Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 3: Blogging for profit

In This Chapter

• Developing value with your blogging persona
• Identifying revenue opportunities
• Choosing the perfect blog platform

Blogs originated as online diaries or journals of thoughts, observations, and comments about people's lives and the world around them. Today, blogs have moved well beyond the status of online journal and are considered serious business. According to Blog Pulse, more than 166 million (identified) blogs exist — and that number grows daily. Individuals, as well as the business world, have quickly realized the value of having this type of forum. Companies have adopted blogs as a way of promoting products and services. In fact, blogs are even being used as the foundation for a company's Web site. For example, WordPress, a popular and free blog software, can now be easily structured to look and function like a robust corporate site. The primary difference is that the easy interface means you don't have to know codes (such as HTML or CSS) or have graphic design skills to develop and maintain the site. WordPress, along with the availability of free design templates, makes it easy for the most novice users to launch a full Web site — adding content, photos, and other interactive features.

Aside from the ease of management that blogging software offers, perhaps an equally (or even more) important factor for many companies that create and maintain blogs is the capability to enjoy a healthy financial return on their efforts. That's ...