I am going to make a few assumptions on where you, as a reader, are at,  in terms of web savy. Making assumptions is dangerous business but I have to start somewhere. Here is what you should have so far:

a registered domain name - yourblogname.com or .net or whatever extension you can get. Many .com domain names are taken already so you will have to work a little harder for these. I use netfirms.com to check for available domain names but there are many other places. Since I am from Canada I have the option of .ca domain extensions as well.

a host for your website - a host is a company that will allow you to place your website on their computers so that your website is available to everyone on the internet. There are thousands of hosting providers online. I personally use NetFirms.ca due to thier good pricing, support and functionality.

a concept to market - Your blog should have a specific subject or theme, preferrably a subject that you have alot of knowledge of already or have a passion for.

a blog already setup - Wordpress.org is the place to go to find all the software you need to get your blog  online. I installed version 2.7 of Wordpress and everything looks good so far. Another alternative is to use a blogging service such as blogspot.com in which you would not need your own registered domain or host. The downside is that you don’t own your url and you loose some control of your functionality and design.

the ability to ftp files to your website - File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the term used to describe the method of sending or updating files onto the internet.