How would you explain the blogging basics to a beginner?

[Sweet, Pink and Vanilla]

I've just set up my 1st ever blog with Blogger.com. I've written my 1st entry, uploaded piccies and registered my blog address with Feedburner and written down my RSS URL.
Now, i am at a complete loss as to what i need to do next to ensure my blog appears in web-searches etc.
At the moment none of my blog content seems accessable from Google search or any other search engine i've tried, regardless of whether i type in my blog title, or the exact topic of my 1st entry. (Obviously if i type in my whole http:// address i am directed to my blog page, but i'd trully love for my content to be accessable from search engines etc if at all possible).

Could anyone offer me any simple, step-by-step advice on how to get my blog listed, for an 'almost' computer illiterate like me?! (take a deep breath...lol... im so sorry to be a nuisance!).

Also, if there's any other steps or advice you could offer me on how to get my blog up and running, i'd be eternally grateful.

(I just want to point out i'm not a budding entrepreneur or expecting any *huge* amount of traffic to my blog, and any monies i could ever possibly make from it are not my *main* concern {although of course if a small amount of financial gain is possible, w/o jeapordising the integrity of my blog page, i would be very interested to hear of how this works!}. Basically, my blog is based around Baking, Recipes, Photos of my own baking 'incidents' in relation to that entry's recipe, and some descriptive text.)

If any sweet and vastly intelligent, computer literate dahhlings could help me at all please, i'd be deliciously grateful! ... HUGS.. Marie

P.s. Wonderful site you have here ~ i hope to be an active member in your community (when i combat my technological dyslexia!) xxx

[Sneakyheathen]

Well right now I guess you should just focus on posting more and getting more content up. I'd need to see your blog and your writing style to help you in depth, so if you can link us up that'd be radical.

[Sweet, Pink and Vanilla]

Hi sweetie, Thanks so much for your reply...
OK here's the link: 'Sweet, Pink and Vanilla' ~ recipe blog

I'd be really, reeeeally keen for some advice re my 1st post, and how to get myself listed...

Thanks babes. xxxx

[Sneakyheathen]

First thing I would suggest: learn wordpress now. That way you're used to it by the time you're "seasoned." As well, it's easier to customize. That being said:

You're writing style isn't necessarily uninteresting, but it's long and involves a lot of commentary. If you're just going to talk about the experience in making them, then you might want to tighten up the paragraphs and write shorter posts. I would definitely include recipes and commentary and images in a single post together. It will make it more useful and interesting to your readers.

Just looking at the first post, I didn't see any obvious stylistic or grammatical errors. But it was seriously long, and italicized. Not sure if that's on purpose, but font formats are meant for emphasis, so use them only to highlight important points. Especially interesting reactions to recipes, important recipe steps, weird happenings when you tried to make it, etc.

As for getting indexed, blog commenting is a great way to start link building. Remember to leave interesting, thought out comments, and instead of linking to your homepage, try linking to a specific post that's relevant, or just one that you think is interesting.

Sign up for google analytics and submit a sitemap. I'm not sure if blogger generates sitemaps, but if you get wordpress (wink, wink) there is a plugin that will make one for you.

Feel free to ask anymore questions you may happen to have, design, writing, promotion, or otherwise.

[sadiessay-so]

The best thing you can do is post, post, post. Sign up for Twitter: What are you doing? and Entrecard. This will help with traffic. Post about what you know, and submit your site to the big search engines. Don't waste time submitting to the smaller free submission sites that require reciprocal links - they don't do much for you. Also, find other blogs in your niche and comment good comments. A good place to find niche blogs is Entrecard.

Good luck.

[Sweet, Pink and Vanilla]

Sneakyheathen, thanks sooo much for taking the time to check out my blog. I'll be sure to add the recipe to the end of the 1st blog asap, and i'll try to tighten up my prose a little too
It hadnt occurred to me that itallics were solely for the purpose of stressing certain words; tbh i just thought it made the text look 'prettier' (lol!, can u tell im female?!!). I'll revert the text to un-italicised tomorrow!

I'm really very thankful for your advice sweetie.... xxx

[Sweet, Pink and Vanilla]

Hi Sadie... thanks for replying hunni.

May i please ask how i can go about submitting my site to the larger search engines? I'm not aware of how to put that step into practice.

I've joined Twitter, but all i see is people exchanging very impersonal and abridged messages... is this all it entails?

Thanks again. xxxx

[sadiessay-so]

Google: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
Yahoo: Site Explorer - Submit
MSN: Live Search URL Submission
Alexa: Alexa Web Search - Webmasters Help

Twitter is a great place to get news, updates, and general info. Keep getting followers, and follow people, and you'll see more of what it's about. When you post a new blog post, you can post a link on Twitter and you're followers can go see it. And if you follow your Twitter post (tweet) with #bloggeries, everyone from the forums can find it easier, too!

[Sneakyheathen]

Originally Posted by Sweet, Pink and Vanilla

Sneakyheathen, thanks sooo much for taking the time to check out my blog. I'll be sure to add the recipe to the end of the 1st blog asap, and i'll try to tighten up my prose a little too
It hadnt occurred to me that itallics were solely for the purpose of stressing certain words; tbh i just thought it made the text look 'prettier' (lol!, can u tell im female?!!). I'll revert the text to un-italicised tomorrow!

I'm really very thankful for your advice sweetie.... xxx

No problem. I'm female too as Sadie mentioned, try joining twitter. You can get some great help from there as well.

[Sweet, Pink and Vanilla]

Thanks so much ladies ~ you've been a great help for starters.... I've joined Twitter ... my username there is: PinkVanilla ~ I'd love it if you'd like to add me (or follow me or w/e they call it there lol), b/c i dont have many contacts.

Thanks again sweeties.... HUGS. xx