I started this article as a collection of tips for my fellow writers who ask me about having their own blog or website. I write and publish this website/blog, In Season, which focuses on learning about the nature world around you and in your backyard.

I encourage all people with an interest the land and environment to blog and create informative websites on their region  or topic of interest.

This is a really, really simple guide. No fancy stuff.

What is a blog?

A blog is simply a website that is updated regularly. Each post (what you write) is date-stamped. An archive is built up as you publish posts. I think of a website as a “book” of information. To me,  a blog is a newspaper or magazine.

People who read your blog may visit your blog daily or at least regularly. Or they may subscribe to it through a rss reader. I won’t get into how “rss” works. Just think of it as a delivery system that collects the blog posts in one place, to make it easier for subscribers to see what is new to read. It “syndicates” your blog.

Readers can also receive updates through Tweeter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social networking. You just have to open accounts with these sites and link your blog to it.

Where to Write

The two free blog hosting service I recommend are Blogger (owned by Google) and WordPress.

Blogger is a easy-to-use blogging platform that provides beautiful designs for a blog without knowing technical details. This blog/website started out at Blogger but I moved to WordPress.com, because WordPress has more functionality.

WordPress comes in several flavors. I can have a just a blog, a blog/website combination or just a static website. WordPress is a very simple CMS (content management system). You can also self-host WordPress on a hosting service. The WordPress.org website has recommended hosts.

• Blogger (Goggle)   http://www.blogger.com
• WordPress           http://www.wordpress.com

Domain Names

If you use  blogging service like Blogger or WordPress.com, you will choose what you want your blog to be called. Then the blog service will add their domain name on the end.  So your blog address would be something like: http://www.youpick.blogspot.com or http://www.youpick.wordpress.com. This is fine as long as you don’t mind being tied to the blog platform and don’t plan to move your blog.

If you move your blog, you can’t take the blogspot.com or wordpress.com name with you. You can redirect the old name to your new blog. If you do what I do and buy my own domain name, donnallong.com, then you can move your blog and keep the old links, subscribers, and name recognition.

I use hover.com to register/buy my domain name. There are other registers. I just like hover.com for it’s simplicity and no-nonsense style.

Moving House

I started this blog on Blogger.com And I loved my blog. It was pretty and easy-to-use. I wanted to blog. But I need more than the ten static pages that Blogger allowed. So, I moved the whole shebang to WordPress.com. It was simple. Blogger let me export the whole blog (or just some of it, if you choose) to a file on my desktop. Then I went into the WordPress.com blog I had already setup and I imported (uploaded) the blogger post to WordPress. com. It was that simple. I still had to rearrange things a bit. But, I didn’t loose a couple years worth of writing.

Then I just went to my domain register and changed the technical information to point to my new WordPress. com blog. I didn’t have to worry about losing readers, etc. if I left behind a youpick.blogspot.com domain.

What to Write

Think of a blog as a newspaper or magazine. What normally goes into a magazine on your topic? Gather together a couple of magazines on your topic and brainstorm ideas for your blog.

Build a Base/Core Content
Build a base of content that you can refer to in future posts. This could be basic information on your overall blog topic or focus.

WordPress lets you have unlimited pages in addition to a blog.  Blogs are made up of posts, websites of static pages. I use the pages for “basic information”. When I write a post that relates to deeper information on website page, I link to it. This way people stay on your site longer, which the search engines like. The search engines see this as the longer someone stays on your site, the better quality of your information.

Example:
For a post on what birds are coming to my feeders on a cold January morning – I would link to a web page or previous post about “winter birds and winter food“.

Sample Basic Information

• tips
• your vision
• guides, how-to’s, tutorials
• FAQs
• message
• glossary
• resource guide
• reference articles

Post topics

• daily prompts and meditations
• book/product reviews
• announcement of events
• interviews
• survey results
• commentaries
• photos
• blurb about new base content pages – with link to page

Length of Posts

• Blog posts – keep them short
• short posts = 150 to 200 words
• long posts = should be no longer than 300-500 words
• Short is better.
• Vary your content between short and long posts.
• Write on one topic per post

How often to Post?

2-4 times per week. Otherwise if you post too often, people are bombarded. They may cancel their subscription or just won’t read the posts.

Schedule Your Posts

Set up a schedule to post. If you post in certain categories on set days, your readers will come to expect certain topics on certain days. It also makes it easier on choosing what to post.

Keywords

Keywords are the words that people type into a search engine to find what they are looking for. If your posts contain the words people use the most on a subject, the more your blog will find pop-up in a search engine results list.

Keywords – should occur no more than 3% of a post’s of text

Any more times and the search engines become suspicious that you are stuffing your text with keywords that may or may not be relevant. The search engines like honesty.

Words in post	Percent of total words	Keywords occurrence
50	1-3%	1-2 times
100	1-3%	1-2 times
150	1-3%	2-5 times
200	1-3%	2-6 times
300	1-3%	3-9 times
500	1-3%	5-15 times

To choose keyword, use a keyword generator.  I have used Google Ad words. But there are paid subscription keyword generators. Search for the term “keywords” in a search engine.

Write to be read on a computer screen

Learn to write for the web. The way you write for reading on a computer screen is different from paper. Jakob Nielson’s Usability site has everything you need to know about writing for the web. But, here are some key points to remember.

• Paragraphs should be kept short. One to three sentences make a paragraph on a computer screen.
• Lots of white space. Separate paragraphs by spaces.
• Use bullets, lists, and tables.
• Start the text with the most important information. Those who want to read more in-depth information can read on. This is the classic newspaper/journalism model.
• Use keywords
• Keep sentences short. Or at least to a reasonable length.

Hints and Tips

Descriptive titles – don’t trick your readers with what a post is about. Be honest and to the point. Use descriptive and catchy titles.

Deep Linking – Link to a previous post(s) that is related to the current post. This way, good posts are not “lost” as time moves on.

Categories – use 1 to 3 categories to describe your post.

Permalinks – In naming blog posts, don’t use permalinks. Use good URL (address) structure instead. This means your post address should make sense like a good web page address. Ideally it should include the keyword that your page is about.

Build up a store house of posts before going “live”. This way if readers stumble upon your blog when it is brand new, they will have something to read. How many? 10, 30? It is up to you.

Use future posting -  use the future  date feature to plan posts for a week, two weeks or even month ahead. Use the post date feature to build up the number of posts before you go live for the first time. Otherwise, if you add 10 posts on one day, that day’s date will have ten posts. Spread the dates around.This way you don’t have to post everyday.

Have a “storehouse” of posts you can pull out and publish when:

• you don’t feel well
• your go on vacation
• you get writer’s block

Further resources:

ProBlogger.net by Darren Rowse produces a great informative blog.

Clear Blogging by Bob Walsh is a great no-nonsense book on blogging.

I hope this has been helpful.

If you have any questions, email me.

Copyright © 2007-2011 Donna Long.