Blog Basics - Chapter 2: I’m ready, how do I get started creating my blog?

Posted by Ryan
January 31, 2008

This post is part of The Vacant Cubicle Blog Basics Series

Great, so I’m assuming you’ve read Chapter 1 on whether you should start a blog and you’ve decided you should. Now for the next step, deciding on how and where you will begin your journey into the blogosphere.

Chapter 2, Section 1: Choosing your blogging software.

Most blogs today are created using some type of pre-existing software. It’s faster and easier to use something that has already been created explicitly for the purpose of running a blog. These programs have been tried and tested and most have additional themes and plugins to make your blog look and work even better. Below is a short list of the software that I’ve used and I feel is acceptable, please visit each one and see which one looks better to you. When choosing software there are a few things you should look for. First, choose an application that has a community built around it such as a mailing list or discussion board. This will allow you to get support without paying which is always a good thing. Second, don’t purchase blogging software. There are so many great open source (free) applications out there that there is no real need to purchase one, especially when you’re first starting out. If you continue to use the open source software I do encourage you to contribute to their cause, most software creators accept some form of donations. Paying for software and paying for a host to run it on are two different things that we will discuss next.

Blogging software I recommend.

For a bigger list browse over to Wikipedia and read their blog list.

Chapter 2, Section 2: Choosing a host to run your blog on

Once you’ve decided on which software solution you’re going to use you will then need to think about where you’re going to host your blog. Since blogs are, for all intents and purposes, websites, you will need a web server to host your blog on. There are plenty of affordable hosting solutions out there and some even come with the blogging software installed to make it even easier for you to get started. Once you know what software solution you plan on using, visit their website and look for a section on hosting. Often you will find that they offer a list of providers that they use or trust to host their software. If that doesn’t work search around Google, often people create businesses around a certain software package so more than likely there is a hosting provider out there that will host your blog with the software of your choice.

If you don’t want to or can’t find a hosting provider that provides hosting for the software you want to use, your next option is to get a shared hosting package and host it yourself. Obviously for the new blogger this is the more complicated approach but since we’re in the Internet age there are plenty of resources available to help you along your journey. Visit the software’s websites and look through their documentation, there should be a getting started section which lists what you will need to run the blog software. Make sure you pick a shared hosting solution that meets their basic requirements. Along with the getting started section there should also be a section on how to install the software, you should be able to use this to install the software on your shared hosting account. Since there are so many different software packages and an ever greater number of shared hosting providers it’s impossible for me to be able to give instructions for all of them. My best advice is to choose a hosting provider and software solution that already has a great community built around it that way you if you get stuck it’s easier to find help.

Tip: Most blogging software solutions offer some kind of community support. Browse around their website or do some searches to find if there are forums devoted to assisting members. Forums can be a great place to get free support.

Here are some shared hosting providers that I’ve used in the past. I don’t use them anymore but I can say that my experience with them was great while I was a customer.

Blogger.com and other proprietary solutions.

There are some solutions that combine both the software and the hosting part of blogging. The downside to this approach is you can’t download and install their software on your servers; the only way to get access to these programs is to use it on their host. There are quality services out there but they often have restrictions such as disk space, bandwidth consumptions and what you can and can’t put on your blog. If you’re just starting off these services are great but if your blog gains popularity you might quickly outgrow these solutions, this is something to keep in mind if you choose to go this route.

Some free hosted blogging services

Well, that’s the basics for selected software and hosting to run your new blog. Once you have your software picked out and your host up and running the next step is setting up your blog so it feels like your blog. Our next section in Blog Basics will cover how to customize the look and feel of your blog so it’s unique and reflects your own personal taste and style.

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