Decisions decisions! Okay, so I've decided I want to make a blog and have read loadds of information and tips online about blogging, so I'm pretty serious and determined about it. I have also decided that I want to make money from it (I'm aiming for £4,000 in 2 years, to pay for my gay year) and I know I pretty much need a domain name, web hosting, a pretty good layout and logo etc, and a nifty blogging platform. From my research I've found that Wordpress.org is the platform I want to go with, I just have a few difficulties with how to approach and plan out how I'm going to go about creating my blog and the process of monetizing it, so here are my problems: 1. I don't think I can really afford to have my blog hosted immediately - I'm 16 and although I have £500 in the bank, I'm not really prepared to spend a chunk of that on a blog that may not succeed, month after month. I ideally want to wait until my blog has an established brand, readers and followers etc before buying hosting, that way I can use the income from advertising to pay for the hosting (hopefully). Will this affect the change over process when I do eventually get my blog hosted (I can afford a domain, but when it is hosted will all my readers be lost, will the blog site be redirected and will my blogs status on search engines be erased?) 2. Should I build up the status and readers/subscribers of my blog first before putting ads on it etc, or put ads on straight away? 3. If I’m putting ads on straight away, that means I have to go with blogger because Wordpress.com doesn’t allow adverts for regular, free accounts. 4. Also, blogger allows you to put your pre-bought domain name on for free, whereas Wordpress.com charges you. Therefore, if I go with blogger first, without a host, then decide when I have hosting to go with wordpress.org as a platform, will this mess everything up even more, like it was a brand new blog? So sorry about this long and confusing post, I just really need some guidance here. Any help at all is very much appreciated and if you need any clarification about what I’ve just chatted on about, then do ask as many questions as you like. I understand that this is a bit of a pickle I’m in! You can IM or email me too if you’d prefer at: alex_gibbons@hotmail.co.uk Thanks!
I suggest u to buy domain and hosting so can learn how it work. learning by doing is the better way... Just blogging and write anything what u want.
What does that mean ? You are only going to be gay for one year? How does that work ? Is this some kind of new holiday for confused teens to try it out for a year ? Just kidding. First let me say that the fact that you are so young and wanting to get into business for yourself is absolutely fabulous. When I was 16 all I cared about was chasing women, and hanging out doing nothing. You can honestly get some basic hosting for $10 a month. I'm sure at 16 years old, you can blow $10 in about 5 minutes, especially if you have a car. Even if you spend from your savings...you are still only looking at $120 for a whole year of hosting and if you pay for it up front, most times you will get a discount and pay even less. You could always go with a free platform like blogger, but there are limitations of what you can do and you don't actually own the blog, they are just letting you use it, so you still run a risk of T.O.S. changing or just having your blog deactivated for something stupid. I would normally tell a 16 year old to just use blogger and play around for a while, but you sound like you actually want to do something, so I;m trying to steer you in the direction that will give you the best chance. Also, if you plan to monetize, most programs require you to be 18 years old. Nothing says grown up like a self hosted blog. You can't make money without investing something in your business and in yourself. If you go into it thinking "I won't take a risk just in case I fail."...You have already failed and everything that you do, will just be a frustrating waste of time Everyone always says to build it first and then add the ads...I put ads on my new sites right away. For me, it's part of the overall build..."where are the ads going to go?". Ad placement is how I choose my designs. Ad programs are how I choose my niches. Before I open or launch any site (or blog) I always have enough content to fill the layout and ads in place so readers get 100% of what to expect on the first visit. If you have it filled up with content, I don't see where having well placed, good looking ads is going to hurt anything. No, I wouldn't put ads on a new blog with only 2 posts. Usually by the time I launch a blog, it looks like it's been up for a while. I never let anyone see a new blog that barely has any content. Here is a prime example. I don't plan to launch this site until Saturday, but to me, it's already open and I am updating it regularly. As you can see, I have ads, spotlight sections and affiliate banners already in place. I have also been doing this for a while and have my Method of Operation pretty well rehearsed. If you go with blogger, yes you can place ads. Yes and no. You are going to be better off with your own self hosted blog and Wordpress is a great choice (it's the only choice IMO). You can import your old blog content into your new one. No Problem. But you will loose all of your links and any PR...and you will have to place redirects on your old blog to get your traffic to follow you. You should know that there is nothing easy about this and starting a blog with a timetable of expectations for a beginner rarely works out as planned. You have a better shot at saving the money with a regular job and a guaranteed paycheck that you can save. For some people who live in countries where the average wage for a days work is 40 cents....$1 a day in adsense is a big goal, but for me, $1 a day won't even pay half my hosting fees, and if you are trying to save a few grand for your "gay year" , it won't do much for you either. There are a lot of things that you can do online for free, but eventually to cross into the money, you will have to spend some. I don't know anyone that is making good money online that didn't spend some along the way (even waste some) ,and that doesn't continue to spend to keep the money coming in. Anything that you have heard to the contrary are all lies and folklore.
Starting up? I'm just in the mood of helping people so pm me and tell me your plan and I will host you for free until you feel comfortable to stand on your own. The only thing I want is for you to make sure you are serious in your plan and also have a small text on the footer saying hosted by my company. *This is not a public offering.
Oh dear, I'd copied and pasted my original post to maybe 10 other forums, all most likely saying 'gay year' and only now has someone pointed it out, haaa. Anyway, yes it's supposed to say gap year and I have actually decided self hosting is defiantly the best option and worth the investment. And I've pretty much decided I want to go with Bluehost. So in order to monetize, would I have to be 18? Do they do bank account checks or could I just pretend to be 18? Or would it have to be paid into one of my parents accounts? Does the same age restriction apply for hosting companies? If you don't mind me asking, what is your 'method of operation?'. A dollar a day is not bad for me, and would defiantly pay for my initial hosting package ($6.95/month). But of course I'm aiming a litter higher than that. And I do have a part-time job also which gives me £56 a month, and also in the UK, full time higher education students (16-18 year olds) who are from a low income family are eligible for Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which for me is £10 a week. So I'm not depending on this blog at all to fund all the £4k, I'm just using it as another income to contribute to my 'gay year'. I do realise this is going to be pretty difficult, but I defiantly think it's worth doing. And I'm determined to at the very least least break-even.
That is funny. Too funny. Heard good things about them. I can't openly advise you to commit fraud or misrepresent yourself. Do they check ? No. Technically a 12 year old could run a porn site and no one would ever know. That's one of the F'ed up things about the internet. They do ask for Social Security numbers ,or what ever the equivalent is in the U.K...those are an accurate identification of your age, so I guess getting caught is possible. I don't think hosting companies have any such restrictions as long as you pay the bill, they really don't care where the money comes from. Just know ( as far as affiliate and ad programs are concerned) that if you are found out to have misrepresented yourself they can suspend your account and withhold any payments. You could always have an adult relative put the account in their name if you are sketchy about it. At least you know that to be safe and fail proof. You will need legitimate way to receive payouts...many affiliates pay via check, direct deposit and Pay Pal. I was just saying that I have been doing it for a few years, ( with wordpress) so I have gone through a lot of pain, anguish, confusion mistakes and crappy ideas that never panned out.I probably have more websites and outdated or lame brained ideas in the graveyard than anyone, .but that's the learning process. After you do a few, you get a pattern down of things that work and how to do them quickly, just like any job that you do for a period of time. I have definitely had more failures or half finished ideas than successes, but the successes make it worth while. As long as you are willing to put the time in and never stop learning, you can be successful. It's hard, but it's not impossible. Anyone who wants to get it, can get it. And it's different for everyone. You just have to find your niche and your audience and the promotion methods that work for you.
Thanks very much for the advice! I'm pretty confident about my niche and everything so fingers crossed