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This page contains information and tips on How to Set Up a Blog for Beginners. All you need to get started is an email address and something to say.
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How Tos
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Step 1: Define Your Niche
- Before you create a blog, it is important to decide on the theme or subject area your blog will cover.
Choosing Your Subject
- If you want your blog to be more than an online diary or a means of staying connected with family and friends, you will need to decide what subject matter your blog will cover.
- How focused your blog is on a particular subject is entirely up to you. Your blog can simply cover the stuff that is interesting to you and need not be defined beyond that.
- If, however, you would like to target your blog to a particular niche or audience, here are some questions you might consider:
- What are you interested in?
- What are you an expert in?
- Would your occupation be an interesting subject?
- What do you think is currently missing online?
- Do you have a goal that you're trying to achieve that could be documented online?
- If you need some inspiration, check out some of the most popular blogs on the internet through Technorati's Popular Blogs page or the Webby Awards' list of blogging nominees.
- NOTE: Take heed if you choose to blog about your workplace. Unless you password protect your blog, it is a public document. Most employers are web savvy, and even the most well-intended comments could run afoul of your workplace's rules and regulations. Don't end up like this guy or this guy or this gal.
Once You've Chosen Your Subject
- Once you've identified a couple of different areas you might be interested in blogging about, ask yourself if you will be able to blog about the subject matter consistently over a long period of time. '''Your blog should stem from your passion and, hopefu
- If you do want to build an audience for your blog beyond your circle of family and friends, take some time to evaluate your subject matter in terms of the competition. How many other blogs exist on the subject matter you've chosen? Do you have a fresh tak
- '''NOTE:''' While there are strategies for monetizing your blog, don't plan on making a living wage solely from blogging. Blog because you have something to say. Don't blog as a money-making strategy.
Step 3: Choose a Blog Host
- There are several different kinds of services that will help you create and maintain your blog. Which service you choose will depend on the purpose of your blog, your budget and your technical abilities. (Don't worry! There are plenty of free services.)
Hosted Blogging Platforms (The Easy Route)
- If you are creating your first blog or don't have a great deal of technical expertise, than a hosted blog service is the way to go.
- A hosted blog service essentially "hosts" your blog at their domain. They make creating a blog easy by providing well-designed templates, a web address and rich text editors that allow you to create posts without any special technical knowledge.
- With a hosted blog service, you can have a blog up and running in less than ten minutes.
- Some of the most popular hosted blogging platforms include WordPress.com, Blogger, Typepad and Vox. In Step 4, you'll learn how to create an account with each of these services.
- Pros to Using a Hosted Blogging Platform:
- Many services are free or inexpensive to use.
- They make your blog easy to set-up and require to little to no technical expertise to maintain.
- Cons to Using a Hosted Blogging Platform:
- Blogging hosts are not as flexible design-wise as their server-side counterparts. While many provide beautifully-designed templates, they are not fully configurable. If you have a great deal of technical expertise and would like total control of your blog's look, you may feel limited by a hosted blog.
- Blogging services incorporate their host name into your URL address. (Ex. www.yourblogname.typepad.com) If you purchase your own registered domain name, some services (but not all) will let you "point" it toward your blog. Purchasing a registered domain name for a year will cost you about $10, and some technical proficiency is required to use it in lieu of the URL address your blogging host provides.
Important Blogger Links
Domain Mapping
Deleting Your Blog
- You can delete your blog at any time by clicking on the Delete This Blog button at the bottom of the Basics page under the Settings tab.
Important WordPress.com Links
Domain Mapping
Deleting Your Blog
- You can always delete your blog by clicking on the Delete Blog button under the Options tab of your Dashboard. Your blog will not be deleted, however, until you click on the confirmation link sent to you via email.
Important Vox Links
Your Profile Page
Domain Mapping
- Vox does not offer a domain mapping option at this time.
Deleting Your Blog
- You can delete your Vox account at any time, by clicking on the Account link in the upper right hand corner of your Dashboard. On the Account page, you'll find a Your Account link at the bottom of a list of links on the left hand side of the page. Click on Your Account, and a Cancel Your Account option will appear directly beneath it.
Important Typepad Links
Your Profile Page
Domain Mapping
Deleting Your Blog
- You can cancel your Typepad account at any time by clicking on the Control Panel tab. There you will an Account Info sub-tab. Under Account Info, you will find the Cancel Account link.
Step 5: Write Great Blog Posts
- In the world of blogging, content is king. If you want to generate an audience for your blog beyond your immediate friends and family, it is essential that your posts be well-written and provide value to readers. It's also essential that you update your blog with new posts on a regular basis. Creating a blog is easy. Maintaining a blog is hard.
Step 6: Build an Audience
- It's estimated that there are over 71 million blogs in the world with another 100,000 being created daily. Standing apart from the crowd isn't easy, but if you do decide that you'd like to cultivate an audience outside of your mom, here are some tactics you might consider:
- Add your URL to Google. This tells Google's army of robot spiders to check your blog's content - adding it to Google's search results. To maximize your rank in Google's search results, be sure that your posts' headlines are clear and on topic. Keywords are more important than cleverness.
- Claim your blog at sites like Technorati and Blog Top Sites. These are blog directories that allow people to seek out blogs on subject matters of interest to them. You can also apply to be added to the moderated directory Blogarama or try a relatively new service like BlogRush, which will advertise your blog's content across a network of related blogs.
- Remind your readers that if they like a post, they should add it to sites like Digg, Delicious, Netscape, StumbleUpon, Ma.gnolia or Reddit. These services can help attract new readers to your site.
- Link to other sites. The owners of the sites you link to are likely to check out your blog particularly if the link from your blog drives traffic to their site.
- Become a regular commenter on blogs that cover similar topics to your own. You're part of the blogosphere now and therefore a potential player in a community. Provide useful and thoughtful comments on other people's blogs, and it's all the more likely that they will check out yours.
- The old-fashioned way. Tell everyone about your blog. Add its URL to your email signature. Put it on your business cards. Network at blogging conferences. Kiss some hands and shake some babies, or is that the other way around?
Resources for How to Set Up a Blog
- Squidoo: Blogging Starter Checklist
- ProBlogger: Blogging Tips for Beginners
- Daily Blog Tips: Top 25 Blogs About Blogging
- Copyblogger: Blogging Posts
- Performancing: Best of Performancing
- USC Annenberg: Blog software comparison chart
- PC Magazine: Decoding Blogs - Blogs We Love
- CNET: Five Blogger Services Reviewed
- wikiHow: How to Start a Blog
- Working Smart: How to Start a Blog
- Gothamist: What Not To Do When You Blog
- Meg.Hourihan.com: Megnut's Two Rules for Blogging
- Vandelay Design: 99 Ways to Promote Your Blog for Free
- Mashable: Top 10 Free E-books For Bloggers
- Alt Search Engines: Mamma don't let your babies grow up to be bloggers
- Travelfish.org: What's a good travel blog?
- The New York Times: So You Want to Be a Blogging Star?
Basic HTML for Bloggers
Books on How to Set Up Your Blog
- Blog 101: Why You Need a Blog and How to Make it Successful
- ''Blogging Tips: What Bloggers won't tell you about blogging''
- ''The Rough Guide to Blogging''
- ''Blogging for Dummies''
- ''Blogging for Business''
- ''What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting''
- ''No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog
- ''Clear Blogging''
- ''The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintain Your Blog
Pay Blog Hosts
