How to Get Started Blogging in 5 Minutes or Less
(c) 2005 Linda J Bruton
I put off starting a blog for a long time because I thought it would
be hard. I thought it would be technical. I thought I'd have to
install scripts and tear my hair out getting them to work. At that
point, most of what I'd read about blogs and RSS was just so much
geek-speak.
Was I ever wrong!
When I finally got the courage to give it a go, I went to
blogger.com and signed up for an account. To my amazement, I had a
blog set up in about 5 minutes. My first post was uploaded to my
site about 10 minutes later.
The only thing even remotely technical I was required to do was
enter the FTP settings for the website my blog would be published
on. But even that wasn't a requirement. With Blogger, you can set up
a blog on their site, Blogspot, and not even worry about FTP
settings.
Since then, I've started 3 Blogger blogs on different sites. Blogger
remains one of the most popular blog applications in the world
simply because it is so simple to use and set up. If you're a
technophobe or don't have the time to learn something completely
new, I would urge you to drop by Blogger.com and take a look. You
could be blogging - and enjoying the benefits - almost immediately.
Another very simple blogging tool is Wordpress. This blog is my
first Wordpress blog, and I'm very impressed with how powerful it
is - as well as simple.
Wordpress is installed on your own website, but don't let that stop
you. Most hosts that have Cpanel already have Wordpress ready for
you to install. Look in your Cpanel for the Fantastico application,
click it open, and then choose Wordpress to install. It will
automatically install it on your site for you, and you can start
blogging right away.
If your host doesn't already include Wordpress in the scripts on
your server, you can still pick it up at:
http://wordpress.org/ Then go to the Wordpress Wiki for instructions on how to install it
in 5 minutes:
http://wiki.wordpress.org/?pagename=5MinuteInstallation Wordpress is free, open-source software. It is very simple to
install, even for technophobes, and has a lot of online
documentation. There are also many sites with free Wordpress add-ons
and templates. I'm using a template for this blog that I picked up
at Alex King's site:
http://www.alexking.org/index.php?content=software/wordpress/styles.php
The Wordpress Wiki is a wealth of information on all things
Wordpress, including installation instructions, help files, a long
list of template sites, and all kinds of hacks and extras you can
use to modify your blog and make it original.
If you're a Wordpress user, another place to visit is the Wordpress
discussion forum:
http://wordpress.org/support/
If you're a new blogger, both Wordpress and Blogger are very user
friendly. There isn't a long learning curve. And you won't have to
learn any new technical tricks. Why not give one of them a try?
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For more tips and ideas on how to make money blogging, be sure to
visit my "Why Marketers Should Blog" weblog at (what else)
http://www.WhyMarketersShouldBlog.com 