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© Norine Peardon, 2010

Blogging has become one of the most popular sources for information and advertising on the Internet.  The word, “blogging” is derived from weblog.  Originally, the blog site was used similarly to a diary and still can be used in this manner.

How can a blog site be created you ask?  There are many ways.  You can find free sites such as Blogspot (owned by Google)and Squidoo. You can also buy your own domain or use your existing domain to create a subdomain or sub directory.

When using another company’s site, they will provide the editing program for you…you supply the content (articles, images (pictures), music.  If developing your own blog site, the most popular editing program to use is WordPress.  In either case, you do not need to know html, although a small amount of knowledge will be helpful.

To explore WordPress, it is free to download but you must have, not only a domain, but a hosting company as well.  Occasionally, you will need to access your cpanel (control panel) through your hosting company. Another tool, which will provide you with excellent service, is a ftp (file transfer protocol) program.  FTP allows you to upload files from your computer to your cpanel.  Through the years, WordPress has become more and more sophisticated to make the whole process much easier than it once was.

Once you have uploaded WordPress, there are many, many plugins which have different uses.  Example:  Akismet sorts out the spam comments your blog site may receive and, after a period of time, will delete them unless you rescue them as legitimate comments.  Another example:
Post Teaser shortens each article, and inserts a “read more” option and provides the time it will take to read with a link to the entire article.  Plugins are also free but there could be some which are not.  For the most part, plugins are free.

Why should you use your owned site to create a blog?  My answer to that is because another site could pull the plug on your blog and you would lose your entire blog (I have had this happen).  Whereas, with your owned site, as long as you pay your hosting fees and do backups (in case of a hacker) your site will remain for however long you desire to have it.

Generally, your blog site should be targeted to a particular subject (niche).  Examples:  Interior design, classical music, affiliate marketing.  I have one blog site that I call a “Soup to Nuts” site which has articles in many different categories (subjects).  Speaking of articles, if you are not a writer, there are plugins and companies which will supply you with automatic articles.  You simply need to approve them.

In conclusion, my mission here was to familiarize anyone interested in learning to blog with the procedure and terms attributed to blogging.  I recommend Expert WordPress.  Hope you have learned something and, if you leave a comment, I will know my mission has been accomplished.