Blog, as you know, stands for weblog and is a journal or newsletter that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. It is a simple web page where visitors can come and read (see) your article and which can be updated regularly. By definition, a blog needs to contain contents that prospective readers would find useful.

A blog is great for businesses because it helps the writer (business owner) build credibility as an expert in his/her area, lets readers respond, and generates incoming links to your website. (when done right!)

Several free blog-creation sites are available. Prominent among them are blogger.com,createblog.com ,blogstream.com. There are some paid blog sites like,typepad.com ,blog.com etc. Below is a simple step-by-step process for creating and marketing your own blog:

Creating your Blog

Your blog has two identities: Name & URL. Give these some thought and do your keywords research before deciding on your blog title. It also has a description section that is crawled by Search Engines. The URL address of your blog can be of two types, one with the extension of the software provider, for example:

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com or
http://yourblogname.wordpress.com.

The other option has the blog hosted on your website- for example
http://www.<yourblognamehere>.com
Blogspot & wordpress are two popular blogging softwares.

For those of you who prefer goggle’s software:

Click on the link if you have a google account:
https://www.google.com/accounts/Login?service=blogger&naui=8 &continue=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.blogger.com%2Floginz%3Fd %3D%252Fcreate-blog.g&alwf=true&skipvpage=true

If you do not have a google account click on

https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?naui=8&service=blogger&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.blogger.com%2Floginz%3Fd%3D%252Fcreateblog.g&sendvemail=true&followup=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.blogger.com%2Floginz%3Fd%3D%252Fhome

Blogger by google also has an option of hosting a Blog where you are the web server. If you want to go for it, click on ->Advanced. If you are not a fan of google or if you like to explore other options go to: http://wordpress.com/signup/

Once you have decided on the blog’s name, URL and location
make a note of it.

YOUR BLOG HAS THREE AREAS

1. Template
2. Settings
3. Posting

Step 1: Templates

Decide on your blog template. While choosing a template is a personal choice, keep in mind the type of blog you are setting up. For example an information blog, would look better in a formal template, while a chatty blog would look good in an informal setting. If you are familiar with HTML or XHTML you can fiddle with the templates according to your liking.

Step 2: Settings

About Comments: After choosing the template, next attend to blog settings. One of the first reasons for setting up a blog is that you want feedback. So we come to settings on comments. If you want unfiltered comments, viewers can straight away publish their comments on your blog. Otherwise you can set up a filter. That way, the comment is first emailed to you and you press the publish button.

To filter your comments: enables comment moderation. If you want to know if some one has left a comment on your blog, give your email in the comment notification address. Profile: Fill in your profile in an interesting and arresting manner. Most visitors to your site will view your profile, and that profile will decide your likeability factor in the early days of your blog.

Step 3: Posting

Now that your blog is more or less set up, you will need to start posting. Click on the-> create post button. A new window appears. You can type your text directly or copy/paste from a notepad. Unfortunately “Blogger” is not totally compatible with MS Word, so a lot of formatting features are lost. The best strategy is to copy and paste the text from notepad or any other text editor and then format the text. After you are done, preview your post, then hit the publish button.

Congratulations! You have just made your first blog post.

Popularizing Your Blog

Well, you have now created your blog and made the first post. Of course, you want everyone to know that you have a blog and you want everyone to read it. Why blogs are so popular as well as good publicity is that they are easily updated. Those interested can subscribe to your blog and can read it as soon as you have added new content to your blog. It’s good for Search Engines too.

So how to go about it?

Step 1: Submit your Blog to Blog directories.

Most blog directories automatically convert your blog into a feed. To make your blog known everywhere, here’s a link where you can register your blogs. http://www.toprankresults.com/blogsubmit- list.htm

Step 2: Create your own feed, put a link on the blog and submit your feed to other feed directories.

If you don’t know how to create your own feed, start with http://www.feedburner.com. Just enter your blog URL and feedburner, automatically will convert it into a feed. Once the feed is entered, you can view the number of subscribers, viewers etc. to your blog.

Step 3: Update your Blog everyday or at least once a week.

Your content is king where a blog is concerned. Make sure your content is informative, precise and helpful. Search Engines may not be intelligent, but people, searching for content really are!

Step 4: Read related blogs. What are your competitors writing?

Why are they popular, what issues are they addressing in their blog. This goes a long way to giving you new ideas.