What are some of the things that you suggest I do with my blog before I get more serious about it. I am setting it up and haven't made any posts yet or anything, and I still need to make myself a wordpress skin (I will try!) but other than that, what things should I do? I have a few plugins, the google sitemap, all in one SEO, and google analytics (can't get this one working (I dont think))... Help would be greatly appreciated!
Sounds like you pretty much have things under control. You should write a bunch of great content and post it. While blog design is important, at this stage you need to be a content generation machine. Try to pick a regular posting schedule that you think is doable and stick with it. Just dive in and see where it takes you. If you have a URL, post it and I'll let you know what I think. James
This is a graphic tutorial based blog, but I have another question how much content do I get up before I start really advertising?
A lot of bloggers say monetize right away, and other say you should wait until you have at least 100-1000 daily unique visitors. It's really up to you, but try to look at your blog from your visitors point of view, and don't just put up ads because everyone else is doing it. Mostly think, if the ads are annoying to you, then they are annoying to your users. And if your users are annoyed by your ads, they might not come back. First things first. Put up your content. Think, if I didn't make any money at this blog, would I still be doing it in a year?? If the answer is yes, then you know you have a passion for what you are writing about and will be able to stick it out through the times when you aren't making much. my 2c
Just in case I totally missed the point and you are referring to adverising for your blog and not on your blog (like my previous post explains), then I'd wait until you have about 20-40 posts up. That should only take a few weeks.