Blogging

dingdongavoncalling · 28 January 2017 at 11:41PM

Could anyone recommend a free blogging platform that I could use initially for fun, possibly to earn some pocket money? Or would I need to pay for a platform in order to make money? Thanks

Fallen-Angel · 30 January 2017 at 2:31PM

dingdongavoncalling wrote: »

Could anyone recommend a free blogging platform that I could use initially for fun, possibly to earn some pocket money? Or would I need to pay for a platform in order to make money? Thanks

Blogger is free but they ultimately own your content and can remove it if they fancy it. There was news of a blogger who lost 14 years worth of work recently when they decided to delete their blog

I personally prefer self-hosted (I've had blogger blogs) as you have a bit more control over things. Lots of hosting companies out there who offer different packages, many from like £3 a month. I'm with Vidahost and pay about £30 a year for the hosting then my domain on top

talesfromtania · 2 February 2017 at 11:46AM

I use Blogger, it's free and really easy to use. Although I just blog for fun and I don't make any money from it I think you can put ads on Blogger to make money, but I'm not sure how it works.

scaredofdebt · 3 February 2017 at 2:10PM

You can pay people to write content for you but I am not sure what the quality would be like.

Also sometimes you will get people wanting to write a "guest blog" for you, but they usually want to advertise something! If you have a contact form on your blog you will probably get this.

I've just started getting a little bit of affiliate income from my new blog, surprised it has been so quick as I only started it in December. It's only a few quid but it all helps.

System · 3 February 2017 at 3:17PM

I love your blog Ilona! I am just starting off myself, too. So I don't have too much content but I can see it is going to be time consuming :-) (and fun). I do see that you don't accept guest/sponsored posts....I can see you don't want to compromise your values by accepting sponsored posts, but you might get content by accepting guest posts from people with similar interests? I'm very new to this, only been going since the end of November, so I might be wrong!

Johnson504 · 3 February 2017 at 7:17PM

The thing is if you really want to make money blogging you actually have to treat it like a job and not a hobby. It's one of those things that you get out what you put in it. You have to work at it to get your page views up. There will be the cost of upkeep for your blog as well because you can't make money with a free site, or at least not much. You will have to decide how you want to make money with your blog as well (affiliate marketing or sponsored posts) as you won't make much with adsense unless you have millions of pageviews a month in my understanding.

Ilona · 3 February 2017 at 7:17PM

rachelja wrote: »

I love your blog Ilona! I am just starting off myself, too. So I don't have too much content but I can see it is going to be time consuming :-) (and fun). I do see that you don't accept guest/sponsored posts....I can see you don't want to compromise your values by accepting sponsored posts, but you might get content by accepting guest posts from people with similar interests? I'm very new to this, only been going since the end of November, so I might be wrong!

Hi Rachel, thanks. Take no notice of the question I asked annajayden, I am not running out of steam. I asked it to catch them out, because looking at all their other posts it's obvious they are post building with a view to scamming.

I get lots of requests from people wanting to guest post, I say no to all of them. They just want to advertise their product or business, and want links put into the text.

My readers are used to my writing style, it's chatty and laid back with a smattering of humour. They tell me they look forward to reading about what I am up to, and they like the variety of topics I cover. I do sometimes write articles when it is appropriate to the topic I am covering, but these take longer to compose. A guest writer would not be able to replicate my style, and my readers would not be too happy either. My blog is my diary and only I can write it.

Keep going with your blog, let your personality shine through, and write about what you are passionate about. As long as you are enjoying it that's the main thing. You can make money from if if that's your aim, when you have built up a good readership. It's page views you want, I get between 6 and 8 thousand a day. You need lots of content, keep a little jotter pad with you and note down ideas when they come into your head. Best of luck.

ilona

PS. Had a look at your blog, you're off to a good start, keep at it.

brooke68 · 4 February 2017 at 10:00AM

Hello everyone, I'm so glad I found this thread! I've been talking about starting a blog for the last two years and, quite honestly, my family are getting a teensy bit tired of the 'all talk and no action' approach! As a child/teen, my dream was to be a writer but real life set in and I went into teaching instead. I see blogging as a way to finally fulfil my ambition and if, at some point, it could possibly allow me to give up teaching, so much the better! I'm so confused by all the options though. I've pretty much decided to go with WordPress as I like the visual options available. I have no technical skill, however, and need something that is simple to use so that I can concentrate on the creative side. I also have a limited budget for setup.
Any suggestions/advice would be more than appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

System · 4 February 2017 at 10:14AM

Thanks for your input Ilona! Your thoughts are interesting! I'm thinking it is going to be quite time-consuming, though that's not a problem. I do have a notebook, but I need to be more organized as I just have random scribbles all over the house!! I'm also finding that I'm discovering what I don't want to write about too, if that makes sense? I think I'll end up deleting or altering my original content to go in a bit of a different direction but that's all part of the journey :-) :-)

Your page view stats are absolutely amazing!!!

Ilona · 4 February 2017 at 11:22AM

brooke68 wrote: »

Hello everyone, I'm so glad I found this thread! I've been talking about starting a blog for the last two years and, quite honestly, my family are getting a teensy bit tired of the 'all talk and no action' approach! As a child/teen, my dream was to be a writer but real life set in and I went into teaching instead. I see blogging as a way to finally fulfil my ambition and if, at some point, it could possibly allow me to give up teaching, so much the better! I'm so confused by all the options though. I've pretty much decided to go with WordPress as I like the visual options available. I have no technical skill, however, and need something that is simple to use so that I can concentrate on the creative side. I also have a limited budget for setup.
Any suggestions/advice would be more than appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

Hi. I have no technical skills either. Blogger and Wordpress are self explanatory, get a blog set up and play around with it. It will take on a life of it's own, nurture it, tweak it, curse it, and love it.

You already have the writing skills needed, now is the time to put your money where your mouth is and get on with following it through. You don't need to pay for set up, unless you have ambitions for it to be a money maker. Someone else will be able to advise you on that, but for now you could practice on a free set up just to get the feel for it.

Blogging is good practice to becoming a writer. My friend has written a couple of books, but hardly any have been sold. I write almost every day and my blog is read by hundreds of thousands.

Get on with it, and stop waffling, but be aware it is very time consuming. Best of luck.
Ilona

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