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How to Set Up a Blog
If this is your first blog, then I would recommend using a host that you have heard of before. Some blogging hosts are a lot easier to use than others. Let’s go through the essential first steps to setting up a blog. You will probably still have questions after we are done, but you should be on your way to getting things done.
First, you will need to come up with your blog name. When I was designing the name of my first blog, I felt a lot more pressure than I should have. I wanted it to be a lot cleverer than it needed to be. Your blog name just needs to get the point across. If it’s catchy too, then that’s great. Essentially, it just needs to be practical.
Next, you will need to choose a color scheme. Now, if you are using one of the better known blogging hosts, they will let you choose from a pallet of different schemes. It is essential that you choose a color that fits your blog. For instance, if you are starting a blog about baby names, then pink a light blue would probably be a good color choice. If you were starting a Halloween blog, then orange and black might be good colors. You should always choose colors that will assist your blog and not ones that will confuse the reader.
Most blogging Web sites will require you to enter an email address. Make sure you use a legitimate email address. You will want to keep up to date on what the hosting site will send you. They will send you comments that people make on your articles. They will send you updates about the site. You will need to be in the loop on these things.
After you’ve picked your blog name, the color scheme, and you are sure your email is linked to the blog, you will be ready to write your first entry. Your first entry is very important. You will want to establish your credibility right off the bat. Don’t bother writing anything about how this is your first time being a blogger. People don’t want to hear that. Show a little confidence.
Any ideas?How to Move Your Blog to a New Hosting Service
From time to time it’s necessary to pick up and move your blog or site from one hosting service to a new one. There are a variety of reasons for this, for example:
* perhaps you found a better deal elsewhere, more bang for less buck.
* perhaps your old hosting was inadequate, had poor service, or no service, or you just outgrew them.
* perhaps you had a huge traffic spike (“digg effect” or your product launch was a crazy success) and the host told you to get lost.
* maybe your host was bought out and the new host just wasn’t up to snuff, or any number of other reasons.
Moving a blog isn’t quite like moving a static HTML site. A basic HTML site you can just upload to the new host, a blog or more complex site will have databases and scripts and other things that need to be tied together. Fortunately, that’s not a hard thing to deal with.
If you are moving from a linux/unix server to a windows server, or visa versa, the procedure may be a little more awkward given the differences between those systems. Your tech support people should be able to help you through any rough spots there.
First off you will need to have the nameservers of your new host available. Get them from your new host, they will look like ns1.YourNewHost.com and ns2.YourNewHost.com.
When your move is finished you go to your domain name registrar, enter your account, find a section that says something like “update nameservers” and fill in the blanks. Once the nameserver change is accepted it will take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days for your new site to properly appear.
If your new host uses a system that is compatible with the old host then the new host might be able to access the old site and move all your settings, data, databases, scripts, etc., over to the new account. For example, if both hosts use “cpanel” the new host will easily be able to move all of your data.
If your old host kicked you off their system, for whatever reason, or if your new host can’t access the old one, then the old host should be able to provide a total backup of your site. This backup will contain all the logs, data, databases, and everything else that was part of the site. They will roll it all into one file and provide you access to download it.
The you simply upload the entire backup file to your new host and they should be able to install it with no problems.
Moving a blog is very much the same thing. A complete backup of the one site can be moved to the new host, installed, nameservers changed, and your blog will be up and running in a couple of days.
Another option, if all you want is your database, is to start fresh on the new host and upload that database. You will get all your old posts and settings back and you will be back in business.
In the control panel of your old host there should be a section where you can handle your database functions. In cpanel it’s “phpMyAdmin.” In this area you should be able to find a section that will let you export your database. In cpanel you select the database you want on the left menu, then there will be an “export” link on the top of the right panel.
When you export the database make sure that everything is selected and that you download it as a file to your hard disk. (You should do this regularly, anyway, as a backup procedure.)
Next you log into your new host and create a new database. Make note of the name of the new database, the username, and the password, you will need them later. Enter your database control panel and import the database backup that you made.
Upload your blogging system to your new host, but don’t install it. Find the configuration file, in WordPress it’s wp-config.php, though you may have to start with the wp-config-sample.php file.
Open up that file in a text editor (NOT Word or any other word processor. Use Notepad or something like it.) You will see fields to enter your database name, username, password, and host (which will likely be “localhost.”)
Make sure that file is saved as wp-config.php, then upload it to your new host. If you’re using something other than WordPress you will have to change a different config file, but it should be a similar process.
Now set those nameservers and once they “resolve” then you should be able to see your site, up on the new host, just as it always was.
Any ideas?Your Blog: An Easy Alternative to a Website
These days, it is much easier to create a website than it used to be. In general, website-creation programs are much simpler to use – and you also have the option of signing up with an online web host with easy-to-use page creation tools.
But the biggest change has to be the advent of the blog.
“Blog” is short for ‘web log’. Blogs started off as a way for people to create an online diary. Bloggers would simply log on, tap out a paragraph or two giving their thoughts on life and the universe (and everything in between); click ‘publish’ and that was that. Their words were live on the Internet for anyone to see. The big appeal of a blog was that it was interactive: readers were welcome to add a comment on any post, with a link back to their own blog or website.
Gradually, bloggers started to want more. They wanted easy ways to upload photos, and extra pages on the site – just like a ‘real’ website. They wanted a range of themes, to better express their personality or business.
Programmers everywhere came to the party, particularly with WordPress, a well-known open source. Now, if you want a website/blog, it’s possible to:
* Sign up with a web host with CPanel for a low monthly fee
* Install WordPress with just a few clicks of the mouse, using Fantastico on your website’s CPanel
* Either use one of the pre-installed themes, or browse the various themes available at WordPress (and on many other sites) to choose one that suits your personality or business
* Upload the theme you want to the wp_content folder, using a simple FTP program (such as WS_FTP or Cute FTP)
* Start posting your articles or comments
* Add extra pages to your site (if you want to)
Now that you can add separate pages to blogs – just as you can with a standard website – many people are turning to them as their preferred way of building a website. By using various plugins, it’s possible to do pretty well anything you want.
=== What Are “Plugins”? ===
Plugins are extra features available for your blog to make your life easier. You can get plugins, for example, that will:
- help you block spam
- make it easy to upload and sort your photos
- ping the search engines so they know when you’ve added new content
- insert Adsense blocks so you can earn money from your blog
There are quite a number of plugins available now – take some time to find out what they will do.
=== Help With Using WordPress ===
While WordPress is not the only blog software available, it is an excellent choice because (a) it’s free; (b) it’s relatively easy to use; (c) it’s open-source, and therefore has a lot of people working on it constantly to make it better, and (d) there are quite a few ‘how to’ sites on the Internet showing you how to make the most of your WordPress blog.
One of them is Guido Stiehle (“The Jungle Marketer”) who offers an excellent free tutorial (with video tutorials) that will show you, step by step, how to set up and use your blog. You can find other providers by simply typing ‘how to use WordPress’ into a search engine.
Spend an hour or two browsing, and you’ll see why a blog is a very viable option for establishing your presence on the Internet.
What do you think? Please comment below to tell me.
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