You know, it gets tough trying to think about what to actually say here when it comes to blogging tips. After all, there has to be a beginning to every good story, right? This is true: if you really want to make sure that you have a solid career in blogging, you have to master the basics.
So let’s get building! The most basic component of any good blog is the software that the blog rests on. It’s like your house: you can’t have a house without a solid foundation. Sure, you could hoist your house on those little sticks, but what type of house could you really build? This is the same in the world of blogging, since there are a lot of different platforms out there, but some are more complete than others.
Whoa! I do think that we jumped in this car a little too quickly; after all, we haven’t talked too much about what a blog is! This does tie in with the software thing I just mentioned, so don’t worry! 
At its most basic level, a blog is just a bunch of tightly-connected articles, listed chronologically. This means that the newest articles are on top, the way they should be. You want to make sure that your visitors have the freshest content possible. It’s like a big buffet, and your visitors will come over and over with a fresh plate as long as you’re still serving up the goods!
You aren’t just limited to articles; indeed, you can actually work in audio and video. In the past this used to be something difficult, but today it’s really easy to add in a lot of interactive components to your blog.
Now then, let’s jump back to that part about software. If you really want the best blogging software out there that will get you set up in mere minutes, you really want to make sure that you go with WordPress. If you want to run a WordPress blog for free through wordpress.com, you can do that too. But I strongly recommend the self-hosted style for long term blogging success. You will have the ability to do your branding and advertisements as you see fit, which is exactly what you want to look for in the first place.
The cool thing about WordPress is that it really gives you the right balance of choice and simplicity. If you decide to set up your own web hosting account, WordPress installs in about 5 minutes.
It’s natural that you might have some questions at this stage, and that’s perfectly fine. Don’t hesitate to leave a few comments here if there’s something that you didn’t get from here.
Your action step for today is to decide. What do I mean by that? I mean this: you need to decide what type of blog you want to build. Think about the self-hosted option and see how it fits into your overall plan.
You have a plan within your heart that is just dying to come out, so why not start building your blog today?
