Posts Tagged ‘blogger’

It’s really quite simple to make a blog even if you are not very comfortable with technology. 

Free or paid hosting?  You have a choice that you must make when you start your blog.  Do you want a hosted blog or a free blog? 

The obvious advantage of a free blog is that it’s free. The obvious advantage of a free blog is that it’s free.  You don’t pay for your domain name and you don’t pay hosting fees.  They also tend to be easier and faster to build. 

There are also some disadvantages.  The first disadvantage is that you won’t have an independent domain name.  In other words, your domain name will be something like www.yourwebsite.blogspot.com. It’s longer and more difficult for people to remember. Second, your design possibilities are limited.  It may not be able to do everything that you want it to do.  Some free sites will put their advertising on your site without your permission.

If you want to get a free site, Blogger is a good place to start.  It’s owned by Google and that makes it more stable than some other free sites.  It’s not likely to disappear overnight.  There is a community of Blogger users who have developed some cool tools to use on your Blogger site.  To start, just go to www.Blogger.com.

Another popular free blogging platform is Wordpress.  There are two different ways to use Wordpress.  If you go to Wordpress.com, you can create a free website with free hosting just like Blogger. 

If you go to Wordpress.org, you can download the Wordpress software.  Wordpress software is free.  You will also have an independent domain name, but you will need to pay for your domain name and hosting.  I’m a big fan of Wordpress because there are so many design possibilities and people are designing more stuff for it all the time.  The disadvantage to Wordpress is that it takes a little bit more technical ability than Blogger.

You can dress up your website by customizing your header and by adding pictures.  I use Pixmac.  I bought twenty dollars worth of pictures and Keep them in a file on my desktop.  I use them throughout my blogs and websites.  You can purchase the smallest size and get a good assortment for $20.

Happy Blogging! As always, I’m dedicated to helping you build a successful career as a published author.

Julie Coan