I’m sure you’re ready to dive right in and get started with your blog but there’s a little planning that needs to be done first. The success of your blog could hinge on the thought you put in to these first steps. While not everyone intends to make money with their blog, for the purpose of this series I’m going to assume that is one of your goals. Who couldn’t use some extra money? Let’s start with a little brainstorming session.

Everyone has a passion about something. Take a minute and think about yours. Some people struggle with this. Fortunately, this isn’t a problem for me. I have too many passions for my own good, so I’m always trying to pick the theme about which I am most passionate.

Go ahead and write down a few topics. Once you have come up with a few then go back and write reasons why you would or would not be qualified to write about each one. My list would look something like this:

Photography - I enjoy sports photography. It’s a fun hobby, I’m fairly decent at it but I’m by no means an expert. I’m not sure I could add a unique perspective to the photography blogs that already exist.

Coaching Basketball - I coach a varsity girls homeschool basketball team. I certainly couldn’t offer much advice from an X’s and O’s standpoint but I have learned a lot about organizing a new team, fund raising, scheduling, etc. Could work if written from a homeschool standpoint with advice on creating new teams. But is there a large enough market?

Politics - I have plenty of opinions to offer and I’m right about every one of them I love politics and there’s an endless supply of material in the news each day. There’s already a lot of political blogs, in fact that may be the single most popular blogging theme. To be successful I would need to find a unique slant to the site. This is a strong possibility.

Gadgets - I LOVE electronic gadgets. iPhones, PDAs, robots,  USB thumb drives that hold 64 GB of data! But what could I say that would be unique? I have no inside scoop on the latest tech toys. I don’t have access to pre-release gadgets in order to write reviews. This would be fun but I’m not sure I could attract visitors.

After writing down some topics I’m passionate about and analyzing the pros and cons it looks like a political blog may be my best option. It’s something I naturally keep up with on a daily basis (I’m watching Bill O’Reilly as I type this) and I believe I could do something a little unique that would bring people to the site.

Spend some time on this process. Think it through and then let me know what you come up with by leaving a comment below.

Next, we’ll look at choosing a domain name, another very important factor in the success of your blog.

If you’ve ever had an interest in starting your own blog or website but had no idea where to start, this series is for you.

If you have a blog but it just doesn’t seem to be getting off the ground, this series is for you.

If you have a blog or website and you want to use it to generate part-time or full-time income, this series is for you.

If you’re wanting to learn how to clog, you made a typo when searching Google, this series isn’t for you.

I’ve been asked several times over the years to help someone setup their own blog or website. For many people this can seem like a daunting process. While you certainly don’t have to be a genius to install, customize and manage your own blog, it can seem very intimidating to anyone not familiar with the technical side of the Internet.

I grew up during the computer age of the 70s and 80s. I got my first computer, a Commodore Vic-20, when I was 12 and haven’t stopped using one since.

I’ve noticed that people who began using computers at a young age have no fear of experimenting and learning by trial and error. For me, this has always been the best way to learn anything computer related. When using the trial and error method you learn more from your mistakes than you do your successes. If you read a computer book it shows you the correct way to complete a particular task. Yeah, you learned how to do that task, but you didn’t learn other techniques along the way from making mistakes. Those mistakes may not have helped with the task at hand but through a process of cause and affect you learned techniques that may help with other projects in the future.

Even though I’m going to provide you with a step by step guide to blogging and monetizing your blog, I challenge you to step outside the process outlined here and experiment. I’ll give you some tips along the way on how to do that without compromising the work you’ve already done.

If at anytime you have questions stop by the ChristianWebsite.com Forums and post your question in the Blogging section.