I've been thinking about my life a lot recently since summer break has left me with some spare time. I keep seeing those ads to travel the world while getting paid (because of a blog) and they really intrigue me. I would love to travel the world and I feel that my life is probably interesting enough to blog about - I'm in vet school in the Caribbean and I have a cute dog. I've done my research on veterinary salaries across the world, and America (where I'm from and not sure I wanna go back) pays the most, by far. However, average veterinary salaries in the States along with my GIGANTIC student debt will not allow me to travel the world like I would like to. So, I think blogging would be a great way to compensate.

I'm just so new to this blog thing, I really have no idea what they're all about. I've seen a few blogs and I understand they have their own website (domain name) and post pictures, videos, and stories. I just still have so many questions. Do I have to have videos, or can I just work with pictures and stories? If I have to have videos, can anyone recommend a good video editing software? Do I have to promote a product or service? If so, how do I go about doing so? I know I will have more questions, just can't think of any right now. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm a blogger myself. not a successful one,but i'll get there one day. ;p

You dont need pics nor videos to write about your life, interests, or what not. However, some nice pics are good because they can break the text down, making it easier to read, give a better idea of what you see and experience, plus many people like to look at pictures of places they can't travel to. If you want to put videos too, if you never edited videos before, you can always use Windows Live movie maker [or what the name is lately]. If you have a Mac im sure it has a video editor that is also decent and good enough for beginners. Steady hands and nice angles are usually what people care more about in the videos. But like i said, they're not a must. I rarely put videos in my blogs.

The domain name is helpful if you want to monetize the site because most platforms won't allow you to make money with a basic [aka free account]. My current platform actually does help me make money [granted i didnt put much effort into it because of my freelancing job and lazyness]. It pays me from copyright, since i own what i post, i can and should earn money with what i post. But i had to first pay for my domain, then apply for the copyright partnership thing.

There are many bloggers who don't care about making money with their blog [i used to be one] and have a free site in the format blogname[dot]hostname[dot]com.

You dont have to promote any product nor service, if you don't want to. but you can if you want to make money. however, many companies will prefer to work with well established sites that receive lots of traffic. You can either contact them directly, or do a google search. You can also use AdWords and .. i forgot the name of the other option. BUT you will need your own domain for this, and again, google will want a high ranking site, with relevant info on it, and original. I got rejected for the 2nd option [i didnt use the AdWords because i think i have to pay for it o.o and my platform is not yet compatible with it. I could use the 2nd one though].

feel free to ask me more questions ;)

Thanks so much for getting back to me! I think I will use pics instead of videos, at least at first. I definitely want to make money so I will buy my own domain name. During my research, I found that a lot of people recommend WordPress and Bluehost. Once I get it started and get some traffic, I will definitely look into getting ads and possibly promoting products. Also during my research, I came across a helpful forum called Warrior Forum. It's a forum for online freelancers and entrepreneurs to connect, collaborate, and market to grow their businesses and maximize their profits. You should check it out! I posted on their asking for advice. I mentioned that I wanted the main topics to be traveling and veterinary medicine. I had 2 different people tell me that since those topics weren't even remotely related that they should be 2 different blogs. They worried it would be hard for me to hold an audience because my blog would be all over the place. I visited your blog and clicked around a bit and I worry that you have the same problem. I really wasn't able to get a feel for what your blog was all about - there are so many different topics. Reading the top little description, I saw "DIY stuff" and "tarot card interpretations" and I was interested, but then I didn't know what to click on to get me to the topic pages to read about them. I like the overall way that it looks, though! I know you didn't ask for my advice, but I feel we are both in the same boat (you are just farther along than I am) and could learn from each other! Oh! And I finally decided on a single topic for my blog: traveling with pets! This way I can incorporate both my love for animals and traveling into one blog. I am still trying to think of a domain name so if you or anyone else reading this could throw me some suggestions that would be great!

Oh, thanks for replying! and for visiting my site! :) yes, my blog is all over the place at the moment. i figured that there are many lifestyle blogs that deal with many aspects -cooking, traveling, cleaning, minimalist- and are successful, i could too. I know i still have a lot of work to do. u.u T-T But, isn't the menu, under the header picture, noticeable enough? the tarot is under divination "tab". Thank you for recommending me that forum. i will try check it out, though im not ready to be chewed out by the "pros" lol. [i tend to interpret constructive criticism as a personal insult, and many people online are not really careful about how they word their critique. thank you for being considerate towards my feelings, even if you don't know me]

I use over-blog.com as host, as you could probably notice. the main interface is in french, but they offer it in english, spanish, and i forgot what other languages. I like it because i can pay for every month, and if can't afford it, i can cancel. However, earning money from copyrights can only happen after paying for the domain/upgrade. now im a regular user, and i still earn copyrights money. this is impossible with WordPress. i used wordpress, and i like it because it has far more options to personalize the site. Sadly, on my current platform, if i want to use the english interface and to have a scheduled post, the site messes up the date. in english, it's customary to put the month before the day, and in french the other way around. [i wanted to publish a post on March 8th, and i was using the english interface, and it scheduled it for August 3rd... and i was losing it, because it wouldnt want to accept the date. i changed to french and finally posted it correctly.]

When i decided that i wanted to make money, i looked into various hosts. looking at my notes, i couldn't tell what money-making options they offer, though they had one of the cheapest options for a self hosted site/blog. Of course there are many other host, but i found them to be quite pricey, and not even offering that much -or their offers were not clear enough for me. for instance, dreamhost i couldnt even find out how much it costs without an account - not cool.

yes, adding only pics is good for starters. and traveling with pets is a good enough niche.

Haha! I know talking with "the pros" was intimidating! They have a section for starters so they know to take it easy on you lol. Thanks for the tips! I will look into different hosts and decide what will work best for me!

hey, mind taking a screen cap of my blog? i try to see it in a incognito window, and shows me the same thing i see on a regular basis. and you said you can't see any navigation. and i'm worried... >.>

I do see navigation. I see the tabs. I just meant that I didn't know how to find tarot card interpretations because there was no tab that stated "tarot card interpretations." I had no idea what divinations meant.

oooh, ok ^^ thank you so much then! :)

You're welcome!

I've been blogging for a few years and what I do changes from time to time. Right now I'm focusing mostly on fanfictions, dramatic readings, and reviews. Also have started writing livestreams.

Do I have to have videos, or can I just work with pictures and stories? -You can really do anything and don't need to restrict yourself to one medium. If something catches your fancy, I'd suggest playing around with it for a little bit.

If I have to have videos, can anyone recommend a good video editing software? I used to use Windows Movie Maker and haven't figured out any other editing software. My husband has promised to help with editing. We moved in together a few months ago and things are too hectic right now for him to focus on helping with my blog.

Currently make videos via the Event option on YouTube.

Do I have to promote a product or service? If so, how do I go about doing so? You don't have to promote a product or service. I do have an Amazon Associates account and use that to place ads on my blog without them seeming annoying or being unrelated. So if I talk about a show or review a book, I can provide a way for people to buy it for themselves.

I use blogger :)