It used to be around the year 2000 or so that blog platforms were scant and outside the mainstream. I remember Blogger.com. I used it to start a blog something like a personal website with photos and written vignettes of family experiences and such. It was free, and since I didn’t know much about blogging, I thought every color and feature I saw was a really cool bell or whistle. Still, I found the interface cumbersome in comparison to my Geocities account, so I let the blog lie dormant . . . as did millions of others I might add.
It became commonplace to find “dead” blogs in searches. It’s getting better with Google technologies, but when Technorati exclaims there are 71 million blogs, I would wager a bet that at least half of those are dead or should be killed because they make no contribution to the blog community.
In addition, most of those are just journals that aren’t trying to make money and aren’t trying to provide quality “authoritative” content.
So that long introduction brings us to the title of this part of the series: “Platform and Essentials.” There is nothing telling new bloggers what the essentials of blogging are. At the same time, every free blog host or paid tells the user that their service is the best. I won’t claim to say I know the best, but I’ll give you my opinion after 7 months of trying virtually all of them.
Free Blog Hosts limit the blogger. Not only do they lack the ability to hack the internal and external aspects of the blog, but they also turn off some readers who know what their free templates look like. Now I’ve written about this already and taken some flack about it by good bloggers who choose to remain on them. People should do what they want. If you spend a long time making an authoritative blog you will get your feathers ruffled if you’re told it has problems. One problem I’ll mention real quick is the fact that free blogger domains are easy to blackball at schools and libraries or even by isp’s for that matter. Your blog may not be accessible to you rreaders if you are on a free host. This doesn’t mean the content is bad.
This is an important point. I will keep a blog on my reader if it has good engaging writing whether it has a paid platform or a free one. Having said that, I think (and this is just my opinion) a writer who feels she/he has something to say would invest the 6-10 bucks a month to produce a higher quality blog product and avoid alienating readers turned off by free platforms. If you must go the free route, I’d recommend one:
- Wordpress.com
Notice I put Wordpress.com, this is COMPLETELY different from Wordpress.ORG which is a pay for host, aka “self-hosted” free software. In other words, you buy the server space and install the free software from Wordpress.org on your computer.
That leads me to my true recommendation. There are hundreds of host servers out there vying for your business. Most are $6-10 a month for a ton of cool services. The Host I use is “TopClassHost.com” They are awesome, and at $6.95 a month, they can’t be beat. GoDaddy.com is also an amazing company I recommend for domain name purchase as well as storage.
Getting on board with your Wordpress.org software will be the most exciting part of your blogging journey. You can search thousands of free themes (aka templates) on the web and change them several times until you find the one that suits you. Wordpress.org has tons of tutorials to help you learn the interface. My advice is to install 2 blogs: one to practice on that won’t “ping” your practicing to the search engines.
Next, you can start perfecting the look of your blog and energizing it from within through plugins. (41 of which I recommend in this post) But, as with many things in life, you’ll never have success without the proper planning.
Hi. I'm Damien Riley, MA.
24 Comments
Hey, Damien. I went blog crazy, too many blogs. I’m moving my Tumbled Words from Blogger to Wordpress.org this week. Procrastination over; I’ve had (for months) the .com address through Go Daddy. When you switched were the instructions fairly clear on the order to do it? Is there something that I should no first from your experience?
Funny you mentioned two blogs, I need to do that with my Blogger ones, I am experimenting like crazy on live blogs. . . . But with Wordpress.org, do you mean get two on it or can the experimental one be on wordpress.com, just don’t add the feed???
Thanks for the Host suggestion, too.
Heya Marcia! So you’re moving to Wordpress . . . you are in for a treat!
I have about 5 test blogs I tinker with that never see the light of day. Wordpress software requires a host account that you setup with a provider (ie; topclasshost.com, lunarpages.com, godaddy.com, etc.)
You can set up as many blogs as you want . . . sky’s the limit.
You mentioned Wordpress.com . . . they are not what I am writing about. They are the same as blogger dot com, everything is controlled by them.
Wordpress.org is a software you download for free (or activate within “Fantastico” inside your web host account - tell me you have one of these now???)
You’ll need at FTP client. I use Filezilla, it’s free and does the job perfectly.
Anyway: if you have any questions as you make your move, feel free to post them here or contact me at: damien@postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com
I am so excited for you!
Hey Damien!!
Great post! I’ve been trying to get from Blogger to Wordpress…not the .com, but to the .org one. I have my domain name and host set up, but I think I’m going to have to wait it out until Wordpress can import the new blogger. It says I can go from new blogger to wordpress.com and then import that to wordpress.org, but after many attempts, it just doesn’t work…..sigh……
I totally agree! I would love to have more control over my blog, its appearance and comments. I’ll keep trying, but I think I’m just going to have to wait it out a bit more!!!
Jessica
Hey Jessica. It seems if you can import to wordpress.com then you out to be able to import the same database into WP.org
I’ll check into into it because my sis-in-law is on blogspot and I’ve been trying to persuade her as well.
Look what I found after a lot of searching — you can go direct from Blogger Beta to Wordpress.org since mid May!
techcounter.com/wordpress/migrate-from-new-blogger...
Do you happen to know anyone using a MAC for wordpress.org? Filezilla is only for Windows. Wordpress suggests 5 different ones for MAC. . . Just thought if you knew someone who had strong preferences it would save a LOT of reading. Grin. I will start searching.
Am I understanding correctly, I pay 6-10 a month for the host, download wordpress software, etc. . and can host more than one blog for that 6-10? or I have to pay 6-10 for each one?
For MAC, I use FETCH at work. I think I paid something for it. It’s good. Anything is probably 6 and 1 half dozen the other, you just need an FTP client.
You shouldn’t have to even get the wordpress software because most hosts have something called “fantastico” in their control panel. You can activate as many wordpress blogs as you want from there. I am running 2 now: Riley Central, My Life in the Classroom, and Sandbox where I test things.
Whatever they charge you for the webspace (host) gets you hard drive space on their server and usually that includes a domain name. You said you already had one at godaddy.com It’s very simple to forward the domain you have at godaddy to your wordpress blog you will make at your host account. But they will probably let you get one with your new account.
For example: I have a domain at godaddy: damienriley.com
But it is forwarded to my teacher blog at:
postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com/classroom
This helps with alexa images on Techorati and other sites that only file single domain names.
Keep moving forward. Did I help any?
Yes, Damien, you have helped, thank you! I am still totally confused on the domain issue, but I am assuming once I sign up for the host, they will help me figure it out. I have several domain names. With Blogger I don’t have to use my hard drive space. Do I with Wordpress.org through TopClassHost.org?
It works like this:
I buy domain name: damienriley.com
Domain name is simply an address, not even like land to build on, just an address sign, that’s it.
I can “forward” that to any web address. I don’t know if you knew this, but you can be forwarding your domain addy you bought to your blogspot if you want.
When you want to go the wordpress.org route, it is a set of pages that make up a blog “shell.” You have to upload those pages to a server, which you pay the monthly or yearly fee for. The set of pages from Wordpress.org is free, but hosting it is not. When you start with a host you will get a domain name in your package. You can make that your main blog web name, or you can forward one of your previously purchased domain names to that blog location.
I hope that helps a bit. If there’s anything I can do to help, don’t hesitate.
I knew I could forward to Blogspot, but decided to wait to see if I wanted Wordpress, which, I do.
So, basically, I get the host, upload the Wordpress “shell” to their server and forward my domain name at Godaddy to the “new” blog location.
I want to use the GoDaddy domain name because it is the same as my blog name, but their hosting seemed too expensive.
Thanks again, Damien. . .
Topclasshost.com is the one I use. I have heard there are ones out there for as little at 3.50 a month! Wow!
It’s a complicated process, I know I tend to oversimplify it. It’s all about setting small goals which will later turn to bigger ones. Maybe your first step should be to figure out how to transfer all your posts to the host when you get it going. After that you can set a new goal. I’ll be here to help when you do. Good luck, and remember through it all that it’s just a book you are writing in. The platform will never draw people to your blog as much as the content.
Great, lure me in and then tell me it is harder than you made it out to be. LOL. Hopefully that link I found will solve the transferring problem. Content is my favorite part, but the platform to play keeps the frustrated designer in me from talking Leon into moving walls around in my house. You are kind to offer your help to your readers.
Hi Damien,
It’s a very nice new look at postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com!
Thanks again for helping me finding a Web Hosting Service. I am now with Lunarpages.
I’d like to have my own layout for my blog, i.e adding and repositioning a few blocks at various positions in the blog. These blocks contain different contents.
Does it require some third party scripts to add new blocks to the existing Theme? Is there a tutorial for doing this? Thanks.
Thanks
Thank you for the nice compliment about my new look here. I really bought into this theme once I learned I could use Photoshop to customize the header. That’s my home town up there :)
I hope you don’t mind, but your question prompted a post. I get it a lot, so I thought I should have something to link back to when people ask instead of just emailing and commenting answers to one person. It’s a good and fair question. One I had when I started Wordpress with Lunarpages about 8 months ago! Here is the link that I think will get you going:
Answer to Misty’s Question about themes
Let me know if I can help any further!
Great! Damien. I am so happy today that I am getting somewhere because of your precise instructions on how to get desirable blog themes. I’ve already found a few themes over themes.wordpress.net that I like. Thank you so very much.
I am almost certain that I will be back for more help later.
P.S. I had mentioned your link at problogger.net because there was a reader who has also just started on setting up his blog.
Great news! And thanks for the link at problogger.net
Have you given me your blog addy yet? When you get it running let me know. And come back anytime for help . . . that’s a big part of why I do this. It may take some time for me to respond when busy (esp. during the reg school year).
Hi Damien,
I am a bit embarrassed about my blog at this point. I will definitely email you my blog address when it looks a bit together. I have worked on altering an existing blog theme so that it fits my needs.
Do you know if Wordpress supoorts mouse over menus? i.e. You will see a list of submenu items when your put the cursor over the main menu. I’ve seen the source code over some web sites that having mouse over menus, but they don’t look simple to me given I’ve just started learning java scripts and html.
Thanks.
Hi Misty. I know most themes I look at out there have a mouseover effect. You are describing a mouseover sub menu. The only way I could see that being possible would be with parent and child categories. What menu and submenu are you looking to have pop up?
Thanks Damien. I like the new look of your blog and the rotating logos, which I’d like to learn it later when I make the basic stuff works first. :-)
I have tweaked the default header.php (from Green Bug 1.1 theme) so that the mouse over menus have finally worked with the part of the code done by Darel (see link below). There is still a cosmetic issue such as the inner table is shifted to the right hand side. I suspect that it has something to do with the default theme.
alienryderflex.com/mouseover_menus_example.html
I’d like to use the mouse over menus on Categories and Archives for now. It would save a lot viewing space for other items.
Hi Misty. Sometimes that effect is referred to as “pop up” as well. Good luck in finding that effect. I do know of the Zelig dropdown links plugin sthat conserve a lot of sidebar space for links and such, but they are not mouseover popups. My experience is that people rarely use your categories as a resource. I mean, so many people under-utilize or worngly-utilize them as a tool that people tend to get jaded. I wrote a post on this yesterday that might be useful to you. Thanks for the updates . . . keep em comin!
Damien, Okay. Thanks. I see what you are saying about Categories, Meta and etc. I will definitely read your post on the subject. Actually, I’ll replace Categories” with my own subjects, which are meant for the readers. My pop up menus and submenus are all working properly right now. But there are so many other things that I am trying to learn whenever I can.
You are a great teacher who has saved me from the grief when selecting and installing WordPress themes on my blog server. Cheers!
Hi Damien,
Do you know how to install a third party product such as SiteMeter for my blog on the server of Lunarpages.com? Thanks.
Sure do. I try to avoid them tho. In the case of Sitemeter, you have to put a code into your site code. I know there is a plugin that makes this easier, sorry I don’t have it for you but it’s out there. Then they assign you a code after you set your options on their site, then you embed that code into a “text Widget” in your Presentation>>Themes>>Widgets menu to appear in your sidebar. Voila!
If that doesn’t get the job done, let me know.
An alternative that helps you track your site hits is “Google Analytics.” Again, an embedded code is required, but there is a plugin for that and I do have that one it is here: Google Analyticator for WordPress
Hi Damien,
Hmm, it didn't let me post the first time. Let me try it again… How are you? I have a new question for you. I really like the banner rotation feature that you have it up there. Could you teach me how to do it? Thanks.
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