Blogging seems to be all the rage and I'm thinking I should start one. Sorry for the noob questions, but what's the best free software out there? Do they differ in ability to SEO/promote them? I want to get mine popular. Do all blogs require you to register or some allow 'guest' posting of comments. I have my own hosting account, should I use this? or do blogs come with hosting. Do I need to buy a domain for it? Or is it best to use one by a blog 'provider'? Any advice is greatly appreciated and good info rewarded with Green reps. Thank you.
Using your own domain adds credibility rather than using a free hosted blog. Guest commenting is optional. I'd suggest you disable registration and use the anti-spam image plugin. People are too lazy to register for just to leave a comment.
WordPress Wordpress has a lot of plugins to aid in SEO. Best bet is to allow people to comment without registering. It's up to you, you can set it to only allow registered users the ability to comment. blogger.com and wordpress.com both have their own hosting. It's better to host your own -- you'll have greater flexibility. Own domain is best, but there are plenty of successful blogs on blogger.com and wordpress.com. If you're new to it all I'd suggest using a hosted blog. See if it interests you. You can always setup your own blog on a registered domain at a later time and import the articles from your free blog.
Thank you for the great help, you've answered a lot of my questions. Green Reps to both. Any other advice is welcomed!
1. Wordpress is, IMHO, the best. However, you might try other software, such as Typepad. See what works best for you. 2. Wordpress is SEO-friendly by default. There are plugins that can enhance it even more... With some experience, you're likely to get good results in SEs. 3. It's up to you. You can make your visitors register before posting comments or you can allow them to comment anonymously. I suggest you let them comment freely, and use a plugin like Spam Karma 2 or Akismet to catch spam (you're sure to get some, believe me..) 4. I strongly suggest you use your own hosting account and your own domain name. Don't use free hosting services. Imagine if your blog is successful, you'll want to move everything to a new domain which is a pain in the a$$. 5. See 4.
Thanks r3born! I think the option of not having people needing to register is the way I'll go. I can understand it for forums, but people get more feedback and interaction on forums which make the effort worthwhile I think. Just being able to leave a comment maybe not worth it and put people off, it does me. Green reps for your kind help
I've published about 20 blog articles and tutorials which will help you get going. If you aren't familiar with the blogosphere you may want to freshen up on your blog definitions
You need to blog with Wordpress... And get the Authority Black Book here: Wordpress Explained, it's a free guide to the web 2.0. You have everything you need to know about Wordpress inside.