Blogs and Blogging

[W00DY]

Hi all,

Many of you have blogs out there so I was wondering what you thought was the best blogging site/software?

I have a site with Typepad but I can't really customise it without knowing programming (or something!!!). Is there any good software out there which allows you to design your own blog or even better have some VERY nice (read - not cheap and nasty) templates you can use?

It needs to be easy to use as I don't have a lot of time to learn something new.

Appreciate any advice on blogging

Cheers,
Andrew

[Reschsmooth]

My advice on setting up a blog? Don't. Whilst I am very hypocritical of this (in that I read a handful and leave comments on one or two), I sometimes question the benefits we get from this Web 2.0 with it's user content dominance (read poor YouTube videos and endless opinions via blogs). But that's just me.

[Marvin]

I would also like to know the answer to this question. I think a blog would be good for when you are away from family and friends and they want to know what you have been up to (which is the situation I will be in next year). I wouldn't just read anyone's blog. TIA!

[JordanP]

I'm a fan of wordpress for a blog engine

[cyanide]

I've used blogger.com and found it quite good, especially if you aren't looking to buy your own domain.

If you do want/have your own domain, then Wordpress is another I've fiddled with. Not done too much in the way of customisation, but there are a ton of templates out there to play with.

[W00DY]

You tube can push the line a bit but a blog can be a very useful marketing tool if used correctly (just ask most of the photogs out there).

I receive enquiries from my blog. Problem is it does not match my website very well so I want to know the best app out there, which is easy to use, to create and maintain a blog.

JordanP - I had a quick look at Wordpress but it seemed like you needed to know how to code, is that correct? is it a simple "what you see is what you get" application?

[JordanP]

I certainly can't code but there are instructions if you are hosting it yourself (that seem a bit technical but it is step by step) - as for tweaking the look and feel, for some changes you would need to know code but there are soooo many themes out there you can just look for a good match to start with - we set ours up with out being techo at all. If you want to fully customise then you could consider paying someone to tweak a theme for you. BTW - love the website and your blog feels like a good match ... what are you wanting to change?

[ATJ]

My blog (and my whole site for that matter) is generated by home grown code. I like it that way as it gives me complete control over the way it looks.

As my site is still very young (started November 2007), I find the blog entries bring in far more visitors to my site than anything else. I also feel I am helping people judging by the search criteria people use to find my site. The most common hit I get is for "D300 file sequence number" (or some variation) and I'm now number 2 on Google for that. I am hopeful that this will help increase the visibility of my site and eventually drive some sales.

[photohiker]

+1 for wordpress.

In the past, WordPress wasn't so hot for a photo blog as the picture uploading and linking was pretty clunky and things didn't work as well as they might, so the best option was to add a photo plugin like photopress, but with the latest version (2.5) just about any media is handled out of the box, and the photo upload is smart enough to give resize options etc.

I started blogging to keep family and friends up to date with what we're up to, especially for holidays and excursions, and it works well for that. Not sure how useful it would be commercially, probably depends on the market. I'm not really into spreading my opinion to the world, just a few photos here and there with minimal commentary. There are other people reading it, because I see that it comes up in web search results (from the site stats) mostly from searches for places we/I have been and blogged about.

If you do start a blog, be careful with allowing unmoderated comments. Spam can be a real issue.

As far as ease of modification, Wordpress has lots of themes that can be installed easily. Check them out HERE

Michael

[cyanide]

JordanP - I had a quick look at Wordpress but it seemed like you needed to know how to code, is that correct? is it a simple "what you see is what you get" application?

I know Jordan P has already responded, but I just want to say that I am not an IT person in any way, shape or form, and I found setting up a Wordpress blog on my own domain really quite easy. I use Dreamhost, and they have Wordpress as one of their easy-to-add "Goodies". Even using the install option where you have the most flexibility (supposedly the slightly more difficult of the options you are given), it really was straightforward.

Looking at your blog, though, I also wonder what you are specifically wanting to change? I like the simple uncluttered layout, and I think that matches the style of your main photography site as well.... I can't say for certain that switching to Wordpress would get you any *better* results, visually. Then again, you might find a theme that fits your concept perfectly.

Of course, Typepad vs Wordpress usability might a separate issue, into which I have no insight.

[W00DY]

Looking at your blog, though, I also wonder what you are specifically wanting to change? I like the simple uncluttered layout, and I think that matches the style of your main photography site as well

Thanks for all the replies... food for thought.

In regards to my blog... I don't mind the look so much, However I do love some of the themes that you can get for Wordpress, it is more the custimisation (SP?) or lack of with Typepad. For instance I would like a link to my main website from my blog page but I have not been able to work out how to do it. I can have an about page (which I have) but this means people have to click to the about page and then click to the main website. Looking at my stats I am getting a lot of hits on the blog and a lot of hits on the website but not many hits from the Blog to the Website.

Anyway, I will have a closer look at Wordpress before I make any decision. Thanks again for the replies guys.


Andrew

[myarhidia]

I'm another fan of wordpress, and if you host your domain at dreamhost just like this forum, they have "one-click-installs" and wordpress is one of applications they provide (no extra cost). They provide about 40-50 themes which can be customisable but you can use them as-is. Whenever wordpress upgrades their software, just one click and your website is up to date. No need to be a programmer.

As for the benefits, I'm experiencing similar results to what was said above, more traffic is coming in through my blog than my website. This is mainly because the blog has a much more variety of words that people use in combination that may not appear on your website.

[Nnnnsic]

I happen to use Serendipity over Wordpress... not sure why... just sort of preferred it.

[servaasproducts]

I'm another fan of wordpress

+1 here.

and if you host your domain at dreamhost just like this forum, they have "one-click-installs" and wordpress is one of applications they provide (no extra cost). They provide about 40-50 themes which can be customisable but you can use them as-is. Whenever wordpress upgrades their software, just one click and your website is up to date. No need to be a programmer.

Most webhosts offer WordPress as a 1 click install now. If you want to do something more customisedh, you can have someone build you a design exactly as you want, to match the design of the rest of your site, and still use the WP engine to power the blog section. That is what we did with http://servaas.com.au which is built on osCommerce, and then we matched the design of http://servaas.com.au/blog which is built on WordPress.

As for the benefits, I'm experiencing similar results to what was said above, more traffic is coming in through my blog than my website. This is mainly because the blog has a much more variety of words that people use in combination that may not appear on your website.

Same here, people who never would have found us have come through the blog. More keywords = more traffic, and also, WordPress 'pings' Google, Yahoo!, Technorati etc every time you post, letting them know they need to come and re-index your site. The benefit of this is that Google rewards sites that have regular updates to their content, and penalises those that never change. So a blog will improve your search engine results positions (aka SERPs)

[Mon1018]

I think a blog would be just good for yourself and friends .

[Nnnnsic]

I think a blog would be just good for yourself and friends .

Why would you say that?