Series for New Bloggers: Part 4

Last week in our Series for New Bloggers we embarked on our journey to start a blog. The first step was to think of a name. We got some great feedback from other bloggers suggesting tips for naming your blog:

• Consider the length of your URL for those typing it in. Shorter is better. Here are two examples: http://overthehillandlovingit.blogspot.com vs. http://oldfogey.blogspot.com (courtesy of Dawn @ The Write Soil)
• Pick a URL that you can live with for the long haul. (also courtesy of Dawn @The Write Soil)
• Consider using your name as the URL, especially if you are a writer. Blogger, writer and author, Alex J. Cavanaugh says, "since my blog IS my author website, I did select my name for the address. A search for my name turns it up immediately. It's also the title of my blog. No way someone is missing it!"
• Consider a compromise like Lynda Young. Her blog URL is http://lyndaryoung.blogspot.com/ but the title of her blog is W.I.P. It. She agreed that it's "a good tip to start a blog with your name in the URL".
• Use a pen name if you are not comfortable using your real name.
• Browse blogrolls for inspiration. When you visit a blog, look on the left or right sidebar for a section titled 'Blogroll' and browse the wide variety of titles. Perhaps one will spark an idea for your own title.
• Ask for suggestions on the 1st Writes Blog! We're happy to help.

Thank you Dawn, Lynda and Alex!

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Now that you have a title, it's time to create a Blogger account.

• Go to blogger.com where you will need to sign in to your google account.
• You will be asked to enter the name you want to use to sign posts. It's your byline.
• Check the box accepting the terms and conditions.
• Finally click on the 'continue' arrow on the bottom right side of your screen.
• You now have a Blogger account. It is possible to have a Blogger account and not have a blog.
• To create a blog, click on the blue button labeled 'Create Your Blog Now'.

1. Name your blog

• Enter the title you want for your blog.
• Enter the URL you want for your blog.
• Click on 'check availability' to see if the URL is available.
• If the URL is available, enter the word verification prompt. If you get it wrong, they'll give you another one to try. Word verification is a pain for a lot of people, but it's a necessary evil sometimes.

2. Choose Your Template

• Designing the look of your blog is fun, but at this stage, we are just creating a blog so choose whatever template you'd like. It can be changed at any time.
• At this point you can click on the 'start blogging' arrow.

Congratulations! Your blog has been created! There's so much more to do, though, so stay-tuned for more of 1st Writes' Series for New Bloggers!

As always, members here at 1st Writes are happy to help. Leave a comment if you are struggling and someone will help you figure it out.

Series for New Bloggers: Part 3

In the last part of our series I introduced four possible blogging platforms. Now it's time to actually start a blog!

The first step is to decide on a name for your blog. Finding the perfect name doesn't happen right away, and sometimes it doesn't happen until you've been blogging for months! Unfortunately, while you can change the name of your blog at any time, you cannot change the URL, which means you cannot change the address you type into the search bar.

For instance, if you title your blog "Bowling Tips", the blog URL or address will be www.bowlingtips.blogspot.com. Then after several months you realize you don't know very much about bowling and want to change the title to "Baseball tips", you can do that, but while the title on your blog reflects the change, the blog URL or address will not and will remain www.bowlingtips.blogstop.com, which is confusing to readers looking for baseball tips.

This week's assignment, if you will, is to think about a name, so that next week we can create a new blog!

In the meantime, I'm sure our other members and other bloggers have some tips to share about naming your blog that they'd like to share in the comments section.

My personal suggestion is to create a blog with your name as the URL address and try out different titles, especially if you are a writer who blogs and your name is your brand. This is based on something I read once, but I can't find the link to the article, go figure!

So, what's your advice to new bloggers on naming their blog?

Series for New Bloggers: Part 2

At long last, an update to the New Bloggers Series!

In the first part of the series, we discussed what blogging is and reasons to blog. Have you had enough time to think about it? Are you ready to start a blog?

If so, then the first step is to choose a blogging service. There are several choices:

Wordpress

Blogger

Livejournal

Typepad

Let's take a closer look at each service starting at the bottom of the list.

I have no experience with Typepad. All I can tell you is that it charges a monthly fee ranging from $8 for the plus package to $29.95 for the Premium package. However, it does offer a free trial.

Livejournal offers a free account (with ads), but you can upgrade (ad free) for a fee of $19.95 a year. Of the four, Livejournal is the most different. It’s more like a community within the blogging community.

Unlike Wordpress, Blogger and Typepad, Livejournal has limited customization options and if you have a free account, there are ads on your blog that you don’t have very much control over. And you don’t make any profit off of them either, at least not with a free account.

However, Livejournal has one thing going for it - it has a far superior commenting system than either Blogger or Wordpress. When someone leaves a comment on your journal, you are notified via email. You can reply directly from that email or on your journal, and your reply is then automatically emailed to the commenter. Within that email are relevant links, including a link to reply. So through email, conversations can continue, while simultaneously being posted on your journal.

Overall, Livejournal is affordable, easy to use and lends itself to easy and continued discussion, but in the end, you don’t have much control over your journal, even with a paid account.

Blogger is free, and next to Wordpress, the most popular. Google owns Blogger, so you have to have a Google account to start a blog, but setting it up is easy. When Pam, Dawn and I first started our blogs, we each considered whether Wordpress or Blogger would be best. For a long time, we couldn’t list any reasons why one was better than the other. There are subtle differences between them, and a couple reasons why Wordpress might be better.

But before I can compare Blogger and Wordpress, I have to compare Wordpress.com to Wordpress.org. Like Blogger, Wordpress.com is free, and like Blogger, Livejournal and Typepad, the blogging service hosts your blog. What this means is that the folder containing your entire blog, including your content, is located on the computers of the blogging service, not your personal computer. With Wordpress.org the folder containing your entire blog, including your content, is on your personal computer. All you have to do is upload it to your own server, which costs a yearly fee.

This is the point at which people start freaking out, so I won't go into the details of web hosting, servers, ftp etc. However, I recommend Wordpress.org because I like having complete control of my blog. It's all mine. I own it lock, stock and barrel. If you decide that Wordpress.org is the way you want to go, let me know and I’ll be happy to help you set it up.

Besides ownership, the major difference between Blogger and Wordpress is the number of options. With more options on Wordpress, you can do more with your blog, but that also makes it a bit more difficult to get the hang of, especially if you are brand-new to blogging.

In conclusion, I suggest starting off with a blog on Blogger. If at any time, you decide you want to try Wordpress.com or Wordpress.org, you can easily import your posts from Blogger. It's not as easy the other way around.

For even more information on blog services, I encourage you to check out Sommer Leigh's College of Blogging Series: Choosing a Blog Service for an in-depth analysis of Livejournal, Blogger and Wordpress.

ETA: Here's another blogger's take on why Wordpress.org is preferable to Blogger: Idiotproofblogging

For our members who still feel overwhelmed, I'd be happy to set a blog up for you. Just leave me a comment and I'll contact you to discuss what information I will need. Please don't be shy! I'm happy to do it for you! Blogging has been a very positive experience for me and I would love to share that experience with you. Just let me know before VBS starts! I'm going to be crazy busy that week.

For our readers, are you familiar with Typepad or Livejournal? What differences do you notice between Blogger and Wordpress? Your thoughts on this subject are greatly appreciated and will be a big help to our non-blogging members!

Series for New Bloggers

Any talk of starting a blog seems to cause feelings of trepidation and uncertainty, so I'm unrolling a series here at 1st Writes aimed towards our members who are currently contemplating whether they want to start a blog. This series will answer the what, why, who, where and how of blogging.

Series 1: Blogging - What is a blog? Why do I want to blog? Who has a blog?

Blog -the official definition

[noun] Formed from the combination of Web and Log, it's an on-line journal or web-zine, which is like having your own magazine but really simple and easy to use, made accessible through the internet. The difference between a blog and a website is that a blog has facilities for reader comments and discussion threads. It's built on the idea of reader and writer interaction.

[verb] To read, write, or edit a personal on-line journal or a shared on-line journal

Blog -my definitions

A blog is a tool for expressing yourself. A blog can be about any topic you want. You can share pictures and video on a blog or not; it's up to you and it's super easy.

A blog is a way to connect with others. It's like having pen pals. I never had a pen pal, but the perk of having a pen pal was communicating with someone in a different part of the world and blogging allows you to have as many friends in as many different parts of the world as you can imagine -all without the charge of postage.

A blog is a way to connect with family and friends that live far away. Share memories of times gone by or share happenings in the present.

A blog is a tool for learning and teaching. Whether you have a blog about writing, crafting, exercising, getting married, having a baby, raising children, or home organizing (to name only a few), you are bound to learn something new and useful from a fellow blogger. And in turn, there's a good chance your sharing of experiences and knowledge will teach a fellow blogger something he or she did not know.

A blog encourages writing and creativity.

Reasons Why You Should Blog:

You like to write.

You would like to write more often.

You have stories to share.

You have recipes to share.

You have tips to share.

You want to learn more about writing.

You want to learn more about anything.

You want to meet new and interesting people.

You want to join other members of First Writes in their blogging journey.

You already have a built in audience of readers who care about what you write.

Who Blogs?

Blogging is for people of all ages. And to show you I'm not exaggerating, here are links to a blog by a little girl and blogs by not so little girls:

Paperdolls Book Reviews

Grandma is a Writer

Blabbin Grammy

Once you've decided you'd like to try and blog (and why not? You have nothing to lose! You don't like it; you delete it), you're ready to move on to the next step and part 2 of the Series for New Bloggers: Where do I blog? And How do I create a blog?

The next step is to create a Google account.

Click Here to create a Google account

Under sign in with your Google account there is a box that says 'Don't Have a Google Account?' 'Create an Account Now' -click on that box.

Follow the simple instructions.

Then come back to First Writes and leave a comment.

You are one step closer to having a blog of your own!