Image from concurringopinions.com
My friend John, who recently started a blog called L.A. Pizza, asked me for advice on blogging. Humm...do I have enough to say? Then it hits me, other than the animated header that Mr. Fruitfly made, I've designed and coded everything myself with the help of some very generous bloggers. So, instead of sending him an email with links to helpful sites, I'm going to share. That's the thing about blogging, everything is a potential blog entry. Giddy up.These are basic ideas to get you started today, I plan on continuing this every week. So stay posted or better yet subscribe!
Naming your blog: This one can be tough. Think long and hard about the name because if you get some readers and then decide to change the name, you'll lose some or all readers. If you plan to blog as a way of promoting your designs or products use your company name to keep it seamless.
Find a free blog: I chose Blogger mainly because of its popularity. First you'll need to open a free Google account. It's super easy to set up. Once you have your blogger account, select a template. These templates can be customized any number of ways. The one I'm using was originally "Rounders", I then added another column but that tutorial is for next week. The best reason to choose Blogger is for it's affiliation with Google, it will get you better coverage in the Google Search Engine. I've heard good things about Typepad and WordPress too. Just make sure it's free.
Pictures and Images: It's all about pictures. Blogger allows you to up load pictures from your computer to Blogger with one or two simple steps. The problem with this is that you'll have a LOT of pictures on your hard drive. Instead, set up a Flickr account or use Google's Picasa to host your images. Then head over to Picnik, where you can grab images directly off the Internets using the URL. No more blog images on your hard drive! Picnik will also let you edit, resize and save the images directly to Flickr, Facebook, and Picasa. It couldn't be easier.
If you've been reading my blog over the last few months you know that I have fallen in love with Polyvore. Polyvore lets you mix and match images from anywhere on the web, create outfits, interior designs, or any kind of collage. It's a virtual window shopping and visual merchandiser in one.
Not so fast Sister! Give credit to the photographer or source. If it's a product I'm writing about I like to send an email to the designer letting them know that I uploaded an image of their product. I do this for two reasons: the designer will visit my site and it's simply polite to do so. Plus, if they have a blog they might add a link to my site. A little back scratching never hurts.
I hope this inspires you to get started on your own blog. For me, blogging has been a fun and rewarding experience, I'm sure it will be for you too.
6/15/08Up Date: Meet Me at Mikes has a tutorial with even more information on blogging. go take a peek, it's a great blog.
