Most self-employed bloggers take in between $2,000 and $10,000 a month from ad sales, says Henry Copeland, founder of BlogAds.com, a Web advertising concern based in Carrboro, N.C. The few that have huge audiences make significantly more, he adds. During election time, for example, a political blogger can bring in $20,000 to $30,000 a month, says Ken Layne, West Coast bureau chief for Wonkette.com, a political gossip blog owned by Gawker Media.

Self-employed bloggers set their own schedules. Writers of breaking-news blogs say 40- to 60-hour workweeks are the norm. To scoop his competitors, Mario Lavandeira, author of the celebrity-gossip blog PerezHilton.com, says he averages 19-hour workdays that start at 5:15 a.m.

CAREER PATH: Most bloggers start out using free Web sites such as WordPress.com and Blogger.com. They say it takes at least six months to build readership and clout in the blogosphere. Mr. Lavandeira advises picking an area you'll enjoy discussing for a long time because "you have to be passionate about what you're writing." A background in journalism or communications helps but usually isn't required. "I don't want to hear where candidates went to college or where else they worked," says Ryan Block, managing editor of Engadget.com, who hires most of the site's employees. "I review writing samples."

OK, I call this game "blog surprise". The objective is to surprise a blogger who just posted their very first blog post ever... by welcoming that blogger to the blogosphere, showering them with attention, and leaving lots of comments.

5. Be timeless... write posts that will be readable in a year.
9. Write short, pithy posts.
12. Write long, definitive posts.
27. Include comments so your blog becomes a virtual water cooler that feeds itself.
34. Don't include comments, people will cross post their responses.
41. Post on weekdays, because there are more readers.
43. Post on weekends, because there are fewer new posts.
52. Write in English.
53. Better, write in Chinese.

31. Write about stuff that appeals to the majority of current blog readers--like gadgets and web 2.0.

15. Be sycophantic. Share linklove and expect some back.

Okay enough fluff. That's the sales spiel that most of us hear and believe. But as loyal reader Kiltak discovered, it's not always that way. Kiltak is the proud owner of the excellently named Geeks Are Sexy blog. It's well written by guys who know what they're talking about and--most important--often link back to my blogs.

Predictably, they've become steadily more popular. More and more readers until one day, Kiltak tried logging onto his blog, only to discover that Blogspot seemed to have deleted his blog. No warning.

As expected, Kiltak sent a few salty emails and voice calls to the Blogspot folks, basically asking "What the @#$%?!?"

Sadly, it took them some time to figure out what he was talking about, but when they did the explanation went like this: The traffic going to Geeks Are Sexy as well as its content had risen to a level where Blogger decided it might be a possible source of 'spam' blogging. When that happens, it sticks the blog into a quarantine of sorts until they figure out what's what. Meanwhile the blogger no longer sees the site name in his blog management interface.

Moving to our own domain was at least briefly considered. If Blogger had been unable to get the site back, there would've been no question that we would've abandoned this and moved to a different platform.

But moving now wouldn't be a simple business. The blog is back, and shouldn't be eaten by Blogger's spam killer in the future (so they say). This means that there'd be some pretty intense content migration to do (including images uploaded to the Blogger servers). Plus we'd lose our page-ranking, peoples' bookmarks would die, and all sorts of other uncoolness.

If you consider the technical differences between e-mail on the one hand and blogging and RSS on the other, you'll note that they're surprisingly slim. Both are designed to minimize user steps to convey HTML over the Internet.

The end-product differences are slimmer still, typically involving commentary and links.

So if you forget the buzz, hype and mystique, chances are, you're a blogger. It's just that you choose e-mail as your blogging software application.

He doesn't consider this kind of blogging as "writing." The blog posts are quick annotations of 100 to 150 words - or fewer. Only once or twice a week does he take the time to write something longer ("It takes more time and thought").

If you're going to blog, become an expert on something. This is especially important for blogging in the business world. Think content, not rambling comment. Years ago I wrote an article mocking bloggers who post pictures of their dogs and cats. I was inundated with emails from outraged blogging pet owners. I stand on my conviction. Blogs are for sharing information, not pointless doggerel (or catteral).

Don't make your blog look boring. There's nothing more disturbing than a well-written blog that looks like a newsletter template from Microsoft Publisher. You know exactly what I mean—thin and unreadable type, negligible spacing between lines, justified paragraphs and very little graphic relief.

A blog should be welcoming to read. Embrace white space. Be generous with line spacing and use bigger fonts. Well-written subheads almost guarantee readership. Pictures that illustrate your point are also fantastic. Go easy on the clip art and stock photos, though. A blog is about originality and sizzling hot information in written and graphic form.

From the sublime to the rabidly serious, Blogs (aka Web logs) are personal, opinionated journals at the forefront of unfiltered, citizen-driven media.

While using these three sites, we paid careful attention to how each blog-creating service handled four basic tasks: publishing text entries, or "posting" as it is called in blog land; adding photos; publishing links to other Web pages on our blogs; and providing privacy (if desired) online. We also took note of the overall style and formatting options provided on each site.

Our verdict: Microsoft's MSN Spaces did the best job of performing these tasks in a way that was organized and self-explanatory. Yahoo 360 was almost as easy, but it tries to tie in the use of too many other Yahoo services. Blogger.com has a long way to go until it becomes as easy to use as the others.

You start out as a lurker and by either having met a blogger or run accross an intriguing and challenging post from someone else’s blog, you start mulling about in your head for either a forum for response, challenge, or agreement. You *could* start by commenting on other folks blogs first, but you start having a gradually increased desire for a space of your own. Like when you’re living in your parent’s basement and the rest of your friends are making weekly trips to Home Depot and using words like “mulching”. You begin to wonder if you want to belong.

This Internet stuff has gotten out of hand, and just because widely available, simple-to-use technology makes it possible to share your goofy opinions with billions of people doesn't mean you should. Blogs -- Web logs -- are sources of rumor, innuendo and downright lies, and there's no control over what goes into one. Doofs too naive to discern ravings from reportage cite them as if they were factual. There are enough misinformed people already, thank you. Blogs are also a lot of work. Oh sure, it sounds fun, ragging on Ryan Seacrest one day and posting your plan for Mideast peace the next. But then you realize that if you don't keep updating the blog, the pack of dimwits hanging on your every word will dwindle.

It takes time to build a profitable blog. You do not just become a Professional Blogger anymore than you just become a Professional Golfer. It is not a decision you make, it is something you work towards over time.