New and choosing a path

[amb4311]

I am 16, so I can't actually sign up for paypal, or recieve money from adsense directly.

I want to create a blog about baseball, but with school and sports I won't have a tremendous ammount of time but will have some to work on it. Where should I start? Everything I read says to buy a domain name and host, which isn't a problem but I am going to have to make sure I break even every month. Is this easily achievable? I don't want to lose interest (I won't) and end up losing money.

Should I can try out blogging using googles one? Can I use wordpress without buying anything? Its free but can I start making the website without paying money?

I do want go make a little money but if it doesn't work out or time doesn't allow I don't want to end up losing money?

Questions in order of importance.

1) Do I use money to buy a domain name and host a blog?
b. Starting off will I be able to make enough money to pay off web hosting and the domain name?
c. Do I just use a free one?
i.) Will this generate enough money?
2) How can I use wordpress without purchasing anything, just to get used to the sofware?

[Bloggeries]

Hey,

Your only 16? Want to start something you're SERIOUS About? Now is the time. Who knows where it will be when your in university.

1) Yep go for it. If you want to get going send me a note. I'll pay you $20US to signup for the host that costs $7 a month.

Prob with free one is... You don't own it man. It's like if it's a personal blog about YOU ya go free. If it's going to be a baseball go to blog ... Give it a domain it deserves it and you can sell it later if you want.

2) Nah but I mean host is $7 a month... Domain $8 a year... You can fork up $7 if you want I'm sure. That said who knows anything is possible.

3) Wordpress is FREE! Any questions you have can get answered here and or from a simple google search.

Go for it!

P.S Welcome to the forum!

[amb4311]

Yeah I saw the $20 thing, seemed pretty sweet.

If I throw this out there, I understand the more "smart" effort I put into this, each month I will gain more and more money per month.

If I start now, how long do you think it will take me to get $100 using various ways of making money? Is it realistic in 3 months time spending maybe an hour per weekday once it is started and a lot more on weekends? This is goal #1, have something I want to buy in that timeframe but I obviously want to keep going with this.

Thanks for all the help and information on this forum.

[sadiessay-so]

Making $100 is going to take a lot of work. I've been blogging since August and have only made about $7 with AdSense and about $0.42 with Adgitize (but I just started Adgitize a few weeks ago). Bloggeries is offering you a great deal - go for it! Sports blogs can get great traffic if you do it right, and, actually, do it from a highschoolers perspective might be beneficial to you.

[amb4311]

Ok, I have decided for the timebeing to use google's blogger because it is free and I can get used to blogging.

So I am going to create it and write some articles.

What is a good checklist of things to do, I know little so what do I have to research/look into?

RSS???
Carnivals?
Getting dedicated "fans" or whatever you call them?
Should I look into SEO?
How much will it help me to get my own domain name? I might be able to do that, but I don't want to go the route of my own hosting. For the timebeing.

[sadiessay-so]

Originally Posted by amb4311

Ok, I have decided for the timebeing to use google's blogger because it is free and I can get used to blogging.

So I am going to create it and write some articles.

What is a good checklist of things to do, I know little so what do I have to research/look into?

RSS???
Carnivals?
Getting dedicated "fans" or whatever you call them?
Should I look into SEO?
How much will it help me to get my own domain name? I might be able to do that, but I don't want to go the route of my own hosting. For the timebeing.

With Blogger, as you're creating, you have a choice to set up a RSS feed with FeedBurner. You should do this. It's a great service that comes with a lot of great features. You can customize it a lot of different ways.

When you say "fans", I guess you mean "followers"? Those will come with time. They'll come with good content and consistent posting.

SEO isn't quite as important as it used to be, but, yes, you should read about it. I wouldn't concentrate solely on it, but you should be familiar with it and be aware of keywords when you're posting, and make sure you use tags on your posts.

With a domain name, if you want to do it, you have to also have hosting. You can't have a domain without hosting.

You've made a good choice, and I think you have a great idea for a blog, and I wish you luck! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I'll be more than happy to help.

[amb4311]

If I'm not correct google allows you to pay for a domain and they will host it or something I might have read about.

I did notice the google RSS thing and went on the website. I will have to check that out and sign up for it or whatever I have to do.

[amb4311]

I have my first post, what do you guys think?

Baseball From A High Schooler


What should I add? Like any certain add-ons. Shouldn't I have a subscribe to RSS feed thing like I see? Do I do that with feedburner? Is that was my post feed footer should be?

[Krueger]

Solid content so far. You're using Blogger so it's fairly easy to add things and remove them if you don't like the way they look. Check your link for the Westside Workout because it's not working for me. Keep asking questions it's the fastest way to learn anything.