Blog 101: How to Start, Make it Cute, & Succeed Blogging

Today’s post is all about blogging!  How to get a blog, how to make your blog pretty, and I’m also answering your blogging questions.  This is probably more than you want or need to know, but since everyone is at a different place at blogging, I thought I’d give you several fabulous resources that have helped me.

This is what I hear almost every week, “Laurie I have the best idea for a blog!  {put in explanation here}  How do I make it successful?!?”  {{insert pause expecting a magic pill}}

I’m not kidding, this happens to me all the time. {{giggle}}  I absolutely love it.  So here’s the secret to a successful blog:

Start one, blog every week day, read blogs, learn, show off your personality, blog every week day, find your niche or what makes you stand out, comment on other blogs, make friends, blog week every day.

Yep, I know you were expecting something huge and profound.  Obviously there is more to it than that – but the biggest thing is to start one and be consistent at it!

How To Get a Blog

So if you’re wanting to start a blog there are a lot of options, but the most popular are:

• Blogspot.com for people with basic to zero computer skills.
• WordPress.com for people starting a blog as a business or possible business.

Customizing Your Blogspot.com Blog

Q. Hi Laurie. Not sure if you have the time to answer this question. After posting funny stories about the crazy things my three girls do on Facebook for a while, everyone is telling me to start a blog. The trouble is, I tried it last week on WordPress and it looks, well……. bad. Any *tips* you can give me on the best blog start up sites and how to make it look good?

A. Yep!  Here are several “how-to” links to customize your blog as well as several blog designers you can hire to do it for you. {{wink}}

5 Great Tips to Build a Strong Blog Design Foundation an experpt from my eBook, Mom-preneur Blog & Etsy Guide.  Since design is a foundation…  here are five great tips to help you build a stronger foundation, so that hopefully your blog or website won’t be the one that fades away.

Beautify Your Blog Series – How to’s for making a customized blog on blogspot.com from Nina at Momma Go Round. A ten part series on how to edit your blog to create a customized feel.

1. Creating a Custom Header in Blogspot.com
2. Choosing a Blog Layout/Template
3. Adjusting Your Blog’s Layout/Template
4. Removing the Blogger Navigation Bar
5. Creating a Grab Button
6. Create A Custom Pages Bar
7. Centering Gadgets
8. Create Social Media/Feed Buttons
9. Adding A Signature
10. Adding Fonts To Your Blog Using Blogger In Draft or Adding Fonts to Your Blog Using HTML

DIY Blog Tips to Make My Blog Pretty

• Blogging 101: Navigation Buttons
• Blogging 101: Simple Navigation Bar
• Blogging 101: Favicons
• Blogging 101: Basic HTML Codes
• Blogging 101:  Blogger Pages
• Blogging 101: Navigation Bar with Images

Blog Designers and Free Blog Templates

• Blog Designers and Free Templates
• Blog Designers from the Tip Junkie Mom-preneur Shops.  Be sure to look on these sites to see if they offer free templates as well, most of them do.

Things A Blogger Should Know

• Blogging 101: “Dos” and “Don’ts”
• Blog Etiquette or Blogtiquette
• Top Tips for Beginning Bloggers
• What is an RSS Feed?
• Creative Commons ~ How to Protect Your Ideas

Using Html Tags When Commenting – This tutorial shows bloggers how to use very basic html tags like bold, italic, ect.. when they are commenting on someone’s blog.

How to write an “about me page” for your blog – Writing an about me page is an important step in setting up your blog or website. It’s one of the first things people see when they land on your blog.

Family Blog… Public or Private? – I found an easy way to take my family blog private… WITHOUT my friends and family loosing their blog roll updates!

How to set up a custom domain with blogspot.com – A few months ago I switched from blogspot to a dot com, whateverdeedeewants.com I thought I would show you how to do it. It is super easy!

Advanced Blog Customization & Tools

DIY Custom Blog Design – Everything that you need to know to  make your own custom blog design without hiring a professional.  Scroll down to see SEO tips, photo editing tips, and more.

Mom Blog SEO eBook – 30 days to boost traffic, readers and income.

Connecting with  your community of Readers:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 – What makes some blogs meccas for loyal fans? Your readership grows when you engage your readers.  Enrich your understanding of cultivating an audience and giving back to your readers in the ways that are natural for you and that matter to them.

EVO ’10 Conference:  What I learned and who I met – I had so many light bulb moments and finally “got” several things I’ve been struggling with – like Twitter.  {{dude}}  Sometimes you just need a woman to explain it to you, to get it.

WP NoFollow Reciprocity Plugin to increase Page Rank – The NoFollow-Reciprocity plugin will also insert NoFollow code into the social icons at the buttons at the bottom of this post, such as SexyBookmarks (Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, etc).

Tips on Improving Your PageRank and Alexa Raking – Listed below are some of the steps MomsMaterial.com has taken to achieve these statistics in such a short time.

Thanks Ladies! These blog tips are amazing. Feel free to grab my “I was featured on Tip Junkie” blog button. You earned it! {{high fives}}

Do you have a tutorial on your blog? Feel free to share it with us! Simply leave the link to it in the comments or upload a photo to the Tip Junkie Facebook page. I adore hearing from you. {{wink}}

Creating Memories that Endure,

Laurie