It's interesting you should mention bluehost because I just noticed some "linking from" activity to my blog from a user there. I thought, "I've never heard of this site before, I should check it out." Personally, I don't like using any sites that charge a fee. That's just me, though.
So, I want to start my own blog... What next?
- Thread starter nancy sv
- Start date
I had the same problem with wordpress. I tried them out last year because I saw a lot of other writers and businesses using them . . . but I just couldn't get it to work the way I wanted it to . . . .
If all you want/need is a blog, you can pay under $10 for a domain name a year with a free program like blogger or wordpress.com vs. $6.95/mo for the same thing. My suggestion would be to try out the free ones before you invest in a hosting company. If you really want the host, godaddy has economy plans for $4/mo that do quite nicely for a small site and you can host wordpress.org from there.
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I like Blogger for 3 reasons:
1. It is very easy to manage.
2. It saves a lot of time.
3. Uploading image is very easy and fast.
I know that most people are fan of Wordpress and I have nothing against Wordpress but I feel that with Blogger, I can save a lot of time. The speed of my internet is 2-4 KBPS and with this speed, Blogger is the thing that saves me time.
1. It is very easy to manage.
2. It saves a lot of time.
3. Uploading image is very easy and fast.
I know that most people are fan of Wordpress and I have nothing against Wordpress but I feel that with Blogger, I can save a lot of time. The speed of my internet is 2-4 KBPS and with this speed, Blogger is the thing that saves me time.
I've found Wordpress just as easy to manage. Once it's set up of course. It can be trickier to set up and get started but once you have you template in place and your design the way you want it things are easy. You can write posts, edit posts, moderate comments, upload images, etc. exactly the same as you can with Blogger.
If anything the uploading images is even faster and easier. I hated the dragging load time it took for Blogger to upload my image. On my Wordpress blog it is much speedier.
The only real caution when it comes to Wordpress vs. Blogger is that Wordpress is better suited to users who know basic HTML. The advanced stuff is optional but knowing how to adjust the layout of blog entries without the WYSIWYG viewer makes it so much easier to get posts the way you want them.
Ok, same question, new wording!
After reading everyone's responses, I have a sub-question. I'm not a very technical person. I'm learning, albeit slowly, but it's an arduous process for me. I don't enjoy technology.
To prove the point, I just (as of this month) bought an iMac partially because of their drag and drop methods. Codes? HTML? I have no clue. .Mac has preset webpages, including blogs created that you can use and edit to a decent enough extent. (The main reason I left M$ for Mac is because M$ is not user-friendly for people, like myself, who aren't as technologically savvy as yourselves.)
The facts:
- I want to create a personal website. (I write freelance and fiction.)
- I want to start a blog. (Should this be a separate site?)
- I'm not technologically savvy and don't have the money (yet) to hire someone to set up the site for me.
- I want my own domain name. Not www.zzzzsite.com/me/blog
- I'd like contact from my site to be directed to info(or me)@mydomainname.com
- I have a .mac account available to me to use. I like this because I can edit a .mac-created site on the fly. My understanding is that changes or edits on other sites aren't as convenient.
With this information, how would you recommend I proceed?
After reading everyone's responses, I have a sub-question. I'm not a very technical person. I'm learning, albeit slowly, but it's an arduous process for me. I don't enjoy technology.
To prove the point, I just (as of this month) bought an iMac partially because of their drag and drop methods. Codes? HTML? I have no clue. .Mac has preset webpages, including blogs created that you can use and edit to a decent enough extent. (The main reason I left M$ for Mac is because M$ is not user-friendly for people, like myself, who aren't as technologically savvy as yourselves.)
The facts:
- I want to create a personal website. (I write freelance and fiction.)
- I want to start a blog. (Should this be a separate site?)
- I'm not technologically savvy and don't have the money (yet) to hire someone to set up the site for me.
- I want my own domain name. Not www.zzzzsite.com/me/blog
- I'd like contact from my site to be directed to info(or me)@mydomainname.com
- I have a .mac account available to me to use. I like this because I can edit a .mac-created site on the fly. My understanding is that changes or edits on other sites aren't as convenient.
With this information, how would you recommend I proceed?
I have absolutely no idea what a .mac account is, so I can't give advice about anything to do with that. As far as drag and drop features, blogger has that and their template is extremely simple to use. I had a domain name once and I used MS FrontPage plug-in's (was an option available through the site I hosted through, so all I had to do was buy the software and play). I know HTML quite well, but I like to quick updating options templates provide.
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Wordpress. You can create pages as easy as blog posts with it. (Which was a plus for me, as I want to do character profiles and etc).
I don't know who for a host, I've got an Aussie one (for 12 months & domain it was like $110AU), which had been down for a total of four advertised-ahead-of-time hours in the four months I've had it.
It's even got "Fantastico" self-install scripts, which means making the WP blog is about three clicks.
The themes are easy to do, once you figure where to upload them (again, very easy), then you just extract them and choose one in the WP UI.
Doing basic editing takes very little effort (if you check out the link in my sig), the areas in blue were red yesterday, the change (once I'd made the graphics), took about 2mins total.
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Simple Living, many of your questions have been answered in threads in the Tech Help forum. I'd suggest going there and reading through them.
I saw the questions as more site/blogging related than technical. And, personally, I don't have much luck with the search feature either when it's about something I don't have a lot of knowledge about because I don't know the right keywords to type in to find what I need. Many times, when I try, I get conversations of a whole different nature.
I figure that since all of my questions are about blogging and only a few are technical, which still has to do with blogging, this would be the best forum.
I agree with this. Get you own domain name and a host that has Fantastico or something similar. Then you can very easily install Word Press onto you own domain and get blogging.
You can register your domain for free and get setup with webhosting from a company that has Fantastico included like http://www.hostmonster.com/
BlueHost offers a free domain name with their hosting. They also have PHP compatibility and multiple MySQL databases available. Fantastico of course and lots of freebies like google adwords and yahoo coupons.
I love it and have never had any issues using the site. I was set up in minutes and all ready to go. Even better is they have an install Wordpress option right there in the site. And the best yet is the price. $6.99/m = less than $85 a year and that includes your domain name.
I've often found the best way to learn is to get started. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes along the way and you can always ask for help if you need it.
I love it and have never had any issues using the site. I was set up in minutes and all ready to go. Even better is they have an install Wordpress option right there in the site. And the best yet is the price. $6.99/m = less than $85 a year and that includes your domain name.
I've often found the best way to learn is to get started. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes along the way and you can always ask for help if you need it.
Another vote for getting your own domain name and hosting. My preference would be to find a place where you can keep the data secure on your own server.
If nothing else, you'll come across as more professional when you have your own domain name and your e-mail address at that domain.
If nothing else, you'll come across as more professional when you have your own domain name and your e-mail address at that domain.
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Starting a Blog
So, a friend of mine who recently discovered that I love to write has asked me to start a blog for his website.
He's looking to build content.
So, I'm looking for some good advised on settting up the blog, pitfalls and traps, and the such.
In essence, a good "so you wanna start a blog" thread here at AW.
Did I miss it in the stickies?
If there isn't one there, could we start one? compile the excellent advice that I know is already here.
So, a friend of mine who recently discovered that I love to write has asked me to start a blog for his website.
He's looking to build content.
So, I'm looking for some good advised on settting up the blog, pitfalls and traps, and the such.
In essence, a good "so you wanna start a blog" thread here at AW.
Did I miss it in the stickies?
If there isn't one there, could we start one? compile the excellent advice that I know is already here.
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Here's the biggest, most common tip I've seen: Don't give up.
There's some good threads on the various hosts, and the advantages/disadvantages of hosting your own rather than getting an @blogspot or @wordpress address.
Don't pick a theme that makes you want to claw your eyes out.
There's some good threads on the various hosts, and the advantages/disadvantages of hosting your own rather than getting an @blogspot or @wordpress address.
Don't pick a theme that makes you want to claw your eyes out.
The secret to a good blog is to provide good content. Something unique or very useful for your target audience.
Other tips:
Have a definite focus for the posts
Blog regularly (at least twice a week)
Don't overload the page with advertising or cutsy junk
Stick to the topic of the blog
Other tips:
Have a definite focus for the posts
Blog regularly (at least twice a week)
Don't overload the page with advertising or cutsy junk
Stick to the topic of the blog
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Good content is something a specific, substantial readership wants to read more about every day.
What everyone else said, write almost every day, write about interetsing stuff, and publicize the thing if you want readers. Otherwise, you're just doodling publicly in a private journal.
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If you have time then go through the previous threads in this section. I joined AW in 2006 February and although I don’t write a lot of comments, I spend daily at least 10 minutes reading what others have said. I have got immense benefit from the discussions. So, I would recommend you to do the same.
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What everybody said.
I have a blog that's now three months old! I'm so proud, but I keep working it hard. Here's the Retrospective post. And yet the work has just begun.
My advice:
Work hard, work very hard. This means you have to passionately care about the subject.
Three months is the deciding point. Many blogs die before they reach this age. Work past it.
A new blog from someone unknown needs lots of good content fed to it; that way you develop voice, audience, and search hits. Since I post roughly twice a day, and of late have been posting at least one semi-contentful to mostly contentful post per day, I had enough material at the 3-month mark to do a retrospective. (Which has been helpful in letting people dig into older material when my blog was a lot less visible.) Content is key, lock, barrel.
Offer subscription options through a feed. And do full feeds. Yes, full feeds mean that your subscribers won't hit your site directly all the time, but on the other hand, they have developed a more intimate relationship with your site through the feed. All good.
Get out there and get your blog noticed without being spammy. Post to the "Did you update your blog?" thread with enticing article titles. Even more importantly, participate on forums and blogs that fit within your audience niche and have a signature that links back to your site. That has gotten me more traffic than anything else. If you have plenty of content, on posts you can start to offer that content when it's useful to other people. (Like this one.) "Build it and they will come" only works on Twitter.
Get your best content up and visible. Clean up your sidebar. Indicate clearly what your site is about in the top header so that people visiting from StumbleUpon can soon see if they want to stick around or not. Organize; people don't have time to wade through.
Learn how to use statistics gathering packages: Google Analytics, Feedburner, and I strongly suggest if you don't mind spending $20 a year or so, Performancing Metrics. Especially the latter will tell you in real time how your site is being used so you can locate content bottlenecks. Google Analytics is great for long-term analysis of what content works and what doesn't.
Read at least Problogger.com. I also suggest Skelliewag's blog and her new blog Anywired.
Work SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Almost no one outside the professional blogs does. This results in 25% to 50% of my traffic through search each day. This means specific titles and all that. I don't even try all that hard (And you shouldn't drop so many key words as to be annoying.)
Don't do ads. Crazy, but true; new blogs aren't going to make enough money. Find other ways to make money with a blog--indirect works best. Me, I'm using my blog as a learning experience and as a way to get examples of my work up somewhere. (I'm planning on plenty of review work.)
Consider a blog an investment. Don't be afraid to drop change on it.
Be nice to others. Network, network, network. And then network some more.
My audience numbers are not very impressive right now, because it takes a long time to build it; maybe a couple hits per day if I was lucky in October, to 10 hits per day in November, to roughly 20 hits per day (averaged out) in December to now. Counting my feed audience, it's more like 30+ unique readers per day. I want to hit 100+ by November.
But in the end, I want to be useful to people. That means good content, unique voice and view, and letting people know about it all. That's the only real motive that has mattered for me.
Blogging is hard work. Don't let anyone tell you that it's not. If they snigger at you (yeah, it's like people who think writing is easy) then SHOW THEM ALL.
One last piece of advice--it's not just content. It's also passion. Because passion will drive you to make good content and get the word out. Don't estimate it.
PASSION!
ahem. but that's just me. heh.
I have a blog that's now three months old! I'm so proud, but I keep working it hard. Here's the Retrospective post. And yet the work has just begun.
My advice:
Work hard, work very hard. This means you have to passionately care about the subject.
Three months is the deciding point. Many blogs die before they reach this age. Work past it.
A new blog from someone unknown needs lots of good content fed to it; that way you develop voice, audience, and search hits. Since I post roughly twice a day, and of late have been posting at least one semi-contentful to mostly contentful post per day, I had enough material at the 3-month mark to do a retrospective. (Which has been helpful in letting people dig into older material when my blog was a lot less visible.) Content is key, lock, barrel.
Offer subscription options through a feed. And do full feeds. Yes, full feeds mean that your subscribers won't hit your site directly all the time, but on the other hand, they have developed a more intimate relationship with your site through the feed. All good.
Get out there and get your blog noticed without being spammy. Post to the "Did you update your blog?" thread with enticing article titles. Even more importantly, participate on forums and blogs that fit within your audience niche and have a signature that links back to your site. That has gotten me more traffic than anything else. If you have plenty of content, on posts you can start to offer that content when it's useful to other people. (Like this one.) "Build it and they will come" only works on Twitter.
Get your best content up and visible. Clean up your sidebar. Indicate clearly what your site is about in the top header so that people visiting from StumbleUpon can soon see if they want to stick around or not. Organize; people don't have time to wade through.
Learn how to use statistics gathering packages: Google Analytics, Feedburner, and I strongly suggest if you don't mind spending $20 a year or so, Performancing Metrics. Especially the latter will tell you in real time how your site is being used so you can locate content bottlenecks. Google Analytics is great for long-term analysis of what content works and what doesn't.
Read at least Problogger.com. I also suggest Skelliewag's blog and her new blog Anywired.
Work SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Almost no one outside the professional blogs does. This results in 25% to 50% of my traffic through search each day. This means specific titles and all that. I don't even try all that hard
(And you shouldn't drop so many key words as to be annoying.)Don't do ads. Crazy, but true; new blogs aren't going to make enough money. Find other ways to make money with a blog--indirect works best. Me, I'm using my blog as a learning experience and as a way to get examples of my work up somewhere. (I'm planning on plenty of review work.)
Consider a blog an investment. Don't be afraid to drop change on it.
Be nice to others. Network, network, network. And then network some more.
My audience numbers are not very impressive right now, because it takes a long time to build it; maybe a couple hits per day if I was lucky in October, to 10 hits per day in November, to roughly 20 hits per day (averaged out) in December to now. Counting my feed audience, it's more like 30+ unique readers per day. I want to hit 100+ by November.
But in the end, I want to be useful to people. That means good content, unique voice and view, and letting people know about it all. That's the only real motive that has mattered for me.
Blogging is hard work. Don't let anyone tell you that it's not. If they snigger at you (yeah, it's like people who think writing is easy) then SHOW THEM ALL.
One last piece of advice--it's not just content. It's also passion. Because passion will drive you to make good content and get the word out. Don't estimate it.
PASSION!
ahem. but that's just me. heh.
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Ava Jarvis said about all you will need to know. SEO is easy and will get your blog ranking fast if it is on a specific topic. I'm not sure what type of site your friend wants you to blog about so it is hard to recommend specific things.
Other traffic builders: blog carnivals, claim your blog on tecnorati, digg your posts, ping your posts, build links, have content, take your time, etc.
Other traffic builders: blog carnivals, claim your blog on tecnorati, digg your posts, ping your posts, build links, have content, take your time, etc.
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Blog carnival - A bunch of bloggers decide on a theme; each blogger writes a post about the theme (or finds a post about the theme); the carnival coordinator then makes a post that has links to each participant's article. This can also be applied to things like Flash Fiction.
Technorati - Think of it as the world wide blog register. Once your site is there, Technorati will find connections between your site and others--so for example if someone links to your site, your Technorati authority goes up by one. People also search Technorati for content on blogs.
Digg - digg.com is a site that's like StumbleUpon, but merciless; the more times people vote for ("digg") a site page (like a blog post), the greater the chance it has of appearing on the Digg front page. People can also vote down ("bury") a site page so that it's hidden on Digg and isn't seen by anyone. Digg your own posts means to submit your stuff to Digg so other people can vote on it, instead of waiting for someone else to Digg your post first.
Pings - This just means notifying other sites; like telling Technorati, for instance, that your blog has updated, and new information is on it. Blogger will automatically ping most of the notification services for you.
Related to pings, trackbacks - Some blogs have "trackback" capabilities, which means that you can use a special URL to notify their software that you've blogged in response to a particular post; those posts will later display your URL and a summary snippet. Very nice when it's available.
Build links - Create content, find places where content is wanted, offer up links alongside intelligent discussion. That's my preferred way to build links. However, the various practices grouped under linkbaiting also apply; some of these can be seen as more underhanded, particularly if taken to extremes. But not all linkbait is evil.
In the best of all possible worlds, your goal is to
a) find your target audience, the ones who will keep coming back and tell their friends, then
b) notify your target audience, then
c) allow your target audience to easily find you, link to you, and keep finding you.
There are other methods too.
I currently find providing content links when they naturally come up in discussion (and not forcing the discussion that way) yields the best and most targeted results. But then again my blog's very small right now.
Technorati - Think of it as the world wide blog register. Once your site is there, Technorati will find connections between your site and others--so for example if someone links to your site, your Technorati authority goes up by one. People also search Technorati for content on blogs.
Digg - digg.com is a site that's like StumbleUpon, but merciless; the more times people vote for ("digg") a site page (like a blog post), the greater the chance it has of appearing on the Digg front page. People can also vote down ("bury") a site page so that it's hidden on Digg and isn't seen by anyone. Digg your own posts means to submit your stuff to Digg so other people can vote on it, instead of waiting for someone else to Digg your post first.
Pings - This just means notifying other sites; like telling Technorati, for instance, that your blog has updated, and new information is on it. Blogger will automatically ping most of the notification services for you.
Related to pings, trackbacks - Some blogs have "trackback" capabilities, which means that you can use a special URL to notify their software that you've blogged in response to a particular post; those posts will later display your URL and a summary snippet. Very nice when it's available.
Build links - Create content, find places where content is wanted, offer up links alongside intelligent discussion. That's my preferred way to build links. However, the various practices grouped under linkbaiting also apply; some of these can be seen as more underhanded, particularly if taken to extremes. But not all linkbait is evil.
In the best of all possible worlds, your goal is to
a) find your target audience, the ones who will keep coming back and tell their friends, then
b) notify your target audience, then
c) allow your target audience to easily find you, link to you, and keep finding you.
There are other methods too.
I currently find providing content links when they naturally come up in discussion (and not forcing the discussion that way) yields the best and most targeted results. But then again my blog's very small right now.
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I agree with most of this except Stumble upon sends me more traffic than Digg - I can't stand Digg. Plus they ban people. If you digg too much of your own stuff, or just for kicks. I got over 60,000 hits on one post alone from Stumble upon in December.
Also, I don't agree with not putting ads on your blog right away. You don't have to, but then you always have to deal with the surprise your readers get when you do finally put ads on. It's a tough call - but there are two sides. Not simply "Don't do it."
~ Jennifer
Also, I don't agree with not putting ads on your blog right away. You don't have to, but then you always have to deal with the surprise your readers get when you do finally put ads on. It's a tough call - but there are two sides. Not simply "Don't do it."
~ Jennifer