Trying to build a blog

Rjbiz has directed me to this forum, from my initial introduction.

I know very little about blogs, but do not really wish to be a 'pain in the proverbial' by asking a lot of idiotic questions. So, I have been looking at a myriad of Blogs, to get the general idea firstly about them and secondly who did infact build them.

I would be grateful therefor if you could advise me on sitebuilder.com as I see that if I create a website. (Which they have convinced me even I should be able to do!) it will also let me build a blog. Is this right? AND most importantly is it as easy as they suggest? ALSO is there a sting in the tail if I go down this route?
I thank you in advance.

 

My advice:
Get a domain name and blog host and install WordPress. Free blogs do not give you the control options that you need.

 

Much like coalvic mentioned, most shared hosting providers offer one click wordpress installations. Wordpress is a very powerful open source blog software available completely free. These shared hosting company's offer support with their subscriptions, and I'm sure would be more than willing to assist you. I may suggest zotohost.com as they have dedicated wordpress hosting & support for this type of situation.

 

Thank you Coalvic.
Well that was an eyeopener on the host sites, as I've been convinced today that 2 of the bad ones were in fact good! (This will be a disater, one minute it feels like a light at the end of a tunnel and the next minute I realise its an oncoming train!).
So if I am correct then MDDhosting would be an adviseable way to go for a host. I say this, as I know I will be loading a lot of pictures (that is the only thing I do know at the moment - I'm taking great satisfaction knowing that I do know at least one thing!)and I have no idea of Gb /Mb etc. but it appears that I can increase if needs be this facility at a later date.

Now contrary to my first post :-

Is there any chance someone could point me to a good reviewer of websites which include blogs - MOST IMPORTANTLY, which can be made by an idiot! (I use that term strongly, as I do not wish to give the impression that I am in any way capable of achieving this smoothly).

Thank you in advance

 

Its that damned oncoming train!!!! I knew it couldn't last! I'm off researching again, as the sticky on the top of this forum convinced me I'd be better with Blogger and not Wordpress.

No I shall remain upbeat, I have at least found a host!

 

Not to steer you away from blogger as it is a good platform for beginners however. For better and more control over your project, shared hosting is the way to go along with wordpress.

 

Jackel.ca I thank you for that......... Your link opens a page called simple cloud. To be honest they're running an advert on Sky News at the moment for a cloud and the advert doesn't make sense! As for Apps and the like.. mind blowing. You see I have a Nokia 3310 (I think) circa 1999. It calls and lets me text 200 characters!
I genuinely wasn't lying when I said I had no idea.

You are however, as far as I can see spot on with your advice. I just didn't realise I had so much to learn!!! Going to try and understand this cloud thing. (They say everyone has a silver lining).

Thank you.

 

Hehe. jackel.ca is an old domain, it no longer belongs to me. I really should have removed that long ago. I encourage you to not pay too much attention to the ads you're seeing. And I doubt you'll be needing any cloud computing as of yet. Sorry for that.

 

Hello.

Well if you are really new to blogs and no nothing about wordpress I would recommend sites such as wpengine.com, they would probably help you out with everything that you need related to WordPress

 

Hi again there.

In building their websites, in my opinion, people have different ideas because they have different backgrounds and also the website has different purpose. There is no single tool that does the best for every jobs, however it is not easy either to find the right tool for the right job --except for less than a dozen of Gurus here (typically they are harsh because they want us to know the basics first). If I can go back in time, I would have learned programming language first instead of CMS and I will be more productive than I am now.

Having said that, the browser ("client-side") that we are using now only knows 3 kind of scripts: HTML, JS, CSS. On the other hand, there are also "server-side" scripts which are responsible to output the files and all the data we have on our server onto HTML/JS/CSS. One of the most popular server-side script is called PHP. For those who wants to build websites without trying to spend their precious time learning PHP (therefore save the time for other things like: content creation, SEO and/or marketing, etc.), there are good guys who creates various PHP-based CMS such as Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.

Check some demos here:
https://www.softaculous.com/demos
http://www.opensourcecms.com/

Please note that PHP is not the only server-side script, there are others such as Java, Python. .NET, etc. But PHP is popular and free (compared to some Windows-based tool).

Like I said in another thread, if you want to focus on content, I would suggest you using blogger.com/blogspot.com. This platform allows you to learn how to create articles/blog posts and pages, insert images or sound or videos, and once you are satisfied you can export them easily to another platform (or stay with them and buy a .com to use with it). However, you do not have full control over your blog and will have some problem in adding features such as forum, contact form, shopping cart, etc. Other blogging platform are excellent, too, but you probably have to pay more if you want to stick your own .com there. So, on your research, make sure you browse for their Pricing or Features menu if they have any.

If you want more control, another option would be using PHP-based CMS such as Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, etc. I would prefer using Drupal, but the most popular among these is Wordpress. If you already have your own domain, and purchase your hosting (the cheapest one, only to start with), you can install Wordpress in less than 15 minutes and try to configure them later.

Now, if you already have your own Wordpress site, you can start creating your articles/blog posts and pages. An article or a post is something that you would want to create on a regular basis (like daily, weekly, monthly) while a page is something that you want to tell your visitors about your site (e.g. About, Terms of Service, Introduction, Map, etc). If posts and pages are not sufficient to represent your contents, you can create custom post types such as Events, Locations, etc with the help of any available plugins you can search from your Wordpress admin dashboard. You can also change the look of your site with the help of any available themes you can search from, again, your Wordpress admin dashboard.

Please note also that wordpress.com is different to wordpress.org. They are from the same company, called Automattic. Wordpress.com is a free blogging platform like blogger.com (but you have to pay a bit more if you want your own .com), while wordpress.org is where you can download a script/software that almost everyone always refers as Wordpress.

The first step is the hardest, they say. Believe me, it is the easiest. But, in each of the next step, the fun is more.

 

I agree with the suggestions above about using a shared hosting and using wordpress on it. Wordpress is a very popular platform not only for blogging but for universal use for websites. The advantage of using wordpress is that is has a lot of tutorials which can be found online. Youtubers on youtube even offer video tutorials on it that you can follow step by step.

 

Hello, I think i have a answer for you. 3 months back iam in the same situation now you are in and now i have my own blog www.bloggersbasics.com , Go with wordpress it will be very easy to setup may be a hour or two. I have written a article just yesterday on my blog, it will help you decide.

 

Thanks rakesh..... Unfortunately, I decided to go for a hosted domain, website /blog...... What a mistake that was..... It said it would take 5 minutes to get a website!!!! it took 2.5 hours just to link outlook.... Now I can only link to windows 8 max and I'm on windows 10!!!!

I took your suggestion! you should have a signature to your avatar... Namely do not use my site if you REALLY KNOW NOTHING! - Have to say though the online help so far has been absolutely outstanding

 

What are you on about? What the hell does Outlook or what version of Windows you're on have to do with your host/website?

While the advice given about Wordpress and so on is not exactly bad, I must wonder WHY you want to make this blog. People with absolutely no knowledge about websites or blogs shouldn't make websites or blogs, it's that simple. If it's a personal page for family and friends, by all means, go ahead, but if it's for a project meant to reach the public, it's really not a good suggestion to tell you "you can do everything yourself, just google or youtube it". While you CAN, the result will probably not be good - webdesign, like any other skill, demands some dedication, a willingness to learn, and the time to actually work on teaching yourself the skills needed.

While Wordpress in general should be very easy to set up, getting everything to do exactly what you want is NOT as simple - just finding a decent theme can take days, not to mention integrating everything you want on your page via plugins etc.

If this is something of a project, I suggest joining forces with someone who at least have a minimum of knowledge about websites / Wordpress.

 

That is awesome that you want to get into blogging!

Good decision!

What I would recommend you to do, is to build your own self-hosted blog online.

Also, invest on your blogging and internet marketing education. It is very important to LEARN the right Knowledge.

Building and running a blog online is simple. The concepts and steps are very simple. It is the work you need to do, to take it to success that will be the real challenge.

Here is what you need to do:

1 - Buy a good Domain Name
2 - Buy a good Hosting Service
3 - Install a Blogging Platform (WordPress is highly recommended)
4 - Install a good Theme and necessary Plugins
5 - Work on the User Experience (Design, Colors, and Layout)
6 - Publish High Quality Blog Posts very frequently
7 - Implement multiple Internet Marketing Strategies to Promote your Blog and Blog Posts
8 - Build Up the Daily Traffic Flow to your Blog
9 - Monetize your Blog very well, for high conversions (Capture Leads and make Affiliate Sales)

These are some of the first steps you need to take and learn more about - if you really want to build a successful blog online

You will make it happen!!

 

You can start by purchasing a domain name, then choose a hosting plan and download WordPress. Install a theme and you are on track. Good luck.....

 

Do you like to let someone else to create and manage your blog and still earn good income from that blog?

 

This discussion is pointless without knowing the purpose of your blog and what you want from it more exactly, like @PoPSiCLe said.
Blogger vs Wordpress is like Android vs Apple , LOTR vs Harry Potter , Pepsi vs Coke. It's a matter of tastes.
If you want simplicity with no headaches you go for Blogger. If you want customizations you go for Wordpress, but be prepared for white nights of work.
If you choose a company to build that website for you, you depend on them totally and that's not something I recommend. Once you choose which blogging platform you want to use there are tons of information on how to use them properly. Knowledge is power.

 

Actually my plan is to help people who cannot make it through to success in blogging business. I know this might be like a giving a fish to a hungry man without teaching him how to fishing. But I can see lot of blog hungry people when there is lot of blog fishing classes all around the web. Knowledge is power but time’s mater.

 

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