By far the largest obstacle for most individuals is the initial setup of your blog. I receive many calls and e-mails asking questions about blogs, below are some of the most FAQ's.
Q: How much does a blog cost to create?
A: In general blogs are free to create and maintain if you are using a hosted service such as: Blogger, Vox, and Live Journal to mention a few. There are also very low cost blogging tools from the open source community, but in general I recommend one of the free hosted services when starting out.
Q: Are they difficult to setup?
A: If you are using a free hosted blog, the actual setup is quite easy, in fact most people can be up and running within a couple of hours. More advanced features such as customizing the layout and adding custom graphics or features may require assistance from your webmaster. If you wish to host your own blog it is recommended you consult with your webmaster for more detailed information.
Q: Can I use my own domain for my blog?
A: This is really dependant on what type of a blog you use. If using a free hosted solution you would need to check with the company to see what they support, but in general most companies will allow you to use your own domain. All you would do is register a new domain name for your blog and then apply it to your blog (if allowed). If you are hosting your own blog, you probably don't need a new domain and your webmaster would use either a subdomain (myBlog.mydomain.com) or a subweb (mydomain.com/myBlog)
Q: How often do I update my blog?
A: The quick and easy answer for this would be whenever you want. The reality is people update their blogs daily, weekly, monthly and sometimmes not all. My advice is to create an update schedule that fits within your allowed time.
Q: How do people see my blog?
A: A blog can be seen in several ways, linked from your website, searched via the web, links from other blogs, and linked from newsletters to mention a few. In general your blog is most visited by following a link from your website, but as blogs grow they can take on a life of their own.
Q: Can anybody post comments to my blog ?
A: In most cases your blog an be setup to allow: anyone, only to registered members, only Members of your blog, and nobody can post comments. It is always recommended to read the FAQ of each hosted or software blog application.
WHERE CAN I GET A FREE BLOG
Below are some of the more popular blogs and their web addresses.
1- Blogger: Owned by Google and very easy to setup (Free)http://www.blogger.com/
2- VOX: Owned by SixApart and highly rated (Free)
http://www.vox.com/
3- Live Journal: Owned by Microsoft and also easy to setup (Free)http://www.livejournal.com/
4- WordPress: One of the most popular blogs in use (Hosted / Free)
http://www.wordpress.org/
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:: View part 3 of this artical, I have a blog now what?
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