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Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category
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.
Any ideas?Hosted versus Stand Alone Blog Site
The question of using a hosted or stand-alone blog site is a major concern for many bloggers. Here are the differences of the two methods that can help you make your decision.
Hosted blog platforms are where many bloggers start their blogging experience. They are fast, easy and usually cheaper. The major blog sites are Blogger.com, WordPress.com, MSN Spaces, and TypePad. The reason these are hosted is the sites host the blogs on their sites providing the bloggers with their own URL that is a combination of the host site and bloggers ID.
There are pros and cons with the hosted blog platform. The pros are it is free to run the blogs. They are easy to set up with the templates the sites have to offer their bloggers. They are simple to run and maintain. They have automated updates without hassling the bloggers for the revisions. They are indexed into the various search engines quickly with good rankings for their pages. After adding content to your blog, you will be ranked with the search engines.
The bad sides of the hosted platforms are there are limited configurations options to customize the blog. You get only what they have to offer. The default designs are limited creating a more commonly used blog compared to the other bloggers. To make changes with the individual blog, the bloggers need to know the complicated CSS and HTML to edit the templates. There is less control over the blog site. This includes the times the host site is down making many bloggers lose money from their sites. The URL is generic leaving the professional appearance lacking for the bloggers. Upgrading to a standalone host can be difficult when leaving the hosted blog site. It can be done but not easily.
If you are a blogger that does not care for having a unique domain and the benefits of the stand-alone blog site, then the hosted sites are exactly what you will need to use. There are great features with the hosted sites many bloggers do not mind using and are more than comfortable using.
The stand-alone blog platforms are hosted under your own stream and URL domain name. You can use WordPress.org as well as MoyableType, TextPattern, and Expression Engine. There are more services that are not listed but these are some of the major services used for stand-alone platforms.
The pros for the stand-alone platforms are full control over the design of the blog site. They are very adaptable to the needs and desires of the bloggers. The platforms are free even though you will pay for the domain and hosting systems. The domain name looks more professional.
The down sides of the stand-alone platforms are they are hard to set up depending on your technical abilities and web design levels. You will have to set up databases and then download the platform onto your PC design the blog then upload the blog with FTP onto the web-hosting server. There are costs associated with the stand-alone platforms, which is a negative issue for the beginner blogger. There are updates that will need to be downloaded to the blog site. There are also hosting issues such as the required back-ups of the blog site to avoid losing valuable information.
Based on your individual needs and computer technology you can decide the best option for your blog sites. Many different hosts you can choose from may fit all of your needs.
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How to Blog Successfully
Blogging, in its simplest form, is taking your thoughts and ideas and putting them into written form on an online journal. When blogging first started, that was essentially all it was – a web log.
Now blogging has gotten much more sophisticated and complex, but it still involves putting your thoughts on the Internet and finding followers. Successful blogs have a devoted following and numerous fans.
Here are some tips on how to blog successfully.
- Blog about something that you are interested in and passionate about. So many blogs have been started about something the author lost interest in and then stopped posting. Make sure that you choose a subject that will keep you busy for a long time.
- Allow readers to comment on your posts. This will build a sense of community for your blog and will allow you to interact with your readers. Don’t be afraid to allow someone to post an opinion that is different from yours – this can start interesting discussions that can attract even more readers.
- Remember that a great blog is full of good content. Your blog posts don’t have to be long, but they should be at least 300 words or so.
- Choose a compelling title for each blog post. Titles are very similar to newspaper headlines. Readers will skim the titles of your blog posts and decide whether or not they want to spend time reading the rest of your blog. Use titles that will grab their attention and make them want to read more.
- Make sure that you make it easy for readers to subscribe to your blog. There are numerous plug-ins that you can use for this. Another way to have readers subscribe to your blog is to get an autoresponder such as Aweber or GetResponse and periodically send notifications to your mailing list about new posts and topics.
- Add pictures and videos when possible. This will help your blog be more exciting and will make your readers look forward to future posts. Pictures can also help your readers get to know you better. For example, when one popular blogger talked about how her youngest child ended up with chocolate all over her face after eating a candy bar, she posted a picture on her blog of what the child look like after being covered in chocolate. It might be a cliché, but a picture really is worth 1000 words.
- Finally, don’t make your blog all about you. Engage your readers in conversation and write your blog from the point of view that you are trying to serve your readers and not just see your words on a screen.
By using these tips and making sure that your blog is filled with fresh, informative content, you will be able to blog successfully and to develop a loyal following for your blog.
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