by 8 people |
Many people are blogging today. Yes, it seems that the whole world is blogging. But just how easy ... or hard is it to start a blog? After searching through the web for some easy step-by-step guide for blogging, I found that there were not many clear and concise guides that can help a real beginner to start blogging. With that, I have decided to start one myself and hope that my efforts will help many others to start their own blogs.
Blogs in Plain English
By Lee LeFever
Blogs in Plain English
A video for people who wonder why blogs are such a big deal. This video comes in an unbranded "presentation quality" version that can be licensed for use in the workplace. http://www.commoncraft.com/store-item/blogs
Runtime: 2:58
521118 views
10 Comments:
What is a blog?
You really need to know what is a blog in the first place
- A Wikipedia Definition
- A weblog (usually shortened to blog, but occasionally spelled web log or weblog) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles (normally in reverse chronological order).
- A ProBlogger Definition
- By Darren Rowse from ProBlogger
Want to know more about blogging? Read this book
The rough guide to blogging
The Rough Guide to Blogging 1 (Rough Guide Reference) (Rough Guide Internet/Computing)
Amazon Price: $11.04 (as of 07/13/2009) 
Usually ships in 24 hours
Getting started on your very own blog
A YouTube Video explaining what is a blog
What is a blog?
http://www.pajamamarket.com An example of a blog showing its features and how it is different than a "traditional" website.
Runtime: 4:17
10208 views
9 Comments:
Step #1 : Decide what you want to blog about
Unless of course you already know what you want to tell the world about
Seems simple enough, but many people jump into blogging without first considering what they want to talk about. Its all about content, content and content. Is there something you know that people will want to know? Say .... Rhubarb Pie ? Step #2 : Create your own blog in Blogger
Its as simple as 1-2-3-4
- 1. Create a Blog at Blogger
- a. Register and create an account
b. Name your blog
c. Choose a template
d. Publish your blog
That's it ! - 2. Additional material you might want to read
- If you want to know more about creating blogs, you may want to read this additional material. Otherwise, its optional and you may skip to step #3.
Here's a video to show you how
Build a Blog 101
Build a blog and post your first blog post in less than three minutes. It's fast and it's free!!!
Runtime: 3:11
265 views
0 Comments:
Step #3 : Go and promote your blog
You do want to drive traffic to your blog don't you?
- 1. Promote your blog
- This article is a great step-by-step article on what to do to promote your blog. Go through it at your own pace. You will find many tips and tricks on how to drive traffic to your blog and website.
- 2. Set up your feeds
- Feeds often come with either RSS or ATOM specifications. If you use Blogger, it is most likely to be the ATOM format. Many feed aggregators or websites tend to use the older RSS format. Use Feedburner to create a feed that can generate both formats.
a. Register
b. Burn your feed
Its that easy ! - 3. Register your blog with Technorati
- Technorati is THE place where people go to when they want to search for blogs. Any blogger worth his/her salt will want to register or "claim" their blog at Technorati. With Technorati, it is even simpler to register your blog if you are using Blogger.
a. Register your account
b. Claim your blog using the feed created in step 2
c. Track your blog's performance
That's it ! - 4. Register your blog with IceRocket
- IceRocket is another Internet search engine specialized in searching weblogs (or blogs). Backed by Mark Cuban, IceRocket is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, USA. Its simpler to register than Technorati. You don't even have to register. Just follow the above link to "Add your Blog". I'm not too sure how effective this site is, I'm still monitoring the situation after adding my blog a few days ago.
- 5. Register your blog with PubSub
- PubSub is yet again another Internet search engine for searching blogs. The site operates by storing a user's search term, making it a subscription, and checking it against posts on blogs which ping the search engine. When a new match is found, the user is notified, even if it occurs months after the initial search. This feature has led PubSub to call itself a matching engine.
You need to register to use this service. After which you need to go to your account's homepage, look for the "Add your feed" link on the left side bar. Then follow the instructions to add your feed. I'm also not too sure about the effectiveness of this site, I will monitor the situation and let you guys know soon.
Results can be read on the service's website or on an optional sidebar, available for both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. - 6. Register with Google Site Maps
- Search engines such as Google discover information about your site by employing software known as "spiders" to crawl the web. Once the spiders find a site, they follow links within the site to gather information about all the pages. The spiders periodically revisit sites to find new or changed content. Google Sitemaps is an experiment in web crawling. By using Sitemaps to inform and direct Google's crawlers, Google hopes to expand its coverage of the web and speed up the discovery and addition of pages to their index.
Google Search Ranking Explained
Google for Webmasters Tutorial: Ranking
A webmaster tutorial video that covers how sites are displayed in Google search results.
Runtime: 5:24
16217 views
10 Comments:
Step #4: Drive Traffic to your Website
Increase traffic using a free SEO service called HitTail
Drive More Traffic to your Website with HitTail
Learn how to drive more traffic to your site at a lower cost. Interview with Mike Levin and Connie Connors, creators of HitTail.
Runtime: 3:31
10188 views
10 Comments:
Step #5 : Set a monitor for your blog
You should track and monitor your blog
- Register your blog trace at tracksy.com
- Monitoring your blog statistics is so easy using this website. If your blog is on Blogger, its even easier with tracksy as it embeds all the neccessary track and trace code for you automatically. tracksy's reports are also very comprehensive. Try it !
Step #6 : Enjoy your blog !
Well, that's it ! You've created your first blog !
Well done ! That's it ! You have created your first blog. Now remember, keep your content constantly updated. Only if you do this "will they come !". Have fun ! Step #7: Improve your blogs
Read these if you want to do more for your blogging
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byStep #8: Learn about viral marketing
Improving your blog by reaching out using viral marketing
The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 07/13/2009)
Viral Marketing 100 Success Secrets- Secret Strategies, Buzz marketing Tips and tricks, and Interactive Marketing: 100 Simple Online Campaign Principles
Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 07/13/2009)
Connected Marketing: The Viral, Buzz and Word of Mouth Revolution
Amazon Price: $41.35 (as of 07/13/2009)
Step #9: Learn about blogging from Squidoo lensmasters
Read these if you want do learn more from the lensmasters
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byStep #10: Use my favourite blogging toolset
If you want to drive traffic to your blog, do use these !
This list of cool and exciting tools and websites are used by many people for various aspects of blogging.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byStep #11: Learn from the best blogs
To be the best, learn from the best
The best way to learn about how to design a very good blog is to learn from others whose blogs are among the best on the net. These blogs usually have a very high ranking on Technorati. The ranks shown are the blogs' ranking on Technorati as of 14 June 2006.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byWant to know why these people create such great blogs? Read this !
The secret power of blogging
The Secret Power of Blogging: How to Promote and Market Your Business, Organization, or Cause With Free Blogs
Amazon Price: $18.96 (as of 07/13/2009)
Usually ships in 24 hours
Follow the PRO himself on Twitter
Mr. Problooger - Darren Rowse
Blogging 101
- problogger
- aka Darren Rowse
- 71,941 followers
- 42,383 following
-
- New at ProBlogger: Why Did Your Last Blog Post Fail? 13 Questions to Ask http://twurl.nl/ss4tru
-
- New from TwiTip: Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Parts 6, 7 & 8 http://tinyurl.com/mae49m
-
- Reading: Twitter is not for teens, Morgan Stanley told by 15-year-old expert - http://is.gd/1x450
-
- Picked up our new car today. A VW Golf comfortline tsi. Nice little ride.
-
- @miafreedman keep in mind that that fashion advice comes from someone who has been known to dress like this http://bit.ly/ZgdPt
-
- @miafreedman perhaps if you wear them on top of your head or hanging off a necklace... the illusion of fashion without the space insect look
-
- I'll be in speaking in Melbourne, Sydney and Las Vegas in coming month. I hope to connect with many of you! http://bit.ly/i7ueu
-
- @miafreedman guess it depends who you're dressing for?
-
- writing a post (for later this week) on 'what to do when your traffic declines/plateaus'. Reasons why it happens and how to move through it
-
- some of the comments on the 'what were the best and worst blogging experiences you had this week?' thread are inspiring http://bit.ly/5Rwb5
Step #12: Learn about Google Page Rank
Wanna see your website appear in Google search results?
- Google Pagerank Explained
- So what is Google Pagerank? How did this concept make Google's founders one of the richest guys in the world today in such a short time? Read about it here.
What is Google Page Rank
Step #13: Improve your Google Page Ranking!
Boost your Page Rank in Minutes
How to use software directories to generate hundreds of high PR backlinks to your site in minutes.
Runtime: 7:22
19466 views
10 Comments:
Step #14: Read books on Blogging from Amazon
Need more reference materials for blogging ? Try these !
Blogging For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
Amazon Price: $14.29 (as of 07/13/2009)
Blogging For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))
Amazon Price: $16.49 (as of 07/13/2009)
That's it ! You're done !
If you have got this far, you are definitely on your way to creating great blogs
Hi there ! Thanks for dropping by. I do hope that you enjoy this lens. If you do, please give me your feedback. If you don't, I would really appreciate it if you could leave your comments so that I can work at improving this lens. Thanks a million !
WhitneyWells wrote...
Really good lens Chris, lots of valuable information! I'll defintely look into your advice!
Posted March 05, 2008
staceyapeitos wrote...
5 stars, Chris. I'll be referring back to this lens regularly.
I look at a lot of artists' blogs and slideshows from slide.com is becoming a popular feature.
Posted May 02, 2007
chrisyeo wrote...
This new module is really cool. Its a great way to get feedback from the community. Thanks Squidoo team!
Posted June 12, 2006
Please rate me on Squidoo !
Hi! Thanks for dropping by. For all of you who have supported my work here, thanks. And for all of you who really like what I presented here, please rate me using the stars at the top of the page ...... 5 stars hopefully ! Here's my favorite link:
What's Happening Today?
Where technology impacts ordinary lives
Ever felt that you can't keep up with the fast changing pace of technology? Suffering from information overload? Gadget obsolescence? The purpose of this blog is to examine how technology impacts our everyday lives. It chronicles the impact of technology on the life of an ordinary guy living in ordinary Singapore. So .... here we go, a blog called "Open Book"
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byMy Blogs
Chronicling how technology and spirituality impacts our everyday lives
What has technology got to do with spirituality? Well, a human race immersed in technology alone will not survive if it doesn't find its soul and spirit. Everyone has a heart shaped vacuum that yearns for a creator, regardless of the technology prevailing at the time.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byMy Lenses in Squidoo
Power under focus
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byAbout Me
Technoprenuer, Businessman, Engineer, Christian, Father of 3
Hiya, thanks for taking the time to read my lenses. If you want to know a little bit more about me, do take a look at my websites. Thanks and have a nice day.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byHey, why don't we work together ?
Come on ! Let's network !
Hello there ! If you think that my work here interests you, then maybe we can work together and create a network of links. All you need to do is:1. Contact me using the "Contact the Lensmaster" link, that's the one located on the right side bar just beneath my profile
2. Tell me which blog or lens you want me to link to and feature in my blogs or lenses
3. If its a lens, I will go there and rate your lens
4. Please put a link to:
www.squidoo.com/blogging-101/
in a module within your lens or a link in your blog
5. Please rate me
6. That's it !
by chrisyeo
About Me
My name is Chris and I live in Singapore.
Creating an online presence is something that has been keeping me very busy everyday. I do have...
