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10 Pointers on Starting a Blog

Guest post by: William Gissen

Article Overview: Blogs can be cathartic, functional or just plain fun. Here are some pointers on starting a blog.

10 Pointers on Starting a Blog

Almost every day, we seem to be confronted by a reference to blogs or the blogosphere, and many people have considered starting a blog but are largely ignorant of the field.

In addition to blogs increasing your search engine ranking, they also provide a publicity vehicle for promoting your organization or addressing any interesting topic. Blogs can be cathartic, functional or just plain fun. Here are some pointers on starting a blog:

1. Start by evaluating blog software:

Blog software varies widely. Choose carefully. Some offer more sophisticated options and possibilities.

2. If possible, incorporate the software on your web site instead of using an off-site host.

This allows you to maintain full control over your blog and build a more robust web site. You should obtain step-by-step instructions from your web site host to enable installation. If this become problematic, it’s okay to use the off-site host.

3. Select a template for your blog.

Templates provide the layout for your blog structure. Usually, you can switch the design even after you've started making entries.


4. Choose widgets for your side column.

“Widgets” refers to the functional elements appearing in the permanent structure of your blog. They can include links to other blogs (the blogroll), a calendar, a search function, etc. Some templates provide two separate columns for widgets, some only one.


5. Determine the author(s) and frequency of your blog entries.

Blogs offer the utmost in flexibility. For example, if you want to have multiple authors, you can title the blog, “Thoughts from [My Company].”

Also, it’s okay if you are unable to blog every day. You can start out with a weekly schedule and, again, title your blog accordingly. For example, “This Week in [Any Industry].

6. In writing your entries, adopt an appropriate tone for a blog.

Blogs are essentially online diaries. Entries should be easily understood, not too technical, and include some emotion or passion about whatever topic they address.

7. If appropriate, add pictures to your blog entries.

Unless discussing a serious policy or technical matter, pictures make your blog posting more appealing for readers and can even be used to inject a measure of humor into your entry.

Usually, you will findan icon in your blog posting area with an image of a screen. Just click on this icon and add any selected photo from your hard drive (several web sites on the Internet offer royalty-free images you can download).

8. After about 15-20 entries, you should submit your blog to blog search engines.

Blog search engineshelp others find your blog, especially those with similar interests.

9. Establish an RSS feed for your blog.

RSS feeds are typically indicated by a square orange icon with white arcs on it. They allow visitors to subscribe to your blog and receive new entries without going back to check your blog’s URL all the time. Please note the URL for your blog’s RSS feed is different than the URL for the blog itself.

10. Doublecheck the “pinging” on your blog, and add more pinging services if necessary.

A ping is similar to an RSS feed except it doesn’t transfer data when it notifies people about new entries to your blog. Usually, you can add several pinging services in your blog's dashboard.

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Article Tags: blogging, how to blog, starting a blog



Related Forum Posts
Re: Best Internet Marketing Strategy - Hi David, I agree about the Blogosphere. You have a smaller group that Blog, but do so on the premise that they think they should, but have never really considered the purpose of their Blog. Then I think there are a few SEO or Internet Marketing types that see Blogging as just another link building strategy. But the largest group of Bloggers, tend to be people who enjoy writing and discussing their topics of interest. Blogging is good for link building, but the true Blogger is a breed apart from the rest. They want to dialog, to debate, to have feedback and they are very willing to link to other worthwhile conversations that are relevant to their topic. I agree with you. These group of Bloggers obviously are passionate about their writing and together, they create huge conversation trails interactive and travel from Blog to Blog. But the evidence is clear with this group that loves what they write about. With comments enabled on a Blog and having a Blog tuned to a specific purpose you already have the evidence of original Social Media.
Re: Alexa Ranking Goals - That's great GT! What method did you use to put up the Entrepreneur Blog Network in your Wordpress Blog? We're always looking for the easiest methods to help bloggers who are not techies get involved.
EvanCarmichael.com suggestion - Maybe I missed it but I would like to suggest that a Blog be created to support the Forum. The idea is that in the blog you put in snippets of some of the biggest conversations with a 'read more' link to the forum itself. Setting up the Blog and clipping some conversations onto it wouldn't take very long.
Jen's Blog - Spam protection - Jen, I like the Blog and just posted a comment to one of your articles. From my experience you need to implement some sort of SPAM capture tools. i use them on my Blog and it's been a life saver as I'm getting hit by spam atleast 5 times a day. I use Wordpress and they have plugins like Captcha and SPAM Karma installed.
Re: Moderators on vacation - Hi Everyone, I will be away for the next 4 days. Starting now.


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