After much consideration you have decided it is time to test the water and start a blog. But, you’re not sure what to do.
Your first step is to set up a game plan. It is best to plan it out now rather than trying to make corrections once your blog is up and running. Although adjustments are a part of any successful game plan, due to accumulated links to your blog, setting up your blog correctly in the beginning will prevent problems later.
After all, the intent is to build a following and how that following will connect with you is what is at stake here. If for some reason you decide to change platforms or hosting plans all of the links and RSS feeds to your blog will be lost. You will have to rebuild your following.
To further illustrate, I just read a blog by Emily Robbins on “How To Blog.” She had used WordPress and TypePad extensively for over a year and decided to migrate to WordPress. Her quandary was she had over a 1000 visitors a day on her TypePad blog. Emily knew she was going to have to build up her visitor list all over again. She ends her post with “What to do? What to do??????”
So, a little planning in advance will save you some headaches later. So, the two key questions you must ask yourself before you begin are what will be your blogging model and what platform is right for you?
What will be your model?
- What is the purpose and goal of the blog?
- What services, information, and resources will be offered?
- Will there be multiple users?
- What will be their contribution and responsibilities?
- How much control do you want to have over the blog structure, categories, navigation, features, and web design elements consist of?
- What is the title of the blog?
- What is the URL?
- Will there be multi-users?
The answer to these first 3 questions will help you determine the direction you will pursue in developing your blogging community. And that direction will lead you to deciding on using a hosted blog or a non-hosted blog.
What is the difference between hosted and non-hosted plans?
Hosted: A blog that resides on the host’s server (ie: Blogger.com (blogspot.com), WordPress.com, or Typepad.com)
- Easy to start and maintain
- Less initial setup, all three blogs had me up and running within five minutes
Cons:
- Less control over CSS and HTML
- Finding a unique subdomain name is getting harder to acheive
- Limited options.
- Typepad offers a tiered pricing structure.
- WordPress.com does not allow advertising or embedded widgets.
Non-hosted: a blog that resides on your server.
Pros:
- Can integrate into existing website
- Greater control over CSS and HTML.
- Control over permalink names, which helps when you optimize your titles for Search Engines
- The ability to add and subtract plugins for WordPress
- You can have advertising
Cons:
- Unless you are savvy with HTML and CSS I recommend you hire a professional to setup your blog. The learning curve for setup can be overwhelming as well as time consuming.
Which hosted blog platform is right for you?
If integrating your blog into your existing website is not a priority, or you are starting anew then looking at hosted platforms like Blogger, TypePad, or WordPress may be your best option.
Blogger .com
Blogger is owned by Google so it integrates easily with Google Analytics, PicasaWeb (which gives you 1GB of free storage), and Feedburner.
Your free website
When you create your blog, you can host it for free on BlogSpot. Choose an available URL and you’re ready to go. Blogger also includes a custom domain option; you can have a domain name, like example.com, and they will still host your blog.
Customize your template
You can choose from many templates for your blog; simply pick the one that best fits your needs. In addition, you can customize your blog’s design using their drag-and-drop interface. You can also add powerful gadgets such as slideshows, user polls, or even AdSense ads. You can also change the fonts and colors on your blog. If you want more precise control over your blog’s layout, you can also use the Edit HTML feature.
New! Posting on the go
Blogger has many additional ways for you to post to your blog. You can post to your blog from your mobile phone or through a secret Mail-to-Blogger email address. Or use the Blogger Post Gadget to edit and publish posts directly from your custom iGoogle homepage.
Group blogging
You can create a team blog, allowing multiple bloggers to contribute to a single blog. You select which team members have administrative authority and those who are just authors. You can also choose to make your blog private and restrict who can view it.
Third-party applications
You can choose among a host of third-party applications that integrate with Blogger to make it even easier for you to blog.
Typepad.com
Microblog is TypePad’s Free version
TypePad’s microblog is their free blogging platform, it is limited in its features. There are no design modifications or additional users. Their Microblog is simple to setup and use. You can share images on Twitter, and or use it as your mobile photo blog. You can even password protect your microblog.
TypePad’s 3 Tiered Pay versions
You can upload a banner and change the colors via the Design page with the Plus level ($8.95/month), but you can’t make significant changes without the PRO level which is $14.95 per month. In addition, you need to understand CSS and be able to make modifications yourself. Their menubar/navbar functionality is flexible. You can even have menubar items that point offsite to other applications (your own online store, for example).
The TypePad Design Assistant lets you test drive TypePad’s 100+ professionally designed themes and five classic layouts. This makes it easy to learn about and experiment with Custom CSS styles. The assistant offers live previews of edits you make to your styles. It also shows you how to apply your custom style to your blog.
TypePad Widgets are an easy way to add features to your blog. They have partnered with dozens of companies to bring you Widgets that enhance your blog with photo sharing, search, commerce, weather, news headlines and even games.
There is excellent integration with the most popular blog-related tools (Feedburner, ShareThis, AddThis, etc). There is REAL technical support.
SEO Optimization
TypPad is PuSH capable.
WordPress.com
WordPress.com is the free, hosted version of WordPress and is a great place to start your first blog. You won’t have to worry about finding and paying for a server, but you’ll still have the functionality of WordPress and can learn the ins and outs before you commit to WordPress.org. WordPress.com does not allow you to run your own ads, but does occasionally run their own text ads on your blog (that’s how they keep it free).
Your free website
WordPress.com uses the same WordPress software as you would download. It is pretty easy to use. It just works, no worries about trying to figure out what’s wrong when it’s down, no worries about backups. No software to install. It’s easy to add your own domain name, like example.com, to your existing WordPress.com blog.
Themes
You can change the look of your blog with over 75 themes ranging from professional to fun to crazy, and you can switch themes instantly with just a click of a button. Each theme allows you to customize your sidebar using widgets, and several themes let you upload your own photo or image for the header bar. Themes are added regularly based on user requests. If you’re a CSS pro, you can also customize your CSS code.
Users
The free limit of 35 users per private blog
Integrated stats system
One of our most popular features is their stats system. It’s designed to give you up-to-the-minute stats on how many people are visiting your blog, where they’re coming from, which posts are most popular, and which search engine terms are sending people to your blog.
Help if you need it
If you have questions about using or extending your blog, they have some of the most responsive support around. WordPress has users in the forums and on our support team who will help you. There is documentation, a support contact form, and the forums are active 24 hours a day.
SEO Optimization
WordPress.com just announced that its 10.5 million blogs will be adding PuSH capabilities.
For more info on [PuSH]
