How to Start a Blog (Part 4)
Interested in starting or restarting your blog? Want to share your thoughts? Welcome to my mini-tutorial. Also see Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Today I’m discussing more about blog setup.
Once you’ve chosen your blog’s name and your host, you can start setting up your new site. I am too much of an amateur to give you technical tips, so instead I’m going to focus on what elements to include on your blog as you set it up.
One reminder is to keep your blog set to private until you are completely finished setting it up. I know it can be tempting to launch it almost immediately. But remember that consistency is very important. Starting a blog is like introducing a brand or releasing a book. It needs to be ready to go when it’s launched. This doesn’t mean you can’t change anything later on; blogs are a work in progress. But it shouldn’t look sloppy and half-baked from the very beginning.
Theme. Your blog is installed and your name is registered; now what? Choose a theme. With free hosting come limited but very workable options for themes, while with self-hosting your options are almost limitless (the WordPress Theme Viewer is a great place to start). Start with something simple, like a two-column theme with a customizable header.
Header. Next, decide what you want your blog’s header to look like. Usually I change the header in whatever theme I’m using. With my current theme, I kept the default header because it is perfect for Hope Road. But usually it’s good to make your own unique header, especially if you’re using a common theme that comes with free hosting. Flickr has some great images that you can crop using something as simple as Microsoft Paint, but before doing so make sure they are licensed for public use.
Widgets. Next, customize the small boxes on the sidebar. To begin with, I would include at least 1) a link to your RSS feed, 2) a brief introduction to yourself and/or your blog, and 3) at least four or five categories. You might also consider adding a recent posts widget or a blogroll.
Pages. Having multiple pages isn’t extremely important at setup. But at least include an About page. (Skelliewag has a great article on How to Write the Perfect ‘About’ Page.) Also, include your contact information somewhere. I prefer to have a separate page for Contact, but you can include it in the About page or even on the sidebar. I provide my e-mail address and a comments section. You can set up a separate e-mail account for your blog if you prefer not to make your main e-mail address public.
Beginning entries. I wish I could remember where I read this brilliant tip: don’t make your brand-new blog public until you have at least five good entries written and posted. It may seem like a waste because the entries on the bottom could get neglected. But readers are much more likely to return if they see multiple samples of your writing from the very beginning. (The exception to this would be if you are writing a blog only for your family and friends.)
Next time, I’ll conclude this series with part 5. I’ll be talking about how to promote your blog and get a good base readership, and I’ll give you some more links to helpful articles on setting up your blog. As usual, I welcome your thoughts and suggestions.
3 Comments to How to Start a Blog (Part 4)
Good to be reminded to have several entries up before actually making a blog public! A friend and I are starting a joint blog soon and want to make sure we have some good content before launching it!
On the subject of themes…
It’s a good idea to get feedback on your theme, especially if you are tinkering with things like colors and font sizes. I’m only ambitious enough to modify blogger themes, but one time when I tweaked it, I didn’t find out until a few months later that the text and background colors I’d picked were hard on some people’s eyes. I thanked the poor soul who told me and quickly changed it.
It’s also worth pointing out that the over-all design and color scheme of your blog makes a big first impression. If I open a blog and see a hot pink background with purple letters and animated heart headers (we’ve all seen those stereotypical jr. high girl xanga and myspace pages), I’m probably not going to take what you write as seriously as someone who has a little bit more…mature look.
[...] Hope Road - Anna has recently posted on “How To Start A Blog” and “The Discipline of Daily Devotions“. She also has a review posted on the new [...]
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Anna, 21. Saved by grace, called to follow Christ. Book-lover, writer, caregiver, wannabe runner.
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April 10, 2008