Well, I was really thinking about terminating this domain However, I’ve set my domain provider to “auto-renew” so when the expiry time came for this blog, my domain provider immediately renewed the domain.

I believe everything that happens, happens with a purpose, so probably there are great things in store for this blog. Since this blog has been given a new lease on life, I’ve decided to do something productive on this blog rather just let it idly in cyberspace. Besides it would very ironic that this blog is not a money making machine when it’s main topic is to teach people how to earn cash online. (I’ve made money in other blogs though)

Anyway, since I am a very busy person, I decided to enter into a joint venture with a friend so that there will be two of us taking care of this blog. My friend John Ray Arquisola who will be writing straight from the beautiful island of Palawan will be co-author in this blog. He has been exposed to the world of blogging a little after I had been introduced to it.

We’ve also decided to refocus the topic of this blog. It used to be that this blog focused on how to earn cash online through blogging. Now we are changing it to “How to earn cash online.” So the main topic of this blog will be how to earn cash through the internet whether it is through blogging, paid surveys, selling stuff in multiply or ebay, outsourcing etc. We will of course focus on blogging since this is what we do best.

We hope you will enjoy the content of this blog so stay tuned and learn how to earn cash online !

Blogging platforms, blogware or “Weblog software” is the blogging tool or software that bloggers use. Kind of like Photoshop, the software preferred to be use by photo enthusiast or by Microsoft Office or Open office, the software used by those who have office work to do.

There are almost 50 blogware available, majority of which are open source and developer hosted. Only a small number of them are proprietary.

Blogwares are often reffered to as “Content management system” because they specialize in managing, authoring, editing, and publishing of blog posts and comments. With it you an also manage videos and pictures.

In this blog we will only discuss two of the most popular and most common blogware used by bloggers these are Blogspot (or popularly known as blogger) and Wordpress.

Wordpress comes in two flavors, there is the free account which you can get for free at their website and there is the self hosted wordpress account.

Each of these has their own advantages and disadvantages. We will be presenting them in a table in order for you to be able to decide properly which one you should choose. So in this table take a look at the comparison between blogspot vs. wordpress or you could consider this as blogger vs. wordpress.

Whew ! I’m sure looking at the table and comparing features must be quite challenging for you. I reckon that you end up much more confused then you were at first. So in order for you to be enlightened more, let me tell you about my own personal experience.

I first started blogging for several months with blogger. Later on I switched to a self hosted wordpress account. The reason for my switching is obvious, I aimed to be “more serious” with my blogging career. Free accounts just couldn’t meet my needs anymore.

So the tip I am giving you is simple, if you are serious about your blogging career, then consider spending a little dough and get yourself a self hosted wordpress account.

Again, I am not saying that blogspot are only for amateurs and self hosted wordpress are for pros. All I am saying is that, you are limited when you use a free service. That is why it is much better to switch to self hosted wordpress considering the features that are available to you albeit at a certain price.

Up to today, I maintain several blogspot accounts. Three of my main blogs including this one are however done on a self hosted wordpress account. To get a cheap hosting software wherein you can install wordpress in a breeze try signing up with vodahost. Click on the picture to get an account today !

First of all let us define what is hosting. When we talk about setting a website or a blog, what we will be talking about is “Web hosting.” So if the domain is your street address, what hosting is, is that it is your actual house on that street address.

However technically speaking, what is hosting? Or more specifically what is web hosting? First of all let us define what a web hosting company is. A web hosting company is one that provides space on their servers wherein you can upload the contents of your website or blog. Web hosting companies are those that provide hosting services. You can either get free hosting services or paid hosting services.

Of course the advantages and disadvantages of free or paid hosting services are quite obvious. Usually free hosting services offers limited services, although some of them are very good. By limited hosting I mean limited disk space, (You can only upload limited stuff for your blog or website like limited number of pictures, videos etc.) limited bandwidth (Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be transferred over the network in a fixed amount of time. To the layman this is akin to the number of times that your blog or website can be accessed online), limited support, limited features among other things.

Paid hosting on the other hand is presumed to offer much better services and throws in a lot of extra features. This is of course but natural, considering that you are paying for said service.

FREE WEB HOSTING

If you type “Free web hosting” in Google, you will get a lot of results. However for purposes of blogging, there are only two sites that I am recommending that offer both free hosting, free domain and offers probably two of the most popular free blogging platforms (We’ll talk more about what is a blogging platforms later on) these are www.blogspot.com and www.wordpress.com. Later on we will be discussing the major differences between these two blogging platforms.

CHEAP PAID WEBHOSTING

If you are serious about making blogging a career(or a future career perhaps ?)   then I suggest you should seriously consider a paid webhosting. I am not saying that you can’t make money from free webhosting sites. Sure you still can ! In fact I have several blogs hosted on free sites. Most pro-bloggers make a lot of cash utilizing free domain and free hosting. However take note that all the features of free webhosting can never beat that of a paid web hosting service.

There are hundreds if not thousands of hosting companies over the internet. I can only recommend what I have used. Personally I have used Vodahost. I had a sad experience with another web hosting company, I won’t mention the name though. So far Vodahost seems ok. They are not a perfect hosting company, but so far they seem to have satisfied my hosting requirements. Vodahost offers free domain and an all unlimited diskspace, bandiwidth, websites per account, domains, subdomains and FTP accounts ! They have also great customer service. All of these at a very low fantastic price! Click on the banner below and get your hosting services at Voda host.

So know you know what is hosting and how to get free and cheap web hosting services let us then move on to How to set up a blog.

1.) Getting a domain for free - Try googling “get a free domain” and you can get several websites offering information on the how to’s of getting a domain for free. Free domains are great; you don’t have to spend a dime for the domain. However there are some draw backs in getting a domain for free.

a.) Your domain name will be very long as what are being usually offered are second level domain names or subdomains. For example both wordpress.com and blogger.com both popular websites that offer free blogs offer a free subdomain. (Example your free blog in wordpress could be www.FREEBLOG.wordpress.com, FREEBLOG here is the subdomain, you can have a choice as to what you put in the subdomain, but you can’t change the .wordpress.com part)

b.) Some free domain sites might offer short domains but they require a certain volume of monthly traffic. (Number of persons visiting your site) If you don’t reach the quota your free domain , bye bye !

c.)Getting a domain for free limits your choice of domains. (Of course ! There’s no such thing as free lunch)

d.) If the company that offered the free domain goes bankrupt, well nobody will be able to maintain your free domain so you go down the drain with them.

2.) Getting a domain wherein you have to shell out cash. – If you are really serious about turning “pro” in blogging I suggest pay your way in getting a domain. I am not undermining the significance of a free domain. Some great and famous bloggers blog started by getting a domain for free and some of them even maintain their free domain till this day. However I’m sure almost all great and famous bloggers already have a domain name of their own.

In getting a domain that’s paid, you have to purchase one from domain name registrar. (Companies that sell domains) I suggest you try find the cheapest source of domains in the internet.

3.) Getting a domain that’s free and then later on switching to a paid domain. – While I don’t really recommend this, because of the fact that you will waste time building on a free domain and then switching domains.However this option might really be a good idea for some people.

So if you are still not sure about getting serious with your blogging career but you want to try out blogging because it’s the “in” thing and that all your friends have blogs are that you are the only one in your classroom whose name doesn’t end with a .COM, then you can go for this option. Blogspot, the free blogging service offered by Google let’s you easily do this. At first you can start with a free domain given by them. Later on you can get switch to getting a domain from that that’s customized.

So there you have it. Those are some things that you need to know and do in getting a domain. Next stop let’s talk about “What is hosting and how to get free and cheap web hosting services“

Some people view domain names as investments, and some even buy them for speculation believing that the price for the domain name will go up, and indeed some of them will! An example of a domain name for a blog that was sold for hefty price was bancaholic.com. (Sold for $15 million U.S) That is why it is very important to be wise in choosing a domain name. These are some tips I have personally come up with on choosing a domain name.

1.) If possible, don’t use your name or parts of your name – When I first started blogging, I just followed the probloggers. So when they used their names as their domain, I followed their lead in choosing a domain. Later on I learned that some probloggers regretted this and advised others not to do it. Unless your name is the same as that of a famous person, you won’t be able to sell the domain name itself for a high value. Well of course if you really like your name, then it is up to you. Of course this is the general rule, especially if you plan to go niche blogging. However this does not apply if you plan to go guerilla blogging.

2.) K.I.S.S – Keep It Short and Simple. The shorter the domain and the simpler it is the more people will have an easy time remembering what it is. Just like company names and product names, domain names must be short simple and of course easy to spell. (Who on earth would remember the domain name: Mahershalalhashbaz.com hehehe by the way it’s the longest name found in the Bible and believe it or not, somebody is actually using or trying to use this domain)

3.) Associate it with your content – Make your domain name more valuable by associating it with your content. Use keywords that are more or less the same with your content. Primarily this applies to niche blogging.  For example if your content is about playing the violin then use something like www.playingtheviolin.com or something like that. If not use a domain that speaks about your online identity, just like my domain, the guerilla blogger. Search engines will place a certain premium on this. You will understand this later on a post on Search Engine Optimization.  Again, this is a general rule and most especially applies if you want to go niche blogging.  This rule does not apply to blogs that wish to go guerilla blogging. (Blogging about any stuff) Later on you will understand why is this.

4.) Use the .COM extension – Using the .COM is very important in choosing a domain. Despite what other people say, having a .com as your website is still the most popular choice.

5.) Don’t abbreviate – Never abbreviate when choosing a domain. Abbreviating makes your domain name meaningless. For example for my site if I instead of using guerillablogger.com, I used www.gb.com. It might be short and simple but it doesn’t mean anything to anybody else.

Now that you know what is a domain and have gotten tips on choosing a domain, let’s move over to getting a domain.

The definition and explanation I am giving here on what is a domain is not very technical. This is intended for the ordinary layman. For a very detailed yet simple explanation on what is a domain, check out other sources.

So what is a domain, simply put it is your address in the world wide web. I call it as your virtual address.

I’m sure you have used the internet and have typed sites in your browser such as google.com,  zdiaz.com or funnemailmessages.blogspot.com. All of these are examples of what is a domain.

To fully understand what is a domain, let us use the above domain names and dissect them. Just like real addresses which provide description from the more general to the more specific, domain names are organized from right to left.

1.) “Country” – For example in www.zdiaz.com The .COM serves as the “Country” (Technically referred to as the Top level domain or parent domain)

2.) “Province or State” – In the same example, the “zdiaz”, refers to the “province or state.” (Technically referred to as the “mid-level domain.”)

3.) “City” - In the example “www.funnyemailmessages.blogspot.com” the “funnyemailmessages” refers to the “City” (Technically called as a subdomain or a “smaller mid-level domain”)

Observe that domain name levels are separated by a period much like addresses are separated by commas.

I’m sure in searching for meaning on what is a domain you have encountered terms like URL and IP address. Some people confuse the domain name as being the same with URL or IP address. Technically they are different. A URL which stands Uniform Resource Allocator is much more specific. WWW of course stands for World Wide Web, and HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol.

When you type http://www.zdiaz.com in your web browser you are telling the computer to connect to the internet, which is a network of computers, using a specific protocol language and go to a specific machine, a specific address and a specific folder name. Anyway you don’t need to bother with this because most web browsers automatically supply the “http://www” part when you type a certain domain.

And what about an I.P address ? Well an I.P address is simply your domain name in numbers. Think of your domain name as your nick name or alias. The real address is the I.P address which is just a bunch of numbers. Anyway if you don’t still understand URL or IP address or even HTTP don’t mind it, at least now you have an idea on what is a domain.

So there you have it. Now that you know what is a domain, Click here for tips on choosing a domain.

So what is a blog ? It is simply a contraction of the term “weblog.” It is considered as a Generation “Y” term or the internet generation term that started during the mid 1990s. Wikipedia has a broad and comprehensive definition on what is a blog. According to Wikipedia a blog is a type of website that has regular entries featuring commentaries, description of events and news both personal and general. Some blogs are mainly online diaries made available to the public. Entries in a blog are called “post” or “blog posts.” A person who maintains or writes for a blog is called a “blogger.”

Usually a blog contains graphics, videos, music, text and links to other blogs and web pages. Ideally the links are supposed to be related to the blog or the blog post. Entries in the blog are usually displayed in reverse-chronological order. (Most recent entries first) Another unique feature of a blog is that it allows readers to give comments or interact with the blogger. The community of blogs is often called the “blogsphere.”

Blogging is part of what is known today as Web 2.0 technologies. Web 2.0 refers to the second generation of web development the design of which is being described as being more user centered and giving primordial consideration to interoperability, collaboration , communication and information sharing. Aside from blogging considered as part of Web. 2.0 are social networking, video sharing and wikis.

With the emergence of blogs, several blogging tools, and other stuff related to blogs has cropped up. Now we have search engines that are devoted letting people know what is a blog. Search of of these blog search engines are focused solely on blogs.  Other online stuff related to blogging includes blogging communities, directories and book marking sites. Recently, those involved in web 2.0 technologies have discovered what is a blog and how it is one of the most important web 2.0 technology. So they decided to fuse together other web 2.0 techonologies with blogging. The most popular example of this is the merging of social networking and blogs.

There are many classifications of blogs. With regards to focus, blogs maybe classified as art blogs, photoblogs, video blogs, music blogs the recent addition being “micro blogs.” Another classification could refer to the type of content found in blogs. While most blogs are considered personal, a great number of blog are considered as political, travel blogs, educational, corporate etc.

Blogs wherein the blogger is considered an authority on a certain topic and that his blog is focused on said topic is often called as a “niche blog.” The opposite of this is what we call as “guerilla blogging” which we will define later on.

Blogs have become so popular mainly because content are presented more personally and that it has provided a more personal interaction between the blogger and the reader. So popular is blogging that companies are now discovering what is a blog and are now maintaining blogs. Even big news companies are discovering what is a blog and are putting up blogs or even switching their content to blogging format.

Because of the popularity of blogs, advertisers have discovered what is a blog and how important is advertising in blogs that it is now largely gaining popularity, letting bloggers earn substantial income. Although still small in numbers, it is not surprising that you hear of people solely earning their day to day income through blogging. These bloggers are often referred to as “pro-bloggers.”

To learn more about what is a blog. Watch this youtube video. After this you may want to proceed by finding out what is a domain.

When I first started blogging, I read blogging materials from the pro-bloggers and almost all of them have a common theme that is you need to have a niche if you want to make money through blogging.

When I read that, I realized that I had a big problem. I really did not know what my niche was. I just have so much interest and I want to blog about anything under the sun. I can’t seem to focus myself in just one topic. So I started a blog called www.zdiaz.com where I wrote about anything under the sun. Later on, I found out through the help of another Filipno blogger whom I will introduce later on that despite without a particular niche, it is still possible to make money online. This is what we called “guerilla blogging.”

It is undeniable that niche blogging is still the best way to do blogging. However niche blogging is not the only way to make cash online. You can still make money online even without focusing on a particular niche. I am not saying that you should abandon the concept of “niche blogging.” I believe it is still the best way to go. In fact ironically guerillablogging.com is a niche blogging site. The niche here is of course “how to make cash online”

What I am pointing out is that for those people who still do have not figured out what their particular niche is, they can apply guerilla blogging and still make make money online. Once you have discovered the particular area of interest that you want to focus on, you can then separate such topics from your “guerilla blog” and then make a niche blog focused on a particular topic. This is what happened to me. As I blogged for almost 2 years now, I noticed that I have developed a certain specialty on two niches, those are making cash online and finance, investments most especially investing in the Philippine stock market.

Because of this I’ve decided to turn my “making cash online” topics to a separate blog and turn to “niche blogging.” (I hope you get what I mean here, if not just try to read along, I’m sure you will understand later on what I mean hehehehe) Probably sometime this year once this blog will be setup, I will start a blog on my investments niche. zdiaz.com will then be a personal blog that will be more of a personal blog, a blog about everything where guerilla blogging strategies and tactics in making money online will be heavily applied.

My previous articles in zdiaz.com about how to make money online will not be deleted for SEO purposes of that blog. However I will be “re-writing” those articles and featuring them here from time to time.

Guerilla blogging will not only feature how to make money online the guerilla blogging way, it will focus on how to make money online as a general topic. However I will frequently refer to guerilla tactics and strategies in making cash online.

So keep dropping by this blog from time to time and subscribe to my feeds if you want to know how to make cash online through blogging the guerilla way.