Blogging

Ideas for Blogging, including websites, information, and tips.

Lesson #2: Finding a Blogging Platform

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Perhaps the biggest question that affects the blogger is which platform do you choose. This article continues my series of short articles aimed at getting you started blogging (as an avid blogger, I like nothing better than to pass on the craze to the next person!)

In the first article

In the first article, we looked at how to find a suitable place for blogging. There are free hosted solutions but these entail a number of limitations, and most people share the same opinion as Michael commented in my review of his Blogger Blog, The View from Taiwan, does:

“…I face similar dilemmas with my own Blogger template, and wish now that I had used Wordpress from the beginning. Blogger is just too antiquated, buggy, and sluggish to do anything …”

What’s the difference?

It’s important to choose between having your blog hosted for you (as at Blogger or Wordpress.com or similar hosting companies – and there are many) and hosting it yourself on your own domain. For new bloggers, though, without much technical background, the issue boils down to:

Your own hosted domain gives you:

BUT

  • you don’t get much help to RUN your domain;
  • there’s quite a learning curve to running your own site; and
  • it costs some money.

Using a Blogger or similar hosted service gives you:

  • a well tested service;
  • fairly decent startup templates; and
  • it’s usually free

BUT

  • if you decide you like to blog, moving can be a pain;
  • some people regret the complexity of moving; and
  • you DON’T get a decent domain name, usually http://yoursubdomain.blogger.com

For this article, we are going to assume that you have chosen to host the blog on your own domain, in the main folder for your website, http://yourdomain.com or whatever.

What is a Blogging Platform?

A Blogging Platform is the actual software (or computer program) that you place (or upload) to your server via FTP. For this you will need an actual database set up as well, whichever platform you use. For many of the hosting companies, though, when you login into your panel (that website thath controls the functions of your hosting account), you’ll be able to set up your blog, e.g. WordPress, in one or two steps. I’d suggest that you choose the easiest setup yourself at the beginning.

One-Click Install on Self-Hosted Domain

Dreamhost offers one blogging option on its Easy Install and one in its Advanced Install mode: WordPress 2.5. I’m including this as an example of a one-click install.

easy install

You simply fill in the name of the Blog, the email address you will use, and the (sub)domain you want to host it on. As you will see, there are some limitations on this install, but it will give you a perfectly functional install of WordPress that you can easily update to a full-blown install. Many hosting companies, including BlueHost, Dreamhost, MediaTemple, etc. offer one-click type installs that make it easy to install a blog. You may not always get the platform of your choice, so check first before you hand over the dosh. A typical choice would be WordPress, B2, or any of a dozen other second-tier blogging platforms.

Wordpress vs. Moveable Type – Tier 1

Is WordPress #1?

Perhaps this is the best known blogging platform. In fact, if you are seriously considering using this, sign up for a free blog at WordPress.com account and test out the latest blogging tools in Wordpress BEFORE you even install it. Once you’re ready, just use the one-click install feature on hosting account.

It’s a pretty good platform overall, and you can be posting within minutes, if you wish, too.

wordpress

Moveable Type: Confused?

MoveableType is the next major choice for an independent platform. In fact, some of my favorite blogs are hosted using MT software, such as Scott Sommers’ blog on Taiwan. I haven’t used MT yet myself, though I am interested in trying it out for its native support of multiple blogs (it’s uploading now).

mt-image

The tools operate in a similar fashion to Wordpress and it is a very worthy choice. BUT users need to note that there are free options and commercial options.

On your own host: If you wish to host MT on your own host, then you can download one of the different versions: Personal (ie. non-commercial) Edition, Commercial or Enterprise editions. The key to the different versions seems to be how many users will be editing the blogs and/or whether the primary motive is running a commercial or non-commercial site. Then, of course, there’s the OpenSource version, too.

On their hosting: Moveable Type also provides their own hosting on TypePad that you can pay for an annual basis from $4.95 per month right on upto Premium and Business Class plans.

So will it be OpenSource, MT or TypePad?

Confused? I know I am. Also the other concern is – what is non-commercial?… A popular choice – undoubtedly! A solid choice – certainly! A confusing choice?… For sure. Also, if I were setting up a blog, I’d be much more inclined to pay for their own hosting on TypePad or choose the OpenSource version for my own hosting plan.

While nothing beats free, TypePad offers an easy solution to bloggers not wanting to deal with the hassles of setting up, configuring and updating the software or the database. Of course, you’re subject to some similar restrictions as on Blogger or Wordpress.com but for beginners that may be okay.

And my conclusion?…

There are a lot of second-tier blogging platforms out in the wild, but for beginners it would be wise to choose one that is first-tier to make the transition to blogging easier. There are enough problems to deal with, without worrying about technical details, too. To make it easier to choose, try this:

  1. If you have money but lack time or technological background, paying for TypePad would be a good place to start.
  2. If you have some money and some time/skill in technology, self-hosting either Wordpress or MT (OpenSource) would be a good choice.
  3. If you have a little money but no skill in tech, self-hosting but going the one-click route would be appropriate for you.
  4. If you have no money and no skills, then WordPress.com would be the best as it leaves you with an upgrade path (though money making options may be restricted somewhat by the TOS – and blogs are removed for breaking TOS). Blogger would also be a choice for you without the TOS restrictions on advertising.

What did you choose…?

Let me know what you chose for your first platform, why and what problems you faced in your choice.

Life on InvestorBlogger: What’s new?

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In recent weeks, I have made a number of changes to InvestorBlogger Dot Com to see what the effects would be.

1. Static/Dynamic frontpage

The first change was a complex one but one native to WordPress 2.5. I discovered that WordPress could set static pages as the front page, and another page as the blog. But I didn’t want to have a static page as the front page, I set up a dynamic front page that was independent of the actual choices I made for the blog page.

wordpress static page settings

It’s easy to do: create a page for each of the “frontpage” and “post page” above. Call it what you will. I called them Home for Front Page, and Blog for… well, it’s obvious. It wasn’t quite obvious that I had to set a static page for the posts page (since that’s always changing).

My tweak was to copy the code from the original front page, tweak the code inside the loops to show one full post, four partial posts, and five headlines (in effet, creating three mini-loops). Obviously, this could be better done than you see on my blog, but I quite like the page. Is it increasing pageviews? I don’t know yet.

I saved it as frontpage.php, then added the following code to make the page show up as a template. Templates are a part of WordPress, but it’s not immediately obvious if any templates aren’t included with that theme that you are using. I inserted the code right at the beginning of the frontpage.php.

<?php
/*
Template Name: StaticFrontPage
*/
?>

Also another oddity vs earlier versions of WordPress was that I couldn’t create a new file in WordPress, I had to do that through FTP, by creating the file on my desktop first then uploading it.

OK. Now remember that page I created at the beginning (I called it ‘home’ but it could’ve been anything). Find the page, edit it, then set the template like this. If you can’t see the template option, it means that your install didn’t find any templates to offer.

page template php

Then save. Voila. It works. I now have a front page (that is dynamic but selected so it’s different to Google, and a BlogPage that is fullsize).

2. Tidied up the Page List

I’ve also edited the page list at the top. It was getting unruly and disorganized as the page list kept getting longer and longer. I also couldn’t organize them properly, so I took the easy route…

page list

I edit the wp_list-pages function by listing only the pages I wanted then requesting that they be sorted by post title. Now whenever I create a page for some reason or other, it won’t show up unwanted on the top bar.

<?phpwp_list_pages(‘include=2,152,157,754,…etc…&sort_column=post_title&title_li=’); ?>

3. Tweaked the Sidebar

I’ve tweaked the sidebars also a little by messing around with the advertising and creating extra opportunities for those who use Entrecard to get traffic and eyeballs. This javascript widget takes the cards that people drop on your widget, and then converts them to links in the widget. It’s called: “You drop, I link” widget.

4. HubPages and Squidoo Lens

To increase awareness I also signed up for a HubPage where I’ll post the occasion tip and video to draw traffic from there. I had the review written by someone else to see how the review would handle my blog.

hubpage investorblogger

You can check out the Squidoo Lens, too.

squidoo lens

5. Advertising.

I’ve made a lot of changes to the advertising options over the last few weeks. You can read about what works and what doesn’t here. In the post, I look at Adsense, Amazon, TopSpots, etc. to show what works on this blog, and what doesn’t work.

6. Updated the OPML

I’ve finally updated the OPML download that is headlined on this page. I’ve included two new feeds and corrected one. Do download it and save yourself a ton of time in finding good quality reading for your FeedReader.

Top feed Subscriptions

I’ll be posting a Make Money Page soon, as well as Lesson #2 in the Quick Start to Blogging on Tuesday.

Get Started Blogging: Lesson #1

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I’ve been working with a decent guy called Anuj whom I met on the DigitalPoint Forums. He’s been helping me develop content for several websites. Recently, though, he’s been thinking about developing his own blogs for websites that are personal pet projects.

Kenneth

… I wanted to ask you some questions…This is for my personal use, i have a site on guitars(http://guitarheat.com/)
This is the blog page http://guitarheat.com/lessons/

Can you suggest me ways of how to built a blog and monetize it…

Also does your site have a wordpress theme?? or something else??
I have bought around 34 domains in the recent time, and i am thinking of devoluping a few…

So can you give any suggestions of how should i go with my regular blog? Will follow the same guidelines for all upcoming sites….
Also do you use Adsense? or any other affiliate?

If you have time and can suggest me something, it will be really kind of you.

Thank You
Anuj

These days with over 110 million blogs and more being created daily there are a number of challenges that need to be overcome.

But success boils down to three primary principles. There are three things you need to do to build a blog…

a. find content for your blog that is unique, relevant and well-written;
b. find an audience that needs your content or is motivated to read it, return to your blog or subscribe to your RSS feeds; and
c. find ways to monetize your blog through advertising, textlinking and affiliate marketing.

It’s that simple, and that difficult. If this is the first time you ran your own blog, I’d suggest that you work on one blog at the beginning otherwise you’ll find it to difficult to learn how to manage everything. When you have mastered the first blog, you’ll find the second and subsequent blogs much quicker to develop.

Finding a blog host

For your first blog, you can use Blogger if you wish or WordPress.com. I would strongly suggest that you don’t as there are a number of limitations for each of these. You won’t notice the limitations at the beginning, but after a few months you’ll begin to wonder why you didn’t make a different decision.

Blogger Limitations

I loathe the commenting system on Blogger. I hate the fact that most themes on Blogger don’t show the comments after the post; I hate the fact that titles aren’t clickable in Blogger themes, so it’s difficult for me to find the post URL to put in my article. That means less trackbacks and comments from me. I also think that other limitations will begin to annoy you seriously after a few months.

Wordpress dot com Limitations

On Wordpress.com there are a number of limitations, including the fact that you can’t add your own plugins, you’re not allowed to sell particular kinds of advertising; and both Blogger and Wordpress may decide that your blog is SPAM and lock it down or remove it, with little or no redress on your part.

HOWEVER, saying that using either of these is a good way to get a feel for the phenomenon of blogging and the tools that you are likely to use. In Wordpress.com’s case, it will help you to understand how WordPress Software actually works. Very helpful.

Hosting your own blog

This is ultimately the best solution for most people. And when you pay for your own hosting, you will get your own domain name thrown in. You will also have your own server space, bandwidth, your own email accounts… and much more. Most importantly, you’ll be free to add your own plugins, use whatever themes you like, sell whatever advertising you like, write whatever kind of content you like, and much more…

For example if you sign up with BlueHost, you will get GB’s of space, TB’s of bandwidth, a ton of good features such as emailing, and mailing list help, … take a look at the panel from the demo.

panel inside view

Many full-size host offer WordPress as a simple install on their panel once you register. Dreamhost, BlueHost, MediaTemple, etc… all do. I’d like to look at installing Wordpress manually in this post, but I think that’s beyond the remit of this “Getting Started Series”.

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In general, despite the learning curve on Wordpress software, you can still get started pretty quickly, esp. after learning the basics on Wordpress.com’s trainer blogs. Once you’ve signed up for hosting, chosen your domain name and installed a blogger platform, why not do some test posting.

In Lesson 2, we’ll look at two or three different platforms; In Lesson 3, we’ll look at developing different content and so on; Lesson 4 brings up the issue of finding traffic; and Lesson 5 brings up how to monetize the blog. It’s likely that I’ll write longer posts so I may delay some of the later lessons.