LoboLinks Web Directory

A Beginner's Guide to Blogging

A Blog is an online record, a diary if you will. The blogger writes in it and posts it on the internet. It’s similar to a journal, just hosted online where thousands of people can see it. Friends use blogs to keep in touch, and often time prospective employers will do a search for your name online, probably bringing up your blog.

In your blog you can 1. Be natural, and just your friends and family will read, or 2. aim to be funny. This may attract people who don’t even know you to read your blog.

So you want to become a blogger? Well first you need to find a host. You can join LiveJournal, which has an emphasis on friends and communities, Blogger, which is set up for multiple blogs as well as ad hosting, Clear Blogs and more. And then there’s the info pages that are similar to blogs, but are filled with much more personal information that you really don’t want passed around the internet. (Examples are MySpace and Facebook.)

The purpose of your blog will be a big deciding factor. If you want a public blog that lots of people read for a laugh, you may want to get your own domain name and find a free layout. Wordpress is also a very nice instrument.

For beginners I suggest going with Blooger, LiveJournal, or Clear Blogs. They will give you layouts that you can customize to your own desires, and Livejournal has a lot of fun add ons (like emotions and smilies) and is a great ‘learn how to’ page. Blogger is a little more classy, but it’s a little more difficult to handle.

Either way once you decide which way to go there will be several necessary things to do. First of all you’ll need an avatar. An avatar is a 90 X 90 pixel image that will represent you. You can find millions of them on the internet by doing a search, or you can make your own using Adobe photoshop. The Avatar will be posted somewhere on your blog. (On LiveJournal it’s fixed at the top of your blog, on Blogger it’s on your profile page.)

Next you’ll want to personalize your blog. Set up your profile page, find a layout you would like to use, (all blog hosts provide several samples, and many users have built some that are also available.) And lastly, add friends. Your friends must be on the same blog host as you in order for you to add them.

Once you’re set up, start writing! As a precaution try not to write long winded posts. People will often skim them at best, or perhaps even ignore them entirely.

Be sure to get involved in your host community. Livejournal has hundreds of comics you can subscribe to, not to mention the hundreds and thousands of interest groups you can join. Plus the more active you are the more likely people are to click on your name, leading them back to your blog!

Blogging may be time consuming but it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great way to keep tabs on your friends, and to get a lot of laughs.