|
|
Tips & Tricks
Creating Your Own Blog
- Today everyone has a blog. Creating one is as easy as finding
a good hosting service and signing up for your own free blog.
But what happens when you want a little more than the standard
free service. What do you do if you want to run your blog under
your own domain name instead of bloghost.com/myblog? Well it's
not as hard as you think. Here is a high level overview of what
you need to do and how to get started.
-
- Domain Names.
- Creating your domain name. A domain name is your address
on the web. For instance (yahoo.com) is a domain name. Your domain
should be something that identifies the content of your site.
It's your visitors first perception of who you are and what you
offer. Think about how you look at domain names when you're searching
the web for information. When you're looking for medical information
and the search returns a domain called "beerdrinkers.com",
would you go to that site first for the information you're seeking?
Most registry services can provide you with suggested names if
the one you're looking for is taken. But there are some things
you want to keep in mind. If someone has a domain called awardstoday.com,
but awards-today.com is available; it may not be a good alternative.
The general public isn't used to dashes, underscores or other
characters in a domain name. Letters and numbers are more often
the norm.
Also, if you register a .com name, you might also think of registering
the .net and .org versions as well. This helps protect your presence
on the web from copycatters. For instance, Springwolf.com, Springwolf.net
and Springwolf.org all point to the same website. These additional
registrations for the .net and .org are typically referred to
as "parking a domain". The .com is the main advertised
site, but all three can be used to access that single web site.
- Registering your domain. There are many hosting services
that offer you cut rate deals on registering a domain name. Some
offer to manage the domain for you. If you are creating your
website yourself, I don't recommend these services. If you want
to make changes later down the road, it could cost you an additional
fee, or delay your ability to make changes from a day to a week
or more. Instead, register your domain at Network Solutions (netsol.com) (also known as InterNic).
These are the people who keep track of all domains. Even when
you go through a service provider, they have to send information
to NetSol. So you might as well do it yourself.
In addition, you have the option of setting up a free domain
management account to manage changes to your domain through out
it's life. I highly recommend this. Wither it's changing your
address, owner name, or moving from one host to another, you
control your domain. And NetSol does make it easy to do.
Also, if you really get into this and begin to register more
than one domain, the NetSol management account will allow you
to mange all your domains in one place. Something that's VERY
useful.
- Hosting Service. Now once you have a domain you need
a place that will host your bog AND your domain. This is where
things get tricky. Many sites will offer to host your blog, but
not all blog hosts will allow you to host a blog under your own
domain name. It's well worth the effort to conduct a good search
for the host that's right for you. But be careful and read the
fine print. What looks like a good deal because it's cheap, isn't
a good deal because there are hidden costs involved. So don't
just look at the price. If you don't have time to do your own
search, I'd recommend BlueHost.com
The biggest thing you want to check on is that the blog host
provides their own utility to install the blog software. The
most common blogging service is WordPress and most services will
provide you with a 1 click installation and set-up.
You also want to find a hosting service that provides you with
access to a site administration console. This is basically a
one stop shopping webpage that allows you to manage your site
behind the scenes. Most admin consoles will provide access to
the general set-up, billing and contact information of your site.
Access to FTP or file transfer services, to set-up and manage
email accounts to your domain, and various utilities that help
you add features and plug-ins to your site such as establishing
secure sections, store and shopping services, counters and so
on.
- Blog Set-up. Once you have your domain and hosting
service set up, it's time to customize your blog. WordPress provides
it's own administration console. You typically access this console
through your domain name and wp-admin (mydomain.com/wp-admin).
Once you login, you can set up your blog to your own taste and
purpose. There are so many sites that have step by step instructions
for customizing your own blog, including WordPress. Instead of
repeating the information on these sites, here are a few I recommend.
- Blog Themes. Once you have your blog set up, you may
want to find a 'theme' that fits your topic or personality. There
are hundreds of themes out there on the internet to search through.
WordPress offers their own unique themes. But you can also find
themes created by the average blogger who likes to show off their
creative side. Here at SpringWolf Designs, we have created some
of our own themes too. You'll find them listed in our Blog
Themes section.
|
~ Services | Tips
& Tricks | Fun Facts
| Helpful Links | SWD
Clients | Blog Themes
| Home ~
|