get your blog online - the easy way!

There are literally dozens of sites offering the opportunity to create your own blogs, but finding those that combine all the features a beginner needs is actually far from easy - especially if you're looking to make money from your efforts.

In fact, the combination of really simple set-up alongside the ability to easily place ads or customize your creation left us with just two options (for the time being at least).

However, they're both exactly the kind of thing we're confident anyone can use to find themselves up, running, and making money in no time at all!

If you'd like some idea of how blogs work and the kinds of issues you might meet if you decide to take things a little further, we've got some more information here you can view / hide

One of the reasons blogs have become so popular is that they're very, very easy to maintain. They come with their own management system that makes it simple to add new entries or pictures at the click of a button. Comments and feedback from users are an important aspect of any blog and these, too, are powered automatically.

For all this instant interactivity to take place, however, a blog needs to use fairly sophisticated behind-the-scenes technology.

At the heart of any blog is some type of online database that keeps track of all the information it uses. And any web pages powered by a database require some kind of 'scripting language' to process this data.

As we've said, it's easy to find options for setting up online blogs that don't go anywhere near this technical stuff. The problem is that most won't allow you to add any extras of your own either.

Anyone wanting this kind of flexibility normally chooses a system designed specifically for blogging, the most popular of which is a program by a company called WordPress.

It can be downloaded free of charge, but won't work on your computer straight away - first the database system needs to be hosted on a server. And if you then want to adapt your blog to include things such as ads, you'll definitely need to start working at some level with the code.

We should point out that although this sounds complicated, thousands of people have managed this by themselves. But for complete beginners, the learning curve can be daunting, especially if you've no real idea how the web works.

So as always, we've opted for the simplest yet most flexible options we could find.

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Option 1: Blogger.com

Take a look, of course - but make sure you head back to simplersteps for further info on domains, placing those ads and helping visitors find your blog (and make YOU money!)

As far as we're concerned, Blogger really is the top choice for anyone wanting to painlessly enter the world of blogging. It's free, and almost effortlessly simple to set up; once you've created an account and named your blog, choose from a series of templates, start typing and that's it, you're online.

When it comes to the finer points of design, you've got fairly substantial control over your pages, too. Set your own fonts and colors, then add optional 'Page Elements' ranging from a simple pic to a very cool online poll. Arrange them in any order you like just by dragging into position.

simple blog creation - drag Blogger elements into position

above: dragging an element

What's more, Blogger make it incredibly easy to 'own' your blog by adding a domain name (see below) and easily placing those all-important money-making ads. A great product that's guaranteed to have anyone up and running in no time at all!

Once you've made your site:

Add your own domain name

If you're not sure what this is, all will be revealed in our section on domain names. And don't worry, blogger again makes this process child's play!

Option 2: weebly.com

Take a look, of course - but make sure you head back to simplersteps for further info on domains, placing those ads and helping visitors find your blog (and make YOU money!)

In a word, weebly's wonderful, and we were more than happy to make it the top choice in our easy website creation section. But if blogging's your thing, weebly lets you do that easily, too - although it doesn't quite match Blogger's stunning functionality and you'll certainly want to read our tip below before getting started.

Like Blogger, totally free weebly lets you choose a choose a template, then walks you through the process of creating new blog entries simply by dragging elements such as text and graphics into position.

Weebly's template designs are professional-looking and sharp, and although you don't have complete flexibility regarding color schemes etc, this is more than made up for by the straightforward page making process. And when you're done, just click a button to publish online!

easy ways to build a blog using weebly's stylish templates

above: weebly offers a great selection of stylish template designs

We're confident that you'll quickly find weebly a doddle, but one thing to watch out for - at least to start with - is the process of setting up pages.

Weebly's main emphasis is on easy creation of standard web sites, so when starting new projects with weebly, the first page you'll be be taken to is a homepage-style layout without any blog features.

use the weebly Manage Pages option to create easy blogs

The trick is to click the Pages tab then choose the New Blog Page option. This will create a typical blog page, which you can then design using any of the drop and drag weebly features.

It's then just a question of deleting the web-style home page to automatically replace it with your blog, and remembering to use the Blog Page option in future. As we said - not too tough!

Once you've made your site:

Add your own domain name

If you're not sure what a domain name is, all will be revealed in our domain name section. And don't worry, weebly makes this process as simple as possible.