An Introduction to Blogging

We have already introduced Google Adsense and explained a few things about it (see FAQ), now let us proceed into the next part of making money online.

In this part, we will introduce you guys and gals into a money making method called "Blogging". But, first things first, let us define "Blog". What is a Blog or a Web Blog anyway? By definition, a blog is a type of website, usually maintained by one or more individual(s) with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or videos. We can think of it as an online diary, but there's more to it in reality.

There are many types of websites offering blog services, among them is blogger.com, wordpress.com, and multiply.com. Some websites would even pay people to use their blog services, an example of this is mylot.com. Blogger, Multiply, and Wordpress are well known blog services, all can be use for free, but Blogger offers more options for those who wanted to use blog to make money. There are a number of factors as to why Blogger is the best.. first of all, it is under the wings of Google.com, a powerful multi-billion company. Blogger is also easy to use, and does not require web publishing/programming knowledge. Another reason as to why Blogger is better is because of the fact that it offers unlimited webspace and bandwidth, and since it is hosted on a powerful server, it can hardly be affected by a DDoS attack. You can also expect it to have an almost 100% uptime. Finally, Blogger also allows bloggers to install Google Adsense, and any other sponsored advertisements, a feature not available on other blog services.

A blog can be used for a number of things, it can serve as a personal blog where you can blog things about yourself, your life, your friends, etc. You can use it to blog a particular subject or genre/theme (ie. political blog, travel blog, house blog, fashion blog, education blog, general information blog, niche blog, music blog, quizzing blog, medical blog, legal blog, etc.). It can be used to serve different media such as videos (vlog), links (linklog), portfolio, photos (photoblog). And, it can also function as a corporate blog where you can use it for business purposes.

A blog can serve as an individual (private) blog or a closed-community blog, but the real purpose of a blog is to open a channel of communication between you and the people worldwide. The collective community of all blogs is known as the blogosphere. Since all blogs are on the Internet, they may be seen as interconnected and socially networked through blogrolls, comments, linkbacks (refbacks, trackbacks or pingbacks), and backlinks. Discussions in the blogosphere have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues.

As a blogger, you don't need to have web designing skills or programming knowledge, although both can help a lot. Blog services usually provide all the important things needed in blogging (ie. Template, Widgets [may be acquired as part of the package or from third parties], Blog configuration and customization tools, etc.) that all you have to do is create a post.

As a blogger, you can generate income by featuring advertisements on your blog. An example of this is by inserting Google Adsense or any other paying sponsored ads. However, as a blogger, you need to have good communication skills if you ever expect people to visit your blog. A dead/inactive blog, an empty blog, or a blog without visitors will hardly generate income. Furthermore, an empty blog won't be approved by any advertising site or company.

It is also important to note some important things while blogging. This include legal issues such as copyright, defamation and liability, privacy, racism, and more. You should also be aware that there are also dangers in blogging. You can get imprisoned, banned, deported, stalked, or even killed (Internet homicide). Always follow the Blogger's Code of Conduct to prevent this sort of things from happening, and do be careful when blogging politically sensitive areas.