Blogs are not your dad’s media and bloggers are not traditional journalists. Unless of course there happens to be one who decided to pick up on the trend. But being a journalist is in no way a requirement.

There aren’t very many wrong ways to blog wrong aside from legal acts like stealing content from someone else or verbally attacking a business or someone.

If you wish to be taken seriously as a blogger you’ll want to consider the following:

1. Goals & Value – Are you blogging to educate, inform, entertain or deliver some value? Keep in mind, blogs that help solve real problems do quite well.
2. Facts Matter – If you’re stating opinions, emphasize they are your opinions. If you’re stating facts, cite them. If this is your blog, your readers are going to appreciate your opinion, so I try to get in the habit of sticking to opinions.
3. Defamation – It’s wrong and can sometimes get you in big trouble.
4. Be Brief – No one wants to wade through miles of post to get to the point.
5. Link Up – When you mention a site or article that has a link it’s simply good manners to provide a link to that site. It’s good manners, it’s how the internet works and linking only to yourself isn’t a very good reputation to have.
6. Disclosure – If you’re blogging or writing a post to make money or if you have a working relationship with an organization that you’re writing about disclose that information to your reader. I have a blanket disclosure policy on my blog that lets my readers know in some cases, I earn money through my links.

Take time to review your blog and answer the following questions:

• Review your work every week or so. Is your writing and message improving?
• Review your work every month or so. Are you becoming redundant?
• Compare your work to others in your niche. What can you do to improve?
• Why are you posting what you’re posting? Do you have a goal?
• Is what you’re writing worth the time of your reader? How can improve? Should you shift gears?
• What more you could be doing with your blog to add value?

Have I overlooked anything? What else do you think bloggers can do if they wish to be taken seriously? What efforts do you personally make to ensure your readers are getting the best value from your blog?

Sometimes it helps to be short, sweet and straight to the point.

With that in mind, here’s a simple list of blogging tips to keep handy.

1. Write to be helpful – attempt to solve a problem or respond to a need in every post.
2. Be brief – keep your post as short and sweet as possible – remember, your readers will typically have short attention spans.
3. Tell a story – People love to read a story with substance.
4. Connect others – reach out to your readers and connect where possible.
5. Share. Often.
6. Don’t over think it – I try to remember – Think long, think wrong!
7. Be thoughtful – always write with your reader in mind. Remember, you’re writing for your reader, not Google.
8. Publish often enough to build a relationship – inactive is just plain boring.
9. Be yourself – speak through your blog and to your audience as you would your neighbor – they’ll appreciate the personal touch.
10. Listen carefully – your readers will let you know what they like – listen to them.

What else would you say? Think about what you would say if you were telling and old friend you’d just reunited with about blogging?

Do you have blogging tips to share?

While there are some Blogger blogs that are earning a nice chunk of change, I have to say from personal experience, Blogger provided me with a platform on which to learn – not earn. So if you’re blogging on Blogger and not earning, it’s most likely not the writer, but the platform.

Blogger blogs are a great place to learn how to play with code, place ads, gain an audience of readers and explore the world of blogging as a whole. There does come a time when you have to just move on up or move on out.

Once you’ve played around with blogging on a free platform for a few months, you’ll be able to tell if it’s right for you or not.

Moving some of my Blogspot blogs over to Wordpress and my own hosting was the wisest decision I ever made. I noticed the change from being just another writer to becoming a writer that’s taken seriously almost immediately.

There are several reasons I believe that paying for hosting and using a dot com instead of a free platform blog are key to earning money online. The top reasons for me are: Name Branding – Accountability and Earning Potential.

One of the biggest reasons for me choosing a dot com is branding. I didn’t want to brand my name or my blog to have a dot blogspot dot com extension – I wanted to be able to share my blog address with people and be proud. Having your own dot com address gives you that sense of pride and a twinge of authority.

When you remain on Blogger, you’re choosing to look like everyone else.

I truly believe when you are paying for hosting and you’ll want to recover that expense – so therein lies the sense of accountability. If you don’t write and work your blog, you might as well just flush that money. When you’re paying for the hosting, you’re more likely to actually write rather than come up with excuses not to – you’ll find ways of turning that bad day into a blog post – or that sick day into a work of art. Everything becomes about blogging and regaining that investment.

Lastly, the earning potential. Let’s think about this for a minute. If you’re an investor and your looking for ways to market your product, are you going to go for the handcrafted cardboard sign or are you going to go for the more professional looking billboard that has the bells and whistles to draw attention to your ad? Please don’t think I’m comparing all blogger blogs to cardboard signs, because I’m not. There are some blogger blogs out there that have real value and merit, but because of all the ones that are not, it’s more difficult to spot the ones who aren’t. Thereby causing the real issue here.

Investors want convenience. They don’t want to have to read 100 posts on a blogger blog to determine it’s credibility. They want to see the professionalism at first glance. That’s why your image and your brand are most important when you’re blogging for more than a hobby.

If you MUST remain on Blogger or any other free blog service, at least get your own domain name and invest in a unique template. Set yourself apart. Sure you’re writing may be incredible, but you’ve got three seconds to catch a persons eye and draw them in to even explore what you have to say!

Personally, I buy my domain names from GoDaddy and I have blogs hosted on BlueHost and Host Gator. They’re names and services I trust and find to be most user friendly.

The number of internet users is increasing everyday. This is because there are interesting and knowledgeable discoveries found online. What most people like on the internet is that they are able to send messages in an instant. In addition, they are getting more and more fascinated with other sites.

Sometimes, people use the internet as their online diary or journal. Others would use it to promote a product. There are many website providers who are now offering free usage of blogging software packages because of the rapid increase of blogging users. HostGator and Bluehost both offer a variety of blogging options.

Examples of the free blogging software are B2evolution, Nucleus and the WordPress. These programs have the same features. This is why most internet users ask which of the software is simple to use and would suit the needs of a specific website.

However, the answer to which one is the simplest depends on the real purpose of the free blogging website. If your main objective is to share your point of view and opinions to the public, you can use different blogging software. However, if it is for promotional purposes, use software designed such purpose because a blog for promotion has completely different requirements.

Below is the list of the free blogging software and their features:

•WordPress Free Blogging Software

WordPress is usually used for personal blogging. It has an open source, modern personal publishing design which is focus on the appearance of the blog. By only using the WordPress, there is no need to gather or your journals and compile it as one. Just write your article. And choose which features you want and the blog will be published immediately to your site.

This software is easy to customize and it offers different functionality. As you get used to it very well, you will learn to add fresh features which will make your site interesting and trendy.

•B2evolution Free Blogging Software

Like the WordPress, this is also an advanced internet blogging software. This free blogging software has a skinning system which lets the users to make many blogs in separate groups with different look or appearance for every blog.

B2evolution has the capability to change skin to make the blog get a new appearance. This software is good for promotional purposes. Therefore, you are planning to create and publish many different themes, B2evolution is the right software for you.

•Nucleus Free Blogging Software

Nucleus has dominant features which is applicable in promoting your blog. It is capable to optimize the URLs. This helps the user create a blog that is easy to use.

One great feature of the Nucleus is that it is capable to present many blogs using a single page. The Nucleus also has a feature that is very good in promoting a particular site.

These three blogging software programs provide the best features you need to create an effective and interesting blog. Remember they are all free with your HostGator or BlueHost accounts, so there is no need to be hesitant in using them.

However, you must choose the software that will be a great help to you in achieving your main objective in creating a blog. In this way, you are making sure that your blog is unique and it will satisfy you and your needs.