Starting a blog

[Former_Member]

Please forgive me as I am new to the whole blogging thing. I would like to get into blogging but which site is the best to use and how do I get people to view my blog.. Any tips and advice for starting up a blog would be very much appreciated ! Thank you!

[Former_Member]

Congrats on starting a blog! I have so much fun with mine - I hope you have fun with yours too. :)

I currently use blogger as my blog host, but I've heard really great things about wordpress.

Whichever you decide to go with, remember to have fun and be yourself. :)

Good luck!

~Kati

[Former_Member]

Hi,

From my experience and from what others say, Blogger seems easier to start with, Wordpress seems to have the best templates and plugins.
Then you have Joomla, which I believe you should take a look at.

Note that although one usually uses "ready made" blogging platforms, this doesn't mean that any website can't be used as a blog.

Note that if you intend to have advertisement on your blog, you'll need to have a paid version on Wordpress.

There are many things to consider and only with time you'll gain experience, with some mistakes along the way :-)

Have a nice week,

José

[gclasergraphics]

I am also new to blogging and just began one yesterday on Blogspot.

[Former_Member]

The only thing I would add is to begin a listing of possible blog ideas. After a while it becomes difficult to think of something new. I've found that if I skip a day or two, my view go way down and it takes a while to build them back up. On the other hand, in one day I had about three times the number of page views--which I can not explain except that I did something right. I just have no idea what it was. Makes replicating the magic a little difficult.

So have a list of things to write about, read as many other blogs as you can possibly find time for (adding to your list when you have an idea), and try to learn from those other blogs. Ask yourself what do you like/dislike about the blog you are reading. Don't just decide that it's not for you and move on, use it to figure out why it's not for you. How could it be better or different or more interesting?

And don't forget about tutorials. What are you good at? Show others what you know and do. Don't just post a picture of a finished product....post several in-progress pictures so your readers can see your process and know the story of the product.

Finally, include some information about yourself. Many people want to know the person behind the words.

Have a great week,
Mary

[Former_Member]

When I decided to start blogging, I spent countless hours at all the blog platforms out there. I finally decided to host my blog on Wordpress. That's a big big pickup truck loaded with tons of features. Extraordinarily sturdy and you can subscribe to other blogs hosted on Wordpress, and if you use HootSuite, the latter will notify you whenever a post is published by any of your followed blogs (that's sooooo neat). It has a dashboard admin page with comprehensive stats (we all like to know about our readers, don't we?).

I started recently another blog with Blogger which, I think, is part of the big Google thing. That mainly to follow all Etsians having a blog on Blogger. To my dismay I'm having some problems marking Blogger's blogs as followed. My list keeps disappearing. Maybe due to some rework on the software in the background.

Blogger is very easy to use but the text editor has minor quirks.

Wordpress is where I talk about my work, while Blogger will mainly be the place for talking about others' work I find interesting on the Internet and Etsy in particular. I will cross-reference both blogs to give it some sort of unity.

Both platforms allow you to create some fancy layouts but I don't spend much time on that.

[Former_Member]

I once saw a Wordpress blog as a member, so I could see the dashboard but I was confused as all heck. So, when it came time to start my own blog, I was too intimidated by Wordpress and I went with Blogger. I'm happy with Blogger, but if I ever want to convert my blog into more of a website, I can always migrate it to Wordpress. (You can migrate from Wordgpress to Blogger and from Blogger to Wordpress, so there's no permanent fear of comittement.)

I've heard good things about Typepad too but there wasn't much info on it. Seems the vast majority of Bloggers use one of three: Blogger, Wordpress or their own website.

The way to get people to follow your blog is to be a good follower yourself. Find some blogs you like, follow them, and comment now and then. You will find people check out the people who leave comments. Presumably, you'll like readings blogs that speak to you and, presumably, your blog would also speak to that author too. Blogs are social afterall!

Good luck with your endeavours.

[Former_Member]

I am on Blogger since 2008 and it has worked fine for me. I enjoy writing, so blogging is fun and I only blog about 3 times a week. I visit several blogs weekly and leave comments and hope that they will visit me, which they do:)

[Maulani]

congratulation!
i use blogger and have tumblr too. i had wordpress but deleted it as soon as i made my first post (i'm not tech geek so i can't handle the confusion i got on wordpress). but just pick what you think is easy for you, don't forget to promote your blog everywhere (twitter, FB, promotion forum) so you'll get more exposure!
good luck!

[Former_Member]

Blogger and Tumblr are definitely the easiest platforms. I had to use Wordpress to blog for my old job and it's not as user-friendly. (At least not for somebody like me.)

As for building your blog, there are a few things to remember.

1. Blogging is a community, so get out there and read what interests you. Leave comments and participate in the conversation. People will find their way back to your blog.

2. Blog about what you love, not what you think will get you more followers. It's obvious when somebody's heart isn't in a post. If you're passionate about your topic, then other people will be, too.

3. Pictures. Have them for every post, especially if you plan on writing a lot. It breaks things up and gives people a bit of instant gratification.

I hope these help. Good luck!

[Former_Member]

Hi

Yay - blogging is great! I use blogger as I was a complete novice to blogging and found it instant and user friendly. You made a great start by joining this team, to network and gain support, but I think the best way is to blog consistently, at least once a week, if not twice : )

Good luck!

[Former_Member]

Wow thanks for all the great advice it is very much appreciated! I am glad I decided to post I got a lot of very useful information about blogging!