Many bloggers when they first started out failed to recognize the significance of asking themselves this seemingly harmless and simple question. As I started to get more serious and learn more about blogging, I can’t help but notice that if I have had sit down and give some serious thought before starting a blog, I may not have run into so many roadblocks in my short life as a blogger.

While starting a blog is relatively easy (you can get tons of information online on starting a blog), you should consider carefully certain points so that you can integrate your personal plans and goals into building a business plan for your blog that is assuming you are going to monetize your blog in the future. Otherwise if you are starting a blog not for commercial reasons, then you can forget about reading the rest of this post.

The first thing you should ask your self is the intention you have for the blog. Are you using your blog to reach out to your audience, to foster relationships or just as an avenue to express your thoughts and feelings? Or are you trying to create a community of like-minded individuals. In other words, what plans do you have for your blog? It is important for you to map out the direction that you want your blog to move towards. Having clear defined goals for your blog will goes a long way to achieving the success that you craved.

Another point that you should consider is that a blog is predominantly a medium for people to express themselves in the written word. So it is vital for you to understand that writing is part and parcel of a starting blog and you should enjoy it. Otherwise, in the long run, you may find it hard to sustain the frequency and quality of your writings.

Also, bear in mind blogging is just like any other online business models, you need to be very self disciplined and focus in your daily blogging activities. Set aside a schedule each day and stick to them no matter what happens. Chances are if you can be self disciplined and focus, you will reach your goals sooner than you have plan.

You also need to understand the importance of continuous learning and reading. Web and blogging technologies are always changing all the time. You need to be on the constant lookout for any new changes that may impact the process of your blog. Which is why, you should never ever stop learning and reading about web and blogging related stuff. The day you stop upgrading your knowledge is the day your online business stops processing.

Now, before you go out and start that blog, you should seriously ask yourself these questions. This is vital as you can see starting a blog can be a very easy thing, however sustaining and ensuring your blog is a success is dependent on a lot of factors that you should seriously consider in the first place. Otherwise, you may as well work on other online business models. Even then, you still need to put in hard work to ensure success just like blogging.

As a blogger, it is important to understand some of the key factors that keep readers coming back for more. Post length is a factor that you should seriously look into when writing content for your targeted audience. It is still a widely debated topic among bloggers when it comes to deciding how long should a bog post be. There a few points that you should take note when deciding the general length of blog posts on your blog.

If you intend to monetize your blog with Adsense ads, it would be advisable to keep your blog post to a minimum length of 250 words. One of the most profitable locations for Adsense ads is inside the content of a blog post. If you are going to place Adsense ads inside your blog post, 250 words is the minimum to ensure that your words can wrap around the Google ads.

Another point you should also take note is that an average reader’s attention span is rather short and that is why blogs with short posts tend to do better than blogs with longer blog posts. However, that is not to say that this point applies to all blogs. It all depends on your niche and target audience. For example, a review type post tends to be longer than a news type post.

Personally, I find having a mixture of long and short posts is the most ideal formula. You can probably set aside a day each week when you will post a long featured post of your choosing or to address your reader’s questions. As for the rest of the week, you can write shorter posts on the latest news and happenings. However, a lot depends on the nature of your blog and the niche it is in.

There is no standard thumb of rule on how long a blog post should be, you should do your own testing to see what is the best mix for your blog. At the end of the day, it is your readers that count so it pays to cater to their needs.

A person who is not internet savvy or new online may not understand what the fuss is all about with blogs. Some, although very few that I encountered do not even know what a blog is. Although it is quite hard to find someone who has been online for a period of time and not knowing what a blog is, I have friends who are ignorant enough to ask what a blog is and what it does.

I meant these are friends with a certain degree of knowledge in using the net for traditional surfing and looking for information and not those who have not touch a computer in their lives. Anyway, for the benefit of those who have been living under a rock for the past few years, I will try to explain in simple terms what is a blog and what it does.

A blog also known as weblog is basically a website that is an online version of a personal diary. In other words, a blog is used to documents the events and happenings of an individual or in some cases an organization. Entries or posts as they are known are in reverse chronological order meaning the latest entries are usually at the very front of the first page of the blog, allowing readers to get the latest updates on the blog.

A person who maintains a blog is known as a blogger. A blog is normally updated on a regular basis by the blogger. Initially blog entries are in the form of writing. Nowadays, it is more common to see in pictures or videos or a combination of writing, pictures and videos. There are blogs with entries in pictures or videos and no words or content whatsoever.

What makes blogs popular in the first place is really an unknown question. Researchers have tried to decipher the reasons behind the rise of blogs but they are unable to pinpoint exactly on the factors that makes blogs popular in the first place. Personally, I guess why blogs are popular is that that bloggers find blogs a very convenient way to express their innermost feelings and thoughts without exposing their real identities in the first place. Another plus fact is the ability for people to make comments on the entries, allowing blogs to become a platform for people to communicate.

As the blogshere evolves and more people start to blog, blogging tools and software become more and more sophisticated and powerful. No longer is a blog considered just an online personal dairy, a blog has actually become a platform for people to conduct commercial activities and make good money in the process. Many tools and services are been created to cater to this growing segment of bloggers.

Well, I hope I’m able to let you have a better understanding of what a blog is and what it does. If you are keen to try out blogging for a change, remember to check out my other posts on blogging.

* You can check out Wikipedia for a more detailed explanation of what a blog is.