SpikeTheLobsterBlogging Basics 3: Setting Up House
March 22nd 2009 23:07
Now that you've understood what a blog is and you've chosen a subject, the final step in getting started is to choose where to blog. There are two significantly different options at this stage: setting up on your own or subscribing to a blogging service.
Starting your blog on your own web space is a lot more work than simply signing up with a provider. It does, however, provide some advantages: you can do pretty much whatever you like with your blog layout, with advertising, plugins, add-ons and other funky stuff. The content is entirely yours and there is no possibility of the provider going out of business or changing terms of service. On the other hand, it's a lot more work to get the software set up and to keep it running smoothly. We'll look at this in another post.
Opting for a subscription is a lot easier: all you have to do is sign up somewhere and start writing. There are several online providers who will be only too happy to give you free web space and all the tools necessary to blog - often for free, and some even pay.
This may seem a little strange. Why would someone offer server space, bandwidth and blogging software for nothing, or even pay you to use it? The answer is surprisingly simple: they make money from it. Virtually all of these services run advertisements on their pages - most frequently Google's AdSense - so the more content they have, the more visitors they get and the more potential click-throughs they receive, each of which generates a few cents for their account. With hundreds of bloggers writing new content every day, the number of pages (and thus advertisements) presented by their site increases accordingly and fuels their income.
So where to turn? Who are the main providers of this blogging freebie?
The biggest free providers are currently Blogger (who use the blogspot.com domain) and WordPress. There are many others, such as Blog Scene, blog.co.uk, TravelPod and so on, but the big two dominate the marketplace.
If you prefer a paid service, there are also several options. Orble will share 50% of their AdSense revenue with you, GetPaidFrom.Us follows the same model (though only for US nationals) and Today pays for unique visits to your blog (plus a post-per-day payment if you are on their VIP scheme).
Virtually all the services come down to the same thing: they provide an interface and a URL for your blog and let you run free on it. Obviously, part of the sign-up process requires that you accept their terms of service, so read those carefully.
Given that the free and paid blogs are much the same, you may wonder why you'd choose one over another. Firstly, they run on different software, which will allow you to do different things: as a beginner, this won't matter so much, but more proficient users often choose a service because it runs a familiar application. Secondly, many services restrict layouts (themes) to an extent. For example, Orble allows unlimited colour changes and some restructuring of the pages to make them more personal, whereas Today only allows colours to be adjusted: they have one universal theme for the layout.
The main decider, though, is the extras. Blogger allows users to login with their Google account, thus tying everything together in one neat package. WordPress provides a mass of themes and integrated statistics. Orble offers a free domain name to interesting and reliable bloggers. It's always worth looking through what's available from each provider before deciding where to pitch your blogging tent.
Although many blogging services also have paid subscriptions available, for a first blog it's worth going with the free option. This gives you time to get used to the process, see if you enjoy it and to figure out what you want and need: if it turns out to be a real passion or a major success that needs more facilities, you can always upgrade or move to your own system later.
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Comment by Chris Champion
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Plus I'm supposed to be working on the 2nd draft of a novel, and my poetry and short stories.
It's a lot of work for not much payment. But I am having fun, aren't I?
Comment by Spike 2
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Some of it does sometimes feel like work, but mostly it's all good fun. I haven't written anything on the article sites for a while due to the increased blogging, but they make a nice change from the short, sharp posts when I'm feeling garrulous!!
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I would like to get my domains set up so that I can work on my own blogs that have full revenue versus split 50/50 impressions. I have the URL's but not design. I'm thinking of putting wordpress on them until my dad can set up real graphics and design that is unique.
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Have any tips for setting up a blogging software and a layout for simple purposes?
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