Before starting your blog there are a few things that you must accomplish. The first thing is obviously choosing which niche you will blog in. For this task I recommend making a list of all the topics that you are passionate about. It s important to start a blog on a topic that you can provide valuable content to, so therefore, it s imperative to choose a subject that you are able to write about on a day to day basis. If you can t see yourself writing about it in a year, it s probably not wise to start a blog on that topic. Anything from celebrity gossip to fishing can be successful on the internet. They aren lying when they say that there truly is a market for everything.

After making your list, circle the top three subject choices that you d like to write about. The reason I want you to circle three instead of just choosing one right away is this… our next step involves researching that topic. If after you research the topic, you aren t so sure that it would do all that well… you can simply move on to the next one. How s that for simplicity?

Niche Research

The next step in creating our blog is researching our chosen niche. The easiest way to start this process is to do a Google search for keywords that might fit your niche. The more searches for the keywords, the bigger your target audience. A bigger target audience means that there is more than enough people that you may reach with your writing, thus more money making potential. I ll warn you early on though, this isn t always the case. A bigger target audience usually, but not always, means that you ll have more competition. That means that there may be a big piece of the pie for you, but you ll have to fight to obtain it. For a new blogger, this generally isn t a good idea. If you ve blogged before and you think you are up to the challenge… go for it!

The next step would be going to blog resources like Technorati, Blog Catalog, Spicy Pages, and My Blog Log. These sites (among others) will show you how many blogs have registered through their site on a specific category. Dig around a little bit and you ll see what you are dealing with. When doing niche market research, you ll always want to know who your target audience is.

For example, in the celebrity gossip niche, I would say with complete certainty that you market would be dominated with 16-30 year-olds from all over the world. If you were to write about Nascar though, I would say that the target audience would be a bit older 30-45 and predominately from the southern half of the United States. These are important factors to consider when choosing a niche. They are also important later on when we talk about monetizing your blog. So do the homework now, and you ll be glad you did later!

Keyword Research

One more research step that I think would benefit everyone starting a new blog. Keyword research! I know this sounds complicated for a beginner, but I promise you the task isn t anywhere near as daunting as it seems. When I say keyword research, what I really mean is targeting around ten to fifteen keywords for your blog. You can do this by using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, or the even better (but not free) Wordze tool. Either of these will allow you type in a word that describes your niche, and it will spit out multiple keywords. It will also show you how often these keywords are searched for in their respective search engines, Google and Yahoo. The reason you are researching keywords is because at some point you want to start building up some search engine traffic. In order to do that, you must rank on the first page for certain keywords.

Keyword selection runs the same route as researching a niche. A keyword with a lot of searches is good, because it means there is a huge potential for traffic… if you can get your blog listed on the front page. However, it may mean that you will have to work that much harder to obtain such a ranking. If you plan on being a blogger long-term, go ahead and get into the race for popular keywords. The longer you are around, the better you will start to rank for them.

If you are looking for keywords with less search volume, but that are easier to get high rankings for… that s okay too! These keywords won t bring as much organic (search engine) traffic to your site, but they will be easier to rank highly for. So even though they bring less traffic, they will definitely be easier to obtain. Going after popular keywords is a high-risk, high-reward strategy. If you get listed highly, the reward will be great. But it may take you quite a long time to do so (if ever). Either strategy will bring you some sort of traffic eventually.

The thing about SEO is that it s a marathon, not a sprint.

So whichever route you decide to go, it could turn out profitable for you.

Writing Style

This part of selecting a blog is often overlooked, but as crucial to success as anything else in the early going. Writing style is your blogging voice. It s the way that you get messages across to your readers, and in turn it will decide how they react to that message.

I say that it s important to know what style of writing your niche will accept because all niche s expect different things of their writers. Will a smart-alecky 20-year-old be able to write a blog about the card game Bridge? I don t think so. Bridge is a game that is predominately played by older players. Most are even senior citizens and they won t take too kindly to a know-it-all, smart-aleck youngster.

On the other hand, if you are writing in a different niche - such as sports, or celebrity gossip … these are genres that may take a little bit of attitude and enjoy it. So if you are a feisty writer, it s generally a bad idea to write in a tame market. It all goes back to doing your homework before selecting a niche to write in. If you do A+ research, you ll get A+ results. Trust me!

Writing style is your blogging voice. It s the way that you get messages across to your readers, and in turn it will decide how they react to that message.

• Doktertomi.com : Free Inspirations, News, Guides, Tips and Tricks
• Makassar Today : Everything You Need To Know About Makassar
• Masterbiznet.com : Masternya Bisnis Internet
• Work in The Website : News, Guides, Tips and Tricks on Website Monitization and Advertising