If you are new to blogging and you are planning to start your own blog, I would suggest you to sign up for an account at Blogger. Blogging at Blogger is easy and fun to do. Blogger has some great features and above all it is free. So you have nothing to lose. To start a blog at Blogger, follow following four easy steps, which can easily be completed within a couple of minutes.

Here’s a detailed step-by-step guide to help you to get started:

Step #1: Go to Blogger and click “CREATE YOUR BLOG NOW” option near bottom right corner of the page. Step #2: You will be asked to create a user name and choose a password that you will require to access your Blogger account. Type a display name that will be used to sign your posts and provide an email address. Blogger accepts other email addresses besides Google/Gmail ones.

Don’t forget to check the box that say you accept Blogger’s Terms of Service  and click “CONTINUE” to go to the next screen.



Step #3: Give a descriptive title and web address to your blog. It will be better if you use relevant keyword phrases in your blog’s title and its web address. It will help in search engine optimization and you will be able to get a relatively higher page rank in searches. Click “CONTINUE” to go to next window.
Step #4: You are required to select a template for your blog. This is the style and look of your blog. Blogger already has some preset designs that you can use. Select a template and click “CONTINUE”.
Your new blog is created and is ready for posting. Click on “Start Posting” to write your first post for the world to see. After you have finished writing your first post, click on “Publish post”. Within a few seconds Blogger will tell you that it has published your post and you have officially joined blogger’s community. 

If you are new to blogging and want to know more about it, read my post “What is a Blog / Weblog?”


// Image Credits: Vance’s Homestead

You might be thinking, it is April 2010, blog (a contraction of the term weblog) and blogging have become a buzz word. Every body knows about it. What is the point of posting a post about What is a Blog?
 
You are right, if you are thinking in this way. But, it is also a fact that there are people even now, who don’t know much about Blogs and Blogging. They have just heard its name and they want to start their own blog. This post is aimed at people like these and to help them start a blog of their own.

So let us come back to the topic of this post, what is a blog? I could answer it in many ways but the best way is to see what experts are saying about blogs and blogging:

“A weblog is a hierarchy of text, images, media objects and data, arranged chronologically, that can be viewed in an HTML browser.” Harvard Law

“A blog is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order”. Wikipedia

“A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.” Blogger

In a nutshell, a blog is website, where you post your entries in reverse chronological order. Readers of the blog visit your blog posts and they comment on your posts, if they wished so.

Now you have understood what a blog is, the next step before starting a blog is to select your niche (thematic topic of your blog). I would suggest you to select a niche (the more narrow your niche, the better), for which you have a passion. This will keep your interest in the blogging and secondly you will have enough motivation to update your knowledge about your niche a write a quality post.

Once you have selected your niche, it is time to opt a blogging platform. I would recommend you to go to Blogger and start your blog. It has a better platform and besides, it is a free service.

If you have difficulty in starting a blog at blogger, see my next post about step by step tutorial on “How to Start a Blog at Blogger”.

If you have your own working definition of a blog or you want to comment on my post “What is a Blog/Weblog?”, feel free to post your comment.

A father and his son, a young adult, were driving to the cottage. The father was worried, because his son had fallen into companionship with people who might lead him astray, and he was trying to help his son see that it was time for him to take his life a little more seriously.


“Aw, dad, I know you mean well, and I know I’m not really doing you proud, but I like to party. I’ll get on the right track some day. I don’t need to worry.”
They drove a little further, when suddenly the son said, “Hey dad, that was the turnoff for the cottage. You missed the turnoff.”


“I know,” said the father. “I think I’ll just keep driving this way for a while. I can always go back later to take the right road.”


A few more minutes – and a couple turnoffs – passed. The son began to think of the swimming he would miss if they arrived too late. “Dad, the farther you go down this road, the longer it will take to get back.”


The father replied, “That’s true. The further you go down the wrong track, the harder it is to get back. So when were you thinking of turning your life around to head down the right track?”


Where do you want to go? What do you want out of life? Most importantly, what are you waiting for?


// Credits: Taken from Self - Help Happiness Blog.