Any bloggers out there?

who have a blog using Blogger, Wordpress.com, Wordpress.net, or anything like that? Experienced bloggers?

ETA: BTW, I did a search, and the most recent thread I could find on this topic was over 3 years ago. Guess most of us get our dailynet thru forums etc.

I'm in the planning stages of a consumer blog for piercings (which I think I did mention before). I'm pretty bad at some internet stuff, so I'll probably start out with Blogger or Wordpress.com (not Wordpress.org). I want my own domain name though, which I think I can manage with either of these.

Clone thread:
Any boogers out there?

gee, that's helpful.

ETA: Sorry. that was probably uncalled for.

Cloud, what's your exact question(s)? Are you wondering which software to use? Where to host it? etc.?

well, these are among the questions I'm considering right now.

--hosted or unhosted? I'd like to do unhosted, but I think it's gonna be too much for me at the moment.

--if hosted, Blogger or Wordpress.com? I'm leaning toward Wordpress.com (Wordpress.org is the best unhosted solution out there, but again, I don't think I have the skills needed to start out with)

--if you have an unhosted blog, have you gotten your own domain name on there, instead of just [email]xxxx@blogspot.com[/email].

--general knowledge; i.e., if you have a blog at all, can I take a look at it? Would you be willing to offer opinions on naming, etc.?

--are there blogs you follow a lot?

--do you even know what a blog is? ;)

I have a blog at Blogspot.com. I'm hardly "experienced" though, I just occasionally update with whatever thoughts are roaming around in my head. I wish I could offer more help but I'm barely a newbie in the blogosphere.

Brian

I've got a fairly active blog, and host a very, very active podcast. All told, I run about 30 sites, all on wordpress.

If this is for a commercial endeavor, you ABSOLUTELY need to host it on your own domain. If you commit to a hosted blog on wordpress.com, you give away all of the accrued value of your blog address.

If you go with one of their recommended hosts, you can install wordpress with just a click of a button. If you go with dreamhost, I can walk you through the process. Shoot me a PM.

I use Wordpress.com. It does everything I need and more. If you need to do certain things you pay a little bit. I used to use Blogger.com. That was a couple years ago, and it blew goats.

smoothmoniker;499869 wrote:

If this is for a commercial endeavor, you ABSOLUTELY need to host it on your own domain. If you commit to a hosted blog on wordpress.com, you give away all of the accrued value of your blog address.

Would you please explain more fully about this? it's not for a commercial endeavor. It has the potential to make a little money I think, but that's not it's primary purpose.

One of the reasons I've just about decided to start with Wordpress.com is that if I decide later I want the full WordPress.org experience, I figure it might be easier to convert.

It's not the initial setting up with the host, etc., I'm worried about, it's the subsequent fiddling around with bells and whistles I don't have the technical skills for. I've got other "semi-blogs"--livejournal, and IAMBME, and I'm not good and adding, rearranging, etc.

I can't even seem to understand basic things about digital pics, and it's driving me crazy!

. .. er.

I misunderstood - I thought this was primarily going to be an income generating blog for you. If that's not the primary purpose, then going with a hosted solution like wordpress.com is absolutely fine.

By accrued value, I meant the number of people who associate your blog with your blog address, the number of links to that address, and the google ranking for your blog's address in response to certain search terms.

If you commit yourself to a blog address that has the hosting provider in the domain name (ilovecats.wordpress.com) instead of owning the domain and hosting yourself (ilovecats.com), then you're stuck with that hosting provider. If you decide to switch platforms later, or to move domain names to your own address, then you lose all of that accrued value of the blog address.

Someone explain the differences between wordpress and blogger. I've had blogger for like 500 years and have never had a problem with it. I'm curious as to if it's a superior system or just another system for blogging.

that's primarily what I'm worried about. I'm fretting over the user name, blog name, and all--I don't want to start out with a mistake.

To be clear, this will be a blog aimed at consumer information for people interested in piercing, to include what to look for in a piercer, how to keep yourself safe from disease, how to choose jewelry, etc. I have an established presence under the name "Cloud" already in the bodymod community. There is the potential for at least click throughs or sponsorship from jewelry retailers, but again, my primary purpose is informational.

But there seems to be an option of using your own domain name even in WordPress.com. I don't really want xxxx.wordpress.com name. Here's what it says:

Be the master of your domain

Custom domainYour WordPress.com blog address is a sure sign of style, but what happens when you really get serious about controlling your online identity? It’s easy to add your own domain name, like example.com, to your existing WordPress.com blog. Or if you already have your own domain name, it’s easy to transfer it to your WordPress.com blog. Registering a domain name with us is only $15/year, and mapping an existing domain name is $10/year.

I don't mind paying extra for this. what do you think?

that sounds like a very reasonable option.

well, okay then!

That's what I do and it works fine. The one issue is that you can't install your own plugins and themes.

Sycamore, I probably wouldn't migrate from Blogger to Wordpress unless there were some specific features I wanted. In my opinion Blogger (along with LiveJournal) is amateur where Wordpress and Movable Type are more professional. There are other platforms that are even more powerful and professional, but really not so much for the average user that just wants to blog.

well, got it set up and started. still as xxx.wordpress.com, but I am just waiting for the domain mapping to kick in.

and for my brain to comprehend pictures, etc. Thanks to everyone who helped, and if you'd like to take a look at my (all 2 posts), you can check it out here:

http://piercedconsumer.wordpress.com/

For anyone interested, here is comparison between wordpress.com and blogger:

http://pulsed.blogspot.com/2007/07/blogger-wordpress-chart.html


I would say wordpress.com is good for starting blogging, because probably it is quite easy to import blog later for your own host, where you have wordpress running.

So, it's been interesting. I haven't been on the Cellar as much, because I'm spending more time on my blog.

I'm finding my way around writing for the web--it's a bit different than I'm used to. Shorter blocks of info, more scannable formatting and text--it's a little harder than it looks for a blowhard like me.

Here's a completely non-piercing post for all you plainskins, if you'd like to see:

http://piercedconsumer.com/2008/12/25/clouds-books/

It's fun! And I think my topic and style fit a blog set up well.

Looks like you've added a ton of content already Cloud, good for you. Can I offer a really superficial opinion just from my initial impression of the page you linked? You should change the color of your title banner text. The black font is impossible to read where it intersects with the jewelry in the picture.

yeah, I'm going to change the image there. I don't have a lot of control over the appearance of the banner at the mo.

Well done Cloud. It could become very informative for the newbie into peircing.

hey, you looked! thanks!

Given the dominate theme being piercing, I would put up some more specific links to after care and problems. I know they are part of the general links section and through other websites, but these are the issues that lead to failure of piercings and people abandoning their body mods.

That's great feedback, thanks! I'm working on a whole aftercare section.

I have my own domain where I used to journal prior to the blog thing, but that was all done in raw html and uploaded via ftp, etc. Then I discovered blogger (before the google buyout) and got to messing around in the templates and created a really nice looking page that was overall a much easier experience. Now I don't blog at all, either I don't have anything to say or I don't have time to write, but I still keep my poetry/stories, music, trip pages, journal and a few other misc item on my domain.

Haaaa! Nice page Clouder!!

Having my biggest day ever. Just 3 more clicks and I'll hit 200 views today. Anybody want to help me out? :)

oops. too late! Maybe tomorrow!