How do I blog?
July 13, 2016 9:31 AM Subscribe
I'm technologically inept but I want to set up a blog for fun. How do I do this?
Please help a 34 year old who is pretty brain dead when it comes to these things. I'm not intending on making money from the blog, just want to do it for funsies.
Where do I start? Presumably I'll need a domain name etc. Which one is best?
HELP!
Please help a 34 year old who is pretty brain dead when it comes to these things. I'm not intending on making money from the blog, just want to do it for funsies.
Where do I start? Presumably I'll need a domain name etc. Which one is best?
HELP!
Just to manage your expectations:
I set my 70 year old dad up with Wordpress and I'm having to do a lot of tech support for him with it. But he's proving to be technologically inept at a level I had never before dreamed (and I do tech support for non-technical people for a living). Wordpress is "easy peasy" if you are medium-strength internet-literate (you can navigate web pages, know what a button looks like and what it does, which icons indicate that a menu will slide out if you click it, etc...). If you have trouble with those types of concepts, Wordpress will be a learning curve and you should try to find some basic instructional YouTube videos or even sign up for a Udemy or Lynda course.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:54 AM on July 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
I set my 70 year old dad up with Wordpress and I'm having to do a lot of tech support for him with it. But he's proving to be technologically inept at a level I had never before dreamed (and I do tech support for non-technical people for a living). Wordpress is "easy peasy" if you are medium-strength internet-literate (you can navigate web pages, know what a button looks like and what it does, which icons indicate that a menu will slide out if you click it, etc...). If you have trouble with those types of concepts, Wordpress will be a learning curve and you should try to find some basic instructional YouTube videos or even sign up for a Udemy or Lynda course.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:54 AM on July 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
If you have a Gmail account, you can have a completely free blog on BlogSpot aka Blogger. I moved my blogs from WordPress to Blogger because I was tired of doing updates, etc. Blogger has proven to be much more plug and play: Pick a name, pick a theme and start writing.
You can pick a .com name if you wish, but if you are happy to have .BlogSpot.com, you can have a completely free site.
posted by Michele in California at 9:54 AM on July 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
You can pick a .com name if you wish, but if you are happy to have .BlogSpot.com, you can have a completely free site.
posted by Michele in California at 9:54 AM on July 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
You don't need your own domain, but you can get one if you want. Wordpress is probably the standard, but if you consider yourself technologically inept, you might want to start with Tumblr, which is really dead simple. Wordpress offers a lot of bells and whistles, Tumblr does not.
posted by adamrice at 9:54 AM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by adamrice at 9:54 AM on July 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
You might also want to check out Medium.com. It's an easy to use blogging app. You don't need your own domain to use Medium, though it is an feature that Medium offers.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:25 AM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:25 AM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
I would recommend Medium.com, too.
posted by My Dad at 10:32 AM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by My Dad at 10:32 AM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
Tumblr.
It's fantastically easy, and you don't have to bother about hosting or whatnot. You can have a domain resolve to your Tumblr if/when you want to take that step.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:01 AM on July 13, 2016
It's fantastically easy, and you don't have to bother about hosting or whatnot. You can have a domain resolve to your Tumblr if/when you want to take that step.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:01 AM on July 13, 2016
Both Tumblr and Blogger are going to be easier than Wordpress, in my opinion. Both have mobile apps, too.
posted by soelo at 11:45 AM on July 13, 2016
posted by soelo at 11:45 AM on July 13, 2016
The absolute easiest way is to go with Blogger. Took me about 5 minutes to get going and then just a few tweaks for the layout and you are up and running. Blog is in my profile.
posted by Ferrari328 at 12:06 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Ferrari328 at 12:06 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
some good advice in comments. In addition, you will want to decide what it is you want to post about, how much and how often. Pics? comments allowed etc.
I had some help some time ago and began on blogspot...then moved to WordPress...now going on 14th year and I will be 87 in a few weeks...Just do it
posted by Postroad at 12:08 PM on July 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
I had some help some time ago and began on blogspot...then moved to WordPress...now going on 14th year and I will be 87 in a few weeks...Just do it
posted by Postroad at 12:08 PM on July 13, 2016 [4 favorites]
Oh, one really nice thing about tumblr is that you are automatically part of this really creative, diverse and fun social network that covers just about every imaginable topic. It's so freaking good that lots of people use Tumblr just for the social network and not for blogging.
Medium.com has its own built-in social network but my understanding is that it's more professional, less fun.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 2:28 PM on July 13, 2016
Medium.com has its own built-in social network but my understanding is that it's more professional, less fun.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 2:28 PM on July 13, 2016
Start with Blogger but consider it a bike with training wheels. It's super simple to setup but that comes at the price of limited ability to personalize & reconfigure to suit your needs & tastes. If you keep blogging a while you'll get antsy for more options & flexibility. That's when you switch to Wordpress.
posted by scalefree at 4:20 PM on July 13, 2016
posted by scalefree at 4:20 PM on July 13, 2016
I have found blogger much more customizable than WordPress, though it wasn't obvious at first.
YMMV on the count of customizability.
posted by Michele in California at 4:29 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
YMMV on the count of customizability.
posted by Michele in California at 4:29 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
My non-technical suggestion, once you decide what to write about, is to set a schedule, stick to it, and get ahead. So, for example, if you want to post once a week, maybe write 4 or 5 posts and hold them in reserve before you start posting, so that if you travel/get sick/lose steam, you'll have a bit of a backlog before you get visibly behind to your audience.
posted by sazerac at 5:10 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by sazerac at 5:10 PM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
« Older Ethical Organic Small-Scale Eggs in NYC | Taco Mayo seasoning mix recipes for tatter tots? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
You can also get a hosting account somewhere else, register a domain name, and run a self-hosted version of WordPress. But that's more work to set up and it requires you to keep on top of updates so that your site doesn't get hacked.
posted by belladonna at 9:40 AM on July 13, 2016 [5 favorites]