If you are serious about sustaining a long term home based internet business, you should have a web site of your own. Having your own web site will give you much more flexibility on how you approach your online business as well as provide you with a means to give your web business a presence on the internet. Having this presence and making yourself known on the internet will improve the level of trust you will receive by your potential customers.
Google XML Sitemaps (by Arne Brachhold) -- aids search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing to index your site asap - which is important if you want to be found.
Many people get worried that they need to know how to design a website in order to have one. But there are templates (for WordPress and Blogger) that are free -- with all the design and work done for you.
While you do not have to register your domain through the same company that you host your blog with, if you are a beginner it may be easier to do so and you may save yourself the $10 registration fee as well. The only hosting company I ever recommend is Bluehost. I use Bluehost for all my websites and I now have over twenty different sites. Not only do they have everything you need to quickly and easily set up you blog, but they also have 24/7 customer service that is second to none.
A lot of web hosts boast 99% uptime and what not. And while this is far from the truth and not anything more than a mere marketing gimmick, it is absolutely one hundred percent true in the case of Bluehost.
WordPress automatically installs a pre-written first post for you. You can either delete it by writing over it, or get more info selecting Add New under Posts tab on the left hand panel.