Chapter 15. So You Want to Be a Blogger?

Get ready to ...

  • Answer These Questions Before You Start

  • Stake Your Claim in the Blogosphere.

  • Register Your Blog

  • Give Your Blog a Name

  • Choose a Template

  • Post Your Story with Photos

  • Set Up Your Profile

You've heard about blogs, right? Even the learned sage Homer (Simpson) commented, "Instead of one big shot controlling all the media, now there's a thousand freaks Xeroxing their worthless opinions." Maybe not so learned, but he's more or less right — except those opinions are now online, in the millions, and are (some of them, anyway) actually worth reading. Having your own blog gives you an opportunity to write about things that interest you and add your opinions to the social buzz — and someone will probably read what you write!

Once you get involved on Twitter and Facebook, you'll see your friends linking to blog posts (online journal entries) and news stories. Doing a blog post is so much more personal because each one is filled with your opinions and your information.

In this chapter, I show you how to set up a blog on the Web at no cost (that means free), and give you examples of people just like you who are blogging on the Web.

Answer These Questions Before You Start

I've learned from experience that before I begin any project, I need to define some parameters that guide the project path and clarify the desired result. If you begin your blog with a plan, the blogging habit will become a pleasure rather than a chore.

  1. Who are you? In your blog you'll ...

Get Facebook® & Twitter® For Seniors For Dummies® now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.