You can start a blog. I did it and so can you.
Setting up a blog seems daunting but it’s not hard. It costs less than your cable bill. It costs less than your electric bill. It costs about $10 a year for your domain name, and $7 a month for your server. Money is not an excuse not to blog.
Have you always wondered what it would be like to have your own website? Perhaps run some ads and make some money? Share your ideas and feelings? What has stopped you?
I’ll tell you the two factors that were stopping me: 1) fear of the unknown and 2) the ignorance that created that unknown.
Can you risk 17 bucks? You can cancel you server any month, so you can try blogging for one month for $17.
How many hobbies can you name that cost so little? The incredible superpower to communicate with most of planet Earth is yours for $8 a month. Blogging is a very cheap hobby.
My blog experience
My friends told me that I had ideas that I should share. They encouraged me to start a blog. In retrospect, I realize that they wanted me to stop e-mailing them so much.
I tried a very expensive website creation and hosting service. It was easy but it just sat there. I didn’t use it. So after a year, I stopped the service and deleted the site. I read a book called Problogger.
That day I bit the bullet. I contacted BlueHost, bought a domain name, and set up a hosting service. You know what took the longest? Finding a domain name that wasn’t taken. I found one made up of three words: BlogsNewsReviews.com
I was afraid of going public. I paid a little more to have an unlisted domain registration. I became Astro Gremlin. I have a real life that I try to keep separate from my blog persona. Nothing sinister or sneaky. In fact, by writing as Astro, I am openly telling my friends and visitors that I write under a pen name. If you are one of my online friends stopping by, Astro loves you and you know it!
I set up a WordPress site in less than five minutes.
I wanted to see if I could make money. My plan: review really cool products and direct people to Amazon to buy them. I became an Amazon affiliate. I got an AdSense account. Easiest thing in the world.
Then I found out how little traffic a new site gets. Then the harder work began. But it was fun, too. After six months, my blog BlogsNewsReviews gets about 30 hits a day, and makes about $5 a month. But it’s ranked by Alexa in the top 1% of blogs and it’s getting better every day.
All the information to improve your blog is right on the web. There are many different ways to blog.
This beautiful girl posts her blog in a field, using her fingers to feel the words. It’s not how I would do it.
Will blogging make you rich? No. I have been blogging pretty hard for six months and have made $13. Is it hard work? If you do it right. Is it interesting? You bet your sweet Astro.
If you have considered blogging, I’m telling you this: You Can Do it.
You don’t have to use BlueHost but they will talk you through any problem you have. They are normal. Look at the beautiful girl below. Clearly she is communicating from a spacecraft. She or someone like her is always there.
When it comes to customer service BlueHost rocks. They don’t even make fun of you. They want you to be happy and successful. They want you to keep paying them $8 a month.
I became a Bluehost affiliate early on. They will get you blogging in just a few minutes. You will look back on that part of blogging and say, “Sheesh, that was nothing.”
Shy? I was. Pick an ordinary sounding name. Get a photo of an attractive person or even yourself. (Sorry that came out wrong.) All this can be changed later. But start blogging.
Trust me, your blog will not attract any visitors until you promote it. You do that by leaving comments on other blogs, and using social networks like Twitter and Facebook. People there are nice. The point is to start.
Now I’ll tell you straight up, I am writing this partly because I’m a Bluehost affiliate. That means I’m a sales partner who gets paid if anyone signs up. You can be one, too. I am proud to be a Bluehost affiliate because they made it easy and not scary to start blogging.
Do NOT be scared to take the first step. Do it right now.
Every time I log into Bluehost, a message pops up asking me if I would like some help. I could turn the message off, but I don’t. It reminds me of the calls I’ve made, how quickly they picked up, and how I get a chance to rate the service after every call. Bluehost staffers know that service is their product, and they are good at it. They certainly don’t bug you if you don’t need help but they are there all the time, day or night, if you do.
I have one regret about blogging. That I didn’t start earlier.
I was afraid. I was unsure. I wasn’t confident that I could do it. Take it from me, any idiot can start a blog. You just have to be a hardworking idiot to make any real money. The older your blog gets, the better. Domains are like wine.
If you have been thinking about starting a blog, just do it. Whatever excuse you have been making to yourself, ignore it. Your subconscious mind does that when it faces the unknown. But the excuses and delays have no basis in reality. Why? Because you have never blogged. Face the unknown. Step into the darkness of space. Find an amazing universe of self expression and friends you haven’t met yet. Start a blog. Still nervous? Read this encouraging blog from Stacy of GrowWithStacy.
- Enough research (you won’t find out any more about how it works until you try).
- Enough hesitation (he who hesitates is . . .).
- Enough excuses (you know you have the money).
Click HERE to start blogging!
I think everybody must start blogging, be it part time or full time, thanks.
Twitter: seobts003
I think everyone should own a personal blog. It is a place to share their own ideas and feelings.You can purchase a domain name for a small fee or you can create a blog on a free website.
I have started my WordPress blog 5 month after buying host, but I like blogging and after starting blogging, I feel I should be full time blogger.
Thanks for the great post!!
Bhavesh Sondagar recently posted..How to move Android apps to SD card without ROOT!!!
Twitter: bkgroup
Blogging is also a way in increasing your traffic to get your site into rank.
Twitter: pressurized walls nyc
Starting a blog is always a good idea. It’s even better when the cost involved is pretty low nowadays. I always want to set up my own blog in the Internet marketing niche. But I think I will delay it until I become more experienced. Only then I will have confident to tell my readers how effective my strategy is
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Duy, hope you will be successful and share your secret with us!
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Twitter: blogsnewsreview
Hi there Astro,
A perfect encouragement guide for the people who are in double mind of getting into blogging to actually go and start a blog. I think blogging is the best way of giving our opinion on stuffs, improving our writing as well as English language as well as earning quite a decent money online. I think everybody must start blogging, be it part time or full time…after all blogging is just sharing of ideas and voicing an opinion and I think every one needs to do it
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Hey there Shiva. I’ve got the English down pretty well, it’s the earning quite decent money that still eludes me.
? When I was considering starting a blog I read an article similar to this one and it was a “tipping point” for me. It can get complicated but it starts out incredibly easy.
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Twitter: blogsnewsreview
Hi Astro,
I think in the past few years blogging has become a little more “main stream” if you will and I believe more and more people are going to start blogging.
Not only its fun, its an excellent way to communicate and share information, while building communities. I think when we first started using internet, a lot of us lost that personal connection to each other, and I think blogging is one of those tools that can bring that back to a certain level. Thanks.
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Twitter: blogstashdotcom
Hi Satrap,
Thanks for your comment and couldn’t agree more. A basic blog is so easy that anyone can start one. What they do with it, of course, is a matter of effort, interest, and commitment. I’m still experimenting and having fun, but so glad I gave it a try!
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Twitter: blogsnewsreview
Hi Justin, thanks for stopping by. It’s good to hear from folks who say it’s worth sticking with it.
Twitter: blogsnewsreview
Hi Astro,
You sound a lot like me when I first started blogging. I am so glad that I took the plunge earlier this year and decided to become a blogger because it really caused me to stretch and grow myself.
I also regret not starting my blog earlier. It took me a year before I took the plunge and started my blog.
Twitter: Mazzastick
When we first started we looked at blogs and thought they’re like complex machines, working on knowledge, sweat and blood. And in a way, they were.
Now people can build a blog in 5 minutes. You’d think this is a good thing, but it’s not. Everyone can build a blog now, and that just dilutes the information, it makes it useless.
Claire, agree that creating a blog is now so easy that it’s inevitable that quite a few will be of low quality, short-lived or simply cranked out. Do they dilute the original content sites crafted with care and effort? Of course. But a person holding back from starting a blog should not be deterred by all the “competition.” With a little effort even a part time blogger can race past millions of failed URLs.
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Twitter: blogsnewsreview
Hey Debbie, you remind of the most important feature of blogging: fun. I hope you will come back and remind me periodically.
Thanks for commenting!
Hi Astro,
Blogging is lots of fun. I think it should be fun first – because when you are enjoying yourself you will attract more people.
I like your review of Bluehost – ive been looking for a good hosting service to set up a second blog. I was considering Bluehost – now I think I will use them.
Twitter: Motivatingmumuk
Hey Brian, good to see you here! As much as I try to be like everybody else, I always end up being different!
Hi Astro, thanks for the comment over at Ms. Ileans blog on my guest post. I’m glad you enjoyed it and from visiting your blog I can now see why you connected so well with it. I think everyone should start blogging, as long as you don’t try to be like everyone else and you find your own way blogging can offer so many interesting benefits.
Twitter: bbrian017
Hamish, thanks for the comment. Sigh, I know darned well that everyone on G+ is not using a real name, so I’m being penalized for making it obvious that I’m using an alter ego. Oh well.
Blogging can be a promising way of earning money if done correctly. However, it can also be frustrating to start with. I’ve known some bloggers who haven’t earned any decent amount of money after couple of months of blogging. But like what other successful bloggers kept on telling us, just enjoy working on your blog and the money will surely follow.
Maria, you hit the nail on the head. If it weren’t for the encouragement of bloggers who have passed the test of time, I think most of us would give up early.
Hey Astro,
I use BlueHost as well. They are great. I didn’t realise just how gorgeous all the Bluehost girls are until I read your blog. Be well worth a trip to their head office I guess.
The online persona thing is interesting. I know plenty of people who, for perfectly valid reasons, don’t want their real name out there. Others say that you need to use your real name – but I don’t agree. Unless you’re on a big ego trip that is.
Twitter: EBScribblings
Hey Krysta, I am a word nerd and write quite decently but lots of successful bloggers don’t sweat the grammar. Actually, if you take blogging too seriously, you miss out on a lot of the fun! Unique ideas? I’ve got a million of them. Not enough time to write all of them. I find humor the most difficult content to write.
Twitter: blogsnewsreview
This is indeed a tempting idea to start your own blog. I am good with words, not exactly a word-nerd, but can write decent. However it is a serious business, and if you cant do justice to the blog, then just don’t! You need a lot of unique ideas to write, the write-up shouldn’t be what everybody is aware off or is already present online, Just don’t try to bend the words and produce something new (we see this a lot now a days)..