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 First, a quick definition for
those who do not know what a Blog is. Quite simply,
it's a Web Log. In other words, a regularly updated
page of your thoughts, ideas, links - whatever.
It's very easy to publish a Blog these days and
today I'm going to show you how in a few easy steps.
Don't worry - all the sites, services and tools
involved are fr'ee.
Before we go ahead I should first explain why a Blog
is so useful. A Blog provides a number of benefits
to you and your site and all for very little effort.
1. A Blog will add valuable content to your site.
This in turn increases repeat visitors and increases
the frequency the Google Page Bot (and therefore how
often your site listings are updated) will visit.
2. A Blog can be updated very quickly (especially
using the technique I show you below). It's much
faster to update than editing your Web Page or
sending out an e-mail.
3. Blogs can be delivered as RSS Feeds and this
means a user can download software to have your Blog
delivered direct to their desktop as and when it's
updated. You DO NOT have to pay for sites such as
Quikonnex or the new Cory Rudl software. RSS Feeds
are NOT new and you shouldn't have to pay for what
is essentially a fr'ee technology!
Do you now believe you should publish a Blog? If you
do, just read on, and see how easy it is!
First join Blogger.Com - this is a popular Blog
service (there are others) that makes the whole
process as simple as possible. You just register
your details and a title for your Blog.
Why choose Blogger? First, the Google Toolbar has a
"Blog This" button that makes updating
your Blog childs play. Click the button, and you can
publish direct into your Blog immediately -
including a link to the web-site you're currently
on!
Second, Blogger will add you it's directory and to a
notification service AND they will let you publish
to their site, though you can set FTP settings to
publish to a page at your own domain. For now we'll
publish to Bloggers host service "BlogSpot"
since they are fast and the only thing they add is
one banner at the top. You may also get featured as
one of Bloggers daily blogs and gain massive
traffic.
Blogger also has a range of templates and you can
even edit these directly to personalize your Blog,
right down to adding ads or links to your own site
(Tip: include a navigation bar). Blogger will also
archive your Blog and insert links to your archived
months.
Blogger will create a Blog for you in a few steps.
At the Blogger.Com main page click on "Start
Now" at the top. Enter your Username, Password
and Name and away you go.
Once you have your account validated log in and
create a new Blog. This is just as simple as
creating a user account. Enter a Title and
Description, and leave it as a "Public"
Blog. Then select host at BlogSpot. Create a
subdomain for your BlogSpot then select a template.
You can create your own templates but that requires
extensive HTML knowledge.
That's it! You have an account and a Blog setup.
There are other settings to explore. You can set
"Ping Weblogs" to YES in the
Settings/Publishing option to notify Weblogs
whenever you publish. You can also set "Show
Title Field" and "Email" options to
provide Titles to your Blog Entries and email a copy
of your entries to you. Everything else is OK at as
it is.
With your Blog at BlogSpot and your Google Toolbar
installed Go to --> http://Toolbar.google.com
<- just set the Blogger function in the Toolbar
Options and then click the `B` button in the Toolbar
intself. There you have it - one instant Blog entry.
How To Use Your RSS Feed
If you left the Blog settings as standard your RSS
feed is at your BlogSpot Address as atom.xml - the
number of entries depends on your settings in
Blogger, but it's usually a weeks worth. Although
the Atom feed doesn't hold *every* entry the end
user's client software stores all entries as they
come in. Your website Blog has complete on-line
archives.
Blogger itself has a lot of help if you need it, so
it's time for me to sign off. Happy Blogging!
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