Lake Neuron

Previously: Part I

If you’ve decided to experiment with blogging, you have two choices to make: a blogging service or software and a place to host your blog.

The blogging service or software provides you with the handy little web-based form that you use to type your blog entries into. You don’t have to know anything about web page design; you just have to be able to type into a form and then click the “publish” button.

The blog host is the place on the web where your blog resides. It’s possible that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides you with a certain amount of web space as part of your normal Internet access package. If so, you could host your blog there. You will need to find out how much web page space is available, and whether there are any special rules or regulations. For example, some ISPs don’t want you selling anything on your free web space, especially if they make a distinction between “personal” and “business” accounts. If you go this route, you will also need to find out how to transfer files to your web page — this is a process called FTP, and so you will need to find out the “FTP address” for uploading files to your web page. In some cases, files for your web page will need to go into a specific directory or folder, which might be called “www” or “public_html.”

Stop! this is too technical for me!

If you don’t want to fiddle with this technical stuff, your best bet may be to look for a blogging service and blog host rolled into one. You can get free, easy-to-use blog hosting, although you might have to settle for having some sort of ad or sponsorship message on your blog page.

For beginners, my recommendation would be to use Blogger as your blogging service and BlogSpot, which is part of Blogger, as your web host. This is very easy to use and set up. The only drawback is that BlogSpot puts a little toolbar at the top of your blog. The toolbar includes a search feature which people can use to find things on your blog. But the toolbar also includes a “next blog” button which randomly takes you to another BlogSpot-hosted blog.

In the past, I said I didn’t like this, because I was concerned that someone might jump from my site to a blog with offensive content and think that I was somehow connected to or endorsed the next blog. This was a particular concern to me when I was using my blog to build support for a foreign mission trip I was taking. As people become more and more familiar with blogs and web sites, I think this is probably less of a problem. Most people will understand that you have no control over that “next blog” button. And the toolbar gives you a chance to flag truly offensive content.

Blogger and BlogSpot provide an easy way for you to jump into blogging and see if you like it. Signing up is seamless — you start at the Blogger site, and then at one point in the process it asks if you want to use your own web space or BlogSpot. If you choose BlogSpot, you go right into the setup process for that. (If not, you’ll need to have your FTP information handy, so check with your ISP beforehand.)

Blogger will let you choose from a number of “templates” which will determine the appearance of your blog. Of course, Blogger is so popular that some of its templates have become very widely used. But new ones are added to the service from time to time so that all blogs don’t look alike.

Later, if you want more control and more features, you can switch from a blogging service like Blogger to blogging software like WordPress, which is what I’m now using, or Movable Type. In this case, you’ll probably need to start paying for web hosting, since either WordPress software or Movable Type software must be installed to the machine that hosts your web page. I now pay for web hosting (from Total Choice Hosting, which I love) and a domain name. It doesn’t really cost much, but you should definitely try blogging first to see if you like it before spending any money.

Next: Do I have anything to say?