UPDATE: I have made the switch to BlogEngine.NET. Thanks for the recommendation from Elijah Manor. Yes, it supports live writer and no database is required!

I am reaching the end of my first year of blogging. I really learned a lot in my first year and I wanted to share my experience with you. Like most people, I started out with three major questions:

1. What service or blog engine should I use?

This is a difficult question because there are quite a few free blogging sites out there. For example Wordpress and Blogger will allow you to sign up and start blogging for free. In the end it really comes down to personal preference. I am currently using blogger but I am less than enthused with the way the whole engine works. The themes are driven by XML templates which makes customizations a real pain. However, there is a large offering of widgets which makes things like adding a tag cloud a breeze.

Since I am a .NET developer, and I want to make extensive customizations to my site without dealing with hokey XML templates, I will probably switch over to using DasBlog or BlogEngine sometime next year. Unfortunately, this means I will have to pay for custom hosting. However, DasBlog and BlogEngine do not require a database so that makes the hosting a lot more affordable.

If you are not a developer and just want to write articles without knowing a lick of HTML then Wordpress and Blogger coupled with Windows Live Writer is the way to go. Just create your site and use Live Writer to develop your articles. Live Writer will take care of converting your text to HTML, uploading your images and everything else that goes with it. I have been using Live Writer for over 8 months now and I honestly will not even consider a blog engine unless it supports Live Writer.

2. How can I get people to read my blog?

The obvious answer is to pay for advertising by placing ads on a major search engine. However, there are other ways to get people to read your blog.

• Tweet about you new blog post on twitter. Use Tags to make sure your tweet gets read by people who are interested in your topics. For example when I write a new article I will create a tweet that looks like this
  blogged: <URL> : My First Year of Blogging #Blogging #WebLog #HowTo
• Add your website URL to your email signature and forum posts
• Utilize the ping feature in Live Writer to promote your articles on sites like Technorati

3. Can I make money from blogging?

Absolutely, You can sign up with programs like Adsense, Adbrite or The Lounge . If you use blogger it is easy to integrate Adsense ads because both products are owned by Google. However, Adbrite and The Lounge are excellent alternatives. I have recently applied as a published with The Lounge. Hopefully they will accept my application! They came highly recommended from a few friends who also blog about programming and information technology.

You can make a lot of money from blogging. However, it takes time to build up content and to develop a following. In order to make money you need to post often and write articles that are appealing to a large mass of people. Don't expect to start making a ton of money in your first year. Right now I average a measly $2-3 a month.

If you are really passionate about a topic then blogging is the perfect creative outlet. Writing new articles and seeing other people's positive responses to them is very rewarding. As a positive side effect, blogging feeds the brain. When you have to explain something to someone in writing you end up gaining a better understanding of the topic. You typically will need to do a little research before you can start and that is how you learn.