Starting a Blog

Blog Preparation

Determine a theme . Most bloggers take one of three approaches. Some write on whatever happens to interest them at the moment. In this sense, their blog is truly a "web journal."
Select a service . I use TypePad.com. My daughters use Xanga.com. These are only a few of scores of services available. Some of these are free, such as Blogger.com, LiveJournal.com, Blog-City.com, and MSN Spaces (also Xanga.com).
Set up your blog . Most of the blogging services I have looked at make this a very simple process. Don't be put off because it sounds technical. It usually isn't. You won't need to become a geek. However, you will have to make some decisions about how you want your blog to look. You'll have to decide on a "theme," meaning the colors, number of columns, and the overall look and feel of your blog. You may want to include your picture. If so, you'll need a digital copy.
Write your first post . Okay, now you're ready to create your first post. If you haven't done a lot of writing, this may prove to be the most difficult part. If you don't have a lot of experience, keep your posts short. Develop momentum. Get the hang of it. Stick to what you know.

Consider using an offline blogging client . This isn't a necessity but it will make blogging much easier. An offline blogging client is like a word processor for blogging. It enables you to write when you're not online and then upload your post when you connect to the Internet. The two most popular are
Add the bells and whistles . Most blogs allow you to post the books you are reading, albums you enjoy, and various other lists. TypePad is especially adept at this. You can also incorporate third-party services like Bloglet.
Publicize your blog . You'll want to make sure you're "pinging" the major web log tracking sites. Most of the blogging services handle this automatically, as do the offline blogging clients. Don't worry if you don't understand this process. You don't need to understand it to use it. (Here's a simple explanation.) Basically, your service or software will send a notification to the tracking sites to alert them that you have posted a new entry. If your software doesn't allow this, you might want to make use of pingomatic.
Write regularly . This is the best advice I could give you for building readership. If people like what you write, they will come back. However, if there's nothing new to read, they will eventually lose interest.