This is a guest post by Bill Breen of Effective Development.

I noticed a few weeks ago that I seem to use Google tools almost exclusively for my blog’s maintenance. Google makes such a wide array of web tools from email to website analytics, and most of them are useful for running a blog.

Despite everything being in perpetual Beta, Google tools work well, and are quite reliable. 

Today I would like to take you through the process of setting up a blog, researching and creating content, to monetizing and monitoring your blog all within the Google universe of tools. Best of all, once you create one Google Login you are able to access all these tools without any additional registration.

Step 1: Starting a site or blog

I personally have a self hosted WordPress site, but Google offers 2 great hosted solutions for websites -  Google Sites and Blogger/Blogspot. With these you can create a free website, blog, or wiki for private or public use.

Step 2: Communication and correspondence

For communicating ideas, moderating comments, and just reaching out to fellow bloggers in the web development industry, I use Gmail. Even though my hosting company has its own web based email client, Gmail is easy to use, and I can manage multiple addresses within my account.

Step 3: Storing ideas and tasks for your blog

I feel all bloggers should keep a list of ideas for future posts. To store mine I use the to-do list called Tasks in Gmail. It is a lab feature that you need to enable yourself. You can keep multiple lists/sub lists.  You can check off tasks as they are done, and clear checked items.

It lacks the features of a full tool like Remember the Milk, but I find it perfect for quickly adding ideas as they come to me. You can also edit your lists from any web enabled phone. I keep a second list called blog tasks which is a list of maintenance tasks I have, like work on my logo, review comments, revise guest post for The 2.0 Life, etc…

Step 4, Keeping an editorial schedule

A lot of bloggers keep a loose schedule for new posts but readers like consistency. It keeps your blog fresh, and gives readers a sense of structure. I keep a schedule for my blog in Google Calendar. I store editorial deadlines, reminders for when to perform housekeeping on my blog, etc.

You can also have reminders sent to your email account. A new feature of Calendar is the ability to manage your Tasks (to-do) list.  It uses the same list that is shared with Gmail  and allows you to assign due dates to any item you have in your task list. If only keeping to my schedule was as easy as creating and maintaining it.

Step 5: Performing research for posts

I use 2 Google Tools to perform research for my posts.

The first obvious tool is Google Search. It’s the reason Google is a household name. Besides that I rely on great deal on Google Reader to perform research for my blog. Google Reader for those of you who may not know is a full functioning, free RSS reader.  Whenever I am on a site that I feel has good content relevant to my career and/or blog, I add the site’s feed to Google Reader.  I continue to use those that make the cut for blog ideas and inspirations.

Step 6: Creating content

I sometimes use Google Docs to create and edit content. With Google Gears, you can work offline on your docs and sync them back up once you have re-emerged into the world of internet connectivity. If you have someone you collaborate with on posts, Google Docs makes it easy to share with others. I do not use Docs exclusively for writing posts, but it is handy, and you get the added benefit of having a backup of your post in Google’s cloud.

Step 7: Building traffic

Now that you have a site, completed your research, and written content, you will want users to be able to find it. A great way to get traffic is through organic search. This means you want interested users to find your content because it is related to search terms they entered. This drives high quality readers to your site.

If you are a small or new blog, this is not so easily done. The first step to appearing in Google’s search results is by getting your content indexed. A great way to go about this is to create an account with Google Webmaster Tools.  You then need to create an XML Sitemap for Google to index.  A Sitemap is basically a list of all the pages on your site written in a special XML format. Some blogging platforms like WordPress have special plugins to help you create an XML Sitemap, but if you are using a Blogger site, simply point Google to your Atom feed (http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/atom.xml).

Personally, I use FeedBurner to create and manage my RSS feeds. It is a great product that was bought by Google, so it too is part of the Google army of tools. It integrates well with AdSense enabling you to add advertising links to the bottom of posts in your RSS feeds.

You won’t have to worry about the sitemap specs.  Once Google has indexed your site, you can then go back to Webmaster Tools and read the reports. It will tell you if there are broken links or any other errors/warnings Google finds. You can fix the changes and resubmit. You will be well informed about how and what Google is indexing on your site.

Step 8: Monitoring Data

I use Google Analytics for site analysis. It is free and perfect for small to medium sites. I have worked with many web analytic tools over the years. They were all annoying to use, and required a lot of setup. With Google Analytics you create an account, drop a piece of code on your site to verify you own it, and then you are given a JavaScript block. You simply place this on the footer of your site (all pages), and Google does the rest. Within hours, it will provide you with a wealth of information about your users, and their behavior.

Step 9: See if your site is being talked about.

I recommend you setup one or two Google Alerts to monitor if your site is getting attention on other websites or blogs. Set one up for your domain, and possibly your name, and you will receive a daily email of the new content Google has picked up that matches those phrases.

Step 10: Monetizing your blog

Now you have traffic, and are monitoring your users’ behavior with an analytics package. When I reached that point in my blog’s existence, I turned to Google Adsense and placed some contextual ads on my site. You are probably n
ot going to be able to quit your regular job with Adsense dollars alone, but it’s nice to be able to grab a small piece of the pie.  I think some people are intimidated by the idea of putting ads on their blog (while others clearly abuse it), but it is free and couldn’t be easier.

Once you open an account with your standard Google login, you can go in and create customized ads. You can customize the size, style, and other criteria. When you are done, you are given a piece of code to place on your site that will create the ad, and get you paid. It’s pretty easy to place the provided code directly into your blog’s template, but if you are skittish about this, many popular blogging tools have plugins or widgets that can help you add the code where you want it.

Google Adsense even limits the number of ads you can place on a page, so hopefully you do not end up annoying users with your own online version of Times Square.

Step 11: Advertising your blog 

Finally, you may find you want to promote your blog in Google. To have your blog show up in the sponsored links area of their search pages, you need a Google Adwords account.  This product does cost money. It costs $5.00 to open the account, and you have to add at least $10 of your own money to the account even if you have a credit/coupon. From there you choose the keywords (search terms) where you would like your ad to appear.  You only pay when a user clicks on your ad, not every time it is shown.

Finally, if you are going to reply so heavily on Google be aware that they are not perfect. Their services can and do go down from time to time. the outages vary in length and region, but a good way to see if things are running smoothly is though the Google Apps Status Dashboard.  This will provide you details about the status of any issues Google is experiencing.  Finally, if you follow Google on Twitter, you will receive status updates.

There you have it. Google is a household name for a reason.  Even without trying I wound up using mostly all Google products for my blog. Some work better than others, but they are all pretty good considering their ease of use and price. Many of these tools mentioned have a full range of sub tools and features. Hopefully you will enjoy experimenting with these tools, and finding the right blend for your blogging life.

Pick a service above. What do you use? Are we cool with Google owning everything?

Photos: TOMTEC, educationaltechnologist

For more from Bill, check out Effective Development.