Hi, in this 3 part series I will show you how to make a blog to be successful on the internet. From choosing your domain name to optimizing the content. You may have probably heard the famous quote that content is king, which is true, so where’s the queen I ask?
The queen is in the way your content looks to the people reading it. Now I’m no web design guru or a blog builders almanac but hey I know a thing or two about usability, design aesthetics and and what looks good and what doesn’t (I am a freelance web designer btw). So I’m going to start a series where bloggers can learn a thing or two about laying out their blog so people actually want to visit them back again.

I’m not saying that my blog is the best thing on the planet in terms of looks but I feel that its easy to read and gets the point across, plus at least on my DSL connection it loads pretty quick. I had some other layouts before that just didn’t load within 15 seconds and it really pissed me off (even with a DSL line). But this layout loads pretty fast so I’m happy so far till I find or come up with something better. This layout is not mine though, you can find the credits at the bottom of the page.

Right lets get on with the show then.

Now according to my perceptions from visiting other blogs there are three types of bloggers.

1. The blogger who is looking to make money by writing crap and plastering ads everywhere.
2. The blogger who is looking to share events and times of their lives/career and will be happy to make an extra buck or two.
3. The blogger who is looking to share their great content and make money alongside it.

So which category do you fall into? I was in category 2 at first but now I’m gradually shifting into category 3. Mind you there is nothing wrong with category 2 some people actually make quite some money by just writing about themselves, who would’ve thought? If you’re comfortable in that zone then just stay there and hopefully benefit more by building a better looking blog by tips that I hope will help you (and me).

In part 1 of this series we will discuss about hosting and selecting a good name.

Hosting

First of all you need to figure out where you want to host your blog. With the varied amount of choices out there you would think that it would be easier to choose but actually its worse than you think.

Now if you have your own domain name well and good you set up your own blog the way you want it look on by either using wordpress.org or having your blogger blog redirect to your hosted one. So far I think these are the only free options if you know of any more please let me know.

The other blog hosting providers like wordpress.com vox and blogger again are free, typepad is an alternative to set up a professional looking blog but its not free.

Then there are a bunch of other platforms like diino blogit and blogcharm which offer you a platform to start your own blog and make money from it as well. I don’t know how they work as I wouldn’t dare sign up with them. Weblogs inc though has a reputation for having great content and I think the selection process is quite stringent, haven’t tried it yet. Maybe I will now.

So these are the choices that I can think of if you know any others please comment and let me know.

Get a name

Your identity on the web will be decided by the name you keep and the stuff you write about. Its perfectly alright to name your blog after yourself like johnsmith.com or maryjane.com just don’t end up calling it veryverylongnamethethird.com. People will not remember that.

Keep it simple if you want to name it after yourself use your name if it fits within a persons capability to remember. Well how would you know that? Ask somebody! (just not your mother)

If you want to choose a completely different name then get creative figure out what you are going to be blogging about and see if a related domain name is available. For instance if you are going to be blogging a lot about computers or your stamp collecting hobby then maybe a name like technojohn.com or stampsbymary.com would be good choices. By the way they are both available for registration, funny! You don’t have to always get a .com you can also look into getting a .net, .biz, .org or a country specific tld like .co.uk, .us etc…

So the names now get across what you are going to be blogging about and you can of course always have various categories within your blog and name them accordingly to cover related topics. The name is one of the most central points of starting a blog.

Search engines like domain names that are relevant to the topic as well and its easier for people to remember. Even if it takes you days to come up with a good name take the time to find a good one as it will be your brand and your identity on the internet.

Ok, that’s enough for today in Part 2 I will discuss layouts, colors and content structuring.

Blog Building - Part 2

Blog Building - Part 3

Technorati Tags: how to build a better blog, design, hosting

About the author

Hyder has been blogging for the past two years on this blog. He started Weborithm, his web company, in 2007 and along with designing blogs and websites also releases various web related products.