The How To of Creating a Blog

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Snow Boarder
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The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by Snow Boarder »

Hi Bogleheads,

Can anyone give me some direction on where to go to create a blog for my wife? This will earn me some major points with her. :thumbsup

It was casually mentioned this morning as 'Wouldn't it be nice if we had a blog for this' which is her really nice way of saying 'Will you set one up for me?'.

I have found a handful of 'pre-fab' websites online but I'd rather not have to use trial and error to find the best one.

So far I have found 2 possibilities. :?:
1) Googles Blog Program (blogger.com)
2) Wordpress

I am looking for:
* Free
* Easy to use.
* Easy to create with some graphics to make it look good.

Thanks in advance,
Snow Boarder
Greenville (SC) Chapter Coordinator | greenvillebogleheads@gmail.com
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PaddyMac
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by PaddyMac »

I would go with Wordpress if you want to make sure that you have enough growing room for when your wife wants to add more features, slideshows, etc. There are more options than with the ones that look quick and "easy", like blogger.
chaz
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by chaz »

Wordpress is good.
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White Coat Investor
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by White Coat Investor »

If she's reasonably serious and plans to make any kind of money off the blog, I'd avoid the free option. My hosting fees are $50 a year, and instead of a lousy URL I get to use whatever I like.

Wordpress is pretty easy to use. It's a fun journey learning how to put up a website.
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PreemieNurse
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by PreemieNurse »

What is the purpose of the blog? I've set up blogs with both Blogger and self-hosted WordPress. If it's just something basic, like to share photos and keep family updated with your life, or chronicle your travels, then blogger should be okay. For anything professional or if she is really serious about it, WordPress is far superior.
KyleAAA
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by KyleAAA »

Go with a self-hosted Wordpress blog (wordpress.org). There really isn't anything else even close on the market.
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shorttallguy
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by shorttallguy »

I would also suggest Wordpress. Pretty easy to get going and use, but a lot of functionality you can add in later.

You might also want to consider getting a vanity domain to go with it. If you can find a nice domain that suits her you can register it for $10-20 a year. If you use a big registrar like godaddy you can also use their hosting for a few $ a month and they can deploy Wordpress for you at the click of a button. Another bonus to getting a domain is that you can utilize the domain for e-mail as well.
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linuxuser
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by linuxuser »

I wouldn't use GoDaddy's hosting.
Their pricing is mediocre at best.
morphos
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by morphos »

Hover.com is great for domain registration if you're not getting a domain with the blogging service you subscribe to.
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Snow Boarder
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by Snow Boarder »

PreemieNurse wrote:What is the purpose of the blog? I've set up blogs with both Blogger and self-hosted WordPress. If it's just something basic, like to share photos and keep family updated with your life, or chronicle your travels, then blogger should be okay. For anything professional or if she is really serious about it, WordPress is far superior.
With the info I originally provided, it seems that the majority of posters lean towards Wordpress.

The purpose of the blog is social. It is not poised to generate revenue (financial in nature) so as PreemieNurse puts it; A way to 'chronicle your travels'.

Now that you know its social blog, Would you say that blogger.com good enough for who/what it is for?
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Kevin M
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by Kevin M »

Haven't tried WordPress, but Blogger has been OK for me. However, I don't like their editor, so usually use Microsoft Live Writer to compose my posts. I haven't done any page design other than messing around with their templates. If you get a domain name, you can use it for your blog (instead of whatever default they provide).

Kevin
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dandan14
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by dandan14 »

Depends on what she wants to do. Does she need her own domain? Does she have some tech skill to be the admin?

If she wants easy, the easiest thing is to pay for a blog at wordpress.com.

If she is willing to learn and do a few techie things, there are tons of tutorials on youtube to show you how to install. Hosts like bluehost and others have a 1 click install for wordpress.
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linuxuser
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by linuxuser »

dandan14 wrote:If she wants easy, the easiest thing is to pay for a blog at wordpress.com.
A basic blog is free at wordpress.com

You don't have to worry about getting hacked.
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Noobvestor
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by Noobvestor »

If you end up with a domain name, consider privacy registration - this gives the domain registration company's name/address instead of yours in (mandatory) public listings. Dreamhost (and maybe others, but not GoDaddy) offers this service for free with a domain registration.
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tfb
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by tfb »

Snow Boarder wrote:Now that you know its social blog, Would you say that blogger.com good enough for who/what it is for?
Wordpress.com is just as easy and better.
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JamesSFO
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by JamesSFO »

Tumblr is another option for blog hosting to consider and you can easily host your blog on yourdomain.com without paying a fee.
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Noobvestor
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by Noobvestor »

JamesSFO wrote:Tumblr is another option for blog hosting to consider and you can easily host your blog on yourdomain.com without paying a fee.
Ooh, good call. It all depends on the person, but if they check out the Tumblr theme options and see that it's enough for what they want to do, Tumblr's by far the simplest option.
"In the absence of clarity, diversification is the only logical strategy" -= Larry Swedroe
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linuxuser
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by linuxuser »

Noobvestor wrote:If you end up with a domain name, consider privacy registration - this gives the domain registration company's name/address instead of yours in (mandatory) public listings. Dreamhost (and maybe others, but not GoDaddy) offers this service for free with a domain registration.
Dreamhost is not an accredited ICANN registrar. http://www.icann.org/registrar-reports/ ... -list.html
They merely re-sell.

As for privacy registration, using your employer's address or a PO Box is more than adequate. The only thing you'll get at that address is junk mail if that.
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linuxuser
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by linuxuser »

JamesSFO wrote:Tumblr is another option for blog hosting to consider and you can easily host your blog on yourdomain.com without paying a fee.
The same can be said for using a free account at Wordpress.
ClaireTN
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by ClaireTN »

Snow Boarder wrote:
PreemieNurse wrote:What is the purpose of the blog? I've set up blogs with both Blogger and self-hosted WordPress. If it's just something basic, like to share photos and keep family updated with your life, or chronicle your travels, then blogger should be okay. For anything professional or if she is really serious about it, WordPress is far superior.
With the info I originally provided, it seems that the majority of posters lean towards Wordpress.

The purpose of the blog is social. It is not poised to generate revenue (financial in nature) so as PreemieNurse puts it; A way to 'chronicle your travels'.

Now that you know its social blog, Would you say that blogger.com good enough for who/what it is for?
If she really just wants to do something very simple and social, then have a look at posterous. I use it for a group I moderate. Couldn't be simpler. You pick a theme, name the blog, and then you can post just by e-mailing the content to the blog with the subject line as the title for the post. It's also very easy to upload photos, video, documents, whatever. The e-mail address for the blog ends up being nameofblog at posterous dot com. It's also easy for people to sign up to follow the blog or to add new administrators or contributors. The theme here is "it's easy," but of course that comes at a cost in terms of power and flexibility.
montanagirl
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by montanagirl »

linuxuser wrote:
JamesSFO wrote:Tumblr is another option for blog hosting to consider and you can easily host your blog on yourdomain.com without paying a fee.
The same can be said for using a free account at Wordpress.
And you can do the same with Blogger.
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linuxuser
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Re: The How To of Creating a Blog

Post by linuxuser »

caroljm36 wrote:
linuxuser wrote:
JamesSFO wrote:Tumblr is another option for blog hosting to consider and you can easily host your blog on yourdomain.com without paying a fee.
The same can be said for using a free account at Wordpress.
And you can do the same with Blogger.
True.

One caveat about doing something like this is that when using Blogger.com or Wordpress.com, you don't actually have a webhosting account and hence don't have nameservers for your domain name, your registrar *may* charge an additional fee for this type of service.
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