Technology

Creating Your First Blog

A weblog, or weblog, is a simple website formatted like an online journal. The elegance of its design lies in its seeming lack of complexity. In only the past few years, the popularity of blogs has skyrocketed. Many already-existing websites have made the transition to take advantage of the many advantages of switching to a blogging framework.

There are a lot of no-cost choices for getting a blog up and running, but I think it’s best to host your site.

Online diaries; Weblogs. My advice is based on the time I’ve spent blogging for myself. Many free blogging platforms restrict how you can monetize your blog in their user agreements, including WordPress, Blogger, and others. After all, who doesn’t appreciate getting paid for their work, no matter how little the scale? That’s why having your own “dot com” is best rather than relying on free blog hosting.

Step-by-step instructions for creating your own “.com” blog.

First, you’ll need a domain name. You may find them for a reasonable price on the Internet. If you want to save money on domain registration, one option is to use a coupon site like Godaddy.

Second, you must have a hosting account, essentially a space on a server or a computer that you rent so that your blog’s files can be stored and accessed whenever someone enters your blog’s address. As your blog grows in popularity and traffic, you’ll eventually need to upgrade to a more robust hosting plan, but in the meantime, you can get by with cheap hosting (around $5 a month with Hostgator). Shared hosting is the way to go if you want to keep your blog alive for at least a year.

Third, once you have a domain name and hosting account, you must set up your domain name server to point to your hosting account. You should be able to update your “Nameservers” in the settings for your domain name on the registrar’s website. Your hosting provider will provide a short URL to direct your domain to their servers. Enter your hosting provider’s name and server addresses (NS1 and NS2 in most situations) and wait for them to propagate (usually 24 hours or less).

After step 4 (name server propagation) is complete, you can access your control panel (cpanel) via yourdomain.com/cpanel. After logging in, “fantastico” is the simplest way to install the WordPress Blogging Platform. Fantastico is a handy plugin for the control panel that automates the installation of a full blogging suite with a single mouse click. Find the icon shaped like a fantastico and choose it. A list of available software types can be seen in the sidebar to the left. To set up WordPress, go to the Blog section and select it. Check that your blog was correctly installed by typing its address into the browser.

Next, log into your blog’s administration and familiarize yourself with the UI. Step 5: Your blogging platform is now installed. Simply select “add new” from the “Post” drop-down menu on the left to create a brand new entry. It looks and functions much like any other word processor when opened. You can edit the text you enter, including its alignment, font, and color. Images can be uploaded, moved, and resized as needed. Create a test post and hit “publish” to make it visible.

You’ve made it to Stage 6: launching your blog. Now go ahead and switch themes to make it seem nicer (there are loads of free themes at wordpress.org), modify it with widgets and plugins, and post new, unique content at least once each week.

Launch Your Blog Today at http://www.start-a-blog.info/!

Visit my site, How to Start a Site, for more details, advice, and guides.

[http://www.start-a-blog.info]

The Basics of Blogging

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