Inspired blogging

August 20, 2010 - 12:00 pm

Passion for fashion?  Fanatical foodie?  Committed diarist?  Why not share your hobbies with the world in your very own blog?

First things’s first, you need to figure out what to write about!  To get inspiration, cruise through popular blogging sites which will bring up random blogs or have picks of the day. Check out some of our favourites here.

Lots of people use a blog to organise their thoughts while others use them to cultivate a following, with some blogs keeping thousands of followers captivated.  Some people even use them to break news before the newspapers!

When you’ve decided on your topic you’ll need to choose a host site.  This might sound daunting but it’s pretty simple.  Major blogging host sites include blogger, wordpress and livejournal, to name but a few.  There are a whole bunch of smaller sites that cater for different needs- just search the web till you find the perfect match.

Each site has a walk-through set-up to get you started.  All of them ask you for a blog title, so make it catchy as it will probably feature in your blog’s URL.

The great thing about your blog is you can customise the layout to suit your needs and write as little or as much as you want.  Most sites have a multitude of templates to choose from so if you’re not a computer whizz with HTML coding know-how it doesn’t matter- you can still make your blog look pretty!

Accessorise with colour schemes and fonts to fit with your theme.  You can even add drag-and-drop boxes to help you organise where your posts are displayed, plus archives of past posts and lists of other blogs you follow so you can read them easily.

Get typing!

Communication central

Another important decision is the level of security to choose.  You can decide who can read your blog- the whole world or just yourself, keeping your blog as a private online diary.  Using a profile allows a blog’s author to find people to share their interests with by listing their interests and a bit about themselves, but again be careful about what information you share… you know the drill!  You can even allow comments on most sites, but be warned, not all feedback is good!  There is usually an editing option though.

Larger blogging sites now allow bloggers to write new posts and comment on other bloggers’ posts from their smartphone in case they get inspired on the go!

If you’re craving comments and want to become the next big blog blockbuster, it’s a good idea to link your blog with your social networking profile and publicise it on Twitter by simply Tweeting when you have a new blog post…check out our guide to find out how.

Already have a brilliant blog?  Tell us all about it!