How to Shift to Blogger's Custom Domain

After learning how to verify or authenticate one's blog, there are still a number of little things that a newbie blogger needs to know and do for his/her blog. But I have decided to defer talking about these things for now because I can see from the Official Blogger Help Group site that, despite the numerous explanations already published there, one of the most complained-about topic remains to be how to successfully shift from a Blogspot blog (a subdomain) to a "custom domain" (or a URL/address owned by the blogger). This is my take on the "custom domain" issue, based on my own experience. Before I proceed, however, here are a few clarificatory words.

First, this post is limited in its application to the Blogger platform.

Second, although I could have acquired my domain name thru Blogger and registered it through a Google partner, I have decided to source it from GoDaddy.com after some preliminary Web research. As such, the step-by-step procedures that are discussed here pertain only to domains parked with GoDaddy.com. Having had no benefit of actual experience with domain names parked with other hosts, I can't tell how different or similar the procedures are when one shifts from Blogspot to a custom domain.

Third, what most step-by-step procedures about shifting to a custom domain lacks is a simplified overview on what the whole exercise is trying to achieve. This is superfluous for a techie, but quite basic to a non-techie who is trying to do this himself for the first time. I wish somebody taught me this on my first attempt. Anyway...

Blogger's "custom domain" feature is like having your cake and eating it, too--a normally impossible feat in the real world, but only made possible by Google. With this Blogger feature, you can enjoy the respectability of blogging from your own URL or personal blog address without the attendant monthly costs of a hosted blog. This magic is achieved by having a domain "parked" with GoDaddy.com (free of cost if you bought it from them) and "pointing" (take note: I didn't say "forwarding", because that's a different matter altogether in the Internet world) that domain or address to a Blogger/Google server, which is your "host". Thus, all the procedures below are intended to "point" your "parked" domain to your cost-free "host." On that note, here we go:

1. Login to your GoDaddy account:












2. Click on the My Account link:











3. Click on Manage Domains to open the Domain Control Center:











4. In your list of domain names (assuming you have more than one parked in GoDaddy), click on the domain you wish to substitute (as "Custom Domain") for your present Blog*spot sub-domain:





5. Click on the Total DNS Control and MX Records link, located just under Nameservers in the mid-portion of your screen:









DNS stands for "Domain Name System", a system which allows the translation of a human-readable hostname (ex: Typhoon.com) into an IP (short for "Internet Protocol") address of the form 208.77.188.166, to enable the delivery of digital data over networking equipment.

An MX or "Mail Exchange" record, on the other hand, is a type of resource record in the Domain Name System (DNS). Each MX record contains a "priority" and a "host" name, so that the collection of MX records for a given domain name point to the servers that should receive e-mail for that domain, and their priority relative to each other.

6. Set up a CNAME referral for the alias www by clicking on Add New CNAME Record (found at the right portion of your screen, below Add New A Record):








CNAME is short for "canonical name" record. It indicates the true, or canonical, host name of a computer that its aliases are associated with. A machine or a computer can have an unlimited number of CNAME aliases, but a separate CNAME record must be in the database for each alias.

6. Fill up the CNAME (Alias) form:

Before you fill up that form, let me just digress a little bit to the concept of "domain name," which most tutorials on custom domain presume you know. According to Google Apps: Domain names are easy-to-remember names (URLs and email addresses) that are associated with one or more IP addresses. Since a web page is defined by its URL, the page can move to a different IP address without affecting visitors. If we have "www.typhoon.com" as the domain name, "com" is called the top-level domain, "typhoon" is the second-level domain, while "www" is the subdomain, third-level domain, alias or CNAME.

Having said that, type "www" on the space provided for "Enter an Alias Name" and "ghs.google.com" on the space provided for "Points to Host Name," then set the "TTL" using the dropdown box. I don't know with you, but I kept the "TTL" at the default setting of 1 hour, which means that's the time increment for which the server should cache the information. Once you're done with the form, click OK. (In case the "www" alias is rejected, if you already have several domain names under the same GoDaddy account--like what happened to me recently--use your second-level domain in place of "www", e.g., "typhoon.com" in the above example)










7. After successfully completing the CNAME referral process, you can now delete the A-Record by clicking the highlighted button shown below, before logging out of GoDaddy:







8. It's time now to set up Custom Domain by logging-in to your Blogger blog , going to the Settings tab and clicking the Publishing link:











9. Click the Advanced Settings link in the Custom Domain Page, since you already own a domain parked with GoDaddy:

















10. Type your Custom Domain (which is parked with GoDaddy and by now pointed to Google's server) on the space indicated, then click Save Settings, as shown below:























11. After saving your Custom Domain successfully, check the Redirect box (which I highlighted), then click Save Settings:





















Bloggers who shift to Custom Domain very early on, when they still have not published much, could practically confirm right away if they did the whole process correctly by clicking on the View Blog link, and checking their Browser's address box. The address displayed should correspond to the Custom Domain. For older blogs with plenty of published posts, however, it may take longer. According to Google Apps, it could take as much as 48 hours for the Custom Domain to substitute for the Blogspot subdomain.

How to "Authenticate" Your Blog Using Yahoo Site Explorer

My last post was meant to help you gain more visibility on Google's search engine. Yahoo has its own search engine, so you must be asking how you can similarly improve your chances of getting included in Yahoo! search results.

If you want guaranteed inclusion in all Yahoo! search results, that is possible but it would come at a certain price. It is called a "Sponsored Search," which is keyword- and click-driven (meaning you pay only when your ad is clicked in search results—not every time it is displayed). If you're a novice, hobbyist blogger like me, why spend at all?

Fortunately, it is possible to have your cake and eat it too at Yahoo! You see, Yahoo! has its own blog "authentication" procedures, using Yahoo! Site Explorer. To use Site Explorer, however, you need to create first your Yahoo account, if you don't have one yet. It's free anyway, so that should not be a problem. Once you have a Yahoo account, follow these procedures:

1. Login to Yahoo! Site Explorer.






2. Input your blog's address or URL in the indicated box, then click the Add My Site button:







3. Once your blog gets added to the list, click the Manage button:






4. Input your blog's Feed address or URL in the indicated box. If yours is a Blogger or Blogspot blog, simply type "Atom.XML" on the box provided, because that's the default Feed address of all Blogger/Blogspot blogs. Afterwards, click the Add Feed button:








5. Once you see your blog Feed listed, click the Authenticate button:







6. You will be presented with 2 authentication procedures as shown below. Choose Add a META Tag and copy the code provided for your blog:









7. Open a new tab in your browser so you can login to your blog, without logging out of Yahoo! Site Explorer (you need to go back after pasting the META tag to your blog template).

8. For Blogger/Blogspot blogs, login then go to your Layout Page. Click the Edit HTML link, then on the Edit Template page which contains your blog's XML coding. Locate the opening "Head" tag in the template (not very far down from the template's first line of code) then insert your META tag below the Head tag. Enclose the META tag with a forward slash (/) at the end, as highlighted in yellow below, so that you won't encounter any "parsing" problem like I did during my first-ever attempt last year (don't forget to click Save Template before logging out of your blog):

















9. Go back to the Yahoo! Site Explorer tab, then click the Ready to Authenticate button. After you do, this is what you will see in a new window:











10. When you go back to your Yahoo! Site Explorer dashboard after clicking the My Site link, this is what you will see.






The "Pending" status is usually replaced with "Authenticated" after 24 hours. With your blog verified by Google and authenticated by Yahoo!, your posts should now appear in search engine results. Look, I didn't say on page 1 of the search results, did I? This is because there is more to blogging than just being "visible" to the search engines. You will find that out as you go along.

How to "Verify" Your Blog Using Google Webmaster Tools

"Verifying" my blog should have entered my consciousness earlier had I been eager enough to monitor my performance in the search engines or the volume of my visitor traffic. But no, I wasn't, on both counts. It was the thought of monetizing my blog which opened up my eyes to the need to "verify" my blog. When I signed up for Google AdSense (which needs a separate post), I realized it was part of the drill, so to speak.

One exasperated comment I read today in the Google Help Forum typifies the frustration of newbies, who are particularly non-techies: "I have an account with a password, why would you have to 'verify' the blog?" Good question, so if you are like this guy here's my attempt to answer that:

--Google is the top search engine on the Web, so when your blog is "verified" using the Google Webmaster Tools, you improve your site's visibility to Google.

--When your blog is more visible to Google, it gets indexed better by its search engine, so your blog's webpages are likely to be included in Google's search results when people query on topics or subjects you have blogged about.

--Since you will want to update your blog frequently with new posts, Google will be able to capture your updates very quickly, when your blog has been "verified" by Google. This means that if Google's database gets updated quickly, people who search Google will find the most current information about your blog.

Here's how to verify your blog:

1. Log-in to Google Webmaster Tools using your username and password for your Blog-spot blog. This procedure will take you to your Dashboard.

2. Enter the URL or address of your blog's homepage (e.g., http://anyblog.blogspot.com) in the box provided in your Dashboard (like the one shown below), then click Add Site.








3. After clicking Add Site, you blog will appear on your Dashboard. Click on your blog's link to go to your Overview Page . Click "Verify Your Site" as shown below:











4. In the Verify a Site Page, you will see your blog's status, quite understandably, as "NOT VERIFIED." So, you should proceed now with the verification process. There are 2 methods available, as you will find out when you click the dropdown box indicated below (with yellow arrow):












5. There are 2 verification methods available, namely: "Add a meta tag" and "Upload an HTML file." Click Add a Meta Tag. This is what you'll see upon choosing Add a meta tag:









Since this is presumably your first time to do this, you may want to click also the "Show me an example" link for you to gain some familiarity with the relative location of the tag to be pasted on your blog's template. This is what you will see:













6. Copy the whole meta tag you were given (from < to />), then open a new tab on your browser (don't logout yet from Google Webmaster since you will need to go back to complete the verification process) and login to your Blog*spot blog, proceeding to the Layout Page and clicking the Edit HTML link.

This will bring you to the Edit Template Page, which contains the XML codes for your chosen template. Locate the opening "head" tag in the template (not very far down from the template's first line of code) then insert your meta tag. Make sure to save your tag, as indicated by the numbered arrows below:


















7. Go back to the Google Webmaster tab (this is why I said earlier that you shouldn't logout yet from Google Webmaster), then click "Verify." You will be instantly rewarded with this sight--success!











We are done with the verification process, but before we leave the Google Webmaster Tools site, I invite you to explore the other links shown on the left sidebar of this site. Since you are just starting with your blogging, you may not yet find immediate use for these FREE tools, but as you progress, I'm sure you will want to go back to this site to available of these functionalities.

Here's what you'll find when you click Diagnostics:














On the other hand, here's what you'll see when you click Statistics:

















I have given you a flavor of what you can find in Google webmaster tools, and I guess you'll agree that we have just barely scratched the surface. Now, why don't you go ahead and do the actual exploring of this site yourself. I'm sure you will want to go back to Google Webmaster Tools again and again in the future. Good luck.

Things To Do Before Making Your First Post/Weblog Entry...Part 5

Now that we're done with SETTINGS, let's move on to the last item to manage on your Dashboard--i.e., LAYOUT. There are four sub-menus, if I can call it that, in Blogger's Layout menu:

1. Page Elements

I don't think I would err if I say that the template you choose in a way "limits" what you can do with it. For example, suppose you pick a two-column template today then realize later down the road that you'd like to have a second sidebar, after deciding to monetize your blog (you need space for more ads). I don't see how you can add a third column unless you know how to do XML coding.

That's not to say, however, that you're up a dead end. Not at all, because the Page Elements feature of Blogger gives you the flexibility you need in blogging. When you click the Layout tab, you'll be taken, by default, to Page Elements. Take note of 4 main items there:

--Header (the long rectangular block at the top, just below the Nav Bar);

--Content (the largest block below the Header, with the label "Blog Posts");

--Sidebar or Sub-content (depending on your template, this is the column to the left or to the right of the Content block, with the label "Add Page Elements"); and

--Footer (another long rectangular block at the bottom, with the label "Add Page Elements").

The drag-and-drop nature and the variety of the available elements are what makes Blogger a very user-friendly platform for first-time bloggers. Let's run through now the usual configuration that a blogger does on the Page Layout tab before making the first post.

On the Header

When you click the "Edit" link, you'll be taken to a new window, whose screenshot is shown below:














If you have configured your SETTINGS as I discussed in Part-3, you'll find that the "Title" and "Description" boxes in the above form would already be filled up. If you have not done yet, now is the time to do it here. The same advice I gave in Part-3 applies, i.e., you can still change the title which you gave to create your Blogger account, and use as many of the keywords that you want your blog to be tagged with in the search engines.

The "Image" feature is something optional. If your template has a header you already like, there's no more need to upload a photo. On the other hand, if you'd like to change the image that you presently have, the easiest way to do it is by uploading a photo in your computer file. To do this:

--Click the radio button next to "From your computer";

--Choose the "Placement" you want (two choices available);

--Click "Shrink to fit," especially if you have a bigger picture than the header;

--Click "Browse";

--Find the picture you want to upload from your computer files;

--Click "Open," then wait for the following image to appear:








When the picture you uploaded appears, don't forget to click "Save".

Another mode for uploading an image is via the Web. This will require you to first have a URL address for your image or picture before you can use Blogger's upload feature. If you are a non-techie first-time blogger, like I was when I started, the challenging task is getting a URL address for your photo. Why don't I discuss it in a future post. For now, don't complicate your life as a newbie blogger; just upload a picture from your own computer files.


TO BE CONTINUED...

Things To Do Before Making Your First Post/Weblog Entry...Part 4

In Part 3, I shared some pointers on the Basic, Publishing and Formatting SETTINGS that a totally brand-new blogger using the free Blogger platform needed to do prior to his first post. Today, I'll continue where I left off last time:

A. SETTINGS:

A.4 Comments

My own rule-of-thumb here is simple. If you'd like to engage and interact with your readers, the settings that you'll need to make on your blog have to be consistent with this objective. That means:

--Choosing "Show" over "Hide" in "Comments";

--Choosing "Anyone-includes Anonymous Users" in "Who Can Comment?";

--Choosing "New Posts Have Comments" in "Comments Default for Posts";

--Choosing "Show" over "Hide" in "Backlinks"; and

--Choosing "New Posts Have Backlinks" in "Backlinks Default for Posts".

The Blogger platform provides options for comment moderation and a word verification process that theoretically helps reduce comment spam. I didn't avail of both options in my first blog for two reasons. First, if I moderated the comments, that would be stifling the freedom of expression that a reader is entitled to under a democratic society. Second, my friends and relatives, all of whom were non-bloggers, found the word verication step cumbersome.

So, I took the risk of comment spam just to guarantee the freedom to express one's self online and to make my blog reader-friendly overall. I have been lucky so far--no spams. I don't know how you feel about this, but this was the point I was driving at when I mentioned above that your settings should be consistent with your objectives in blogging. After you're done with the Comments settings, don't forget to save them.

A.5 Archiving

There are only two settings needed here. The first is Archive Frequency, where you have 4 choices--No Archive, Daily, Weekly, and Monthly. Your choice will, of course, depend on how prolific you are as a blogger and if you want keep your old posts for, well, posterity. My own preference is Monthly archiving since I could hardly blog daily on a regular basis.

The second setting allows you to give each of your posts its own unique web page. Unless you don't want to keep an Archive, set this to "Yes". Have you tried locating a house without a specific given address? It's the same case with blog posts. After a webblog entry leaves your front page, I doubt if anyone else--and that includes search engines--could locate it without a specific post "address". That's how important this setting is in your blog. As usual, save the settings you make here.

A.6 Site Feed

A feed allows a blogger to publish his post beyond the limited confines of his blog site and a reader, to read, partially or fully, the contents of a blogger's post without necessarily visiting the blog site. A feed comes in two varieties--RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) and Atom. Blogger's default feed is Atom-based. I'll devote a separate post regarding feeds.

There are 3 alternative settings for blog feeds in the Blogger platform: None, Short and Full. I think "None" and "Full" are both self-explantory, while "Short" needs a little explaining.

When you select "Short", in effect, you are choosing a partial feed. A partial feed is a truncated post which operates much like a movie trailer. It teases you, gives you a flavor of the contents of a blog post, but compels you to visit the blog site itself if you want more of it.

The second setting here (i.e., "Post Feed Redirect URL") applies to those with a Feedburner account or those who use other third party service providers to process their feeds. When filling this box, make sure you input the exact, correct address of your Feedburner or other third party feeds. Otherwise, your blog feed cannot be published or redirected to these sites.

For advanced bloggers, the "Post Feed Footer" box is a useful customization tool. If you're a beginner, don't worry about this yet. Again, save your settings here when you're done.

A.7 Email

You can have your post or weblog entry automatically sent to up to 10 email addresses whenever you publish by filling up the box provided for under "BlogSend Address". As for remote posting, you can do this by filling up the "Mail-to-Blogger Address" box provided. Once you're done with the settings, click the orange "Save Settings" button.

A.8 Open ID

This is a recently added feature in the Blogger platform. OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites. The technology involved is not proprietary and is completely free. Filling up the box here is largely self-explanatory.

A.9 Permissions

This is an important feature for blogs with multiple authors (up to 100 authors) and/or selective readership (up to 100 readers). By default, however, your blog is open to all readers unless restricted otherwise.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Things To Do Before Making Your First Post/Weblog Entry...Part 3

This third "to-do" is intended for totally brand-new bloggers using the free Blogger platform.

3. Make all the necessary settings on your blog template.

This seems too obvious that you'd probably say I shouldn't even write about it. Well, yes and no. Yes, that statement applies to experienced bloggers. But, no, you are likely to overlook this if you're a total newcomer to the Blogger platform, because after completing Blogger's simple three-step registration process, you are prodded to click the "Start Blogging" button at the lower right hand portion of that final page.

Actually, that's exactly what happened to me. I clicked the orange-colored "Start Blogging" button, and proceeded right away to writing my thoughts. So, if you'll see my maiden post in my original blog, there is one small detail there that is not right--the time I published my post.

Officially stamped on my blog was "4:52 p.m.", although my own notes about my first day of blogging said that I clicked the "Publish Post" button at "12:52 a.m". Now, I didn't notice this error until much, much later, when I started wondering why my timestamps did not reflect official Philippine time. But then, time was only one of the several other small details about the Blogger platform that I was oblivious to at the start.

So, I suggest that you get these necessary settings over and done with even before you start blogging. The Blogger "Dashboard" is where you are taken after a successful log-in. You will notice that there are 3 main Manage tabs in that Dashboard--"Posts", "Settings" and "Layout". For our purpose here, the adjustments that you need to do before publishing your first post are mostly in the "Settings" and "Layout" tabs, and these are discussed below:

A. SETTINGS

A.1. Basic

Title -

I used to think that I was stuck with the title of the blog which I used to register with Blogger. No, this is not the case. You can change your mind about your blog's title. The only thing you cannot change is the sub-domain name of your blog, i.e., the keyword that appears before the "Blogspot.com" in your full blog address (technically called "URL").

Description -

It pays for you to spend some time for drafting this. The key is to keep your write-up brief but concise. Use as many of the keywords that you want your blog to be tagged with in the search engines.

If you have done this exercise satisfactorily, you'll realize that it's all worth the trouble when you start joining social networking sites, online directories, etc. All of these will require you to give a short description of your blog.

I doubt if you'll relish the idea of re-writing your blog's description every time you join a new directory or networking site. You just need to copy and paste your blog description in Blogger, if you have done your homework here.

How you set the rest in the "Basic" tab (like "Add your blog to our listings", "Let search engines find your blog", etc.) will depend on your own preferences as well as intention. After completing your adjustments, don't forget to click the orange-colored "Save" button.

A.2. Publishing -

This is where you are shown your official Blog*Spot address. This is also where you can manage your shift to a "custom domain", or where you "point" your own registered domain name to your blog. I will devote a separate post for the latter.

A.3. Formatting -

Show-

How you set this depends largely on how prolific a blogger you are. Some bloggers have the time and energy to write more than one post a day. But some, like me who have a full-time day job, find it difficult to religiously publish even one post a day.

However, whether you are a prolific writer or not, there is something that you need to be aware of when setting "Show"--the loading time for the main page. The more contents on the main page, the more time is needed for the complete page to appear on the computer screen. In fact, if your page has a lot of graphics, images or photos, in addition to text, the loading time would be comparatively longer than that of a page with pure text.

Now, why am I pointing out this obviously technical issue that has nothing to do with writing or blogging per se? It's because there are blog readers or visitors who don't have the patience to wait for the entire page to load before they decide whether to stay or not. Most would simply leave and move on to other sites. That would be a pity, given how difficult it is to attract visitor traffic to a blog.

The rest of the adjustments will again depend on your personal preferences (e.g., Archive Index Date Format, Timestamp Format, etc.) and personal circumstances (e.g., Time Zone). Whatever you do, just don't forget to click the orange-colored "Save" button.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Things To Do Before Making Your First Post/Weblog Entry...Part 6

We are still on LAYOUTS. In my previous post (I'm so sorry about the long interval between the previous post and the present; I've been busy with my budding consulting venture with friends), I discussed Page Elements, Let me move on to the other sub-menus under Layouts:

2. Fonts and Color-

When you click the link for Fonts and Color, this what will appear above the BloggerNavBar:


Explore that and you will realize how much leeway you'll have in customizing the appearance of your chosen template. Let me emphasize the latter because your chosen template puts an upper limit on just what you can do with your blog. Within the physical limitations, however, of your chosen template, you can alter the color of the following :

--Page Background Color

--Text Color

--Link Color

--Title Color

--Blog Description Color

--Post Title Color

--Border Color

--Sidebar Title Color

--Visited Link Color

In addition, you can modify the Font style of the following:

--Text Font

--Sidebar Title Font

--Sidebar Title Font

--Blog Description Font

--Post Footer Font

You will notice from the snipped picture above that the Blogger platform provides you with color suggestions as to those that match your blog template. Of course, you can always opt to disregard these suggested colors and base your choice on your taste or your desired effect; it is difficult really to make any generalized suggestions on my part.

If you feel overwhelmed by the array of color choices available to you, you could opt to click the link for "Shuffle blog colors". With every click, your blog changes color (both text and background), which somehow simplifies your work by allowing you to focus more on the aesthetic aspects of your blog.

The best part of all? If after trying everything and you're still unhappy with your color and text combinations, you can always summon back the original appearance of your blog by clicking the link "Revert to template default." As simple as that.

3. Edit HTML-

When you click the third link under Layout, you will see something like this:



For your first post, there is no need to make any changes or adjustments in your blog template yet. However, as you progress in your blogging activity, I have no doubt you will need to familiarize yourself with the coding of your blog template, even if you're not techie. I will go back to this point at the appropriate time.

4. Pick New Template-

This is the fourth and last link under Layout. While I don't anticipate that you will want to change your template so soon (you have not even made your first post!), should you find it necessary, picking a new template is as easy as 1-2-3. It's really child's play in Blogger.

With that long-winded familiarity tour of the Blogger Dashboard, it's time for you to buckle up for some serious blogging. What are you waiting for? Get on with your "Hello World" maiden post, so you can click the last tab in the Blogger Platform, which needs no explanation--VIEW BLOG!

Things To Do Before Making Your First Post/Weblog Entry...Part 2

In Part 1, I ticked off the blogger's main considerations in deciding on his blog template. For this post, I'll continue with pointers that may seem obvious now that I know my way around the blogosphere, but these did not come naturally to me and I had to learn these lessons from actual experience. I'm not saying that we are in the same boat as newbies, but just in case we are, then read on.

2. Install a blog counter as soon as you have settled on your blog template, if your blog host or blog platform doesn't provide one.

My main worry as a newbie blogger then was content, or what to write about. As for visitors to my blog, I presumed that, as a matter of course, those whom I personally invited--the immediate members of my family, my other relatives, my investment banker friends, the friends of my friends, etc.--would come and read my posts. After the initial comment or two from some of them, however, I started doubting if I still had readers. Sometimes, over dinner, I would test if my wife had seen my latest post by talking her into it. But believe me, since reading blogs is a voluntary thing and we live in a democracy, I've learned not to expect too much even from the wife, much less other people.

So, back to what I wanted to say, a blogger needs to install a monitoring system that is passive and non-intrusive. There are many free blog counters available on the Web, ranging from the simplest (a plain digital read-out installed on your blog) to the most sophisticated (a statistical gathering system that monitors not only the number of unique and returning visitors to your blog but also your RSS feed readers and email subscribers, duration of their stay on your site, country of origin, and many other details). Simply Google the term, "free blog counter" and you'll be rewarded with a long list blog counter providers on the Internet.

My very first free blog counter was provided by BlogPatrol.com. Registering for a free account is a simple, hassle-free process. Insofar as keeping track of direct visitors to my blog is concerned, I was happy with the level of detail that it provided. However, since it could not count those who did not directly visit my site, the stats it reported was obviously understated. For this purpose, I needed a system which could count both the direct and indirect visitors of my blog. One of the most popular, which was recently acquired by Google, is Feedburner.com. In addition to BlogPatrol and Feedburner, I also signed-up more recently for Google Analytics to enhance my statistical monitoring of my visitor traffic.

I'll probably devote a separate post just for the mechanics of setting up your blog for the said visitor traffic monitoring systems, for the benefit of bloggers who, for example, might get intimidated by terms like, "Burn your feed" (I couldn't comprehend then what it took to "burn" my feed, and I didn't know how to get my blog's feed address, so it took me a while before I decided to install Feedburner in my blog).

TO BE CONTINUED...

Things To Do Before Making Your First Post/Weblog Entry...Part 1

The excitement and momentum of successfully creating my first free hosted Blogger (Blog*Spot) blog carried me forward to rushing my first ever written work published on the Web, after I settled on the "Sand Dollar" template. Of course, everything's different when it's your first time, but having learned from that experience I'd like now to share some pointers that a newbie blogger may want to consider before publishing his/her first post or Weblog entry. I'm careful to use "may" instead of "should" because these advices are not absolute, but just preferable for a practical reason over the long term--you are spared from re-doing many of your widgets in the sidebar of you blog when you decide later on to change your ill-considered first template.

1. Decide on the blog template that you really want.

There are objective and subjective considerations involved in the choice of a blog template. The objective aspects include:

--Cost - There are many free downloadable blog templates for various platforms (Blogger, Wordpress, etc.) available on the Web. For really picky bloggers, however, these free templates may not be good enough. Some websites offer free help for limited customization in exchange for credits thru links in the blog, but in general, a highly customized template will cost some money.

--Ease of use - User-friendliness is an important consideration for non-techies. Blogs are maintained via a so-called "Dashboard". The dashboard is where a blogger controls the publication of his posts, the appearance of his site, and everything else That one finds on a typical blog. The dashboard was where I realized that blogging had a technical side to it that I had not anticipated. Among the free hosted blogs that I have tried so far, I give the Blogger and Wordpress dashboards my two thumbs up.

--Purpose or goal - Some blog templates are more suitable for certain purposes, so it will save a blogger time and effort to be clear about his objective right from the start of his blogging journey. For instance, if a blog is intended to make money, a three-column, AdSense-friendly template would optimize a blogger's ad revenue potential. (AdSense is an ad serving program run by Google). Also, if a blog is meant to project a clean, Zen-like aura, a very basic two-column template like Blogger's "Minima" will suffice.

On the other hand, the subjective aspect can be covered by the term "look and feel" of the blog. Now, this is rather tricky, but critical for a blogger. If you have at least surfed or visited other websites or blogs once before you read this, you know what I mean when I say "critical". First impression is important, don't you agree? It could spell the difference between your decision to stay or leave within seconds of landing on a Website or blog page.

What is frustrating, however, is that I have yet to come across a rulebook that lays down in specific terms what one should consider to achieve a particular look and feel for a blog. For instance, I've seen templates that are classified as "Web 2.0". Maybe, techies understand each other when they talk about a "Web 2.0" template. But believe me, most people don't.

"Look and feel" is a broad concept that encompasses the interplay of colors, fonts, graphics, header, footer and sidebar design, and every little detail that you see in a typical blog. In the absence of any such rulebook, a blogger has to rely largely on his taste and aesthetic sense to decide on the look and feel that is "appropriate" for his blog.

Creating A Free Blogger Blog

Although creating a free Blogger (Blog*Spot) blog is an easy 3-step process for most newcomers to blogging, this post might still come in handy for some with peculiar situations.

If this is your first time to hear about Blogger, there are two ways of getting there--you can do a search of the term "Blogger" (then click the resulting link), or you can type "blogger.com" directly on your browser window. Once you get to the Blogger website:

1. Click the "Create Your Blog Now" link, as shown below:













2. Handle the next step depending on any of two situations that you might find yourself in. The first case is if you already have a Google account (by this Blogger means Gmail, Google Group or Orkut). If you belong to the first case, you can skip Step # 1 by clicking the "Sign in first" link provided, as shown below:










The second case is if you don't have a Google account but have an existing email address somewhere else (e.g., Yahoo, Hotmail). If this is your situation, type your email address in the space provided (see above screenshot) and complete the form provided by Blogger in Step # 1.

3. The next step is to "Name Your Blog". This is where my earlier posts ("Naming Your Blog" and "How To Research Keywords") can be useful resources. This how the form provided by Blogger in this step looks like:

















Except for the trial-and-rror nature of getting your blog address or URL, especially if the blog address you want is popular or in high demand, there is nothing difficult or ambiguous in this step.

4. Once Blogger clears the blog address you want and the word verification process is successful, you are ready to choose the template of your blog in the next step. As partially shown in the screenshot below, Blogger offers a standard menu of 12 entry-level 2-column templates, namely: "Minima", "Minima Black", "Dots", "Son of Motto", "No.897", "Scribe", "Tic Tac", "Thisaway Rose", "Snapshot", "Rounders 3", "Dots Dark" and "Sand Dollar."If you're like most bloggers, these entry-level templates won't be up to your standard or liking. But don't worry. As soon as you have set up your blog, you can customize these templates (Blogger offers some options or variations for these standard templates, although admittedly limited).
















5. After choosing your template (by clicking on the round radio button below the corresponding template) and clicking on the "Continue" like at the lower right hand portion of your screen, you'll be rewarded with this milestone page:










By clicking the "Start Blogging" link at the bottom right hand portion of your screen you are just one more step away from becoming a full-fledged blogger. That last step is the publication of your maiden post (or blog entry)--the first of many such labor of love and late nights. Good luck!

Two Lessons From Free Hosted Blogs

My first online journal was a free hosted blog at Blogger.com (*Blogspot*). Within a week after launching my first blog, I created my second free blog at Blogstream.com, which I have abandoned since posting two or three entries there. Disappointed with my experience at Blogstream.com, and eager to explore other blogging platforms, I created another free blog at Wordpress.com, where I stayed for awhile.

Much later, upon the invitation of friends, I have likewise registered with MySpace.com and Multiply.com and blogged in these social networking sites for some time. Today, I only blog at Blogger.com, even though some of my blogs already have their own domain names. I mentioned all these so you'd know where I'm coming from. Compared to other bloggers, the range of my experience with free hosted blogs is admittedly limited. Be conscious of this context, therefore, when I share the following lessons with you:

Lesson No. 1: Free hosted blogs have limited monetization opportunities-

When I started blogging in December 2006, I was only too glad to be able to blog free of charge. My reality check came soon enough when I already wanted to monetize my blog. Although my free Blogger (*Blogspot*) blog could earn from ad revenues via Google AdSense, I discovered that my Blogspot address was a liabilty in some "make money online" sites like PayPerPost (PPP), where an accredited blogger gets paid for doing reviews of other blogs, websites or products/services. Free hosted Blogspot blogs belonged to what PPP called "excluded domains" in many of the review opps there, as seen in the screenshot below:








My experience with a free Wordpress.com blog was worse--it could not be monetized in any way (even Google AdSense), period. The limitation was inherent in the design and programming of the blogging platform used for the free hosted blogs. As a matter of policy, Wordpress.com blogs are ad-free. It was something I glossed over when I opened an account there. Actually, when you're new to blogging, there are many things you'll gloss over because you don't know any better.

By contrast, there are ads in MySpace and Multiply. However, the revenue is not earned by the blogger; it goes to the host, that's why they can offer their facilities and services for free.

Lesson No. 2: You'll lose your PageRank when you convert to your own domain name later-

"Domain name" has multiple related meanings, as you can see in this link. In this post, however, I'm using the term "domain name" to refer to one's blog address.

It didn't bother me then that I had a very long blog address. It was long because my free Blogger blog had a unique address that consisted of three (3) components, namely: a top-level (".com") and second-level ("blogspot") domain and a sub-domain ("myblog"). These are written in reverse order--i.e., "myblog.blogspot.com".

I decided to finally get my own domain name--i.e., make my blog address "www.myblog.com"--to earn more respectability. Forbes.com invited me in late 2007 to join its network of business and finance blogs. I thought my blog needed a more upscale address if I were to join Forbes' blog network, and I could only achieve that by dropping the "Blogspot" domain.

To my great disappointment, I lost the Google "PageRank (PR)" of my Blogspot blog when I converted to my own domain name later on. PageRank is Google's system for ranking Web pages. It is considered the Holy Grail of bloggers because it is an indicator of an individual blog's value and plays a crucial role in Web searches using Google. It took me many months of hard blogging work just to get a PR2, much less a PR3, only to lose it overnight with my shift to a new domain name. Remember, a blog address or URL (acronym for "Uniform Resource Locator", previously "Universal Resource Locator") is unique. PR belongs to that unique blog address and not to you as the blogger. So, when you shift to a new unique address, even if you still have the same contents in your blog, you'll lose your PR. Google is programmed that way.

Resource Links:

1. Blogger.com.

2. Blogstream.com.

3. Wordpress.com.

4. MySpace.com.

5. Multiply.com.

6. "What is a domain name?"

7. "URL".

8. "Google Technology: PageRank Explained".

Blogging Platform: Publishing Your Blog

You have decided you want to blog, you have access to (if not own) a computer and Internet connection, you have researched on the keyword/s that matter to you, and you have an idea on what to call your blog. Now comes the next logical question: how and where do you publish your blog? Not so fast. It just occured to me that I have been using the term "blog" without ever pausing to define it formally. Well, I think I have to now, because I'd like to make a fine point between a blog and a website after that.

Back to Basics

The term "blog" is the short and highly popular name for a "web log"--an online (that's the "web" in "web log") log or journal or diary (that's the "log" in "web log") whose entries (called "posts") are published in reverse chronological order. They took the "b" from "web" then spliced it with "log" to come up with "blog". That's the long and the short of it, based on the various online sources I visited in the process of my research.

A blog is basically different from a conventional website in how they are written. The latter is great for delivery of content but is mostly static, often impersonal and infrequently updated. By contrast, the former is very easy to update, more versatile and dynamic in content delivery, and allows for two-way communications, making it more personal than a conventional website (click this for more). Realizing this, a growing number of websites now have a blog or several blogs within them.

Blog Publishing Systems

The earliest weblogs were authored by Internet geeks because it was only they who knew how to write in a language that could be read and understood by computers. However, even they grew tired of the difficulties in updating their online journals manually each time. So, eventually they designed a publishing sytem that automated the whole process.

What the Internet geeks came up with was a browser-based (when I say "browser", I'm referring to the likes of Internet Explorer and Firefox) software which contained a Content Management System specially designed for creating and maintaining weblogs. Thus, with this weblog software, all that a blogger (even a non-techie) needed was a web browser and Internet access to be able to post to his online journal.

There are several such software applications or blogging platforms. In my case, my first blog was on a Blogger (*Blogspot*) platform for no particular reason except that somebody, whom I met quite serendipitously, recommended it and said I could blog there for free. That got me hooked. But Blogger.com was by no means the only provider of free hosted blogs on the Web, so when I got confident enough with my first blog, I decided to explore other free hosted blogs at Blogstream.com, Wordpress.com, and Multiply.com. Over time, I have abandoned these other blogging platforms and recently started converting some of my blogs into custom domains (I will devote a separate post on this).

Here is a list of some of today's blogging platforms, available either as a service or download, which I have excerpted from www.benh.org :

WordPress.org

WordPress.org is the best and well-known open source Blogging platform. It is widely used commonly by popular self-hosted blogs around the blogosphere. It runs with minimal setup and it requires just PHP/ MySQL preferably in Apache. It rates high compared with other since it can be highly customized. In addition to this there are huge number of plugin authors and theme authors are there to help reduce bloggers effort. WordPress.org also has nice development community that ensures the WordPress core get better and better.

Blogger

Blogger is a free one-push blog publishing platform. Most of the novice bloggers starts Blogging with Google’s Blogger in first place. The new blogger comes in with Widget support that eradicated the use of HTML for templates. Setting up a blog in Blogger is painless and easiest of anything else. You can customize Blogger to certain extend only since they are not an open source solution. There are few popular blogs that still runs on Blogger.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is a multi-user version variant of WordPress.org. WordPress.com have their own-hosted solution of newbie bloggers, who doesn’t have a hosting space. WordPress.com comes in with neat option for a newbie. WordPress.com comes with space restrictions; in addition to that you can monetize your blog.

Movable Type

Movable Type is a web blog publishing platform successfully developed by SixApart. It is the one who invented Trackback feature in the first hand that was later devised by other blogging systems as well and now it is more-or-less a standard. Movable Type is written in Perl and supports most of the Database as backend. Movable Type is best suited for business use.

Typepad

Typepad is a blogging service provided by SixApart and it is one of largest paid blogging service available now. Typepad is based on Movable Type and it shares most of its technical functions. Additionally, it also supports multi-user, mobile and photo blogging. Typepad is been successfully used by lot of professional writers.

LiveJournal

LiveJournal is a CMS that allows you to express your self by publishing your private journal, your blog or your forum or any of a social entity. It is the best in town for writing life journals.

Vox

Vox is a personal blogging service. It’s all about ease of use, privacy control, playing well with other web services, and staying connected to the people you care about. Vox is good platform when it comes to multimedia blogging.

Text Pattern

Text Pattern is a flexible, elegant, easy-to-use content management system for all kinds of websites. Blogs works fine as well. Text Pattern also has its own list of plugins and templates.

Drupal

Drupal is a modular content management system and the blogging engine was initially indented for bulletin board system. Drupal is good for building online communities and those communities powers their blogging engine. It is written in PHP. It has a wide community support.

Joomla

Joomla is truly a content management system that forked from Mambo, a pretty good open source content management system. Joomla has won the best open source content management system of the year 2006. Joomla has a decent blogging engine and other extension.

Expression Engine

pMachine’s Expression Engine is not well known but it is a powerful and much extensible software that you may need to give a try. It is a complete content management system with much Blogging feature as well. In addition to Blogging module it comes with inbuilt gallery module. It is more suitable for heavy business blogs. Also the cost associated with it is high.

Nucleus

Nucleus is been around for sometime now and it is not much popular yet though. Nucleus is mature blogging software that comes with most of the required blogging features. Nucleus is also programmed in PHP and runs on MySQL backend.

b2evolution

b2evolution was developed from the same original code that spawned WordPress. b2Evolution is written in PHP and licensed under GPL so is always free to use. It comes with lot of features that you may need to check, which includes antispam, skins, multi-blogs, users, authors, integrated stats, its own plugin framework etc. etc.

TeraPad

TeraPad is hosted blogging solution which takes the blogger beyond the blogging experience. TeraPad comes in with versatile blogging tools, image gallery, PayPal ready shopping cart, event calendar etc. TeraPad places a its ad over the site which might annoy bloggers a little but may be needed for TeraPad to keep its service free.

My Take on Blogging Platform

With the benefit of hindsight, these are the pointers that I'd like to share with you in deciding on your blogging platform:

--If you intend to monetize your blog or if PageRank is important to you, it will pay over the long term to resist the temptation of a free hosted blogging platform (I will devote a separate post to explain this some more. For now, just take my word for it).

--Among the self-hosted blogs (i.e., not free), the most popular blogging platform is Wordpress for the above-cited reasons.

--Between a free hosted Blogger and a free hosted Wordpress (I cannot speak for the rest), the former proved to be the more versatile platform from the viewpoint of monetization.

How To Research Key Words

This is the natural sequel to my "Naming A Blog" post if you want to inject a little science into your blogging. Of course, you are always free to just rely on your gut feel (like I did when I decided on my first blog) and pick whatever keywords catch your fancy as you look up the ceiling or stare out your window. If that's your pleasure, you can altogether stop here and do other things where you can use your time more productively. However, since I've traveled that road before, I can say that time spent for a little keyword research won't hurt, especially if you intend to build a business around your blog later on.

Keyword Research Tools

There are a number of keyword research tools available on the Web. Some are free and some are not (but offer free trial like this). Since there are free tools, you absolutely have no reason for not at least trying them. One of the most user-friendly free online tool to use is the Google AdWords Keyword Tool (click the link for easy access to the site). To use it:

1. Set the radio button as shown below:






2. Type the word/s or phrase/s (keyword/s) that you want to research on the box provided, then click the button provided below the box as shown below :









3. After the results are displayed, filter your results by choosing either "Show All" or "Show default" in the drop box provided (you do this by clicking the arrow which I highlighted on the right, then clicking again your choice from the menu that drops down):




4. If you choose the "Show default" mode, only three (3) columns will be displayed, as shown below:




5. On the other hand, if you choose the "Show all" mode, six (6) columns will be displayed, as follows:




To illustrate how one can use the results of this keyword research tool, I typed 4 phrases, namely: "investment banker", "investment banking", "ibanker", and "ibanking" in the appropriate box. The tool came up with 21 major results (although I only searched for 4 terms, remember?) and 114 additional keywords to consider as well. But just to focus on my 4 original keywords, here's a screenshot of the results using the "Show All" mode:







As you can see from the above table, it can be concluded that:

--The keyword "investment banking" has a better average search volume than keyword "investment banker."

--Advertisers favor the terms "investment banking" and "investment banker" over "ibanking" or "ibanker."

--As for their respective short names, "ibanker" gave a better average search volume than "ibanking."

--Searches for "investment banking" and "ibanking" peak during June/July, while searches for "investment banker" peak in April.

In other words, had I known about this tool when I was just deciding to blog, I might have named my first blog as "My Investment Banking Blog" instead of "An Investment Banker's Take On Life" based purely on projected visitor traffic via the search engines.

Search Behavior That You Should Consider in Keyword Selection

These are interesting findings from Oznet.com.au about the behavior of Internet users that a blogger has to bear in mind:

1.They visit a top 5 search engine and type in a word or two.

2. Then they examine the search result, up to 2 maximum 3 pages.

3. If the result does not show them what they are looking for, they will try different keyword combinations.

4. If they still don't get what they want they switch to a different search engine and repeat the process.

If you'll click the above link I provided for Oznet.com.au, you'll discover that there are still more useful tips about keyword research in that site, especially for businesses that intend to sell products or services online.

Resource Links:

For the benefit of others who'd prefer a briefing on the subject of keyword research in video format, I have embedded the following two YouTube videos for their convenience:

1. Keyword Research Video, Part 1




2. Keyword Research Video, Part 2

Naming A Blog

A blog's name is one of the strategic early decisions you will have to make as a blogger. When I started in December 2006, I didn't think of it that way. There was no blogger in my family and inner circle of friends who could tip me off that "search engine optimization" (SEO)--practices whose end goal is to improve a blog's or website's ranking in search engines like Google and Yahoo--revolved around content, and that great content flowed from, or is inspired by, a carefully considered blog name.

As a beginner, my paradigm was simple. My blog has to be either of two things: about something I'm familiar with, or about something I'm interested in. I decided it should be both--a topic of interest as seen from a perspective I'm familiar with. This is why my first blog has a very long title.

What I didn't know then was that there was this thing called SEO that could have provided me with a better framework in naming my blog. When you get down to it, SEO is an embodiment of one of Dr. Stephen R. Covey's famous "Seven Habits," more specifically Habit Two: Beginning with the End in Mind. If a blogger's objective is, say, to rank well in search engine results so that visitor traffic could be directed towards his blog, this line if thinking will naturally lead to the importance of content which, as I said earlier, flows from the blog's name or title.

If you're still unclear as to why, even with that statement, it's because there's yet one missing piece in the SEO puzzle--how search engines work. To be simplistic about it, search engines like Google and Yahoo prowl blogs and websites looking out for specific keywords which they use as "anchors" to hook onto whenever somebody does a search using certain search terms. As a blogger, you would like that your content contains as many of the keywords or search terms that a typical Web user would input in the Google or Yahoo search box. Now, "content" may vary from what a blogger posts or publishes today to the one that he posts tomorrow, but it always includes (as far as the search engines are concerned) the blog's name or title and its brief desciption or subtitle which you see in a blog's so-called header (that strip or banner above the blog where you find the title and subtitle).

In the coding or creation of blogs and websites, the title or name belongs to what are called Meta tags. As explained here: "The word meta means information about. Meta Tags were created early on to provide concise information about a website. Meta tags list information about the web page, such as the author, keywords, description, type of document, copyright, and other core information." What this means, therefore, is that if your blog title or name belongs to the most often searched terms or keywords, you have a decided advantage over other competitor blogs in your same blogging niche or genre with weaker keywords as part of their title.

Remember, since a blog name or title is a Meta tag, it is one of the bigger spots for a search engine to catch. And once the search results are displayed in Google or Yahoo, it is sometimes the catchier blog title that makes a surfer decide in favor of a lower ranked search result. That's how important a title is in blogging. The recommended length of a title is 50-80 characters including spaces. As a practical advice, put your keywords near the beginning, in case the window is resized on your visitor's computer screen.

So You Want To Blog?

Knowing what I know now about blogging, would I have taken the same route I took when I started to blog one year ago? What would I have done differently and why? What valuable lessons can I share with non-bloggers who are just about to make up their minds? Here are five personal lessons that should just about cover the basic questions that would be on a non-blogger's mind at the point of decision:

Lesson no. 1: You can blog with little writing skill.

To the uninitiated, it may come as a surprise that the ability to write (and when I say "write", I mean write gramatically correct complete sentences, as a minimum) is not an important ingredient for success in blogging. I had this misconception when I started out. I was so self-conscious and so self-critical of my writing that I became my own worst enemy in blogging. I always thought about what people who stumbled upon my blog--especially office mates, friends and relatives--would say about me. I did not imagine the paralyzing effect such thoughts could have on me.

Lesson no. 2: Blogging could be compulsive and addicting, so be ready to sacrifice your time.

Getting the hang of blogging was not an overnight thing. Like any new skill, you have to ride up a learning curve. It is this challenge of climbing your blogging mountain that eggs you on to endure longer hours at your computer and seduces you to give up sleep at times just to finish whatever you're doing. This is what my wife could not understand to this day--how come there is always "something" to do even after I have already posted to my blog.

I guess she has (and you have) to blog herself to find out why: I can't keep way from my Google Analytics, Feedburner and Hittail stats; I have to constantly check my BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog visitors so I can thank them prompty for dropping by or adding me to their contacts; I have to review my Google AdSense report and use it to finetune my ads; I have to read other blogs in and out of my niche topic; I have to keep up with Forum discussions in Blogger Help on issues unique to the Blogger platform; and I have to do countless other things on my blog and on the Web every single day.

Until I became a blogger, I had always thought that blogging was a lonely activity, suited only to anti-socials, introverts and nerds. I was grossly wrong, of course. On the contrary, it is a very pleasurable activity with lots of opportunity for socializing and learning (and if I may still add, earning some money, too). It's decidedly one of the best things I ever did late in my life; absolutely no regrets. But I discovered, too, that if didn't strive hard to find a balance between my virtual life and my real life, I just might regret it because blogging could ruin my offline relationships. So, you watch out for this.

Lesson no. 3: If you want to blog seriously, sooner or later, you have to invest in and understand a bit of information technology.

I had a circa 2001 Toshiba Satellite 1100 laptop, running on a Windows XP Home edition operating system (OS), which I connected to a dial-up telephone line when I started to blog in December 2006. As a non-techie just learning to blog, I had thought that any computer equipment and any Internet connection seemed just fine. I did not care whether my computer's microchip was an Intel Celeron 1.2 GHz (or gigahertz), an Intel Pentium 4 1.7 GHz, or Intel Centrino Duo. Neither did I care if I had a 128 MB RAM (or random access memory), 256 MB RAM or higher. Ditto whether I had a 20 GB (or gigabytes), 30 GB, 40 GB (or better) hard drive. I was also indifferent then between a dial-up, a DSL and a broadband.

However, when I saw that most of my time was wasted just waiting for my computer to load--my blog, other sites, a picture, a video clip--it dawned on me that I should upgrade to a DSL connection, get a more powerful laptop and start reading up and educating myself on the technology side of blogging. This educational journey naturally started with computer hardware, because I wanted to address the torturous wait every time my old laptop loads. Then it progressed to the fine points of software (I now have a Windows Vista and use two kinds of browsers) and blogging platforms (I have experimented also with a Wordpress platform). Then last December, as I narrated in my maiden post here, I was forced by circumstances to explore the arcane world of XML coding. Now, I know there is still so much to learn out there and not enough time to master even just a small fraction of it.

Lesson No. 4: Decide early on if you want to blog as yourself or if you want to use an alias.

This is an issue which I overlooked when I decided to blog. It was only much later I realized that blogging under my real name constrained what I could write about. Since I wanted to blog about life, blogging as myself limited me, therefore, from writing about personal experiences which are too private to share under my real name (but possible if my identity was hidden). Also, since I wanted to blog about investment banking, blogging as myself limited me from writing confidential details about persons,transactions and events which could invite legal suits.

Thus, in hindsight, I would say that if you have an image or reputation to protect in real life, it is best to hide behind an alias when you blog. Vice-versa, if you intend your blogging to help build your credentials as an expert or authority on a particular subject or field, or to enhance/support you image or reputation, then by all means blog under your real name.

Lesson No. 5: Blogging for money is way overrated.

Yes, you read it right. Not everyone can replicate the success of John Chow, professional blogger who now earns oodles of cash from his blogging activities. I did not blog for money but I was curious how money could be made online, so I experimented using the tips I got from the various "making money online" blogs. After one year, with several blogs, I have yet to make $100 ($86.25 to be exact, this very minute) from Google AdSense. I used to be too embarrassed to admit that, but since this blog is meant for non-bloggers wanting to join the bandwagon, I thought I should level your expectations.

This is not to say that others are not earning decently from blogging. Actually, you could find some blogs which post their monthly income and I think they're not bluffing. What I'm only driving at is that only a few lucky and determined ones can really aspire to leave their day jobs and feed a family using purely blogging income.

Blogger Resource Links:

Here are ten other articles, in no particular order, which you may want to refer to on the same topic. Just click on the links I provided for your to get there.

1. "Why Blog?"

2. "Why Do We Blog?"

3. "Why Blog For Business?"

4. "Why Blog?"

5. "Why Blog?"

6. "Some More Reasons To Blog"

7. "What's The Point Of Blogging?"

8. "Is Blogging A Good Use Of Time?"

9. "Improving Your Blog: Why Blog?"

10. "Why I Blog"