1. Set blog goals

Ideally, you should set your blog's goals before you create your blog. If you set your goals first, you will be able to estimate the potential traffic you can attract to your blog, and therefore the amount of income you're likely to make.

So before you create your blog, write down:

* Your blog's topic (for example: digital photography, or diet tips, or whatever topic you'd like to create a blog about);

* Use keyword research tools to discover how many people are searching for your blog's topic online each day:

If there are fewer than 100 searches, look for another topic. Don't shy away from topics which have lots of competition online - lots of competition means that there's a lot of interest, and a lot of traffic too. So if your topic has 5000 search a day, and millions of Web pages, go ahead and create your blog.

* Decide how you will make money from your blog. Will you sell advertising space? Sell products? Make a list of revenue streams for your blog;

* Estimate the income your blog will make in your first, second, third and fifth years. Yes, this is mainly guesswork, however it will motivate you to keep blogging when you see your blog's potential.

If you're completely new to blogging, and have no idea how to set your blog's goals, then get a blogging mentor, or ask questions at forums. Your blog has the potential to make a great income for you, if you treat your blogging as a real business.

Now you've set some goals for your blog, set up your blog and start blogging.

2. Diversify your blog revenue

In your first year of blogging, focus on creating content for your blog, and experiment with various forms of income. There's always a new income-generator coming out, so test out as many forms of revenue as you can.

3. Concentrate on content - make it useful

The bigger your blog, the more traffic you'll get from the search engines, and the more readers you'll attract. Therefore, concentrate on creating good content for your blog. All the time you spend on content will be rewarded.

4. Remember to use keywords in your posts

Once your blog's a few months old, the search engines will start sending you traffic. Keep that traffic coming by writing posts which include keywords, but don't go overboard. If you keep writing, you'll attract many "long tail" searchers.

5. Publicize your blog

Once your blog's making some income, set aside a portion of that income to promote your blog. There are many ways in which you can advertise your blog; again, experiment to see which forms of advertising work best for you.

Watch for other bloggers' advertising, and if you can see that bloggers are advertising in a particular area month after month, you can be sure that it's profitable for them, and will perhaps be profitable for you, too.

So there you have five easy blogging tips which will help you to create a profitable blog.