Why can't I get good pictures with my digital camera using the zoom lens?

You probably do have a crappy camera. My camera is pretty much doing the same thing. I have tried to change everything to make the picture clear, and it's still not as clear as it should be. I am thinking about taking it in to like wal-mart or something to see what they say I should do. You could do the same!

Try being real, real still sometimes movement while taking a close shot will make it not turn out

You've probably got a crappy camera. Get an SRL.

the megapixels are based when the camera is in standard zoom. As the zoom increases, the megapixes become harder and harder to notice, creating blurry images. If you need to take pictures from a distance, I reccomend getting a tripod to keep your camera steady so the picture isnt as blurry, or get external attachable lenses. If it is some standard camera (such as a exilim, or sony or something slim) the best camera for distance shooting is a canon powershot which are used for sports photos. However, these can become very expensive when buying all the accessories and lenses for it.

Low megapixel resolution camera, in combination with lack of picture stabilizer (eliminates fuzz from you shaking), and even the environment you are in....

add up to a poor picture. It pays to get a good camera.

Digital cameras can have two types of zoom...digital and optical. Optical zoom uses lenses to zoom, just like film cameras, and this can give you nice pictures. Digital zoom just crops the picture and spreads the cropped portion over a greater area, causing blurry or pixilated images. Check your camera to see which you have...if it's digital zoom this is your problem, and there's no way to fix it.

I'm assuming your camera has a fixed lens, and not a new DSLR. When using the zoom, most digitals have both an optical and digital option. The best focus you'll get is in the optical mode; in digital mode you are using the same picture as if you didn't zoom, so the "new"image" is filling the same megapixel spaces as the smaller, non-zoomed image. So you're actually thinning out the image across. Remember that digitals record in dots; grab a good magnifying glass, look at a color picture in a newspaper or magazine and you'll see the different colored dots that make up each part of the image.
With a lower megapixel camera, lower than 5mp, I would expect that quality in zoom mode...
With optical zoom you are using the lens, rather than the digital processor, to focus. Limited, but I believe you'll see higher quality images......

On a bright sunny day you shouldn't have a problem. Put camera on tripod or something steady like a table top maybe lean it against tree outside. Any slight movement is magnified the more you you have. Set Iso on lowest setting, set camera for fine or super fine or whatever you have.
If you're going to hand hold camera then increase your ISO setting a little to allow for faster shutter speed.

There are a couple of issues with picture quality and zoom lenses. First is the actual zoom. There are two zoom settings that a manufacturer puts on their camera. They are optical zoom and digital zoom. Optical zoom is achieved by using the optics (lens) of the camera to bring the subject closer. Digital zoom on the other hand is simply taking the image you would see with your eye and enlarges it. It is the same function as enlarging an image on a program. It doesn't add anything to it, just makes it bigger. Most of the time it is better to just use the optical zoom and disable the digital zoom. If you have a digital camera, you can do the digital zoom in a photo program anyway.

The other issue is the distance and the steadiness of your had. If you notice when professional photographers are using big lenses (such as a sporting event) they always have either a tripod or a monopod. Any small movement of the camera without support will transfer to the image and cause them to look blurry. You may also want to try a faster shutter speed. It usually can help especially if you don't have a tripod or monopod. Lastly, you can somewhat support yourself with your own body. Place the camera in front of your face as you normaly would. Then support your elbows either on your hip sides or stomach so that your camera and your two elbows form a triangle.

Didn't you know? All zoom lenses are defective.