---

Get going and create
your own blog now

In a recent column we talked about the growing weblog phenomena. It's not an exaggeration to say that blogs are one of the hottest spaces on the Internet, and according to Silicon Valley analyst (and frequent Hawaii visitor) Tim Bajarin they are increasing in influence with every passing day. In this column I'm going to talk about how to set one up.

First off, let's go back and define what makes a blog different from a regular Web site.

The biggest difference is that a blog allows you (or other contributors) to add new content instantly from just about anywhere. It also allows readers to interact via comments to your postings. It's a great medium to communicate with family, friends or to just about any kind of constituency.

If you're a small business or an organization, it's a terrific tool to get the word out because it enables people with small marketing budgets to expand their reach to potential customers. It also differs from e-mail in that you can communicate to many people at once and they in turn can reply to everyone else. You can't do that effectively with e-mail.

So how do you get started?

One of the least expensive ways is to go directly to Google's Blogger service (www.blogger.com/start), which allows you to create and maintain blogs at no charge. The blog can be hosted for free on Blogger's servers but you may consider hosting the blog on your site instead. This would allow you to integrate your blog with your own site and also enable visitors to find your blog postings easily.

The blog software will organize your posts chronologically with the newest at the top and a calendar linking to older posts. You have an option can keep the whole thing private or provide a password to let friends or family in.

Get going: Go to Blogger.com and click "Create Your Blog Now."

There are other places to set up a blog, but given the popularity of Google, there's a lot to be said for using their tools, which are free. Way cool. Right? Well, for the most part, yes. My main caveat is that this might be something for a slightly more advanced user.

There are some technical details that you'll have to contend with. For example you'll need the address of your site's FTP server, FTP protocol, and FTP path. I also found that uploading photos with Blogger.com is a bit clunky. You'll need to download a program called "hello" from Google.

But again, this is all free of charge. While this process is inherently not difficult for someone who has online experience, it may be a bit esoteric for the average reader of this column.

There is a good help section on Blogger.com that is available if you're willing to wade through it. Blogger gives you templates to choose a layout which you can always switch at a later date. If you're experience with HTML code, you can easily modify Blogger's designs, or create your own original look. I'd suggest you check out a piece in PCWorld by Scott Spanbauer called "Instant Web Sites"(www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,113447,00.asp), which includes a sample blog template, in addition to instructions for editing templates at Blogger.com.

You get what you pay for. I also tested a blog setup on www.typepad.com, a popular Web site that charges you about $70 a year for software and hosting. It gives you a 30-day free trial. Frankly, I found this much easier to use than blogger.com.

Yes, it costs a bit but you don't need to know any HTML or strange terminology to use it. As the saying goes, there's no free lunch. With everyone's time so much more valuable, I have no problem spending a few dollars on this product.

---