You can use this article in any format on any media as long as
resource box remains intact. If this is published on-line a live link would be appreciated.Available on-line at: http://www.netpreneurnow.com/articles/blogging.html http://www.netpreneurnow.com/articles/blogging-plain.txt
Available via Autoresponder at: mailto:blogging@netpreneurnow.com
How To Publish a "Blog"... and why you should!
By Stuart Reid
First, a quick definition for those who do not know what a Blog is. Quite simply, it's a Web Log. In other words, a regularly updated page of your thoughts, ideas, links - whatever.
It's very easy to publish a Blog these days and today I'm going to show you how in a few easy steps. Don't worry - all sites, services and tools involved are fr'ee.
Before we go ahead I should first explain why a Blog is so usefull. A Blog provides a number of benefits to you and your site and all for very little effort.
1. A Blog will add valuable content to your site. This in turn increases repeat visitors and increases frequency Google Page Bot (and therefore how often your site listings are updated) will visit.
2. A Blog can be updated very quickly (especially using technique I show you below). It's much faster to update than editing your Web Page or sending out an e-mail.
3. Blogs can be delivered as RSS Feeds and this means a user can download software to have your Blog delivered direct to their desktop as and when it's updated. You DO NOT have to pay for sites such as Quikonnex or new Cory Rudl software. RSS Feeds are NOT new and you shouldn't have to pay for what is essentially a fr'ee technology!
Do you now believe you should publish a Blog? If you do, just read on, and see how easy it is!
First join Blogger.Com - this is a popular Blog service (there are others) that makes whole process as simple as possible. You just register your details and a title for your Blog.
Why choose Blogger? First, Google Toolbar has a "Blog This" button that makes updating your Blog childs play. Click button, and you can publish direct into your Blog immediately - including a link to web-site you're currently on!
Second, Blogger will add you it's directory and to a notification service AND they will let you publish to their site, though you can set FTP settings to publish to a page at your own domain. For now we'll publish to Bloggers host service "BlogSpot" since they are fast and only thing they add is one banner at top. You may also get featured as one of Bloggers daily blogs and gain massive traffic.
Blogger also has a range of templates and you can even edit these directly to personalise your Blog, right down to adding ads or links to your own site (Tip: include a navigation bar). Blogger will also archive your Blog and insert links to your archived months.
Blogger will create a Blog for you in a few steps. At Blogger.Com main page click on "Start Now" at top. Enter your Username, Password and Name and away you go.
Once you have your account validated log in and create a new Blog. This is just as simple as creating a user account. Enter a Title and Description, and leave it as a "Public" Blog. Then select host at BlogSpot. Create a subdomain for your BlogSpot then select a template. You can create your own templates but that requires extensive HTML knowledge.
