This question has being in the mind of so many ‘blogger dreamer’ but today we are going to make things clean like a spring water today. It will go like this:-
- Meaning of a blog,
- Its categories
- Types of blogging platform
- Making your right choice
- Questions to ask yourself before going for a platform
WHAT IS A BLOG?
A blog is a web platform that is designed to
disseminate information about a particular thing(s) or let’s say
Products or personal information on the internet. I guess you know that but let’s pretend you didn’t.
In blogging the reader is given the privilege to ask a
question or contribute to the topic or article being talked about
the main point is that blog converts monologues into conversation.
HERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BLOGGING CATEGORY
Group blogging - This is a single blog with many authors having posting right to the blog
Photo - This is a kind of blogging that deals with pictures and designs
Public relation - This is a blog geared by giving public the latest information
Link blog- This is the same as normal basic blog but with only links and without commentary
Journals -This is usually Diaries, usually expository and of interest to the writer, family and friends
other there are many other types of blogging categories but lets go with this one to make things short and easy
Because of the rate in increase in blog users corporate bodies has even engaged in blogging, that is many companies now see this as a way to reach to their targeted audience in a more direct way
Now how do I start my blog?
Do I need to be an html, css, xml or php expert to start my blog?
The answer is NO.
Now we are in the ring of what we are talking about. There are different types of blogging software
FREE HOSTED BLOG and
SELF HOSTED BLOG
Hosted blog cost little or even free to set up so is a big plus for many people especially for beginners who has no experience at all but this has so many disadvantages like limited designs, logo of your service provider (navigation bar or in favicon images) being displayed thereby making it unprofessional and if you later want to start a new self hosted blog it might affect your search engine rankings and lastly your blog might get banned without your notice if any TOS is violated
Self hosted blog- this is meant for professional bloggers especially those who want to make money with their blog because this makes you have control over your blog template designs in this one you have to pay for your domain name and hosting space .The only disadvantage is that you blog will go down if your hosting service provider goes down
Popular types of blogging platforms
BLOGGER. This is a free hosted blog service from Google it has being there for many years but due to some reasons it is only good for personal blogging. It takes about ten minutes to set up and you must have a gmail account
WORDPRESS. This have both free hosted blog and also have self hosted software that can be downloaded and get it uploaded to the server. They have hundreds of plug-ins to make your site more dynamic than other platforms
Plug-ins is simply a script that adds an additional functionality to your blog and wordpress has a directory full of plug-ins that you can use
BLOG.COM. This is also a free hosted blog some people prefer them because their naming (www.yourblogname.blog.com) is shorter compared to blogger (www.yourdomainname.blogspot.com)
LIVE JOURNAL. This is used to set up online journals it is a good collaboration and networking tools but is not easy to customize and also this is not a good option for blogging for money
TEXT PATTERN. This is good for those that are technically inclined and it is also a self hosted blog it uses custom formatting with wizard interface it is much more customizable than live journal
TYPEPAD (hosted)/ MOVABLE PAD (self hosted) this is another option to consider in blogging TYPE is a paid blogging platform it ranges from basic to pro
Note : if you are thinking of high traffic from search engine then go for wordpress blog and again it is easy to customize
These are the list of blogging platform you can install on your server
Wordpress
bBlog
b2evolution
windows live writer
text pattern
subtext
serendipity
roller weblogger
radiouserland
osCommerce (for e-commerce sites)
Nucleus cms
lifetype
greymatter
Drupal
blosxom
expressengine
movabletype
Here are some hosted blogging platforms (needs no installation like the aforementioned)
blog.com
blogger
livejournal
open diary
typepad
wordpress
xanga
Windows live spaces
Now it is left for you to decide which plat form suites you
For example:
1. Do you need something that will be easy to set up and use?
2. Are you new to blogging and new to internet platforms?
3. What is your technical skill level?
4. Are you going to change the look of the templates and other
customization?
5. Do you need to have little, moderate or a lot of control over the interface?
6. Will you require spam control features, such as captchas and comment
moderation?
7. Does the platform you are considering offer support and assistance?
8. Do you need to be able to have more than one person able to post the
blog?
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