How To Start A Blog

Last night I've been with my friends on an Internet Cafe near our place playing Warcraft (DOTA) on LAN Computers and while doing so I am updating my blog.

They were curious on what I am doing but since we are playing they didn't bother to ask questions.

But this girl attendant on the cafe didn't waste any time, she sits beside me and ask "what are you doing?" and i replied "I am updating my blog site". Then she throws a follow-up question "What is that?" and i answered "Well if you are fun of accessing Friendster or Facebook, having a Blog Site is the same although it would generate you an income in many ways."

Then she asks more and more and while i am playing what i do is also answer and answer without looking at her. :p

She ended up asking "Can you teach me how to do that?". I paused for awhile seemingly bothered but i replied "Try Searching for How To Start A Blog at Google or Yahoo"

So i decided to put this information on my blog.

Friends and family members often ask me how to start a blog, and I always enjoy explaining the advantages of a blog over a traditional website, but it is a lot information to take in over dinner. I thought I would document the process to make it easier to understand.

I recentley created a video that documents some of what is discussed in this article.

by Badi Jones

How To Start A Blog?

1. Decide What You Want To Blog About

There are a lot of bloggers on the web already. If you want to attract readers, you are going to need to establish your credibility. Don't just blog about anything. Pick a topic you are are passionate about. Something that you have lots of experience with.
Decide: To Host or Not To Host

When it comes to starting a blog, your biggest decision will be whether you want to host the blog yourself, or use a free blogging service that is hosted for you.

Free Blogging Services
Yes, it's free, but nothing is really free. When you start a blog with a free blogging service, you don't get your own domain. You get something like mygreatblog.blogspot.com (where there are a million other blogs at blogspot.com) and you don't actually own the blog. If you ever do decide to move to your own domain, you have no way to take your readers with you, because you have no control over the site.

Cheap - Host your own blog using Wordpress free Blog software
This is the method I suggest, because it offers much more flexibility and freedom to do what you want. You will have your own domain name, like mygreatblog.com. You can get this for as little as $30 per year. In my experience, Wordpress is excelent free blog software that allows you flexibility and room to grow.

If you want to go the free blogging service route, check out links to free blogging services. If you want to host the blog yourself, read on.
Find a Domain Name

For me this part is fun. You know what your theme is already, so now you have to find a good domain name.
Find a Web Host for Your Blog

By far, the easiest way to get a website is to go with a hosting company that offers "1 click installs", or instant installations for Blogging and Forum software. Blogs and Forums make it possible for someone with no experience to get good content up fast.
"1-click" (easy) Installation
Dreamhost Hosting
For beginners, I recommend Dreamhost, because they tend to care, where as many other huge hosting companies don't. They cost a bit more, about $119 for a year, but it is worth it. Edit: I actually used a promo code and was able to get 1 year for about $60. Go to: Dreamhost.com and enter Promo Code: WMLGS1 to save $50.

Standard Hosting
1and1 Hosting
If you are on a budget, I recommend 1and1 hosting. They are much less expensive, but the one thing to be aware of is that can take a little bit longer to get good support at 1and1. Having said that, I have been using 1and1 for over 4 years (this site is hosted at 1and1). Compared to a lot of other hosts, they have an extremely user friendly control panel, and their servers are extremely dependable. Prices start at 3.99 / month. Go to 1and1.com

Install Wordpress

Instalation Overview If you have experience with installing web applications that use mySQL, this could take as little as 5 minutes to do, and the 5 steps below may be all you need, however, I have further explained each step below for beginners.

1. Make sure your host meets the requirements. details
2. Make sure you have a database ready with proper username and password. details
3. Download and unzip wordpress. details
4. In the wordpress folder, find and make a copy of wp-config-sample.php. Rename the copy to wp-config.php and fill in your database details. Save the new file. details
5. Upload all the files to the directory in your webhost where you want the blog to live - details
6. Run the installation file. install-folder/wp-admin/install.php. details

Requirements:

To run WordPress your host just needs a couple of things:

* PHP version 4.2 or greater
* MySQL version 4.0 or greater

Create a Database
You can usually do this in your hosting control panel. If you aren't sure how to do this, ask your hosting company. After you have set it up, you should have 4 pieces of information about the database.
1. Database Name - The name of your database.
2. Username - your databse user name.
3. Password - Your database password.
4. Host name - This is going to be a host name. It might be something like mysql.mydomain.com, or just localhost.

Without these 4 things, you won't be able to set up Wordpress. Again, contact your hosting company's tech support if you have any trouble with this.

Download the current version of Wordpress.
This is easy. Just go to wordpress.org/download/, and download the current version. You have a choice between the ZIP file or the TAR.GZ file. I think the TAR.GZ file may be smaller, but I always download the ZIP.
Uncompress the Wordpress ZIP file.
Again this is easy.

Configure Wordpress
Open the Wordpress folder and rename the file wp-config-sample.php to just wp-config.php. Now open it and insert the 4 pieces of information about your database into the 4 fields below.

Change:

define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress'); // The name of the database
define('DB_USER', 'username'); // Your MySQL username
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password'); // ... and password
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); // 99% chance you won't need to change this value

to

define('DB_NAME', 'yourDatabaseName'); // The name of the database
define('DB_USER', 'your-username'); // Your MySQL username
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'your-password'); // ... and password
define('DB_HOST', 'your-hostname'); // 99% chance you won't need to change this value

Choose Your Install Directory and Upload Everything
If you want your wordpress blog in a separate directory of your website, like “yourdomain.com/blog”, then rename the “wordpress” folder to “blog” and upload it to the root directory with an ftp program.

If you want your blog to be in the root directory of your site, meaning the blog will be located at “yourdomain.com”, then just open the wordpress folder and upload all the files and folders into your web root. If you already have a file called index.html, or index.php, you'll need to rename it or get rid of it before you uploading everything.

Finish and Install

8. In a browser, go to the domain where you uploaded wordpress, and then to /wp-admin/install.php, and follow the simple directions there.

You will be given a username and pasword. Save it in a safe place.

That's it. You now have a new blog. You can now log in with your username and password, and start writing.

Download a Wordpress theme
This is the fun part. Picking a wordpress theme. There are many places to find Wordpress Themes. When you find one you like, just download it and unzip it just like you did with the Wordpress ZIP file.

6. Add Your Theme
You can do this after you upload, but it's probably easier to just do it now.

Look for the themes folder. It's in the wordpress => wp-content => themes.

There should already be 2 theme folders in the themes folder, “classic” and “default”.
Just drop your new theme folder in with them. (remember, it must be unzipped first)

Tips:

1. If you update your blog frequently, more people will return on a regular basis to read it. Establishing a reader base will motivate you to write more and in turn more people will read your posts.

2. Get into a routine of blogging. Make it part of your day. Soon, you will notice things during your day and think, "Hey, I'll blog this."

3. Personalize your blog. A pretty blog always catches the eye. Visit blogger.com for ideas; they have a list of their 10 most recently updated blogs.

4. You could Google for "blog California" or "blog Shakespeareans" (or anything else), depending on location, interests, etc. For instance, if you have a blog on lawns, you may want visit allaboutlawns.com's forum and other similar type blogs. Circles of interest are the essence of blogging, and it can start to develop you as an authority in the "blog-o-sphere" on lawns or whatever area of interest you choose.

5. Keep the posts interesting. Try to avoid focusing on things that most readers won't find worthwhile (such as "I went to the mall today and saw Kelly.") Write about things you noticed, thoughts you had, and feelings or ideas. Blog about a recent trip to Spain. Write about the chemical explosion during class.

6. Spell check your writing before posting.

7. Some sites allow you to make money off your blog by using an Amazon Associates ID or by placing Google AdSense advertisements. If popular enough, your blog could start to pay your bills.

8. Don't feel bogged down if no one visits your site for the first few months. As with communities this large, it will take some time for your blog to get noticed.

9. Find blog aggregators. They will place a link to your site on their webpage and/or have a feed running from your blog so that every time you post something, it will show up on the blog aggregator homepage. Also, this can help increase readership.

10. If you want a broad (international) readership, do not use too many abbreviations or slang terms that might not be easily understood by people who are not from your country/area.

11. Get interesting news from Yahoo Oddly Enough..., other Yahoo! stories, Crayon.net and other websites that you frequently read.

12. Blog on a specific subject. You can't please everyone, so target a specific audience and go with it.

13. Pictures are also a great idea.