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Okay, you’ve decided start a blog and you’ve put together a rough publishing plan: how often you’re going to post long and short articles, who is writing, who is editing, who is managing the webmaster-related tasks (blogmaster). [See link at bottom.]

If you’re a small business owner, you’re probably going to have to wear all of these hats. But if you’re prepared, the next step is to set the blog up so you can start posting articles (sometimes called “entries” or even “posts”). (All links shown at the end of this article.)

You have two blog hosting choices:

1. Set up your blog on a free host such as Google’s blogspot.com, or Typepad’s Livejournal or WordPress’s WordPress.com.
2. Set up your blog on your own domain that you’ve registered and that you own.

This article will focus on choice #1. A follow-up article will discuss choice #2.

If you’ve visited any number of blogs, no doubt you’ve seen little text ads crying out “free blog”. There are numerous choices and this article has no intention of listing all of them. While I have registered with several free hosts including Typepad and Wordpress, I’ve found that Google’s blogspot.com uses a very simple, easy to use blogging platform and client (interface) called Blogger.com - so I’ll focus my example on these services.

To clarify, Blogger.com has both the blogging “platform” and the “client“. A blogging platform is the software that generates the blog pages for you. Examples include MovableType, WordPress, TextPattern, Drupal, and Blogger.com. Every one of these platforms has an administrative panel page where you can manage your blog - add, edit, and delete articles; add article categories; etc.

The admin panel page is typically called the blogging client and its features are platform-specific. However, there are standalone software applications - also called blogging clients - that you can download to your computer, and which do not work from a web browser.

With these standalone clients, you can write your blog entries and pretty much post to any of the platforms. That means you can have one client to manage multiple blogs on several free (or private) hosts. (But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.) I’ve tried numerous standalone clients, but use two of them exclusively.

One is Zoundry.com’s BlogWriter, which is a true standalone client. The other is Performancing.com’s Firefox Extension (PFF), which works as a panel within the Firefox web browser. (While I find both of them highly efficient, I am not necessarily endorsing them.)

Other choices are Qumana, w. bloggar, Loch Journal, amongst many others. For those of you familiar with Microsft Word, Blogger.com has a plugin that lets you manage your blog directly from MS-Word. You don’t have to learn a whole new interface - beyond the setup stage.

As this article is intended for absolute beginners to blogging, I’m focusing on Blogger.com’s platform and default interface. The steps are relatively simple, and you don’t require a degree in computer programming to set up a blog - unlike some of the other platforms.

1. Go to http://www.blogger.com and sign up for a free account. (I’m using them as an example. Feel free to pick whatever you like.) The form will ask you to enter your real name, a screen name, a password, and email address. If you have a GMail (Google Mail) account, use that. For your screen name, keep in mind that it will appear at the bottom of each article/entry that you post live to your blog. So pick something suitable. Rules for names are provided.
2. Now create a new blog.
• You’ll be asked to enter a title for the blog and a sub-domain name.
• The title will appear at the top of your blog at all times - unless you change the page template. (More in a future article.)
• The sub-domain name will be part of the domain “blogspot.com”. For example, if you are starting a blog to promote your plumbing fixtures store, you may want to use something like “home-plumbing-tips”.
• This will mean that your blog address/URL will be http://home-plumbing-tips.blogspot.com. (Some bloggers and readers don’t like hyphenated sub-domain names, but I see nothing wrong with them.)
• You could, of course, use something like “plumbing-fixtures”, but it will not convey the idea that you are providing helpful tips.
• Now it’s entirely possible that someone has already registered the subdomain you want on blogspot.com. If so, you’ll get a warning message and you’ll have to choose another sub-domain name.
• As a result of this, some of my blogspot.com blogs have fairly lengthy sub-domain names, which are easier to remember because they’re hyphenated.
• You’ll also be asked a number of other optional questions, and be given a chance to enter the URL of a digital picture of yourself, if you have one elsewhere. (There are several services, including http://flickr.com, that let you upload pictures and graphics for free. The only drawback is that the terms generally say that in return for free hosting, other people can use your images, with some conditions.)
• Next, choose a page template. All of the free hosts have some pre-formatted page templates. Pick one from the samples displayed, and you can customize it later - although this does take a bit of technical know-how. Once the template is selected, Blogger.com (or what have you) will create the blog for you, and you can start posting entries.
3. Post a “Welcome to Such and Such Blog” entry.
• You should see a button that says something like “start posting“. What’ll happen is a edit page with a form will appear. There will be fields for the article/ entry title, the body text, and a date/time stamp (which defaults to right now). There will also be a number of tabs that let you use the large text area like a rich-text editor. Play with the tabs and “buttons” a bit; get acquainted.
• On blogger.com at least, there is a link that says “show preview“. You can click this link and see what your article will look like formatted (but not with your template features). When you’re happy with the “welcome” article, click the “publish” button. (If you’re not happy but don’t want to lose what you’ve written, you can click the “save as draft” button and come back later to edit and publish.)
• Depending on the time of day, and since this is a new blog, the article should publish very quickly. You’ll see a message like “100% complete”. Voila, you now have a live blog. You can click on the “View site” tab to have a look.

You now have a blog. Get acquainted with the adminstration panel. Most of the popular blogging platforms have fairly thorough details, but sometimes they may be a bit too technical.

Now that you have your blog live and running, the next step is to post several more relevant articles in short succession, then start promoting your blog. I’ll talk about blog promotion in Part 4 (after 3b, which is an overview of setting up a blog on a private domain).

Links: Part 2: Planning Your New Blog

Raj Kumar Dash is a writer, author, and Internet consultant. Visit his hubsite at http://www.chameleonintegration.com/ to find the full introduction to blogging. (A free ebook on blogging is in the works.) Newbie bloggers can also visit Raj’s BlogSpinner blog at http://blogspinner.countwordula.com/ for a “how-to guide to blogging”.

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The term blog comes from the word iweblog. Blogs have been around for approximately 6 years in their current form - as a digital journal maintained by one or more authors. The blogosphere is the portion of the Internet where the websites are blogs. Anyone who blogs (writes blog entries) is referred to as a blogger.

Part of the charm of a blog is that the writing voice is very personal, one-on-one. This is much more palatable to readers, making it easier for them to trust the writer. Research shows that the most popular blogs also have a photo of the writer, even if the blog ultimately exists for promoting the services or products of a business. This also builds trust, and would seem out of place on a regular website, unless it was a regular column - and thus similar to a blog anyway.

Another advantage that a blog has over a regular website is that Search Engines currently love indexing them, since the content is typically updated very regularly. In fact, successful bloggers say that you must write and post blog entries at least daily, if not multiple times daily, if you want your blog to rank high in the Search Engines and blog directories for relevant keywords.

An ongoing experiment of mine shows that my blogs get indexed by the Search Engines more frequently than my regular websites. If you have both a website and a blog, you can then use the relative popularity of your blog to advertise your website, thus drawing traffic.

Another use for a blog is to develop Google PR (Page Rank) for your main site. If you write and post quality content to your blog frequently, you will eventually draw links from other arwebsites and blogs. This in turn helps increase your blog’s PR - a relative measure of popularity - which helps your visibility in the Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Similarly, if your blog links back to your main site, the site’s PR will eventually increase as well.

On the issue of using a blog to promote your business, you have to tread carefully. Your blog has to offer informative content without hard-selling your products and services. (But there is one blog, Woot.com, which exists solely to sell a new product every day.)

If you do publish a “business” blog, offer tips relevant to your business and its industry. Build trusting relationships. For example, if you selling antique furniture to consumers, offer useful do-it-yourself tips on refinishing, hints on how to save money by bargaining, materials to use for fix-it projects, and so on. Show the reader that you are interested in their well-being and finances, not just your bottom-line sales.

On the other hand, if your business caters to wholesale furniture buyers for chain or department stores, your blog content will have to be different. Such buyers are not interested in the same information as the average antique buyer. Target your blog content appropriately.

You can also add advertising to your site, which should be relevant to your blogging topics. Many of the ad networks provide “contextual” ads by scanning your blog (or website) and checking for keywords. The delivered ads will be thus be relevant.

While some people view ads as an annoyance, there are others who are searching for information. They may find your website via a Search Engine, but they may still be looking for additional information, or even product-specific information. The intent of contextual advertising is to provide links to sites with such information. And you get rewarded for (legitimate) clicks on ad links.

The truth is, there are millions of blogs out there, and blogging services report that number is growing rapidly on a daily basis. Carve out a niche relevant to your business. Exercise the leverage that Search Engines give to blogs. Post surveys and comment boxes so that readers can interact with you. In other words, build a relationship with readers. It takes time and effort to develop regular traffic to your blog, and quality content and frequency is the key.

(c) Copyright: 2005-present, Raj Kumar Dash, Chameleon Integration Systems

Raj Kumar Dash is a writer, author, and Internet consultant. Visit his hubsite at http://www.chameleonintegration.com/ to find the full introduction to blogging. (A free ebook on blogging is in the works.) Newbie bloggers can also visit Raj’s BlogSpinner blog at http://blogspinner.countwordula.com/ for a “how-to guide to blogging”.

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One common mistake new bloggers make is not realizing that managing a blog is similar to publishing a magazine. Your blog, to be successful, requires constant planning, research, analysis, and then more planning. You have to keep on top of your topic niche, but this means different things for different people.

For example, if you are blogging about something you do everyday, and are offering “how-to” type of info, then you may not need to do a lot of reading to keep on top of your topic. On the other hand, if you are writing about new products in your industry, unless you are creating these products yourself, you will probably have to do regular research to keep up.

I write several blogs that fall into different categories. For my computer programming blogs, I draw on my experience in a particular computer language and generally do not need to do any research, unless I want to blog about new software and tools. These programming blogs, however, take a great deal of effort, and any code I write has to be tested. The time investment per article is equal to or more than I spend on “research” blogs.

For product-related blogs, I have to do regular, intense research. I use Google Alerts (http://google.com/alerts) to have snippets of web or blog pages delivered to my email on a daily basis. Google Alerts lets you type in a few keywords and your email address, along with a delivery frequency (weekly, daily, as-it-happens). I get updates on several keywords nightly. They’re a boon to my research, but if I fall too far behind in checking the alerts, the resulting giant to-read list can get intimidating. (By the way, Yahoo! and MSN have similar services.)

What I do with the alerts is skim over them. If a snippet interests me, I’ll click on the link to visit the source web page and read the full story. I try to read several stories on the same topic, then summarize all of them into one short article, add links to the source stories, and add my own spin to the topic, either supporting or refuting what is being said in the stories. Adding your own spin is essential, as it is your opportunity to add your own personality - which is usually more evident in your original blog entries. Anyone can write a summary; make that summary yours.

With blogs that document my experience on a topic, I try to think about what I know now that would have helped me when I was starting out. Someone out there can do with your guidance. Providing this guidance in a blog is an excellent way to build rapport with readers. I feel that anyone can do this, regardless of what type of business you are in. But there are some questions you have to ask yourself, and which you should answer before you start blogging:

• Why are you blogging? Are you essentially trying to sell products and services (either online or offline), or showcasing your experience for some other reason? I blog for several reasons:
• I love to write.
• I can earn advertising money.
• I have a number of e-books that I’m writing, which I eventually hope to promote via some of my blogs.
• I showcase my blogs for small business owners who want to see what a blog for their industry may look like. For example, I have a couple of potential clients who are small- to medium-sized merchants that sell antiques or home decor and fashion. I’ve set up an example blog for them to view the possibilities.
• I showcase my experience on a topic, in order to gain contracts for website or blog architecting, design, or technical writing.
• Who are you writing for? My blogs are each targeted to different people. Even though several of them are showcases that exist in hopes of getting me contracts, they are written as any magazine on the same topic might be. For example, my antiques/ home decor blog is written for anyone who has an interest in such. In this case, I’m targeted buyers, not dealers. But the way I’ve set it up, my intent is to attract dealers to eventually write articles. My blog about spinning blogs is aimed at both people who write only one blog and those who write, or want to write, several blogs. I have to achieve a balance in my articles to cater to both types of readers.
• Who is going to write the blog entries? If you are the sole proprietor of the business you are promoting and have no employees, this will have to be you, as no one else knows your business as well as you do. If you have employees, you might have them participate: you sketch out ideas, they finish the articles. Or if your employees don’t have sufficient writing skills, you might consider an intern who wants to learn your business.
• Who is responsible for the quality of the content? Someone has to take on the role of editor. Ultimately, as a business owner, you should “own” the content. If the blog is promoting your business, it must maintain credibility, otherwise that will reflect badly on your business. But in reality, someone has to edit the content, especially if you are not the writer or if there are multiple writers. If your business is large enough to have a marketing department, they are the most likely “owners” of the blog. Otherwise, the task of editor may fall to you. Some blogmasters-for-hire will assume the role of editor.
• Who will be the blogmaster? This is a hybrid task, falling partway between marketing and partway between (technical) webmastering. It includes managing the blog, posting of entries, optimizing content for the Search Engines, and analysis of blog traffic. Blogmastering is yet another task you will probably have to add to your own to-do list. However, some bloggers out there will help you manage a blog, typically for a monthly fee, or for a retainer plus a per-post fee. These fees may include promotion as well as analysis of incoming web/ blog traffic. The latter is crucial; geo-targeting is essential to businesses which have geographical differences or limitations. For example, if you run a local business, but are finding that much of your web traffic is coming from another state or even another country, you may want to re-think your blog strategy. (Example below.)
• With what frequency will entries be posted? Typically, it’s wise to post entries two or more times a day, at least 5 days a week - although there are “weekly” blogs. Your blog entries do not always have to be large articles, and can often be summaries of other blogs or their articles, a list of resources, a few helpful hints, or relevant tips on saving money. However, every once in a while, you should write a longer article. To place higher in the Search Engines, your entries should be at least 75 words in length, when possible. Note that if your business is purely regional, and is unlikely to interest anyone outside of a certain geographical radius, blogging may not be as effective for you. In that case , you may want to set up a portal blog and invite other business owners from across the country/ continent/ world to participate. The “helpful hints” entries are of interest to all readers, but a region-specific blog entry could link to the writer’s own business website. Keep in mind that the synergy gained from multiple points of view has proven itself in terms of web traffic on various blog networks. There is also less onus on a single writer to blog everyday, and the increased number of total daily blog contributions is likely to draw more blog traffic than for several small regionally-based blogs.

These are just a few of the questions you have to answer. I recommend that before you set up your blog, you also write at least 10 entries to get a feel for things. Starting up and maintaining a blog, on top of your daily business commitments, is a lot of work. It’s your public face on the Internet - more so than a regular website - and you want to maintain credibility. So plan your blog well.

Raj Kumar Dash is a writer, author, and Internet consultant. Visit his hubsite at http://www.chameleonintegration.com/ to find the full introduction to blogging. (A free ebook on blogging is in the works.) Newbie bloggers can also visit Raj’s BlogSpinner blog at http://blogspinner.countwordula.com/ for a “how-to guide to blogging”.

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