So, I want to start my own blog... What next?

frosteeman · Apr 6, 2012

Sorry everyone but I'm a dummie to the whole BLOG thing. What is a blog and how do you create one. Sheepish and only slightly embarrassed but would appreciate any input.

fred21 · Jun 1, 2012

Hi All

I've only just recently started blogging. It's a joint blog which I contribute to along with a small handful of others. As we are all librarians we talk about books, libraries, authors, music etc - anything really that relates to the book world in any way.

It would be great if anyone on AW would like to give feedback, post comments on some of the posts etc. Any support really would be great as most of us that are posting on this blog are beginners so we would really like to know if what we are posting is good, interesting, funny etc.

I'm syfygirl21 on the blog so just have 2 posts on there so far. Here is a link to the blog and also links to my 2 posts.

http://rodneylibraries.blogspot.co.nz/

http://rodneylibraries.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/long-time-reader-first-time-blogger.html

http://rodneylibraries.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/winter-is-coming.html

thanks so much

Eddyz Aquila · Jul 23, 2012

Just wanted to throw in a bit of advice - choose your hosting carefully. If you do manage to hit a well supported hosting package that doesn't cost too much, it can really really help your blogging experience.

Cathy McDowell · Aug 4, 2012

Call Me Lame

I've looked at other blogs and they remind me more of a website.

I thought (correct me if I'm wrong~I know you will) but isn't a blog more like a diary or journal?

HistorySleuth · Oct 28, 2012

Well finally I'm setting up a blog. So far I'm finding Wordpress templates/themes a pain in the ass. Finally found one where it was a bit easier to edit the code. Maybe my problem is I'm used to building my own websites. I thought this would be easier, but, not so much.

I want my twitter timeline to show. There are a bunch of places to get the code from but, where do I edit it in? Editor>style.css? If so what line?

How do I set up a RSS feed?

Help!

Drachen Jager · Oct 28, 2012

If you were on Blogger I could help. I've been very happy with Blogger, and I've heard a few odd things about Wordpress. One Wordpress user told me they couldn't change font size without paying for the template, which seems sort of crazy to me.

If you decide to switch, let me know and I can help out.

HistorySleuth · Oct 29, 2012

Font size in the header. That was a problem with me to, no matter what theme it was. I couldn't change the font size either at first, until I played around with the options and edited the style sheet. I'm a bit disappointed. I was hoping for something more drag-n-drop so I didn't have to edit code. My whole point of trying a "template" style blog rather than making my own. I have a couple different web building programs & know some code but not enough for some of the really fancy stuff.

I used to have a blog at blogger years ago. Maybe I'll check that out again. I have my own URL now. That's ok with blogger right?

Drachen Jager · Oct 29, 2012

Yep, Blogger does custom URLs.

GOTHOS · Nov 9, 2012

FocusOnEnergy said:
Here's one I found recently, by Kurt Cobb, who wrote a novel about peak oil called "Prelude". He talks about the subject of peak oil, but doesn't write about writing or go on about his book.

http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/

This writer's blog is funny, even thought he writes about writing. It has lots of swearing. It's not something I'd read regularly, but his self-publishing checklist is hysterical.

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/blog/

Focus

I'm attempting to think how I might use a blog as a platform for my fantasy-novels. One member of my writing-group cautioned me not to publish any of my fiction online, as any potential publishers would then consider it "published."

But if you don't have a novel about to be published, do you stand an Iceman's chance in hell to draw potential readers to your blog? Why should fantasy-readers care about your opinions if you're just one of the "great unpublished?" (Caveat: I do have a few minor credits, but nothing that would cause agents to stampede my way.)

MaggieAmada · Nov 15, 2012

HistorySleuth said:
I want my twitter timeline to show. There are a bunch of places to get the code from but, where do I edit it in? Editor>style.css? If so what line?

Help!

In WordPress, the easiest way I found to accomplish this is to load Jetpack and use their Twitter Widget. You'll just need to drag and drop it into your sidebar.

HistorySleuth · Dec 11, 2012

Thank you Maggie. I'm still fighting with themes too. It boggles me how the different wordpress themes have different functions, all worded differently and in different areas of the admin menu.

Samball49 · Dec 28, 2012

I host my own site through go daddy with wordpress.

HistorySleuth · Jan 7, 2013

Well I finally found a wordpress template that is easy to work with and easy to tweak code, which I only needed to do for the header space. I did the same Sam, my own through godaddy.

I have a few things to do and some starter posts before I vocalize it as officially open.

WHUK_Carol · Feb 10, 2013

If you would like to start your blog, the first thing is to finalize the topic and research on it. See what kind of information is posted on it already and then plan on what information you would like to feature in your blog. It is important to provide information that is of value to the people for establishing a successful blog.

AlexieNichole · Feb 24, 2013

thanks for all the info and insite. I too thought a blog is to some extent just an online journal, either about a specific topic of chose or an every day variety topic. I've used Google Blog before but just for daily online journal type stuff. need to learn how to get the blog out there for others to see

U2Girl · Apr 7, 2013

I was using blogger, as mentioned above, it's easy to set up and just go with. But I'm having some issues with Google getting a little too big brotherish, so I ponied up the money for a domain, installed Wordpress (and wow, it really is THAT stupid easy to do), and here I am.

Since I'm paying for a domain, I am writing daily. With Blogger, I was writing in spurts.

Mike Sanchez · Apr 7, 2013

Cathy McDowell said:
I've looked at other blogs and they remind me more of a website.

I thought (correct me if I'm wrong~I know you will) but isn't a blog more like a diary or journal?

Well, that depends on what your purpose of having a blog. I have a single blog as my diary and several other blogs that I monetized to pay my bills. It's not earning much but it helps.

And yes, you better choose, not necessarily the best host... but a good host that have all the features/services you needed for your blog.

Wesley Craig Green · May 28, 2013

Speaking as someone who has used a variety of blogging platforms over the years, I strongly suggest using WordPress as your blogging platform.

Granted, Blogger and other freebie blogging platforms are easy to setup (for the most part), but if you want to monetize your blog (whether it is selling your own eBooks or banner ads), and control just about every aspect of the design and functionality, then WordPress is the way to go.

Setting one up does require hosting space and your own domain name (which should cost, roughly, around $100 to $120 a year), but it is well worth it. There are so many free themes (the visual side of your blog) and plugins (gives it different functionalities and ummph) to use that you could spend days just downloading, uploading, and tinkering around with your new baby blog.

As for freebie blogging platforms, I would suggest Tumblr. A lot of people are using Tumblr now as a micro-blogging platform because you can easily add pictures, videos, and text to it in secs. With that said, I use a Tumblr in conjunction with my main blog and have them "connected" so that what I post on Tumblr crossposts to my main blog.

My philosphy regarding blogging now is my main blog is like my main online information repository and things like Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Facebook are pathways leading people to it.

Wesley

HistorySleuth · Jun 3, 2013

I guess it does depend what you want to do with them. I have a blog at WP for my history stuff. And a blog on blogger for writing. I like different things about each.

Blogger is easier to have followers through google or google plus. WP isn't quite as community oriented and has a follow by email. I don't care for that. I know, personally I don't follow any that way, I get enough email now. (Unless there is something I'm missing.)

WP is better for a neat look as it will text wrap around pictures, rather than like blogger with everything in a row from top to bottom.

My big dislike about WP is it's soooo spammy. Yes I have a few add-ons for my WP blog, but it still attracts so much more spam than blogger.

Nonfic · Jun 9, 2013

I made my website/blog using squarespace and it seems like I'm the only one.

They were advertising on all the podcasts that I listen to, it looked nice and minimalistic.
I got my own website because it's supposedly more professional. I did use wordpress for a while and it was spammy.
I made it like two weeks ago and only put book stuff on it, but it seems to be doing very well in search rankings.

http://ricardolicea.com/

Immortal · Jul 18, 2013

I should perhaps read through every post in this thread before asking, but I'll risk the repetition anyways. I want to start a film blog (analyzing scenes, themes, etc.), but I'm not exactly sure which site would be best for that? Does it even matter? I did have a Tumblr which w/is a film blog but it wasn't dedicated to actually informative blogging. So should I just stick to Tumblr since I know that site well enough or is there a better or more expansive platform to use for blogging about film?

kevinkliu · Aug 9, 2013

@Immortal,

I think there are some questions you should ask yourself/answer first:

1. What is the purpose of your blog? (money, readership, artistic expression)
2. Who is your target audience?
3. Do you want to include media prominently?
4. How much control do you require over the "look" of your blog?
5. What's your budget

There are some great options, as many have covered, such as tumblr, blogger, and wordpress, but it's hard to make a recommendation without some basic info.

pdichellis · Nov 15, 2013

FYI for newbies like me - it just took me maybe two hours to set up a free Wordpress site: Four static pages with links to my published mystery stories. (A home page intro, and a page each for free ezine stories, for-sale anthology stories, and for-sale magazine stories. And it's easy to add new stories to the appropriate page whenever I'm lucky enough to get published again.)

Two hours, and believe me, I'm completely incompetent at such things.

I admit my needs are limited so the site is painfully simple, but maybe others just starting out are okay with that too. I don't want a blog right now, just a site for my stories, but I'm guessing a blog there is easy enough.

You can survey the damage I caused by checking out the site here.

Best wishes,
Peter DiChellis

Laer Carroll · Mar 18, 2014

HistorySleuth said:
Thank you Maggie. I'm still fighting with themes too. It boggles me how the different wordpress themes have different functions, all worded differently and in different areas of the admin menu.

That's because each theme is for a different purpose. A photo/painting site is very different from a text-mostly magazine site from a etc.

This variety is a good feature but searching through the 200+ can take a lot of time. Blogger, on the other hand has a few dozen but many of them look very much alike.

Deleted member 42 · Mar 18, 2014

pdichellis said:
You can survey the damage I caused by checking out the site here.

I think that's a great start, but you need a Contact page too.

I can't remember if the .com version of WordPress supports forms, but that's a good way to do a contact page; users fill out a form and the site emails you, thus preventing spam.

If it doesn't use a form, you can use a graphic with your email address, mask it, (i.e. name AT example.com), or live dangerously and use a mailto tag and a clear address.

So, I want to start my own blog... What next?

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