Blogs: The Genuine Article
What do John Mayer, Moby, and William Shatner have in common? They all publish blogs.
What is a Blog?
Wikipedia defines a blog as:
"a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order."
Basically blogs provide an easy way for a non-technical person to publish his/her thoughts to a global audience, whenever he/she pleases. Once a new article is published, blogs will sometimes allow the readers to publish their own 'comments'. In this way, blog owners can keep their readers informed, and involved.
Can I benefit from a blog?
Although a blog can be a useful platform, sometimes it may not be the best way to reach your audience. Read through this 'checklist' to be sure that it is necessary and beneficial to your purposes.Blogs are useful for...
- Providing reusable knowledge
Anything that you could type once and refer clients to over and over again (rather than having to explain), would be a prime candidate for a blog. (For example: How to instructions) - Creating, maintaining visibility
Blogs allow you to keep your business always visible and fresh in the minds of your clients. Staying active also allows you to provide useful, and valuable information to an audience that would appreciate and benefit from it. - Constant updates, ease of use
If you can benefit from providing constant updates to your readers, all through an easy to use interface (Speaking about WordPress here specifically), a blog would help you. - Free publishing, saving, searching
In some cases, you may not need a complete website, a blog may provide everything that you need. All blogs will provide you with a way to publish information (some free, some not) to the web, and once published your data is forever (*term used loosely, you must manage your data) accessible from any internet-enable computer.
How do I start a blog?
Alright, so you've decided to start a blog. First, you have to decide if a free blog can suit your needs or if you need to purchase a domain and host your own blog.Free blog or paid blog?
One difference between a free blog and a paid one is ownership of content. Do you mind if your content is property of Blogger? If anything happens in the future that compromises their servers, or if for example, they begin charging (which is unlikely as of now), you will be at their mercy. Another question you must ask is: How professional would you like to be? Free services, like Blogger will provide you with several templates to choose from, which may/may not be used by another blog. Also, with free services, you won't have associated email addresses, and free blog services will have a limit to the amount of server space you are allotted (300mb for Blogger). This may be enough space for you. Should I pay to blog provides more information on this topic, or specifically for the pros and cons of blogger.com click here.Free Blogs
About.com compiled a great list of the Top Free Blog Software / Hosting for Bloggers out there. It will also explain which involves setup, and hosting, etc. The simplest, quickest, and easiest that we have found is Blogger.How do I setup and host my own blog?
There are several things that need to happen in order for you to create and host your own domain.- You will need a server to host your blog, or an account with a hosting company
(BDG does offer
Hosting Plans, please
contact us if you have questions)
* Important: When you select a host, make sure that you have the access privileges necessary to install blogging software. - Choose a domain name for your blog. This you can usually do through your host.
- Choose Blog Software, and install it (installation varies by vendor, documentation should be available on the vendor's website).
The Best Blog Software (for self-hosted blogs)
Popular blogs in Syracuse and around the world
- Syracuse.com Blogs
- Boing Boing - A directory of wonderful things
- The 2006 Bloggies (**Not a blog, a list of interesting blogs)
- LifeHacker - The productivity and software guide
- John Mayer's blog
- Gene Simmons' blog - What would any blog collection be without Gene Simmons' blog.
- Moby's blog
- William Shatner's Blog - Titled "Bill's Space"
- AMS Models blog - For aspiring models and actors
Blog search engines
More information on blogs
I want a blog!
- Starting at $29 + Hosting
- Using only the Best Blogging Software on the market: WordPress!
- Choose your own domain name.
- After installation, its all yours to customize.
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