TIP: A Money Wiki

The Online Journalism Review has started a wiki where online journalists can share tips about how to make money with online publishing. There is good information there already; no doubt it will get better.

Q&A

A FRIEND ASKS:

Q: Technically how hard was it to get the blog started?

A: Starting a blog through Blogspot is falling-off-a-log easy. For details see this post. Now, if you intend to try to turn your blog into a commercial operation, you will probably want to own your own domain. However, Blogspot now allows you to set up your domain so that it will point to your Blogspot blog, so it's even pretty easy to set up a blog using your own domain address.

There are many things you can do in order to attract and hold readers and make money off your blog, but these are all things you can do after you've started your blog. (In fact, you really can't do these things until your blog is up and running.) When you're ready, websites such as problogger.net can help you learn the ropes.

Q: How much of a chore is it to keep uploading copy?

A: That depends. Does your topic interest you enough so that you'll enjoy researching it and writing about it? Do you already have a lot of knowledge (maybe even articles already written) to share with your readers? Do you write a lot of emails about this topic? (I find that recycling emails is a great way to get "free" blog posts. Let's conserve those electrons!) Is the topic part of your life? (It's easier for me to write about cooking, gardening, and dogs than about modern architecture or the Chicago Cubs. But if I still lived in Chicago, ...) If your answer to most of these questions is yes, you probably won't find blogging to be that much of a chore. Keep in mind that typical blog posts are very short: It's not hard to come up with a few hundred words on a topic you know and care about, especially if it's a topic you're learning about on a daily basis anyway.

Q: What programs do you need techically?

A: To get started, none. Blogspot takes care of all of that for you. If you want to make your blog pretty, there are a lot of software packages that can help, of course, but they're not essential. You might also want to check out WordPress. This seems to be what a lot of professional bloggers use. But again, it isn't required.

Website or Blog?

MY FAVORITE BLOGGING SITE, Problogger.net, has an item today about "The Problem of Too Many Blogs." After reading Darren's comments, I was grateful that I managed to stop at only four blogs and even more grateful that I never planned for two of those blogs (Wild Flora's Food and Wild Flora's Farm) to be very active. That leaves me with only two blogs--Wild Flora's Wild Gardening and this one--that are very active.

Even so, I have a regret. In retrospect, I wish I had created a website for the Wild Gardening pages rather than a blog about that subject. Problogger cites another blog, Performancing, whose owner makes the point that websites are probably easier to maintain than blogs are. That makes websites pretty attractive! In addition, I'm finding that certain types of material really don't work all that well in blog format. A blog is basically a diary. This is great for information that is updated frequently. It's much less great if you're trying to create a resource--a place people can visit to get information and advice that's going to remain the same year after year. For that, a website is far more appropriate.

Most of the information I'm putting into the Wild Gardening blog is really website-type information. (FYI, a lot of bloggers have their own websites now. Darren at Problogger uses the term "static website" to distinguish the old-style website, which remains fairly much the same from day to day, from a blogger's website, which will typically change several times a day as new posts are added.)

Here's another reason I should have started with a website: I don't want to post as often as bloggers usually do. Bloggers typically post at least daily if not several times a day; I've heard of bloggers who post 20 times a day! That may change as people get burned out (both with writing blogs and with reading them), but for now I qualify as a very lazy blogger. If I post every couple of days, I think I'm doing pretty well. That amount of change is low for a blog but high for a static website, which says to me that a static website is better for me. I'd rather underpromise and overdeliver with a website than have the constant feeling that my blog is trailing behind the rest of the pack.

It's tempting to start a blog rather than a website because Blogger and a few other sites make blogging free and easy. Also, blogs are getting all the buzz right now, whereas static websites have that "so 5 minutes ago" feeling to them. And the blogging community is very attractive; they are so supportive of one another that you can't help wanting to be one of them. But the cost of maintaining a website can be quite small, and the software is not that difficult to learn and is getting easier all the time. There are good reasons to consider starting a website before starting a blog.

In retrospect, I wish I had given more thought to whether my topic (in this case, wildlife-friendly gardening) was more suitable to a blog or to a website. If I had, I think I would have created the website first. I might well have ended up starting a blog too, eventually, but a website should have been my first move.

It's not too late to correct this mistake. I plan to create a Wild Gardeners website in the next few weeks, even if I have to cut back on the blog in order to do it. With any luck, eventually I'll be able to maintain both the website and the blog, with the blog serving as a sort of newsletter for the website.

Meanwhile, you'll be seeing a transition in my posts to this blog, because I'm going to be talking more about creating a website and less about blogging.

A Prettier Blog (continued)

THE LAST TIME I POSTED, we were taking a tour of Blogger's options for making your blog more attractive. To rejoin the tour, log into the account you established on Blogger and find yourself at your dashboard. While we're here, let's take a quick detour to that upper right-hand corner and click on "edit profile." This area gives you an array of options for describing yourself to readers of your blog; unless you've already decided that you don't want to have any information about yourself on your blog, it's worth taking some time with this section in order to make sure that it represents you as you want to be represented. Pay particular attention to the text you write in the "About Me" section, as this will be seen by every visitor who goes to your blog.

OK, now, go back to the dashboard, find the blog you want to work on, and click on "layout." This takes you to the "page elements" page, a page full of boxes. At the top of the page is a box called "Navbar." This is the bar that runs across the very top of the page, containing the Blogger logo and a search box. If you click on "edit," a window will appear that will allow you to change the color of this bar.

Immediately below the Navbar box is a box containing the name of your blog followed by "Header." Click on "edit," and a window will appear containing the title of your blog and the descriptive information that can appear under the title. This is your chance to change this information if you're not entirely happy with what you decided earlier. (If you want to change the appearance of this section, you'll have to go to the "colors and fonts" page. I talked about that in a previous post.)

Back to the page elements page: On the right side of the page elements page is a column of boxes. The top one is "Add a Page Element." This takes you to a window with a lot of options--too many to explore today. However, here are some that are worth looking at right away:

• "Add a picture" will allow you to upload a digital photo from your hard drive if you happen to have a photo you want to use. (Of course, you'll need to know where the photo is located on your hard drive. I can talk more about that some other time.) This photo will always be displayed at the top of your blog, so be sure it's a photo you like and that you think your readers will enjoy seeing more than once.
• Another option on this page is "text." This allows you to write some text that will be permanently displayed on your blog. This is useful if you would like to explain what your blog is about or tell your readers any other information that might not be covered in the "About Me" section of your blog.
• "Links" and "lists" allow you to add lists of anything you like. Because I have other blogs, I like to offer a list of my other blogs with links so that people can check them out. You might prefer to list your favorite books. It's up to you.

If you make changes in these elements and save them, when you return to the dashboard you'll see that they've been added to the boxes on your page elements page. You can now move these items around: Click on the item you want to move, hold down the left key on your mouse, move the item to where you want it, and then release the key. (This is called "drag and drop.") I like to put the photo at the top of the column followed by some text explaining what this blog is about.

The page elements page also allows you to change how your blog archive will be set up (I left it the way Blogger had it), and if you click on "About Me" you can change your profile or even decide not to show it at all.

Note that you don't have to place all your page elements down the right-hand side of the page. Blogger also gives you the option of putting page elements down at the bottom of the page.

Finally, if you click on "edit Blog posts," you can customize the way your posts appear.

Now you have a blog that has been customized to suit you!

A Prettier Blog

A FEW DAYS AGO I explained how to get a basic blog quickly using Blogger. Now let's talk about how you can make that blog prettier to look at.

When you log in to the account you've created in Blogger, you should find yourself at a page they call the "dashboard." This will show you all the blogs you've created and, next to each blog's name, various options. What we're most interested in today is the section that says "manage: posts, settings, layout."

It's a good idea to click on both "manage posts" and "manage settings" and then look at all the options that are offered to you. Blogger gives you lots of ways to set up your blog; here's your chance to customize it to suit yourself.

The option that has the greatest impact on how your blog will look, however, is the "layout" option. Click on that and you'll find yourself on a page called "Page Elements." The tab next to it is called "Fonts and Colors." Next to that is "Edit HTML," which you don't need to worry about right now. And after that is "Pick New Template," which you can use if you're not happy with the template you chose when you started this blog.

I suggest you start by looking at the "Pick New Template" options. I'm not sure about this, but I think you get more choices here than they offer you when you are first starting your blog. You might find something you like better; try to choose something you're going to be able to live with for a while.

Next I'd go to "Fonts and Colors." This one is a ton of fun: Click on buttons to change the color and type style of various sections of your blog--and in the window below, watch your blog change instantly to reflect the changes you've made! If you think the template you chose would look better with a pink title and purple type, try it out. When you have colors and fonts you like, be sure to save them before you leave this page.

Finally, there's the "page elements" section. Go ahead and play around with it. I'll be back with some tips tomorrow.

So You Want to Blog

LIKE MOST THINGS, blogging can be as easy or as complicated as you want to make it. For the complicated version (but very well and clearly explained) I recommend you visit the ProBlogger website. In the upper left-hand corner of the page you'll see a grey box containing a series of introductory articles. This is a great place to start.

If you want the simple version, sit yourself down and I'll tell you how to get yourself a free blog quite quickly:

1. Sign up for a gmail address. Gmail is a free email service, one of the many services provided by Google. Getting a gmail address is a good move for at least two reasons: First, these days it's a good idea for anyone to have at least two email addresses. One of them can be used for public purposes such as website registrations while the other should be kept strictly private. Gmail, which comes equipped with a good spam filter, is a good choice for your public email address. Second, your gmail address and password give you access to all the services offered by Google, including Blogger (aka Blogspot).

2. Think about what you want to call your blog. Come up with several options, as your first choice may already be taken by someone else. If your blog is going to be noncommercial (just for keeping in touch with friends, for example), anything memorable (such as your own name) will do. If you think you might want to try to earn money from your blog, coming up with a good name may be harder, as you will probably want to buy a domain name to go with your blog. I'll talk about this more in my next post.

3. Now go to Blogger, go down to the bottom of the screen, and click on "Create a Blog Now." Blogger will then give you easy to follow directions. You'll create an account, name your blog, choose a look for it (which can be changed later), and be ready to send your first post in a matter of minutes.

Now, what you have now is a very, very basic blog. There is certainly a lot more you can do. I'll be talking about that in future posts. Meanwhile, if you have questions, please email me (wildflora at gmail dot com) or, even better, leave a comment. Hearing from you is the best way for me to find out what information I can share that might be helpful to others.