Congratulations, you have given birth to a blog! Like any first-time parent, you probably won't know what you are doing at the very beginning, but your blog is depending upon you -- and only you -- for life. Take it seriously!

Here are some ideas on how to care for your newborn blog so it will grow and prosper.

Feed and care for your blog on a consistent, ongoing basis. How? Start with your blog's appearance. Everyone thinks their baby is the cutest ever, but here is chance to make that a reality. Thankfully, it's now easy to find a free or reasonably-priced blogging platform with lots of cool design options. Look at other blogs and see what appeals to you. Create a look and first impression that will make others take notice.

Design is important, but there are also lots of widgets, plugins and options that you can incorporate into your blog, which will add interest and capabilities. Enhance your new baby with some sharing capabilities, comment functions, analytics, images and perhaps some video. Create some static blog pages, which will be great for SEO purposes.

Next, read other blogs so you know what is happening in the Blogosphere. Single out bloggers who write about similar topics and have attracted a following, and link back to them in your blogroll. Their blogs were once babies, too.

It won't be difficult to locate other like-minded bloggers because there are currently more than 150 million existing blogs worldwide. This means that there are blogs about pretty much anything and everything so get out there and do some searching. If you like a blog post, take the time to leave comments on other blogs and you will find that some of those bloggers will reciprocate.

Always respond to people who leave comments on your blog. You'll find that blogging is more exciting if you can get a dialogue going with your readers. You can also find websites to announce the birth of your blog or share your posts.

Feeding your blog means you will need to update frequently and put time and effort into your posts. Let your personality shine. Eventually, you will find your "blog voice" and posting will come together more easily. All this attention will allow your infant blog to flourish.

You will also need to continue to upgrade as your blog grows. This means classes, workshops and conferences. Hey, you have a little blog that wants to be a big blog -- perhaps a blog star? Education, travel and networking are necessary. Who said raising a blog baby would be cheap?

You might think your little blog is already a star. If so, go ahead and enter a few blogging beauty contests to see if it will snag a prize or two. Nobody willing to give you a prize? You can create a few of your own and make yourself the sole recipient. I've done it and it works quite well, actually.

Visit my own awards page on my blog, Dating Dementia, to see how I’ve used humor to create some awards and accolades – some real and some imagined. Take it from me; fake prizes can eventually translate into real recognition.

When your blog begins to attract a solid following, you might think ‘Now it the time to launch another blog.’ A word of caution: This is where blogging can get complicated.

Make sure you have the time and energy to run more than one blog. Parenting comes with responsibility, so don't have more blog babies than you can care for.

By now you are getting the picture that blogging takes a significant amount of time and discipline.

Like anything in life, you have to actively participate. If you only sporadically update your blog, for example, it will be impossible to attract a following. If you have no following, then you will lose interest and before you know it, you’re not blogging at all.

At that point, your abandoned blog become an orphan. Orphan blogs are terribly sad. Your baby blog is depending on you, so don’t give up. Keep feeding your little blog and nurture it along. Who knows, your baby blog may possibly change the world.