In blogging, there are many kinds of content you can put on your blog.
Stories.
You could use descriptions of things you've done, thought threads, streams of consciousness, idea feeds. Longer articles or short snippets. If you're using a long story, you could display a short summary on the homepage and link to the full post in an archive.
Pictures.
One of them is worth a thousand words. Good blogging software lets you store and display pictures and also combines them into sequences for display to readers in attractively packaged format.
Presentations.
You could have any type of data including media objects like MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, Macromedia or Apple movies, PDFs, Audio feeds, downloadable applications - whatever.
That depends on many factors that go to why you wish to create a blog in the first place. The good news is that no one's going to punish you if you post material infrequently!
So relax. Enjoy blogging.
Friday, 29 June 2007
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Blogging - Keeping Your Blog Up To Date
If you are into "make money from blogging" and have a blog, you are also going to need to understand the importance of keeping your blog up to date.
People want to see updated content on a regular basis. If you continue to have updated content, people will return. To keep your blog properly updated, you also have to keep a close eye on it and how things are changing. Since things can change rather quickly, it’s a great idea to stay on top of it. The more often you respond and remain in contact with your blog and the members that are reading it, the better sense of community you will create and the more comfortable people will feel on your site.
Another good thing about blogs and a good reason to keep your content updated is because the search engines regularly update them. You can raise your search engine ranking and bring more traffic to your site which means you can "make more money from blogging".
People want to see updated content on a regular basis. If you continue to have updated content, people will return. To keep your blog properly updated, you also have to keep a close eye on it and how things are changing. Since things can change rather quickly, it’s a great idea to stay on top of it. The more often you respond and remain in contact with your blog and the members that are reading it, the better sense of community you will create and the more comfortable people will feel on your site.
Another good thing about blogs and a good reason to keep your content updated is because the search engines regularly update them. You can raise your search engine ranking and bring more traffic to your site which means you can "make more money from blogging".
Saturday, 23 June 2007
Does One Require Technical Skills For Blogging
Blogging software was designed to allow non-techies to publish professional quality weblogs and hence most weblog tools provide an easy-to-use publishing interface.
With most blogging software available today, all the author has to do is create content. The mental barrier to webpage design that holds many back from building websites is almost completely destroyed when it comes to blogging.
It's "fall-off-a-log" easy!
Installing blogging software on your server requires some basic knowledge about scripts and CGI. But if you hate doing this stuff, there are several services that offer 'ready-to-go' blogs.
Just register - and start blogging!
With most blogging software available today, all the author has to do is create content. The mental barrier to webpage design that holds many back from building websites is almost completely destroyed when it comes to blogging.
It's "fall-off-a-log" easy!
Installing blogging software on your server requires some basic knowledge about scripts and CGI. But if you hate doing this stuff, there are several services that offer 'ready-to-go' blogs.
Just register - and start blogging!
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Choosing Blogging Software To Run On Your Own Server
Some people opt for running the blogging software / platform on their own server.
Listed below are some benefits and disadvantages of doing so..
Benefits:
More security. You don't have to give out your FTP details or password. Your blog's accessibility is dependent only on your server, not the remote hosting service's.
Disadvantages:
You need to have some basic knowledge about installing blogging software and scripts on your own server and troubleshooting problems. It requires some knowledge of changing directory access permissions, and other basic script installation techniques. Most of the blog software creators run helpful online forums and discussion groups to help out with problems.
If you are a bit of a technical geek, I would suggest to go with your own blogging arrangements (in other words, use your own server)
Listed below are some benefits and disadvantages of doing so..
Benefits:
More security. You don't have to give out your FTP details or password. Your blog's accessibility is dependent only on your server, not the remote hosting service's.
Disadvantages:
You need to have some basic knowledge about installing blogging software and scripts on your own server and troubleshooting problems. It requires some knowledge of changing directory access permissions, and other basic script installation techniques. Most of the blog software creators run helpful online forums and discussion groups to help out with problems.
If you are a bit of a technical geek, I would suggest to go with your own blogging arrangements (in other words, use your own server)
Friday, 15 June 2007
Choosing Your Blogging Platform
When you are ready to begin choosing your "blogging platform", there are some questions you can ask yourself to help you decide what you need from a blogging platform.
For example:
1. Do you need something that will be easy to set up and use?
2. Are you new to blogging and new to internet platforms?
3. What is your technical skill level?
4. Are you going to want to change the look of the templates and other customization?
5. Do you need to have little, moderate or a lot of control over the interface?
6. Will you require spam control features, such as captchas and comment moderation?
7. Does the platform you are considering offer support and assistance?
8. Do you need to be able to have more than one person able to post the blog?
These are just some of the questions you might ask. You have to consider your individual situation. Will you need pages on your site that are non-blog pages? What kind of features are important to you?
These are all questions to help you choose the right "blogging platform" for your needs.
For example:
1. Do you need something that will be easy to set up and use?
2. Are you new to blogging and new to internet platforms?
3. What is your technical skill level?
4. Are you going to want to change the look of the templates and other customization?
5. Do you need to have little, moderate or a lot of control over the interface?
6. Will you require spam control features, such as captchas and comment moderation?
7. Does the platform you are considering offer support and assistance?
8. Do you need to be able to have more than one person able to post the blog?
These are just some of the questions you might ask. You have to consider your individual situation. Will you need pages on your site that are non-blog pages? What kind of features are important to you?
These are all questions to help you choose the right "blogging platform" for your needs.
Sunday, 10 June 2007
Popular Blogging Programs / Platforms
You may already know that within each type of blog hosting, there are several and different types of "blogging platform". You may also have probably heard about some of them and even may have tried some of them already.
Blogger
Blogger is a FREE hosted blogging tool by Google that has been around for a long time and is very easy to use. Many people make personal blogs on this site and it only takes about 10 minutes to set up your first blog. They have a nice selection of templates but Blogger doesn’t allow for a lot of customization. - http://www.blogger.com/
Wordpress
Wordpress is both hosted and self hosted, depending on what your needs are. Wordpress is free and is easy to setup and use. There are hundreds of plugins to extend functionality in different areas. This is by far one of the most popular options around today. Here is a list of some popular blogging platforms which bloggers can install on their own servers:
Here is a list of some popular blogging services, which need no installation.
Blog.com
Open Diary
Windows Live Spaces
Yahoo
LiveJournal
Xanga
Grey Matter (free + opensource)
Open Journal (free)
Those of you who have a bit of technical streak in them, do try and experiment with the Wordpress platform as well.
You have to decide for yourself which platform you think will meet all of your needs the best. I have taken "BLOGGER.COM" as I am very comfortable with this "blogging platform" and have a lot of blogs running using blogger.
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Points To Remember While Blogging
When it comes to actually blogging and setting up your blog, you need to understand the features of a blog.
Knowing and understanding these features can help you understand both what the blog is and how it works.
This will help you to understand "how to make money from blogging"
Below is an explanation of different parts of a standard blog and the features therein.
Posting Structure
Do you understand the posting structure of the blog and how it works? Each entry is referred to as a "post". Posts may also be called entries or articles. They may be made on a daily basis or weekly, bimonthly, monthly, etc. The way you enter your blog post varies according to what type of blog service you are using. Many have a direct entry text box where you simply type in what you want to say. You don’t have to know any special coding information. Some blogs have what is called WYSIWYG editors. This stands for “what you see is what you get” and it means easy text entry no matter who you are.
Most blog sites and interfaces have HTML input as well for those of you who enjoy working with code and would like to enter your blogs this way. There are also different formats for listing links, photos, etc. Most work the same way as text. You have the option to either enter as HTML or enter in the WYSIWYG editors.
Interactivity
Another great thing about blogs is that they are interactive. This is one thing that made them so popular. People have the opportunity to respond to what they read. You can post comments to the blog when you read it which are often shown instantly. There are some cases where the blog owner may use a spam filter or blocker and your comment will have to be reviewed first. The comments are usually found at the end of the post. People feel great about the fact that they can add their own thoughts and opinions and communicate with other people that are reading the blog. This is also a great way for advertisers to find out how the readers feel about something.
The archive feature
Archiving is another great feature of blogging. Most blogs have this option so that you can archive your posts by categories and date. If you find a blog that you like, you can look back on past entries. In fact, most blogs have an archive that is searchable for you to easily bring up certain topics or dates and read the entries.
The regular blog will have features set up so that after a certain number of days or certain number of blog entries posted, the older entries will roll off the main page and become archived. There are also other features that are usually built into the blog itself such as the ability to subscribe to the content of that blog or excerpts of the blog content. You can also use RSS feeds or Atom feeds to let people know you have updated content or to let them put your content on their sites.
Blogs also have links to other blogs so they all link together, or at least the ones with similar content do. So you can see how great it is for a company or business that wants to get their name out there or make themselves known. It can be very useful to make yourself known with the popular blogs in your topic or category so that you will get advertising to your own as well.
Software
What do you need to know to build your blog? Do you need to be an expert in HTML and coding to complete this successfully? Back in the early days of blogging, programmers would have needed to know HTML to create their blogs. That isn’t true today now that we have software that converts what you type into what you want it to look like. This software makes blogging simple and easy even if you don’t know any HTML. All blogs are either hosted on someone else’s server of self-hosed on your own server. Blogger is a popular example of a blog that is hosted and Wordpress is an example that is self-hosted. Read on to find out more about these two hosting types.
Hosted blogs
Hosted blogs are usually more affordable, or even free so this is a big plus for many people, especially those that have never blogged before. Hosted blogs are really easy to create and maintain. There are some disadvantages to all this ease of use. You won’t have as many options for customization, etc when you use a hosted blog. You pretty much just have to work with what you are given.
Also, if you later want to move to a self-hosted site, you may have to start over with the search engine rankings and it can be difficult to move and keep all of your existing content.
So let's get down and blog !
Knowing and understanding these features can help you understand both what the blog is and how it works.
This will help you to understand "how to make money from blogging"
Below is an explanation of different parts of a standard blog and the features therein.
Posting Structure
Do you understand the posting structure of the blog and how it works? Each entry is referred to as a "post". Posts may also be called entries or articles. They may be made on a daily basis or weekly, bimonthly, monthly, etc. The way you enter your blog post varies according to what type of blog service you are using. Many have a direct entry text box where you simply type in what you want to say. You don’t have to know any special coding information. Some blogs have what is called WYSIWYG editors. This stands for “what you see is what you get” and it means easy text entry no matter who you are.
Most blog sites and interfaces have HTML input as well for those of you who enjoy working with code and would like to enter your blogs this way. There are also different formats for listing links, photos, etc. Most work the same way as text. You have the option to either enter as HTML or enter in the WYSIWYG editors.
Interactivity
Another great thing about blogs is that they are interactive. This is one thing that made them so popular. People have the opportunity to respond to what they read. You can post comments to the blog when you read it which are often shown instantly. There are some cases where the blog owner may use a spam filter or blocker and your comment will have to be reviewed first. The comments are usually found at the end of the post. People feel great about the fact that they can add their own thoughts and opinions and communicate with other people that are reading the blog. This is also a great way for advertisers to find out how the readers feel about something.
The archive feature
Archiving is another great feature of blogging. Most blogs have this option so that you can archive your posts by categories and date. If you find a blog that you like, you can look back on past entries. In fact, most blogs have an archive that is searchable for you to easily bring up certain topics or dates and read the entries.
The regular blog will have features set up so that after a certain number of days or certain number of blog entries posted, the older entries will roll off the main page and become archived. There are also other features that are usually built into the blog itself such as the ability to subscribe to the content of that blog or excerpts of the blog content. You can also use RSS feeds or Atom feeds to let people know you have updated content or to let them put your content on their sites.
Blogs also have links to other blogs so they all link together, or at least the ones with similar content do. So you can see how great it is for a company or business that wants to get their name out there or make themselves known. It can be very useful to make yourself known with the popular blogs in your topic or category so that you will get advertising to your own as well.
Software
What do you need to know to build your blog? Do you need to be an expert in HTML and coding to complete this successfully? Back in the early days of blogging, programmers would have needed to know HTML to create their blogs. That isn’t true today now that we have software that converts what you type into what you want it to look like. This software makes blogging simple and easy even if you don’t know any HTML. All blogs are either hosted on someone else’s server of self-hosed on your own server. Blogger is a popular example of a blog that is hosted and Wordpress is an example that is self-hosted. Read on to find out more about these two hosting types.
Hosted blogs
Hosted blogs are usually more affordable, or even free so this is a big plus for many people, especially those that have never blogged before. Hosted blogs are really easy to create and maintain. There are some disadvantages to all this ease of use. You won’t have as many options for customization, etc when you use a hosted blog. You pretty much just have to work with what you are given.
Also, if you later want to move to a self-hosted site, you may have to start over with the search engine rankings and it can be difficult to move and keep all of your existing content.
So let's get down and blog !
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