A Blog for Hobby, a Blog for Business

Many people, if not most, that have online presence and active on the internet have thought to have a blog, or already have a blog, at least once in their lifetime. Blogs are becoming popular with its ability to share and promote almost anything to anyone online.

A blog, or a web blog is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries, or posts, that typically have the most recent post appears above the rest. Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, and occasionally, made by a small group, and often covered a single subject. More recently "multi-author blogs" (MABs) have developed, with posts written professionally by large numbers of authors. This blogs can cover almost all interest groups and acquire mass amount of traffic. And since the rise of microblogging site, notably Twitter, blogs are becoming more mainstream than ever.

People have wondered about how and where to start their first blog. The answer depends on where they want to start, what topic they want to choose, and what platform they want to have. With many choices available, from LiveJournal, to a more sophisticated Blogspot. And to a platform well-known for bloggers: WordPress among others.

When writing a blog, people are expecting feedbacks and/or appreciation from what they share. Starting from the writer him/herself, the appreciation will grow as writing skill increases, Most people that wish they could start a blog may as well answer the following questions:

Why Start a Blog?

People start to blog because they want to share what their mind is thinking. And with web blog, the internet is a populated world where potential viewers are seeking to see something new, interesting, and original. Some people starts blogging because it interests them.

The key to a successful blog is when a blogger is writing what he/she enjoys. A blog can be a place for sharing feelings, thoughts, creativity and so forth. It enables people to communicate with others all around the world as well as express the bloggers' insight and thoughts on any chosen topic.

What Blog Topic?

A Blog usually flows around a topic, and other related sub-topics. People that wants to blog, should choose to write about a specific topic they are concerned about. This can be a hobby, a passion, a topic that the blogger is fond of, or have particular interests at.

Blogging about something the blogger understand can make the blogger enjoy the moments of writing and sharing. And this will make the blogger have less trouble on what to write about. If a blogger starts a blog based on a topic he/she think will be popular, then chances are if the blogger isn't enjoying the moments of writing the particular topic, the blogger will write less interesting posts. And as a the result, the blog will be less likely successful in getting traffic and readers.

How to Blog?

A blog starts when people wants to share. Before starting a blog and think what to share, people can start by reading other people's blogs in order to give an idea on how blogging should be, and to know the format for the blog. Quoting from other blogs is possible, but plagiarism is illegal and the source should be mentioned.

The best for bloggers is to write by using their own mind and voice. Being genuine on the internet is greatly appreciated by both human visitors and search engine crawlers.

Blogging for Money?

Blogs have the ability to funnel massive amount of traffic. This has many people to create blog to make money. However, this should not be the first priority. Choosing to start a blog and make money will only lead the blogger to start the blog in such a way that he/she will only write because of money. And when there is not income, the chances are the blogger will stop blogging. Blogging and making money is possible but requires patience and skills.

One of the source of income for blogs comes from advertisement banners. These banners are placed on its pages and make the visitors see and click. For bloggers that are aiming to make money, it is recommended that they start placing ads only after their blog starts to receive decent web traffic. Google AdSense is one out of the many that give such a service by offering links and banners for bloggers to place on their blogs.

For online blogs that are starting their way to make traffic, Link exchange for improving traffic by creating inbound links can be an early online promoting solution.

Online advertising have received many pros and cons throughout its entire lifetime. Bloggers must choose how and what ads they want to place on their blog. Visitors that seek for information, usually see ads as distraction. Ads that is placed properly can make visitors see the ads as an additional attraction from the blog's own web design. This can make visitors enjoy what they see on the page, thus increases the chances for them to see and appreciate the ads and click through them. However, ads should be informative about its well-being, by misleading visitors to click through it will annoy them. This can make them leave and lower the blog's traffic.

A blog that is a place to share, can also be a place to sell. Bloggers can sell products and/or services by mentioning it on their posts. By giving contact details and how to purchase, blogs with high traffic that have done a proper internet marketing can become an alternative solution for e-commerce place to sell and buy.