular themes are: diets, music, loans, medicine, beauty and tourism. But the competition in these ones are really active! For software to use: wordpress - the most effective cms with lots of beatiful templates! Good luck!
      I think you're confused. Google is a search engine and not a theme.

      Diets, music, loans etc are also not themes, they are niches.

      The templates you referred to in WP are in fact themes.

      What's more surprising is your signature and the opening lines of the site....

      With years of experience in web development, SEO, pay per click advertising, Social Marketing, CPA and search engine marketing, our company offers high quality but affordable Services. Avoiding outdated and worthless techniques, we rely only on strategies and methods that really work.
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      Wibble, bark, my old man's a mushroom etc...

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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Yaros View Post

      As for me, the most popular themes are: diets, music, loans, medicine, beauty and tourism.
      First, the thread is 4 months old, and the OP hasn't posted here for 3 of those months. My guess is that he's either started his blog or lost interest, by now.

      Secondly, you've misunderstood what "themes" means, in this context: they're "layout packages" for content management systems, not "topics about which to blog".
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  • Profile picture of the author Lyanna
    Go to offervault and look up your interests. You can find offers there for affiliate products. Apply to the affiliate network that you like and then start your blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Ning Lo
    I would go for wordpress...

    Concerning blog ideas, just pick a topic in which you're passionate about and go for it.

    Cheers,

    ~Gary
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  • Profile picture of the author mrkita
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      THE THREAD IS 4 MONTHS OLD, PEOPLE: THERE'S NO NEED TO KEEP POSTING ONE-LINERS IN IT ...

      I'm "just saying" ...
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