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6 Steps to Better Blog – Part One

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{ 6 comments }

Mari February 5, 2010 at 10:09 pm

Hal,
Yes! Well explained for the novice teetering on the edge of blogdom. As you've written, each component of doing this has multiple layers of complexity to investigate, but it isn't necessary to know more to get started. Plus one never knows everything!

I'm looking forward to your information about Wordpress…a deep subject!

Post series follow-ups could cover the importance of graphics and branding, n'est-ce pas?

missy February 6, 2010 at 3:14 am

When I set mine up on blogspot back in August, your post is EXACTLY why I didn't do the more complicated (to me at the time) Wordpress domain. It scared me and my techno-phobe self off. Blogger was very attractive because it made everything look so easy and appealing. Now I see its limitations and it's frustrating because I want to move to the next level, but feel penned in by blogger without even knowing how to fix that. And now, thanks to you, I'm going to learn how to do it without feeling like I'm taking a long walk off a short pier! Thank you!

ileane February 6, 2010 at 3:19 am

Hi Hal, these are some points that I've heard before, but I always have questions. I hope you don't mind them. WordPress.com has instructions for mapping your domain that appear to be pretty easy, have you seen them? I'm not sure I understand why that wouldn't be a good option.

Also, I'm not aware of WordPress.com removing any blogs unless the blogger violates the TOS, are you? I know that these things can happen. But on the other hand during my short time as a blogger and in forums I've seen tons of bloggers complain about poor hosting and site outages, but not one complaint about WordPress.com shutting down a blog.
Bear with me on this because I don't want to sound negative, I'm just here to learn.

Thanks.
@Ileane

Hal Brown February 6, 2010 at 1:11 pm

Mais oui. :)
This can go on forever…if I can keep up the pace. There is no end to learning, something new and better every day. I hope to see suggestions for for things like this. And yes, Wordpress and templates gets a little complicated. But, nothing that requires an advanced degree. Graphics is another thing that really needs post discussion.

Hal Brown February 6, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Thanks Missy. Exactly the objective with this series. Its not nearly as complex as it sounds to get started. After that, things can be complex. The more you learn the more you understand how much you don't know. Such it life. As is said, the first step…

Hal Brown February 6, 2010 at 2:12 pm

ileane, questions are always good. We both learn something. You have a questioning mind, which means curiosity, and that leads to creativity. But to your questions.

First, about mapping a domain. It may or may not affect your SEO. Opinion about Wordpress or TypePad hosted blogs varies considerably. Domain Mapping is the process of pointing a registered domain name to a blog such as Wordpress or another server. In this series we will be doing that – registering a domain in the usual process and pointing it to a host. I have never had a Wordpress hosted blog, so I can't answer specifics about that. Google 'domain mapping' and see what comes up. It gets a little complex, even though the process is not complex. Compare with domain forwarding – not at all the same thing.

What this is really about is control. Have a look at all the pro bloggers. Almost to a person, they have a blog they can control. And that means rolling your own. A lot of people start with a free blog, then see the limitations and move to their own hosted blog/website. This may be redundant, but a blog is nothing more than a website with special needs. :)

Poor hosting. Yes, and I will cover this as part of the series. Whenever there are millions of people setting up websites, some will have a bad experience with their host. I've built 'real' websites long before Wordpress was around. Not everyone likes Wordpress either. Have a look at their forums. You will see a lot of complaints just as with any host.

Again, all this depends on what you want to do. With free comes limitations. Pick out the parts, put them together, learn a little about this and overcome the limitations. If you are happy with Wordpress maybe that's good enough for you. If you ever plan to expand, it simply won't work.

I hope this answers your questions. I may have to set up a forum for discussion about this whole process. By hosting my own site, I have the control to do that, not to mention storefronts, bulletin boards, and tons of other server side software for almost anything you can think of.

Anyone else with a better explanation please jump in.

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