The Blogging Chronicles: WordPress and Domains (Step 5)

There are lots and lots of available blogs to use online. With millions of registered users, blogger.com is one of the largest providers of free blogs and their blogs tend to be a   more sophisticated than other like free blog services. Although it is totally possible to make money using a free blog like the blogs found at blogger.com, I don’t suggest using this service.
Here’s why:
1. Google Possesses Your Content – Google has the authority to shut down your account without warning if they don’t like what you’re blogging about. You have no dominance over your personal blog.
2. Deficiency of advanced options – Blogger doesn’t provide categories. You can’t sort your articles into several focuses.
3. Publication with blogger is a pain – It can take eternally to post articles on the blogger program, particularly if you’re making varieties to the entire web site.
4. You can’t brand yourself – Of course with blogger you can compose to your private domain, but you can’t do significant varieties to it.

Blogger.com is great if you merely want a personal journal, but it’s not so good if you’re looking to produce serious income with your blog.
Fortuitously for blog Marketers, there is another not as well known (although among Internet Marketers it’s BIG) blog service called WordPress.com that is 100% FREE, contains no advertisements, and has none of the stressful restrictions like blogger.com .

WordPress is comfortable to use once you get the hang of it you will rapidly discover that it has an amazing amount of functionality and is very Search Engine friendly (means lots of free traffic). With WordPress you will be efficient to easily add new features, or ‘plugins,’ to your website that will maximize your realizing potential.

Before you can get started with WordPress, you will need to purchase a domain name and a hosting server for the WordPress blog. Both your domain name and hosting will cost you less than $20. I suggest you use bluehost or hostmonster
for your hosting because their prices are fair and their hosting is intentional to facilitate WordPress blogs. Also, the customer service at bluehost or hostmonster
is premium and they are used to handling with new WordPress blog users. Best of all, they will set up WordPress for you at no unnecessary charge if you are incapable to do so!
For your domain name, I suggest goDaddy.com.

BlueHost
www.bluehost.com

Hostmonster
www.hostmonster.com

Godaddy.com
www.godaddy.com

You’ll also want to look into giving your blog an eye-pleasing theme.
There are many, many themes to chose from. You can download a free theme from the following websites:

alexking.org/projects/wordpress/themes
www.themeporter.com
www.ndesign-studio.com/resources/wp-themes
themes.wordpress.net

http://www.themes.wordpress.net/

For extra help on setting up your WordPress blog, you may want to check out the WordPress installation forum:

http://wordpress.org/support/forum/2

Tip: Domain Name
Avert using your first or last name in the domain itself. Rather, think of some keywords related your blog and apply those for your domain name. For example, if the subject of your blog is ‘Cool cats and dogs’, create a domain name like www.coolcatsanddogs.com . This kind of domain name is a lot more appealing and professional looking than www.johnsmithcoolcatsanddogs.com . A keyword related domain name will also improve Search Engine profile and bring value to your blog should you decide to list it for sale.