Want to start a blog. Where to begin?

[LaurasLastDitch]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to start a blog, but I don't know what to do or where to begin. I want to start it off right by picking a good blog hosting service and perhaps learning from the mistakes and successes of others.

Where do I begin?

Any help would be much appreciated! I have been using my Facebook "notes" as my de facto blog, but think it's time to move to a real one.

[Former_Member]

I honestly have tried any other hosting service, but I love blogger!

[LittleShopofElleSee]

I agree. I like blogger. Out of all the blogs I have had, they are the most reliable, and they are user friendly :)

[Former_Member]

I just started one on blogger and I like the ease and integration so far! Any tips or gadgets to look out for?

[Zehland]

Blogger is wonderful!! Easy to use, beautiful templates. Free. What more can you ask for? http://blogger.com

[Zehland]

Oh, and you get fabulous SEO on blogger. I don't know if it's because it's owned by Google, but suppose that does not hurt.

[WhiteMoonWitchcraft]

I'm with everyone else... Love Blogger! It's so easy to use and I've had only good experiences with it. Good luck!

[ImagesinBloomStudio]

i use wordpress. I like it because it is easy, straight forward, and will link to facebook when you post updates. Wordpress allows you to have multiple blogs - i have one for the business, and one for me - my journey in life.
it is free. there are a lot of tutorials available, very customizable.
My business blog is http://imagesinbloom.wordpress.com/
If you have questions please feel free to send me feedback.

[Former_Member]

I have a self hosted wordpress website (two actually...) But if you're not into the DIY website thing Blogger is super easy and as said above you get great built in exposure and SEO with them. Good luck!

[Former_Member]

I agree to @DaintyChain that Blogger is very easy and if you do not have any programming experience or not friendly with new software at all then it is the best. But if you are then Wordpress is much much better.

[LaurasLastDitch]

Okay, thanks, everyone! I do not know anything about programming, so it sounds like Blogger it is. I opened up a Blogger account a while back, but never did much with it because it seemed overwhelming, but I guess it's time to go back there and dig in. It's good to know it's a fine choice for me.

[beevintageredux]

Definitely go with blogger!
When I started my blog, I thought I had a clear vision of what I wanted my blog to be. But as I started actually using it, that vision has changed and grown.
I think the best thing for you to do, now that you've chosen a host, is to spend a few days getting aquainted with it and all of its workings, get it set up the way you want it to look, and jump in. Maybe find a few blogs that you enjoy reading, and if you don't already, start following them.
Read a whole bunch to get a feel for how different people share information, and soon enough you'll find yourself settled right into a nice little space all of your own on the internet.
Never be afraid to contact a blogger and ask questions. I think they're all a pretty friendly bunch!
Good luck and happy blogging to you!

[GWachtelArtist]

I run a self-hosted wordpress blog as well and I think that's the best. For a start though, I would definitely recommend Blogger as well. They got nice templates, it is free and user friendly. I still have a blog on Blogger but I mostly use the one on my own website. Blogger will get buggy at times and as the end user you can't really do too much about it. Sometimes changing the template will work. When you run your self-hosted blog you are on your own with fixing bugs, but it also gives you the opportunity to do so. Best of luck to you :)

[recycledideas]

Facebook is changing how it does things, to become more like a blog, so you may want to wait to start a blog.

I put together a collection of my best blog tips - and it's gotten a lot of positive response here:
http://newfoundlandnews.blogspot.com/2008/08/best-tips-how-to-make-successful-blog.html

It's not a business blog, but most of the advice is the same. It addresses these areas:
*starting a blog

*topics to blog about

*building a readership

*keeping motivated to blog

And I definitely agree with others here that if you are programming savvy, Wordpress is much better than Blogger.

[Former_Member]

That's really a terrific article, recycledideas.

[Former_Member]

I have a blogger blog as well, and fully agree that it is super user-friendly! I had no idea where to begin when I started and blogger makes it SO EASY, plus you can customize it as much or as little as you like! Please feel free to visit my blog and ask me as many questions as you'd like : )

http://jewelrypersonified.blogspot.com

All The Best,

Stephanie
SSMDesign ~ Jewelry Personified

Thank you @recycledideas for the link, I will certainly use your tips as I too am still learning : )

[Former_Member]

Interesting post. I've been thinking about starting one too.

Now here's a question. Let's say I get started on Blogger and then decided to switch to Wordpress, could I transfer the whole thing over to Wordpress, or will have to start all over again?

[Former_Member]

1. blogger.com has a very friendly interface and the new one is even friendlier, also, blogger's design tool lets you make a pretty nifty looking blog even if you do not have the experience with html, css and all of that seemingly scary stuff

2. let your personality shine through it

3. try to include pictures, the Internet had never been as visual as now

4. have fun and be varied with your topics, but at the same time, keeping a common vibe (which if number 2 applies, there'd be no problem at all with that)

5. lately, I've been planning most of my posts ahead, which allows me to post more often, which is my blog-goal these days

6. if it is a blog related to your etsy-store, and you have a strong branding, reflect it there too (and include the etsy-mini of your shop in the blog!)

best of luck and share your blog with us when you make it!

mine is: http://lemondear.blogspot.com

[MythOfTheWild]

I tried Wordpress, but it just didn't appeal to me. I was originally on blogspot but moved to wordpress because it just seemed more proffessional - I couldn't get the hang of it, and I don't have the money to pay for what will make it look proffessional, so I moved back to blogspot. It works perfectly well, and my page looks much better there than it ever did on wordpress.

What you want to do is just post. Even if you have no followers, just keep posting. Post about upcoming events in your shop, post about failed shop endevours, post about new items, and just try to keep yourself in the habit of posting, even if it feels like you're talking to yourself.

peachesandpebblesweekly.blogspot.com

This is my blog. I'm currently in the process of doing it up a bit more though, new colours, new background, banner and all that, but it works perfectly well and is simple to use!

[Former_Member]

I have been planning to start a blog (procrastinating actually) for a while, and I read really great things about Wordpress, but I will now research Blogger as well. Thanks for the tips!

[LaurasLastDitch]

Thanks, everyone, for all our input!

I've taken my pathetic blog that I didn't really know what to do with, and worked hard today on giving it a makeover. I changed the name, added photos, tweaked and redated posts, etc. It is lacking in many respects, I'm sure, but I think the top post exudes personality (perhaps a little too much personality).

Here it is:

http://adventuresinthriftland.blogspot.com/

[Former_Member]

@ Cocobags You can import blogger posts from blogger to a wordpress blog. You may have to go back and re format some things but you won't lose all of your content.

[Zehland]

CocoBags, yes you can transfer a blogger blog to Wordpress. I have both a Blogger blog and a self-hosted Wordpress blog. I like them both, but Blogger is so much easier and I've always loved my Blogger blog!

If you host your own Wordpress blog, you must add plugins like your own anti-spam filter, your own site optimizer to speed the loading of your site, your own SEO optimization. You have to keep all these things updated yourself. And some knowlege of HTML is needed as well. But Blogger does all that for you.

In fact, I just made a website for my sister on Blogger because she is in the health field and needed something quick and easy. I read an article recently that some top New York designers are now using Blogger to build websites and they've done some GORGEOUS ones, so that's where I got the idea. There's a trick to getting one page to show as the homepage. For a website with galleries like most of us need, that's a different story, but I'm hoping Blogger will offer those someday too.

Anyway, I'm thinking once you try Blogger for a blog, you maybe won't be looking any further. As long as they keep improving the site as they have been doing, I'm staying with it.

[Zehland]

Laura, I like your blog, nice job and you have a great writing style! The only thing is that on my screen, I need to scroll back and forth horizontally to see everything.

What size did you set your width to be? That would be under Template>Customize>Adjust widths. Maybe reduce the width a bit.

[Former_Member]

Your blog looks great!