There are billions of blogs, forums, ebooks and webinars that offer advice on how to start a blog.
Most of these formats give you solid advice and strategies for building a successful blog – they teach you how to write a post, how to get traffic and subscribers, stuff like that, but how many of them actually show you the technical side blogging?
Very few, that’s why you have to search out step by step tutorials that show you how to install a blog and its theme on your server. If you want to figure out how to customize the code, you’re off doing another search for a CSS tutorial.
If you need to figure out how to optimize your blog for search engines, that’s a-whole-nother ball game!
I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but even I found all of the intricate details and skills required to start and maintain a blog baffled me.
It seemed like I was forever searching for new information to teach myself how to do all of these different things.
When I needed to gain a better understanding of CSS, it would’ve been nice if there were online classes that showed me how to do exactly what I needed instead of bits and pieces that I had to dig up all over the web.
Lucky for new bloggers, there’s a wonderful resource that offers online training on demand on a variety of useful topics. It’s a great new site called the LearningGate.
These are not just your bare minimum tutorials, these are actual instructor led courses that can be viewed on demand or live.
The on demand courses can be conveniently viewed any time. So if you’re a night owl like me, you can actually take a course at two in the morning – no problem!
Or you can check out the schedule and attend live web classes – which are awesome because you actually get an opportunity to ask questions and have them answered by a real person – right then and there!
There are tons of courses that both bloggers and business owners will find useful.
Here is a quick list of some courses that you might want to consider:
- Search Engine Optimization and Marketing Essentials
- Social Media Marketing Essentials
- Introduction to HTML
- Advanced HTML
- Cascading Style Sheets
- Introduction to Photoshop CS4
These classes are currently in development, but will be ready soon:
- CSS3 Introduction
- CSS3 Advanced
- HTML5 Introduction
- HTML5 Advanced
- JavaScript Introduction
- JavaScript Advanced
- eBay Online Auction for Buyers and Sellers
Most courses have demos that you can view prior to enrolling. This is helpful because it let’s you see if the course will provide the information that you need. How frustrating is it to sign up for an ecourse or webinar only to discover it’s not going to address your specific needs?
As a blogger, there’s always something new to learn. This is a valuable resource for busy bloggers who value having information located conveniently in one place.
LearningGate is an affordable membership site that is well-worth the investment, but if you aren’t sure, take advantage of the 3-day free trial. You’ll get unlimited access to all of the courses that are currently offered.
About Kiesha Easley
Good article. Thanks.
A blogger must have knowledge about html / css / seo. In my opinion these are basic requirements.
But, for beginners, it’s good wordpress platform. They will find there many plugins. Even about SEO…
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Twitter: okblogging
says:
i think we should be start from how to use WOrdpress :). thank for your post
Biting the bullet and taking a class in becoming a better blogger is really a fantastic step forward. While platforms like WordPress and such have made blogging accessable to the masses, they’ve also made it so that the quality of blogs as a whole have declined somewhat. If you’re genuinely interested in making a career out of writing a blog then learning the most efficent and proven techniques from the very beginning ensures you start out on the right foot.
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I agree and do you have any suggestions? Are their online classes you’ve experienced that are good for facilitating quality blogging?
The key is to chip away at it every day and not try to do too much at once. It will all catch up with time. Within a year you will be established.
Is it actually possible to just ‘chip away’ at a blogging career? I only ask because, as far as I understand it, the search engines are changing their rules on such a rapid basis that you almost need to treat blogging as a full time gig if you’re ever going to be successful at it.
Is that a fair outlook?
It all depends on what your goals are.
If you’re looking to retire from the money you make blogging then yes, you’re likely going to have to treat it as a ‘full time gig’ in order to actually be successful enough.
Most people don’t expect this from their blogging adventures though. It’s entirely possible to make some nice ‘passive income’ (this means making money with little/no effort) by reviewing relevant products or just through ad revenue.
You really need to establish what you’re goals are in terms of blogging. That way you’ll know from the very beginning how much it is going to demand from you in terms of time and effort.
Yes I am about to get more into blogging. I think even as an add-on to my website it should work well. But thanks for the post I found it very useful!
Twitter: australia_daily
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Thanks for this post.Actually this was the major problem with me, i have learned more about blogging.But i was in big confusion that how i could start it.But you have solved my problem by sharing this post.This was more informative for me.Thanks alot.
Twitter: BloggersGeek
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Nothing is perfect but learning can take us near to the perfection. Taking classes can be very good in future for bloggers.
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Being a blogger, the information of basic things is very important. Learning is a continuous process and at a time you cannot know all of it. Thanks for the share.
an art of blogging is beauty just like journalists to represent in the visitor’s mind so to be a blogger this is good for the beginners
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an art of blogging is beauty just like journalists to represent in the visitors market
this information allow to use as a tool for the begineers
oh – good article – I gotta start my own blog !
Thanks for the great post! You are right that new bloggers have a lot to learn about the art of blogging, but luckily there are a lot of great people and resources that can offer them guidance and tips on how to do it right!
..and pictures are always a nice touch – they help add a visual centerpiece for your topic and them and just make things prettier.
Keep up the great work!
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Most people jump into blogging thinking that it is something similar to writing, but with a global reach. Blogging is something similar to writing, yet is singularly different from it. And it does have a global reach, but it comes with insane competition. So it’s better we stack ourselves up with the essential tools implicitly required for blogging. And true, it’s not easy to acquire such tools on the internet at one place. You claim to have accumulated the required knowledge and made it available at one place. Excellent!
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Being a blogger, the information of basic things is very important. Learning is a continuous process and at a time you cannot know all of it. Thanks for the share.
HTML, CSS, SEO and likes are more than important for a blogger, be he an amateur or an accomplished one, to know. Perfection in these things will come in time, with practice, with perseverance. The learning part is something to be wary of, since information regarding these topics has been scattered all over the internet. It seems you’ve accumulated the information to make it available in one place. Kudos! I’ll let any amateur who crosses my path know about this. Thanks for sharing.
I think if you are a blogger you just know some of these stuff. For a person trying to be a blogger its still great info but can also be very time consuming. The core business is content.. as they say content is king. However all business and blogs should have some type of planning.
Thanks for sharing mate
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Thanks for sharing this info. I also find the courses of lynda.com very usefull. There are a lot different courses about SEO, blogging etc. They are not free but definitely worth the money!
I have gained a huge knowledge on blogging, it has made me learn on things i was not aware about, So thank you so much for sharing this out with us, It has been of a great help to me
Twitter: ikenedu
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Hi Kiesha,, This is very interesting post. Really Blogging Is mot important part of SEO. and this is the great way to earn money online. And its very good idea for all the new bloggers.Well thanks for counting me..
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im always taken aback by the power of blogging, i think its an amazing ground-breaking experience that we are all evolving as bloggers, our lives are becoming forever marked into the interweb.
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This has been wondeful for me! Honestly did not know where to start until I saw this, it has given me some great ideas on how to attract more viewers- something I have been struggling with! Thank you for sharing this- it has been very useful- looking forward to reading your other posts!
Twitter: ejazzy1
says:
I remember when i first got to know about blogging,..I voraciously surfed to get info, bought manuals (which even deepened my confusion) but was really not satisfied or properly informed, till now…when i read through Kiesha’s “A Step by Step Guide to a Better Blog” manual today, I knew that i knew NOTHING about blogging! Thanks Kiesha for shedding the light, right now am going to help others as well as myself in my community to become better bloggers. All thanks to you…
Thanks for sharing this K!
Cheers!
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Twitter: ejazzy1
says:
I’m glad there is now a way for new bloggers to learn…when i started blogging i was so confused i read all the books i could find(free and paid) but couldn’t understand them…can u beat this? i just read through Kiesha’s “A step by step guide to a better blog” manual and i realized i learn’t “junk” before now….thanks K..You’re da best..keep showing us (me esp) the light…
Cheers!
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I am getting too much technical knowledge from weblogbetter and hoping for more. I have a blog about credit cards and debit cards. I want to get moved that blog into a website. is this better for the audience and my visitors to get a credit/debit solution in my website.
I am planning to start a blog and weblogbetter is really nice place that can help me for this. I have selected my niche and just going to host domain for this. Looking for a suitable name for the credit scores or report. Thanks for your help and support.
Blog plays an important role to promote our business, through blogs we can interact with our users. thanks for sharing!
Very nice post! I like this and I’m using blogger. Thanks for sharing!
This is a great source of help especially for newbie in blogogosphere , Initially I had no idea where to begun with because there is so much about managing a blog, gradually I started learning about it & still learning because there is so much to learn. Helpful post, thanks for sharing this useful information
Hi Kiesha,
Thanks for sharing your insights.
I would love to add my recommendation as well.
I think, for a beginner they should have started with blogspot instead of wordpress.
Because blogspot is easier to use, due to editing themes blogspot using HTML,
HTML is the easiest step for a beginner. Meanwhile, wordpress does not use html and will make a beginner blogger confused.
Thanks a lot for sharing these tips, I hope somebody can benefit!
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Even though I’ve been doing niche websites and some marketing for a while now I am new to blogging and some of the elements that come with it. Usually I am just sending traffic somewhere but now I need more focused experiences and it requires a lot of different elements and things to learn.
I certainly have a big list of courses/books I need to go through to learn all this stuff. Once I do though it will be very exciting to explore all the possibilities.
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I’m a newbie but find it exciting having to think up with new ideas, does anyone know how to cure that nasty writers’ block?
Wow, actually, that’s what I had been searching for a while when I came to your blog. I’m a newbie to the blogger scene, and I’ve just started my blog a couple of days before, and I thought it will be easy but it isn’t. There is so much about managing a blog, and I know I have to learn but I had no idea where to start it, Thanks for sharing this useful information!
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Twitter: DrewryNewsNtwrk
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hello Kinga,
Welcome to the world of blogging and Internet marketing. It’s good to have newbies like you round on the Internet. What blog topics are you blogging on by chance? And, what are your long-term blogging and online marketing goals? :-)
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For blogging you must have different ideas which you place in your blog, like you want technology blog or news or politics or something like that you must be active all the time to make regular updates time by time. And important thing design for your blog must be simple and attractive and posts are easy to understand. After creating blog do some SEO work to get more traffic to your site and then PPC to earn money.
Thanks
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Twitter: issuesEthical
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This is a good idea for new bloggers that want to cut out the lengthy learning curve that most bloggers face.
I am like you Keisha I had to learn things on my own and it was a long process. If you would rather learn quickly than get sidetracked.
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A newbie in the blogging world or going to be the one takes a lot of effort.One has to be sure and make his mind that is this what he is going to do for sure…? if he is sure and passionate then all this not a difficult task for a blogger to do.
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The technical side is worth learning more about, although I would say that writing great content is the number one priority!
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Twitter: indblog
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Actually I think you’ll find there are some places online where you can find help in that area, YouTube has a rising amount of videos which I have found VERY helpful.
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Hello Dear
really very important post for all blogger blogging is solid way for earn online money your advice very useful for all blogger and SEO is most important part of blogging that’s true thanks for the sharing me
Thanks & Regards
Soniya
Twitter: DrewryNewsNtwrk
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the beauty of having a self hosted blog on your Web server is that you have complete control functionality over everything, unlike blogging on a free blogging service such as WordPress.com and blogger.com and them having control over your content, as well as wide discretion in deleting your blog for virtually absolutely no reason. When you install a blog on yourself hosted dedicated server, that is your freedom of speech uncensored. This is why people need to steer away from free blogging services and get more into building up their online presence respectively with the Web server and a self hosted blog. Besides, having your own dedicated server and blog is not only good for search engines to index, but also to make possibly lots of money from affiliate programs :-)
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There is always more to learn and blogging, which I didn’t realize, has a step learning curve. Most of the little knowledge I have learnt so far has been from sites like yours. So a course could be very useful
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Very interesting. I love it. Anw, it is sometimes time wasting, LOL. Thanks!
As a new blogger, there’s always something new to learn to attract viewers. So any bloggers try to make theirs more attractive. Thanks for sharing nice post!