I have been blogging for close to 8 years now. At first, I was not too serious about this career. When I was a student, blogging was a great way to connect with people, learn new things, and share my views with my readers. I made some change on the side which was not bad at all. I never thought for once I could make a living out of this business. In the past few years, I have had to make many difficult decisions. The most difficult one, without a doubt, was when I quit my job abruptly to focus solely on my blogging business.

A long while ago, I had a decent paying job at a wonderful company. I was not going to become a millionaire doing that job. Still, I was impressed with the people who worked at that company and the direction it was going. The problem was I was even more passionate about blogging. At some point, I came to the realization that blogging was the future and my 9 to 5 job was not. That’s when quitting became the only option for me.

Most people have trouble figuring out when it is time to quit their job to go pro as a blogger. It is not easy to give up your monthly paycheck and be on your own, especially in these tough times. You certainly don’t want to quit your job too early or too late. These 8 tips can help you figure out how to quit your job like a pro:

1. know what you want: I may have quit my job a tad bit early but I knew exactly what I wanted to do months before I gave up my corporate position. If you have no idea what you will be blogging about, how you will be hosting your site, or how your business will be structured, you will be in trouble in no time.
2. know the risks:  understanding the risks of quitting your job for blogging is the first step towards making the best decision for you. Being your own boss has its advantages and disadvantages. Creating a successful blog is hard. Then there is always the risk that you may fail in your venture. If you can’t handle some of these risks, you probably shouldn’t quit your job.
3. do your homework: so you have found the topic or industry that you are passionate about? Doing your homework ahead of time and setting the right foundation for your blog can help you reach your goals faster. There is no reason you can’t do your research when you are still working. Doing that gives you the chance to hit the ground running in your new venture.
4. have a clear plan: having a clear plan keeps you focused and on the right track towards achieving your goal. Don’t try to pick up more than you can handle. There is no reason to focus on multiple blogs from the very first day. Your initial blog monetization plan should be in place well before you quit your job.
5. do it at your own pace: it is so easy to start thinking about quitting your job when you read those “make money blogging” articles that talk about how rosy things are in this world. Not everyone can tackle blogging at the same pace. So don’t quit your job before you feel ready to do so. I am not suggesting you should be ultra conservative here. But just because someone is making a god-like living online and is writing about it, it does not mean you can get there overnight.
6. start today: you should not wait for a special occasion or date to get started with your blogging business. Even if do not plan to quit your job until a year from now, that does not mean you can’t start laying the foundation for your blogging business today. Everyday that you waste is a day you won’t get back.
7. be ready to push your limits: if you are passionate about this business, you should be ready to go out of your way to make your venture successful. Pretending that one can make a ton of money blogging from their bed is dishonest. Building a successful business takes a lot of work. Being ready to push your limits to new heights everyday is the right idea.
8. pick and choose your fight: you can’t do everything yourself. New bloggers tend to want to tackle everything under the sun by themselves. In most situations, you can grow your blog much faster by outsourcing non-core activities. Bloggers need to wear many hats but not too many of them. You also don’t want to take on mega blogs right from the start. By taking smaller steps at first, you will eventually put yourself in a more competitive position.

Quitting a good paying job is never easy. If you are happy doing your 9 to 5 shift at your job, more power to you. If you are not, the time to take action is today.

We have all been there before: being excited about a new project and ready to go but not knowing how to name our project. That happens to start-ups and small businesses all the time. What you don’t want to do is pick a name that does not feel right for your business only to have second thoughts about it after you have put a decent amount of effort branding your project. Changing the name of your blog after a few month may not seem like a big deal, but it could turn your readers off. Besides, it could affect your search engine rankings if you do move to a new domain.

Naming a blog is not going to be too easy. Almost all those obvious and cool names are taken. But as long as you are creative, there is no reason you can’t have a short, catchy name (and domain) for your blog. Choosing the right name for your blog may not seem like a big step forward, but it will come back to help you in the long run. Once your blog is popular, you’ll thank yourself for spending time to pick the right name for it.

If you are stuck and have no idea how to name your blog, here are a few things you want to keep in mind:

• Short names matter: I absolutely hate those blogs that have super long domain names. Nobody likes to write a sentence in their browser every-time they want to visit your website. Remembering those long domains can be tricky too. Then there is the social media factor. Those long domains eat up precious characters (you can always use a redirection service but it’s not the best option). How long is too long? If you are going beyond 12 characters or so, you may want to rethink your domain name.
• Pick a catchy name: have you ever wondered why some brands are easier to remember than others? The values they offer matter. Having a catchy name for your blog helps too.
• Get a brandable domain: every blogger should take time to brand his/her blog. If you want to be a full-time blogger and keep growing your business, you need to have a brand that distinguishes you from all copycat bloggers out there. People can copy your content but they can’t steal your brand. Having a domain that is easily brandable can really help you achieve your blogging goals faster.
• Own your domain: so you have come up with name “X” for your blog. Make sure you own X.com (and other variations). These domain tools can help you figure out whether your favorite name is up for grabs. You would not want to go with a name without owning the domain for it.
• Use name generators: I usually do not recommend this to new bloggers. But if you know what you are doing and can think long-term, there is no reason you can’t use name generators to come up with a unique name for your blog. At the very least, these tools can give you some ideas.
• Avoid keyword spamming: it is true that having the right keywords in your domain can help you dominate rankings much more easily. You will still have to build links to your blog and offer impeccable content to your visitors. But a keyword-rich domain name can give you a leg up over your competitors. With that said, you do not want to choose a name and domain that seems to be chosen for the search engines instead of your audience.
• Just do it: I can’t emphasize on this point enough. Wasting days and months just trying to come up with the “perfect” name for your venture is not a smart way to approach your business. If you want to make it in this business, you need to be thorough and agile at the same time. There is no perfect blog name out there. Once you realize that, you’ll get moving faster.

Picking a catchy, short name for a new blog may seem difficult on paper. You may have to spend some time figuring out the right name. But it will be worth it in the end. Just don’t forget your ultimate goal.

When I started blogging on this site, my goal was not to make a living out of my effort. I have been in the corporate world and have run my own start-up as well. I was just passionate about blogging and sharing what I knew with my readers. That was way back in 2002. Nowadays, there is almost no excuse not to blog. The costs of starting a blog is just too low. There are a few companies that forbid their employees from writing their own blogs. If you happen to work for those companies, then tough luck. But for the rest of us, there is no reason not to start a blog. Not if you are passionate about something.

Starting a blog can help open doors for you. There are plenty of people who are looking for a job these days. It just baffles me that they don’t invest an hour of their time everyday to write their own blog and build some presence online. If your blog is somewhat successful, you can always point it out to recruiters that you meet. Besides, you may hit gold with your blogging style and go viral. There are plenty of success stories in the blogging world, and every one of those bloggers have started from nothing. You need to take that first step though.

Need motivation to start your own blog? Here are 5 simple, no-brainer reasons why no one should go without a blog these days:

1. Find a Better Job: maybe you are tired of your current job or are looking for a new one. Whatever the case, your blog can help you gain some recognition on the Internet and can open doors for you in the process. Let’s forget that blogging can be very relaxing and fulfilling. It can help you reach new heights and even find positions that you are truly interested in instead of those you have had to take due to not having other options.
2. Build a Business: nothing beats being your own boss. I don’t care who you work for and how great your company is. You are never in full control unless you are your own boss. That’s what your blog can make possible. Of course, not everyone’s going to make it to blog superstardom. But at least you are going to have a say about it when you are in control. Nothing’s more fun than building a business one block at a time.
3. Push Your Other Work: it amazes me how many authors don’t have their own blog. It just makes no sense whatsoever. Not when you are making a living out of writing books and articles. Besides, your blog can be a great tool to push your existing work and gain more exposure for it. Think of it as a two way street. Your blog can help your other projects to grow and vice versa.
4. Build relationships: the relationships that you make as a blogger are great long term assets for you and your business. You never know when you are going to need that contact you have just made. Who knows what doors your contacts can open for you. But your blog can be a great place to meet new people and build long-lasting relationships.
5. Get Speaking Engagements: I am not a superstar blogger, but even I have received offers to speak at social media and blogging events. I personally have not really gone out of my way to seek speaking gigs. But it never hurts to have the option. If you are into public speaking, you can use your blog to seal new gigs and get more exposure for you, your brand, and your work. You can always push your blog in the events you speak at as well. It’s a win win.

Starting a blog could not be any easier these days. There are simply no excuses not to do it. So what is it that’s holding you back?

If you are planning to start your own social networking community, here are 5 content management systems you should try:

WordPress MU: the multi-author version of WordPress is very dear to my heart. A few years ago, I started a network to allow people to start their own blogs using my host. That was based on an early edition of WMU.  The solution is much more powerful these days.

BuddyPress: if you thought WordPress MU was great, wait till you check out BuddyPress. It adds a “social” layer over your WMU installation and makes it easy for you to grow your community and build your own social network.

Elgg: one of my favorite content management systems on the market. It’s a very powerful service that makes creating a social networking website around your niche a whole lot easier. Your visitors can have their blogs, participate in forums and groups, and do a whole lot more on your Elgg website.

Pligg: it’s actually one of the tougher content management systems to master but it’s one heck of a solution for anyone who is looking to start a social network. It certainly saves you money as you won’t have to start from scratch.

Ning: perhaps the easiest way to start your own social network these days. You can always use their free service or sign up for their premium features to use your own domain name to host your social network upon Ning platform.

Your turn: What’s your favorite social content management system?

These days it’s very tough to find a blog domain that is easy to remember and brandable. Most straight forward domains seem to have been taken. After all, there are a lot of domainers out there that take pleasure in registering all kinds of domains only to sell them for huge profits in a short period of time. But there are tools out there that can help you find those hidden gems of domains that are still available. Nomaine is one of those tools. It’s a theme-based domain finder engine that can find you a decent domain (depending on your niche).

Nomaine is very easy to use. All you have to do is choose from the selection of themes available, define min and max limits for your domain and add your prefix and suffix words to optimize your results. The engine will go to work for you and searches for domains that are still available for pick up. The advantage of using this tool is that it can find you a general domain that applies to your niche. Keyword-based engines can be frustrating to work with and are often not that effective. With this tool, you can save time and find domain names that usually wouldn’t find with other tools.

The bad news is that the themes available on this websites are limited. So if your niche is not included in the above list, you are probably out of luck. But if your theme is included, there is no reason you can’t find a brandable domain that you could use to build a killer website. All in all, Nomaine is a cool domain name finder tool that could come handy for new bloggers.

As someone who has launched over 200 websites in the past couple of years, I can tell you that it always pay to plan ahead and design a structure for your blog. As a blogger, having a plan (flowchart) that you can refer to track your progress and expand your blog helps. Let’s say you want to start writing about pro blogging. Wouldn’t it be better if you had a breakdown of topics that you want to talk about on your blog? That not only helps you stay on topic, but it also comes in handy if you want to expand your blog. And let’s not forget that having a tightly structured blog can help you with your SEO efforts as well.

SlickPlan is a cool free service that lets you create a graphical site-map for your blog fast. The service is designed to help you create maps, flowcharts, and … on the web and export them easily to your blog. The service allows you to export your site-map as HTML, PDF, or just share your plans via a HTML link.

Let’s take our “pro blogging” project. The interface allows you to easily add topic boxes to your home box. It’s a great way to plan out the blog you are planning to start or give a better structure to your existing blog. Once you are done with your plan, you can easily export or share them with others.

All in all, SlickPlan is a simple flow chart generator that helps you put your plans on paper in a graphical manner. If you can’t afford software packages such as MindManager, SlickPlan is a simple alternative. It does help you plan your blog structure, and that’s what counts.

Finding a domain like ProBlogger is going to be difficult these days. A lot of people own multiple domains these days, and it’s just not easy to find a decent domain that is not taken. That’s why you are going to need a tool that opens your eyes to domain ideas that you may not thought about. A domain tool that can combine words relevant to your niche can be a handy tool. Thankfully, there are plenty of these tools around, but here are 5 that stand out:

DomainsBot: my favorite domain finder. It’s completely Ajaxified and makes it easy to get ideas for your domain. It also has advanced features that you can use to come up with even more ideas.

Domize: an innovative domain search tool that lets you use enumerations and lists to build up killer domains fast. Once you read the instructions and learn the rules, the sky’s the limit with this service.

Domainr: an innovative domaining tool that not only finds you available domains based on your keyword phrase but also those international domains that are highly brand-able. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could find a cool domain name such as “bit.ly.”

Domain Pigeon: another cool domaining tool that is great for developing ideas for your next killer domain. It provides you with not only available domain names but also twitter names as well. Who would have thought your Twitter name could become almost as important as your domain name?

Dot-o-mator: a simple but very useful domaining tool that can help you come up with some killer Web 2.0 type domain names for your blog, startup, or even forum. It’s compatible with iPhone as well. Great tool for Web 2.0 fans.

There are a few other domain tools that you can use to generate ideas. At the end of the day, your goal should be to find a domain name that is short, to-the-point, and gives you the opportunity to use it for branding purposes in the future. If you are stuck, the above tools will come in very handy.

There are plenty of ways to get a logo for your blog. You can always design one for yourself though I wouldn’t recommend it if you are not a designer. You can use a DIY logo service to design a generic logo for your blog. Or you can use a custom-designed logo to set yourself apart from everyone else. Your budget may dictate the option that works for your business, but you should never think of your logo costs as expenses but rather as a long-term investment. With that in mind, here are 3 cool blog logo design services that make things easy:

LogoYes: an innovative service that lets you design your own logo from generic images. It’s so easy to get a handle on, and you’d be surprised how many professional looking logos you can come up with this service. You also get the files you need to make further changes, if that’s what you prefer.

LogoMaker: another innovative do it yourself logo service that makes it easy to design a logo for your blog fast. You can choose symbols, letters, or images to base your logo on. You can always download your files and customize them later.

LogoWorks: if you are not too content with DIY logo services out there, LogoWorks is a great place to get your logo designed by professional designers. These are a bit more pricey, but the quality is top notch. You are in control as you can go through concepts provided to you to choose the logo that works the best for your business. Great investment for your business.

There are plenty of other services out there that you can try. I have used the above three services for my own blogs, and I couldn’t be happier for them. The service I use really depends on my goals for the blog I intend to use the logo on. If it’s just a hobby blog, I probably use a cheaper logo whereas if I have grand plans for a blog, I don’t hesitate to spend more money up-front. So your choice will depend on your situation. But the above companies do deliver a good service and don’t cost too much money. Who says the logo design process can’t be smooth?

Many bloggers don’t treat their blogs as a business. They treat it as a hobby, and that’s why they never manage to get it to the next level. I am not a big fan of this approach. When you start a blog, you either dream too high or too low. If your goal is just to write about what you are passionate about without getting paid or making your own life a bit more comfortable, then you better be ready to pull a 9-6 schedule during week-days and blog at the same time. But if your goal is to go solo and make a living online with blogging, then you need to approach your blog as a business and treat it seriously.

One way to treat your blog more seriously is by developing a business plan for it. In other words, you want to make sure you plan ahead for your blog’s growth and take all the steps that you will need to take your blog to the next level. Besides, a lot of bloggers start their business while they still have a day job. In that case, your business plan can help you figure out when you are ready to quit your day job to start blogging full-time.

What I really like about preparing a business plan for blogs is the research that you will have to do to complete your plan. By the time you are done with your research, you are going to know much more about your industry, your niche, your competitors, and ways you can position your blog to grab market-share in your market and achieve stardom.

With that in mind, here are a few reasons why you should take time to create a business plan for your blog:

• Opportunity: your business plan will help you understand where the real opportunities are and how you can go about positioning your blog in a way that attracts and retains more visitors.
• Challenges: preparing a business plan helps you figure out what challenges you need to face to take your business to the next level. If you think hard and do your research right during the preparation process, you and your blog are going to be better off in the long run.
• Innovation: by researching your competitors, your industry, and even your niche, you can easily figure out what people are doing right, and what you can do to set yourself apart for your rivals. You can’t possibly think outside-the-box if you don’t know what or where the box is.
• Resource Management: a lot of people jump into the world of blogging without realizing the challenges they will have to face to keep their blog going in the long run. Preparing your business plan allows you to get a deep understanding of what resources are available to your business.
• Growth Strategy: a business that is not growing is probably dying. Your goal should be to go after growth each and every year. Preparing your own business plan helps you get a better understanding of what you need to do to grow your business year after year.
• Revenue Strategy: so you want to start a blog? Do you know how you are going to make money and provide value to your readers at the same time? Will you sell t-shirts? Will you have a premium section for your paying members? These are issues you need to think about when you are working on your business plan.
• Exit Strategy: every business needs an exit strategy. You can never predict the future, and there could come a time that you want to exit your market and do something different. Planning out your exit strategy ahead of time saves you headaches and helps you move on to better things when you are ready.

There are plenty of other reasons why you should write a business plan for your blog. It may take a bit of time, but it’s smart, and you won’t fly blind in your market. If you plan to become a super pro blogger, you will need a plan. Your business plan is just that.

WordPress has made it so easy for newbie bloggers to get started with their blog and manage their content more effectively. A few years ago (in the pre-Wordpress era), people used to have HTML and static blogs. You had to manage all your pages yourself as there was no system to do it for you. But these days things are so simple, you won’t have to worry about managing your content all by yourself.

A lot of newbie bloggers that I have talked to have raved about how fun using free themes it is. After all, you don’t have to pay any money for them, and all you have to do is leave those footer images in place. In reality, you are doing your blog a disservice if you get a free theme. The least you should settle for is a premium theme. Here is why: nobody wants to spend money if they don’t have to. But spending money on a cool theme is more of an investment than an expense. Besides, you can be sure that a whole lot of people will download the same free theme that you have. So your site will look the same as thousands of other sites on the market. Considering that premium themes are not that expensive, going with them is really a no-brainer.

Elegant Themes is a cool WordPress membership site that gives you access to lots of cool WordPress themes for only $19.95 a year. You get over 20 themes that you can use for any occasion. Not only these themes are well designed, but you also get all the PSD and Photoshop files that you would need to be able to customize the look and feel of these themes. And it doesn’t hurt that these themes are optimized for WordPress 2.8 and are search engine friendly.

Here are some the themes that you get with this membership plan:

• ePhoto
• eBusiness
• CherryTruffle
• PureType
• Basic
• ColdStone
• LightSource
• eGamer
• eVid
• Cion
• eGallery
• …

This membership site has it all. eVid is a great way to start your own video blog. eGallery lets you start your own online gallery. And you can always build your gaming blog with eGamer. If you are into business blog, eBusiness comes in handy.

After having tried many premium WordPress themes in the past, I truly believe that this is the best membership plan on the market. There is no up-front fee, and $19.95 a year for these themes is an absolute steal. And when you do cancel, you get to keep all the themes. So if you cancel after your first year, you get to keep all your 20+ theme, and they will have cost you about $1 each! You can even remove the credit links! If you are into blogging and don’t want to spend a fortune on a decent premium theme, Elegant Themes is one great membership plan you should consider purchasing.