blogging

[fransean]

I am wondering for those of you who already are blogging if there is any extra cash to be made with affiliate marketing and ads added to your site?
How do you get the word out about your blog? How often do you update your blog? How important are pictures?
Is there are good place to go to learn more before jumping in? What else should I consider before starting?

Bev

[Phantomfyre]

Bev, I'm a blogging newbie, but I'll try to answer, and if nothing else, my response will bump your question back to the top of the page so others might answer.

Income? For me, none. I've read that most blog income is through ads. I don't have any ads on my blog, and if I did, readers would have to click on the ads to generate income. At least I think that's how it works, and I don't have enough readers to bother with it now. And I don't want to clutter up my blog with ads. The Pioneer Woman is always giving away high $ gift cards and other goodies, so she must be making decent money off her blog, but she also has a TON of readers.

Publicity? Well, I have it in my sig line here, and I emailed some friends and relatives about it, some of whom have told their friends. I've gotten over 300 hits since I let anyone know about my blog back in June, which I'm very happy with!

Update frequency? I'd *like* to update it daily, but that doesn't usually happen. Especially this summer. I don't think that daily updates are necessary for a sucessful blog, though. If you want to do weekly, bi-weekly or whatever, that'd be fine, I think, as long as you let readers know your planned publication schedule so they know when to check back for new content.

Importance of pictures? Depends. I've seen some blogs where the pictures really add to the posts, or even ARE the posts, and other blogs where pictures don't really have a point and/or are kinda clutter. A well-written, interesting blog doesn't need pictures, IMO. Sometimes, pics can really help illustrate a point or a how-to. I add pictures to some of my posts for fun, partly because family reads my blog and it keeps them updated on what I'm up to.

Learning? I did a search here for threads about blogging, read some articles online about it (how-to, best blog site/hosts, etc.), and read some more at the host I chose to use. (Wordpress.) Blogger.com also has a bunch of tutorials, I understand.

Other thoughts? Well, if you want to put pictures on your blog, you'll need an accout with a photo hosting site. I chose Photobucket. Think about what you want to write about and let readers know what your subject is/will be. Mine is pretty random, but I tell people that right away. I wouldn't expect or hope to make money off your blog. I don't. I just enjoy writing and sharing stories, and have been urged by several folks over the years to write professionally, so I figured this would be a fun thing to do. And it gives me incentive to try to do a little writing every day, which is something I always *mean* to do, but then don't make time for it. Now I have a reason to write, so I do.

I hope this helps some.

[Wags]

I use Wordpress for both of my blogs - you don't need a photo hosting site in order to post pictures in Wordpress. You just need to be sure your photos are edited for the web before you add them to a post. Pictures that relate to or illustrate what you are writing about are helpful.

Most folks don't make a ton of money blogging - so it depends on how much you want to clutter your site. You can submit your blog to google and depending on the quality of your links it may or may not get picked up. My ranch blog got picked up right away and has gotten over a 1000 hits in its first month. Not great but I haven't tried very hard to promote it just yet.

My Digital Scrapbooking blog has been open about 10 months now, and averages 6,000 views a month. I started out blogging daily, but now only blog 2-3 times a week. I may eventually place some advertising on that one.