As I mentioned in a previous article there are many platforms that you can use to get started in the blogging business. The two most popular are Wordpress and Blogger. I personally prefer Blogger because it is easy to
learn and use. Wordpress is considered more powerful, but I believe that with all the improvements that Google has installed in the new version of Blogger, it has pretty much caught up with Wordpress.
Setting up a Blogger Account
The first thing you need to do is go to blogger.com and set up your account, that is pretty easy and self explanatory so I will not go into detail. When you get to the part where you chose your template, if you don't see anything you like, just pick something to get started. The neat thing about blogging is that there are a lot of blog designers that offer free templates for you to use or if you know how you can design your own. You do have to initially pick a template and then after the blog is set up you can make changes.
Blogger Template
My political website, The Political Coffeehouse and Mike Warner's Blogger Revenue, are both designs by Amanda at Blogger Buster. Amanda has designed some really neat blog templates for use with Blogger and gives the templates away for free. When I was working on the look of The Political Coffeehouse I had a few things that needed customized. I emailed my questions to Amanda and she, again for free, helped me customize the look of the site the way I wanted. The neat thing about working with Amanda is that she not only is an excellent blog site designer, but communicates very well with us non-techies. There are many helpful sites that have information on how to install widgets and customize your blog, but not many where the technician is able to communicate well with the average layman. My hat is off to Amanda. If you do want to use a custom template, the easiest time to do it is before you get started blogging. Later on if you want to give your blog a complete new look, it is possible, but a little complicated.
Setting up a Blogger Account
The first thing you need to do is go to blogger.com and set up your account, that is pretty easy and self explanatory so I will not go into detail. When you get to the part where you chose your template, if you don't see anything you like, just pick something to get started. The neat thing about blogging is that there are a lot of blog designers that offer free templates for you to use or if you know how you can design your own. You do have to initially pick a template and then after the blog is set up you can make changes.
Blogger Template
My political website, The Political Coffeehouse and Mike Warner's Blogger Revenue, are both designs by Amanda at Blogger Buster. Amanda has designed some really neat blog templates for use with Blogger and gives the templates away for free. When I was working on the look of The Political Coffeehouse I had a few things that needed customized. I emailed my questions to Amanda and she, again for free, helped me customize the look of the site the way I wanted. The neat thing about working with Amanda is that she not only is an excellent blog site designer, but communicates very well with us non-techies. There are many helpful sites that have information on how to install widgets and customize your blog, but not many where the technician is able to communicate well with the average layman. My hat is off to Amanda. If you do want to use a custom template, the easiest time to do it is before you get started blogging. Later on if you want to give your blog a complete new look, it is possible, but a little complicated.
|
|
(Guest)