So, have you decided why you want a blog? Do you want to share information? Make money? Have a place where distant relatives can keep track of you? Post funny jokes and links?
Before you start blogging, you should decide why you're blogging. That will help you decide where to blog (which type of host) and how to name your blog. An example is Wordpress.com; no advertising so no money. Also, if you're blogging for relatives, the name doesn't matter but if you plan to monetize, you need a name the is related to your blog topic.
In addition to name, the reason you blog will also affect things like frequency and topic. Again, if this a personal blog, no big decisions need to be made. Same with a blog designed to just share information; call it whatever, and post whenever, you like.
If you want regular traffic though, you need to be on topic and at least somewhat consistent. I consider this blog a tips blog (as in sharing info, not holding out my hand. ;-) ), not a money blog. I try to be consistent for my regular readers but I don't beat myself up if I'm not. I stay pretty consistently on the topic of blogging and the name of the blog is pretty much dead on for the topic I've chosen.
If I wanted to make money, I think the topic is a decent one although the blogosphere is pretty crowded for a blogging blogs. I think the title of the blog is winner. I named it well. Blogger isn't a bad choice for hosts as it has integrated Adsense and I can put any other advertising or banners that I want to. I would need to do something about my frequency though, I think.
If you want to make money with blogging, you need to build a traffic stream and the stream has to be interested in your blog topic (which is why I don't understand why there are so many spam blogs). To build traffic you need to post daily (at least in the beginning) and you need a lot of content.
When people show up, you want them to stick around for a while. That means plenty of articles. The faster you generate that content (multiple posts per day), the faster you will build traffic.
Right now, the vast majority of the traffic to this blog is from Google. I'm ok with that. My goal is to provide what tips I can. If people are finding me via google, and getting some use out of this blog, then I am succeeding.
Why are you blogging? What do you look for in a blog like this?
LewisC
P.S. This entry ended up being one of those that started at one place and ended up in another.
