How to Create a Blog For Absolute Beginners

Introduction

So what the heck is this blog thing everyone is talking about and how do you get one? Blog is short for "web log" and it's basically your own personal online diary. It's a great place to post photos, ideas, rants and ravings and remain anonymous--or not. And they're pretty easy to create. This baby seems to be doing it. So here are the basics to get you up and running...

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Internet connection

Steps

1.)

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Explore the blogging websites. Most of them are free to set up and use, and the ones that cost money are probably too complicated for a beginner anyway. Several of the more well-known free services are Blogger, Live Journal, MySpace, and Friendster. Even Yahoo and AOL have pages where you can create a private or public blog. (AOL’s is on their “People Connection” page.) And if you want your dog to have his or her own blog, and why wouldn't you, you can create one at a site called Dogster.

Click around to see which site most appeals to you. Browse through a couple of their blogs. Blogger offers a nice beginner’s tour right on their homepage.

2.) Choose a service and create an account. The usual password and email rigmarole.

3.)

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A snap, so far, right? Okay, now here’s where it gets interesting. After you set up an account, the next thing the website will ask you to do is name your blog. It could be something simple and boring like “John Smith’s Blog,” but people usually come up with more creative titles describing themselves or their interests, such as “Bitter Angry Writer” or “The Artful L.A. Dodger” or “Catwoman’s Scratching Post” or the like.

4.) Now, the site will ask you to choose a web address, also known as a URL, where your blog will live on the web. It will be something like www.tlperl.blogspot.com or www.bitterangrywriter.myspace.com. And just like when you chose your email name, you might have to go through several combinations to find a site name that’s available. Once you’ve done it though, you’ve essentially created your own web page! Mazel tov!

5.)

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The next page shows you templates with thumbnail sketches of different designs. There are all kinds of cool layouts to choose from, from the most basic black-on-white to colorful graphic designs. Choose the one that most appeals to you and that fits your blog subject if you have one. Like everything else about your blog, you can always change it later. At blogger, once you've acheived this step, you will get a message congratulating you for creating a blog and directing you to start posting.

6.)

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The next screen you see looks like a big email box. Type your journal entry just like you would an email. You can choose different fonts and sizes of text, add pictures, lists, links to websites, anything you’d like. There will be a preview button to click to see if you like the way your blog looks. If not, click the “return to edit mode” button and do just that until you like what you see. Then, click publish. It’s as easy as that. You're blogging, baby!

7.)

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You’ll usually also find a button marked “customize” or “settings” on the page. This is where you get to choose if your blog is public or private, what personal information you’d like to display on the page and other such settings. You can alter these at any time as well. There’s also a “change template” page if you’d like to rearrange the boxes on your blog, or change the colors, or add pictures to the main page ad other stuff too. There are lots of other fun and more complicated things to do as well to spruce up your site. Try not to get overwhelmed and stick to the basics at first. If you do get adventurous, check out the help section for tips...