How to start a Blog
First what's a blog? A blog is short for weblog, a kind of web page that makes it simple to post your thoughts and opinions online.
Here are some of my thoughts:
Technorati Tags: How to start a Blog, Blog, Blogging
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Here are some of my thoughts:
- Read up on the various terms used in blogging and understand their meaning. Read (a) An introduction to weblog terms for weblog readers. (b) So what is a "blog," anyway? (c) Blogging Basics
- What's your reason to blog? Is it because it's the in-thing? Is it just for fun? Do you want to make money by blogging? Why? Why? Read (a) Reason to blog.
- Learn some basic HTML and CSS. Read (a) HTML Tutorial.
- Are you going to spend money for blogging ie. on domain name, blog hosting, blog software OR do you want to blog, using the free tools available? Read (a) Mandarin Design Article. This will help you get blogging with Blogger, for free. While creating your blog site with Blogger, it's important to decide on a blogger template style. I find the default 'Minima', the best. You can refer to the Blogger forum for any problems with Blogger. Update: 12th June 2005 - Elizabeth Castro's book Publishing a Blog with Blogger
is a Fast And Simple Way To Become a Blogger.
- Subscribe to Bloglines and research the blogs that interest you. Bloglines is a free service that makes it easy to keep up with your favorite blogs and news feeds. With Bloglines, you can subscribe to the RSS feeds of your favorite blogs, and Bloglines will monitor updates to those sites. You can read the latest entries easily within Bloglines. You can see my Bloglines public feeds.
- Decide the name of your blog and the URL.
- Decide on the free essential tools for Blogger. Read (a) Quick Online Tips. Some free tools I use are: Bloglines, Firefox browser. Technorati (create your Profile, Watchlists, Claim your weblogs, add Favelets to your browser Links Toolbar and above all add 'tags' to your posts. Do read this A Consuming Experience), BlogShares; for earning some money use Adsense, Amazon Associates, Paypal. Other tools are Ping-o-matic, Validate your Markup, Feedburner, Extreme Tracking, Creative Commons License, ImageShack, MpP Favicon Gallery.
- Join these user forums, for solutions to your blogging problems - Digital Point Forums, SitePoint Forums, Blogger Forum
- Keep adding/updating your outgoing links.
- Content is very important and Blog at least once a day. Happy blogging!
Technorati Tags: How to start a Blog, Blog, Blogging
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1:42 PM
Disclaimer: Because I value your thoughtful opinions, I encourage you to add a comment to this discussion. Don't be offended if I edit your comments for clarity or to keep out questionable matters, however, and I may even delete off-topic comments.
4 Comments:
The problem I find with blogging, today, is that it has gotten away from its roots. Blogging started out as a way to get information - usually about a person's life, or projects - onto the web in a chronological, personable format. In fact, blogging really started as journalling - people putting their personal diaries online. While the misanthropic teenage crowd did seem to take over that niche of blogging, the fact remains that blogging as a whole is changing - not neccisarily for the better.
These days, I see more and more people start trying to target their blogs to money-making ventures - whether with google adsense, or other pay-per-click targeting. The content on blogs has - seemingly - gone downhill, at least in my opinion. The frightening thing is, if I were to open a blog where each entry was filled with keywords and targeted toward bringing ads with higher paying keywords, I would probably receive a much higher readership than a blog that simply describes the goings on in my life, things I am interested in, and things I am passionate about.
Within the next year I predict we will see two schools of blogging emerge. The Blogging Industry - where the authors are more concerned with the money-making potential of their blogs, and Grass-roots (or "true") blogging - where the authors stick to the goings on in their own life, and things they feel passionately about, regardless of the money-making potential.
It's the seperation of the groups (and indeed the blogsphere as whole) that saddens me.
-Eric
Eric, probably what you say is true - two schools emerging. But I feel that a good mix of the two would be a good solution. Finally, it's the content that will always matter.
Nice work Satish.
Satish, your blog remains highly valuable.
I agree with eric "fyre" scalf to a large degree.
Except that blogs began not as journals or diaries, but as "link logs" or updates on technical data, what Hewlitt Packard or Sun or IBM is doing, great servers, software, etc.
Personal details, interests, and opinions on trivial matters was few and far between.
It was when Blogger came out, when you could have a blog without being a "geek", with no HTML or programming skilss, that teens and others started using blogs as "slow chat rooms".
Blogging is changing, and eric, you nailed it quite well.
A blog is not good as a vending machine, a hype hype hype site.
A blog is best as a two-way conversation platform.
Blogs can have some personal details, but with identity theft, child predators, stalkers, etc., the less personal info, the better.
Expressing a personality is one thing. Revealing potentially exploitable private, family, or employer information is entirely different and dangerous from many considerations.
Not just commercialized, hard sell blogs have invaded the blogosphere.
Also link farms, sleazy sponsored link blogs, ghost written pseudo blogs, irrelevant drivel blogs, porn blogs, phony PR blogs, corporate fluff blogs, fictional character blogs, many other types.
CEOs and businesses should stay out of the blogosphere, unless they sincerely wish to be authentic, transparent, honest, helpful, and form candid, beneficial conversations with customers.
Good comments, eric.
Good reply, Satish.
Practical, relevant, accurate, truthful, well researched content is vital.
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