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How To
Get Started Blogging In 5 Minutes or Less
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by:
Linda J Bruton
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I
put off starting a blog for a long time because I thought it would be
hard. I thought it would be technical. I thought I'd have to install
scripts and tear my hair out getting them to work. At that point, most
of what I'd read about blogs and RSS was just so much geek-speak.
Was I ever wrong!
When I finally got the courage to give it a go, I went to blogger.com
and signed up for an account. To my amazement, I had a blog set up in
about 5 minutes. My first post was uploaded to my site about 10 minutes
later.
The only thing even remotely technical I was required to do was enter
the FTP settings for the website my blog would be published on. But
even that wasn't a requirement. With Blogger, you can set up a blog on
their site, Blogspot, and not even worry about FTP settings.
Since then, I've started 3 Blogger blogs on different sites. Blogger
remains one of the most popular blog applications in the world simply
because it is so simple to use and set up. If you're a technophobe or
don't have the time to learn something completely new, I would urge you
to drop by Blogger.com and take a look. You could be blogging - and
enjoying the benefits - almost immediately.
Another very simple blogging tool is Wordpress. This blog is my first
Wordpress blog, and I'm very impressed with how powerful it is - as
well as simple.
Wordpress is installed on your own website, but don't let that stop
you. Most hosts that have Cpanel already have Wordpress ready for you
to install. Look in your Cpanel for the Fantastico application, click
it open, and then choose Wordpress to install. It will automatically
install it on your site for you, and you can start blogging right away.
If your host doesn't already include Wordpress in the scripts on your
server, you can still pick it up at:
http://wordpress.org/
Then go to the Wordpress Wiki for instructions on how to install it in
5 minutes:
http://wiki.wordpress.org/?pagename=5MinuteInstallation
Wordpress is free, open-source software. It is very simple to install,
even for technophobes, and has a lot of online documentation. There are
also many sites with free Wordpress add-ons and templates. I'm using a
template for this blog that I picked up at Alex King's site:
http://www.alexking.org/index.php?content=software/wordpress/styles.php
The Wordpress Wiki is a wealth of information on all things Wordpress,
including installation instructions, help files, a long list of
template sites, and all kinds of hacks and extras you can use to modify
your blog and make it original.
If you're a Wordpress user, another place to visit is the Wordpress
discussion forum:
http://wordpress.org/support/
If you're a new blogger, both Wordpress and Blogger are very user
friendly. There isn't a long learning curve. And you won't have to
learn any new technical tricks. Why not give one of them a try?
About the Author
For more tips and ideas on how to make money
blogging, be sure to
visit my "Why Marketers Should Blog" weblog at (what else)
http://www.WhyMarketersShouldBlog.com
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