I run about 5 blogs and I have learned with each one I develop. My most successful one Zune Info gets about 3,000 unique visitors a day. Here are my 10 rules for starting a blog.

1. Use WordPress as your Blog software. I can't stress enough how simple and easy this is to install and how easy the admin back end is to write and manage your blog. There are also 100s of plug ins and templates that are free.

2. Spend the money on a nice header and template. No one wants to see the default template! Spend about $40-$50 on a header (use the graphic contest area here) and find a nice free template or pay some one to build a custom one. Having your site look nice and unique will really pay off with repeat visitors and keeping visitors on your blog.

3. Write ONLY original content! Do NOT use RSS feeds as you are basically producing nothing of worth. Google and search engine frown on this. Spend the time to write 2-3 paragraph blogs that are original and useful.

4. Submit every blog you write to:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
http://www.digg.com

There are 30+ worthy social networking sites out there! Register for as many as you have time for and submit your content frequently!

You will get instance traffic and over time will build some nice back links. Also, add your blog to your profiles (under website address).

5. Do a Google search for the keyword you are targeting. For instance, if you are an iPod information blog search "ipod". E-mail the websites that rank high and contact them for a link exchange. E-mail 5 websites a day for the first few months! Register at forums that are similar to your blog and become an active member. If they allow it, place your blog link in your signature and be an active member. These are more inbound links and if you sound like an expert you will get some nice traffic.

6. Establish your blog before you apply Google Adsense and other ads on your site. Wait at least 6 months!

7. Use a Google and Yahoo Sitemap. This will notify Google and Yahoo every time you post. This will get your information archived in these important search engines more quickly.

8. Register your Blog in the important Blog Directories. Simply type in "blog directory" in Google. Spend the time to register at each one of these. At a minimum you should register with:
http://www.blogcatalog.com
http://technorati.com/

9. If you post news on your blog always link back to the news source. Not only is this proper etiquette it will keep you from being punished from Google for duplicate content.

10. Post 2 blogs a day! Stay with this rule and you will be successful. The search engine like activity and your readers (should you build up some) will bookmark you and subscribe if it is active, original and worthy.

I hope this helps some people that are thinking about starting a blog. Here are the more active blogs I run, stop by and say hi!

http://www.zuneinfo.com
http://www.nflinformer.com
http://www.reonkadenafan.com

Good tips on blogging, I am sure many new bloggers will benefit from the tips, especially the 'write only original content' and 'consistent posting'.

Very good tips! Thank you.

Thanks for the tips.

Why do we have to use Wordpress? I am considering to use Drupal. Since I read on drupal.org they have thousand of plugins with a wide range of functionality.

Is there any objective comparison for wordpress vs drupal? A link would be appreciate.

Thanks in advanced.

Hi...

That's a very helpful list, thanks. I agree that WordPress is a great way to go. There are a number of Google results for WordPress versus Google, but in general, WordPress is a bit more streamlined than Drupal.

Another good way to learn more about WordPress, is to take a look at our WordPress Roundup articles.

Regards -
Scott

nice tips.thankx for sharing

Why do we have to use Wordpress? I am considering to use Drupal.

I would say Wordpress is by far the most used and installs in 5 minutes or less. It is very clean and easy to customize. It has a dedicated coding group that updates the software when needed (security, add ons, etc).

I have tried a few and I settled on Wordpress due to its simplicity and ease of use. Even the most computer illiterate can install it and run it.

What about writing in a niche or at least having some sort of prevailing theme? I don't blog, so I don't know how important this is. I do know that when I read blogs, I am interested in blogs that are about something I am interested in, and they don't read like a diary.

Also, at least for me, templates really don't seem to matter for me when reading. I frequent blogs that are interesting to me. In fact, I know of a couple offhand that I read which use standard Wordpress themes.

@ OSWebMaster
Thanks for the links, start to explore more deeper before I take a pick on the one that suit my need.
PS: Maybe you meant Google results for WordPress versus Drupal

@ mikesilvia
I plan to use my undevelop domain (daytradeworld.net) for free blogging for everyone interesting on topic related to day trading for stock market/futures/forex.

I need the blogging platform capable of creating subdomain for the user, pretty much like blogger.com and easy for me to manage and administer the subdomain.

So far I see that wordpress is more suitable in term of easy to use for user. In other hand, drupal has more plugins and also the capability of CMS which are important requirements I need for the main page of my domain.

So, I open to more suggestion from experts like you guys before I jump to either one of them.

@ frost
I see that blog has more important capability for interaction with user (so call web 2.0, which I don't quite understand), and great nature for fast link building.

Thanks for all your helps, open for more suggestion.

Happy New Year 2008 for All of You. Wish you all the best.

Originally Posted by momogi

I need the blogging platform capable of creating subdomain for the user, pretty much like blogger.com and easy for me to manage and administer the subdomain.

So far I see that wordpress is more suitable in term of easy to use for user. In other hand, drupal has more plugins and also the capability of CMS which are important requirements I need for the main page of my domain.

So, I open to more suggestion from experts like you guys before I jump to either one of them.
Thanks for all your helps, open for more suggestion.

There is a multi user wordpress call wordpress MU that you can explore if you are into group blogging.

Drupal is indeed much more than a blogging platform, if your intention is to build a web 2.0 community, I believe drupal will give you more flexibility in terms of how you want your site to be. However, drupal is a bit more technical to set things up, and a good knowledge of PHP can help a lot.

@ dotservant.com

There is a multi user wordpress call wordpress MU

Thanks for your valuable information.

Up until now, I prefer Drupal for my group blogging (web 2.0 community). What still holding me is the complicated things I may face in the future because of lacking PHP knowledge.

Still monitoring Drupal forum on how they response to query for problem/modification to the source. So far, IMHO, it's a good forum with good and prompt responses.

What about writing in a niche or at least having some sort of prevailing theme? I don't blog, so I don't know how important this is. I do know that when I read blogs, I am interested in blogs that are about something I am interested in, and they don't read like a diary.

Also, at least for me, templates really don't seem to matter for me when reading. I frequent blogs that are interesting to me. In fact, I know of a couple offhand that I read which use standard Wordpress themes.

A niche is very helpful. For instance, starting an XBox blog right now will be difficult as it is saturated. Finding a niche in Xbox would be better. I also agree that a template is not that important if you have good content. But if there is a nice theme is is better on the eyes and gives the appearance of professionalism.

Mike, you took what would have been a good post and completely ruined it with #4.

Social bookmarking sites are NOT submission services. This is exactly what will destroy the concept: a bunch of idiots treating these types of sites like article sites (submit your article to as many places as possible, they'll all publish your crap because they have no standards, and a bunch of garbage dominates the sites and renders them useless.

You SMO wannabes have no idea what is going to occur if you keep up on this stupid path.

Originally Posted by mikesilvia

I run about 5 blogs and I have learned with each one I develop. My most successful one Zune Info gets about 3,000 unique visitors a day. Here are my 10 rules for starting a blog.

1. Use WordPress as your Blog software. I can't stress enough how simple and easy this is to install and how easy the admin back end is to write and manage your blog. There are also 100s of plug ins and templates that are free.

2. Spend the money on a nice header and template. No one wants to see the default template! Spend about $40-$50 on a header (use the graphic contest area here) and find a nice free template or pay some one to build a custom one. Having your site look nice and unique will really pay off with repeat visitors and keeping visitors on your blog.

3. Write ONLY original content! Do NOT use RSS feeds as you are basically producing nothing of worth. Google and search engine frown on this. Spend the time to write 2-3 paragraph blogs that are original and useful.

4. Submit every blog you write to:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
http://www.digg.com

There are 30+ worthy social networking sites out there! Register for as many as you have time for and submit your content frequently!

You will get instance traffic and over time will build some nice back links. Also, add your blog to your profiles (under website address).

5. Do a Google search for the keyword you are targeting. For instance, if you are an iPod information blog search "ipod". E-mail the websites that rank high and contact them for a link exchange. E-mail 5 websites a day for the first few months! Register at forums that are similar to your blog and become an active member. If they allow it, place your blog link in your signature and be an active member. These are more inbound links and if you sound like an expert you will get some nice traffic.

6. Establish your blog before you apply Google Adsense and other ads on your site. Wait at least 6 months!

7. Use a Google and Yahoo Sitemap. This will notify Google and Yahoo every time you post. This will get your information archived in these important search engines more quickly.

8. Register your Blog in the important Blog Directories. Simply type in "blog directory" in Google. Spend the time to register at each one of these. At a minimum you should register with:
http://www.blogcatalog.com
http://technorati.com/

9. If you post news on your blog always link back to the news source. Not only is this proper etiquette it will keep you from being punished from Google for duplicate content.

10. Post 2 blogs a day! Stay with this rule and you will be successful. The search engine like activity and your readers (should you build up some) will bookmark you and subscribe if it is active, original and worthy.

I hope this helps some people that are thinking about starting a blog. Here are the more active blogs I run, stop by and say hi!

http://www.zuneinfo.com
http://www.nflinformer.com
http://www.reonkadenafan.com

Really great tips.......thanks for sharing.......presently I am using Blogger.com but i will sure use wordpress for my upcoming blog.

The only real beef I have with this post is the title, these are NOT rules for starting a blog, I'd prefer "10 Tips I used when starting my blogs" or something.

For #1, while I also think WP is the best, it isn't the only option, many people use blogger too.

#2 I absolutely don't agree with, if your just getting into blogging and starting a blog, you should NOT invest that kind of money into it. Some people may even discover blogging is not for them.

Adam already pointed out #4, so I won't go into much detail with that one.

For #5, while it is up to you whether or not to do keyword research or not, Link Exchange is useless (see my reasoning for it).

I don't agree with #6 either, most visitors don't care much whether you have ads or not (specifically non-intrusive text ads like Google Adsense), and I don't know why you say "wait at least *6 months*"

In #8, I never registered my blog in "blog directories", but if you prefer to network that way, then by all means go for it.

Not quite sure with what you meant in #10 by "posting two blogs a day", I could understand blog *posts*, but creating two blogs a day is equivalent to creating splogs.

I have to agree with both Adam and James on this.

Some of those tips are useful, but some of them aren't that useful. Link exchanges aren't a secret golden bullet. You'll end up sending traffic away via them and it's believed that Google doesn't rank them as high as they rank natural one way links. It may in fact harm your SE ranking as it is an obvious type of manipulation to falsify your reputation.

I also have to agree with the social bookmarking thing that Adam said. They weren't designed for webmasters - they were designed for users. Submitting lots of your own content to it may be seen by some sites as spamming their system and may be against their terms. If the content is good, users will probably submit it themselves (add to "x" site buttons also help - i.e. "Digg this", "bookmark on SU" or whatever)

Dan

****, I didn't even see #5. I got stuck on #4. Good call, James.

Hello All -

Those of you that have a problem with #4 (submit blog posts to StumbleUpon and Digg) and #5 (link exchanges & forum signatures), are really missing some opportunities. Sure, if your posts aren't valuable you should not submit them to Stumble Upon and Digg. But if your posts are valuable (and why would you write them otherwise) -- then proudly do so.

Exchanging links can also be a good way to go -- done properly with the right etiquette and SEO considerations covered. Of course you can make a "10 reasons list" why it might be useless to do link echanges... if you do them wrong. But you can also find a number of "10 reason's why" lists that show you the right way to do it. Just Google for them.

Some key questions to ask yourself (forget about the consistant naysayers here and focus on quality content):

• Is my post really and objectively valuable for other readers? If not -- why did you write it? If it is... submit it.
• What can I gain from a SEO sense from this link exchange (is the site high ranking, etc.)?
• How can this linking partnership be nurtured? Can we cross post? Can we post reciprocal comments that add value to the content of each others' blog?

Happy New Year!
- Scott

* shakes his head *

Would someone please stop the planet? I'd like to get off now.

Originally Posted by OSWebMaster

Exchanging links can also be a good way to go -- done properly with the right etiquette and SEO considerations covered. Of course you can make a "10 reasons list" why it might be useless to do link echanges... if you do them wrong. But you can also find a number of "10 reason's why" lists that show you the right way to do it. Just Google for them.

I'm still waiting for ONE good reason. (Googling didn't work)

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

* shakes his head *

Would someone please stop the planet? I'd like to get off now.

Yeah, Earth sure can be a dizzy place, with all that constant rotating and revolving around the sun .