Start a Blog

Back in the internet's early days, blogs required things like server space and domain names, not to mention some technical know-how. Fortunately, with popularity comes simplicity. Now, a blog is as easy to start as a diary essays term papers.
You can pick a fancy template and publish your way to fame and fortune in less than 10 minutes. Best of all, it's totally free. Take that, Gutenberg.
This article is more than a blog, it is a wiki. Consider it as a communal blog. If you have something to add to it, log in and edit this page.


Pick a topic

There are already a lot of blogs on the web, and many a niche has already been found at this point, but don't let that get you down. Your blog might not be unique, but your voice will be, so make sure you blog about something you're passionate about and have experience with.
Even if there are already hundreds of bloggers writing about the same thing, quality voices rise out of the herd, and new blogs gain readership quickly if they're well-informed.

Pick a provider

The internet is littered with blog hosts. Which one you go with is fairly arbitrary in the beginning. However, one thing to keep in mind: Make sure the option you choose has good exporting tools should you ever want to move your data in the future.
All of the following service providers offer very similar tools and decent methods of exporting your data if you ever want to jump ship:
WordPress.com -- One of the first large open source blogging projects, WordPress remains a popular choice for bloggers small and large.
Blogger.com -- Now owned by Google, the first end-to-end entry in the blogging world provides some strong tools and the ability to host your traffic, so you don't have to.
Xanga - Part blog, part social network, Xanga offers some extra community-oriented features.
Vox - The free version of Typepad/Movable Type. Like Xanga, Vox features some extra social components.

Choose your service, start up an account as you would with any web service, and you're off and blogging. If you can write a text document, you can write a blog post, so get started.
Pimp your blog

Now you've got a blog set up, take some time to customize the look and feel of your new site. Most providers offer a variety of templates from which you can choose. Pick something that fits with your topic of interest.
Blogger, Vox and Xanga have some templates designed by the companies that make the software itself, and it's easy to find some free offerings on the web. The blog platform with the most (and, arguably, most creative) templates to choose from is WordPress. There are hundreds of websites dedicated to showcasing themes for WordPress blogs, and a great number of them are available for free or very little money.
Tip: If you see a blog whose design you like, scroll down to the bottom and look for a link to the designer responsible for the theme or template.
Once you're happy with the basic look of your blog, you can choose to trick it out with blogging freebies like widgets, social media badges (for sites like Digg, for example), guest maps and guest books. Twitter widgets are a popular choice, as are widgets that enable readers to repost your content on their Facebook or Twitter accounts.
Get the word out. Very few people will ever visit your blog if they can't find it. Send out an e-mail to friends and family. In the beginning they'll be your most loyal readers. Then submit your site to social sites like Delicious and StumbleUpon, and start talking up your posts on Twitter.
Don't be shy. Approach some of the more popular bloggers in your field and see if they'll let you do a guest post. They get some fresh content, and you get a link back to your site and potentially quite a few new readers.