Blogging for Money

Basic Blogging

The blog portal www.blogger.com has a good section on basic blogging. A brief but interesting history of blogging by Dave Winer, author of the longest-running weblog on the Net, is at http://newhome.weblogs.com/historyOfWeblogs.

"OK," said Claude, "I think I understand the basics. It does seem pretty simple."

"Absolutely," I told him. "The Web was able to grow quickly because it was built on simple standards. A moderately technical person could download, install, and configure the necessary software in a matter of hours. Web browser software is now bundled with every new computer. Operating systems like Linux and Mac OS X even include built-in Web server software."

"One more thing, then," Claude continued. "Can you tell me the difference between a Web site and a blog? Stef's been telling me that I should 'get with it' and create a blog since I spend so much time on the computer anyhow." Stef is Claude's daughter, who attends a local college.

"When it comes right down to it," I continued, "a blog is just a set of frequently and easily updated pages on a Web site. The term blog is short for weblog, a type of online diary or journal. For some people, their blog is their entire Web site. For others, a blog is just one component of the Web site. Does Stef have a blog?" Claude indicated that she did. "Then I'd love to talk to her about it. The more advanced features of a blogletting readers post comments, tracking references by other blogsrequire the installation of special software on the Web server, so many bloggers let blogging services like LiveJournal or Bloggerwhich, incidentally, is owned by Googlehandle the technical details for them (Figure 1.6). These services can host a blog for you on their own Web sites, but most can also publish the blog over to a Web site that you control. I'd be curious to know how she set up her blog."

Figure 1.6. Google's Blogger weblog service.

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Claude wasn't sure. "I think she had someone set it up for her. But I know she adds to it herself."

"That's exactly why blogging services are so popularthey make it easy for anyone to create and maintain a blog."

"So should I create a blog or a regular Web site?" he asked me.

"Or maybe both?" I countered. "There's no right answerit depends if the blog format makes sense for what you want to do or not."

"Can you make money with a blog, too?" I'm not sure if Claude was thinking about himself or his daughter!

"You can display AdSense ads in your blog, yes," I told him. "It's not really any different; you just have to paste the AdSense code into the right spot. I'd be happy to show you or Stef how to do it."

"That would be great," he said. "Let me set something up. I'm sure she'd appreciate your help."