The Start – Blogger or, WordPress

The obvious question, when you start – “How do I start”? If you have just joined the blogging caravan, then this question is the one which is most difficult to answer for you. When my blogs punchline said, “Making money online – the novice way”, the first few readers which obviously were my friends and colleagues, asked me a question: “What is the easiest way to make money online and which a novice can start off with”? My response was – “BLOGGING”.

So you are one of them who has just decided that you want to start a blog to make money online, then let us start by answering the obvious question.

Types of Blogging platforms -

There are numerous blogging platforms out there and a few of them are Typepad, Mashable, Blogger, and WordPress. The first 2 platforms only let you host a blog at their hosting but the other two have multiple options.

WordPress

WordPress gives you 2 options. You can either use the WordPress hosted option or, a Self-hosted option. At the WordPress hosted option or, for that matter all blogs that are hosted at their own hosting servers, your blog name would be something similar to http://yourblogname.wordpress.com or, http://yourblogname.typepad.com etc. You can read more about this option or, start a blog at http://www.wordpress.com.

At the self hosted option that WordPress offers, you will have to buy a hosting account, and a domain name. You should also know a bit about hosting servers and ftp publishing, though these days all hosting plans come with control panels that give you an easy option to install WordPress.

Blogger

At Blogger, you can host the blog at their servers and yet have a domain name of your own. So that means that you would not have to live with the blog name like the one that we discussed above. You can choose to have a blog like http://www.yourblogname.com. They also give you an option of hosting your blog on your own server. The best thing about this is the fact that you don’t need to fiddle with your hosting server a lot in case you go for this option, because Blogger provides an easy ftp publishing option.

There are 2 situations that we would assume which would be the prime considerations in deciding where to start -

1. You want to start making some money soon.
2. You want to make money only after some time – about 2-3 months down the line

You want to start making some money soon -

This is how I am and I can go to any extent to learn and research in order to do that. So if you are one of them, then we assume the following -

• You have a bit of knowledge about html and websites – If this is so, then you should start off by using self-hosted WordPress. This is because WordPress has a lot of enhancements available through the numerous plug-ins and you can give your blog a personal touch and feel. Also advertising on your blogs would be in your absolute control and after some time when you become a successful blogger you don’t have to change servers and domains. (This is the worst thing to do ever). You can download the WordPress installation files here at http://www.wordpress.org.
• You have no knowledge of html and websites – In this case the best place to start is “Blogger”. You don’t have to worry about html and hosting servers. They allow advertisement even on their hosted blog and advertising is very easy at Blogger if you know how to drag and drop and copy and paste. Later when you are successful at blogging you don’t need to shift the entire server also. You can run the same blog from your own server with you own domain name. Check out Blogger at http://www.blogger.com

You want to make money only after some time -

If you want to start a blog to get the feel of it and have set a target of making money only after some time, once you get acquainted with it, then the best option for you is WordPress hosted blogs. It is easy to start, configure and run and you can take your own time to get used to all the features of WordPress. Later on when you are ready for your money making blog, you can choose any of the other options.

But why would you not want to make some money while you get acquainted with “Blogging”. My advice would hence be to start off with a Self-hosted WordPress blog right away.

I should tell you that WordPress is amazing. I started on WordPress about 2 years ago and today am running almost 11 blogs successfully.

In case you want help in installing a blog for you on any of the above platforms, my friend can do that for you while you sit and relax. The charges are nominal -

You get a free “Complete manage your blog” guide with all of these.

Blogger hosted blogs – $20.00
WordPress hosted blogs – $30.00
Self-hosted WordPress blog – $50.00 (You get your hosting space for life, a domain name of your choice paid for the first year and the blog management guide)
Other blogs – $35.00 (No guide available)

Just comment on this blog in case you would like to opt for one and we will get in touch with you at your email address.

• Make Money Online
  Finally something new?
• Money
  This seems to be some pretty good thinking. Added you to my RSS feed. Was searching for "money" when I found "ney blogging from home | Make money from computer through blogging | DK Speaks". Doing something very similar at this very moment.
• Steve
  Great article!
  I would go with the self hosting and own domain name that way if you wanted you could sell your blog down the road.
  
  Thanks
  Steve
• Your Reader
  Good work! Thank you!
  I always wanted to write in my site something like that. Can I take part of your post to my site?
  Of course, I will add backlink?
  
  Regards, Reader
• rdilipk1
  Dear Reader,
  Thanks for your visit and comments.
  You are free to use it in your site if you provide a backlink to me.
  Keep visiting and digg my article if you like it.