Blog Beginners advice please?

SailorSam

Blogging for a second income - does anyone else here do this? - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

That's a previous long thread which has lots of good tips to anyone thinking of blogging.

avstar

Cheers SailorSam, I'll check out the thread

mr_fishbulb

avstar wrote: »

Ahhh that must be why I keep reading that Wordpress doesn't support ads, its the .com version, but the .org version does.

Thanks for the PC programme, no you're right I prob won't use my phone to write blogs

Wordpress.com is a free service where they host your blog.

Wordpress.org allows you to download the wordpress software and host it on your own site. This gives you a lot more customisation options, but you do have to provide your own hosting space.

I use http://ariotek.co.uk/ for my domain name and web hosting. They (and a lot of other ones) offer something called cPanel which allows you to easily set up some popular web software on your site. Wordpress being one of them.

I used Blogger many years ago (I'm talking almost 10) and I integrated it with my own space from my ISP. But that was far too much coding for me to bother with nowadays. Wordpress is a PoP in comparison.

avstar

Thanks MrFB, useful info ta, the wordpress confusion is starting to make sense now

Hoseman

I'd recommend Wordpress too. Wordpress.com (hosted version) is a pretty good option but if you are serious about selling .org is your best bet because of all the functionality it offers.

My advice is learn SEO (search engine optimisation) as this will enable you to get in front of people searching for your info. There's no point producing great info if no one can find it. The great thing about Wordpress.org is that it has some plug-ins (like add ons) which make it a pretty powerful tool for SEO and other elements which can make a difference to your site/search engine ranking.

For Wordpress you will come across something called themes. This is the look or skin of the blog and there are free and paid versions. Its a bit of a learning curve initially but an interesting journey if you stick with it.

Feel free to ask any further questions now or in the future even by PM if you need any advice/tips.

avstar

Thanks Hoseman that's really good info too, its def a steep learning curve for me. But I'm making a start, I've bought my domain name now from tsohost :jso I can buy hosting space from them too if I go down the wordpress.org route. Blogger is appealing for simplicity to get me going n see if I like blogging. On fone so apologies for stilted speech.

avstar

Thanks JJCarlos, all good tips for further down the line when I feel more comfortable with what I'm doing, I'm very much a newbie to all this.

Well my blog is up and running using blogger as that seemed the easiest option, I've customised the theme and added some of my own artwork to make it more personal.

I also bought a custom domain name from TSOHost altho I haven't managed to link it to my blog yet, looks a bit complicated to do, needing Cname and A-name type shenanigans So for now I'm stuck with bloggers ".blogspot.com" address.

Thanks for all your help and advice everyone, I feel very proud I've even got this far :j

Horace

Avstar - thinking of changing host to someone who is a bit more reputable and have a wordpress blog, they are dead easy to use and you can do your own SEO too.

I am a real technophobe but I manage my wordpress sites and do all my own SEO work too.

For me a blog is like having a conversation with someone that isnt in the same room as me. A blog allows me to share my knowledge, provote thought and generate interest in what I am doing.

Remember when you use facebook and twitter etc. you can always add a link to your blog in your posts - with wordpress this is easy because you can add share buttons so that you can ping out your information. If you join groups on Facebook and post stuff, you can add a link to your site, the same goes if you comment on other blogs - add a link back to your own site.

Some of my blog pages are linked to each other so that when people look for something they can read what I have written and then move easily to a related topic.

yellowlawn

If you decide to go down the Wordpress route you can also download free themes to change the look of your site at the click of a button. There is also a myriad of plugins you can get (usually free) that will give you that edge. I run 2 professional Wordpress sites so will happily help you with plugin advice etc.

avstar

Thanks Horace and yellowlawn.

You are prob correct that long term I would be better with wordpress.
I think I was guilty of underestimating myself and went down the easy route of blogger once I started reading about hosting and downloading wordpress and plug-ins etc etc, all pretty alien to me (although I'm on a very steep learning curve).

I have amazed myself in how far I've come in the last week so maybe I did underestimate my abilities (and the amount of useful help I'd get from people, thanks:T)

Horace did you mean TSOHost are not reputable? They came recommended and seem OK so far. I've only bought a domain name from them (so I've only spent a few quid :rotfl:), but they do hosting too if I ever want to go down the wordpress route.