How to Establish a Blog

1
How to Establish a Blog
2
What is a Blog

• A blog is a collection of informational
  articles/ideas intended to update a viewer on new
  information associated with the topics of that
  specific website.

3
What is the Difference Between a Blog and a Forum

• A blog is intended to offer updates from a single
  user whereas a forum is intended to promote a
  discussion amongst multiple users.
• A blog is focused and maintained by a single
  author or a small group that chooses the topics,
  whereas a forum allows multiple users to start
  topics of a large variety giving the site a bit
  of unpredictability

4
Differences Between a Blog and a Forum continued

• The author of a blog has the option of allowing
  viewers to comment on their work/issue which is
  not a necessity, whereas the main point of a
  forum is to get multiple responses and discussion
  on the different topics.
• The content on a blog is easier to manage due to
  the single authority of the author and their
  ability to edit out comments or not accept them
  at all, whereas a forum has the same
  unpredictability in the content where the
  moderators have to manage whatever content should
  arise ranging from mere language choices to
  verbal assaults.

5
Which is Better for Your Purposes?

• You want a blog if you are looking for easily
  manageable updates centralized around topics
  specifically chosen for your purposes with the
  option of receiving comments.
• You want a forum if you are looking for a more
  open form of communication intending to spark
  discussion amongst members of your
  specified/selected community of members.

6
Choosing Between a pre-established Blog site or
Building Your Own

• The benefit of a pre-established blog site is
  that they are easier for you to set up, however
  they contain features outside of your control,
  and if you link to their website or attach it to
  yours, the blog on your website is inexplicably
  tied to the fate of their website.
• If you dont mind more work you can opt to set up
  your own blog through your own site, although
  this requires more work in setting it up as well
  as maintaining it, but on the other hand you also
  essentially get full control over it.

7
Choosing Between Free Sources and Paying for
Service

• The plus side to using sites with free service is
  that they are of course, free, however, they also
  normally have restricted access to certain higher
  end features which you may need later on. You
  also have to worry about whether or not the
  website remains active.
• When paying for a service, the longevity of the
  website is more dependable as well the full
  usability of the programs.
• For these reasons we recommend using paid for
  services, in order to ensure that you have full
  functionality and dependability, however, there
  are a few websites that make it apparent that
  they are able to stay and have been reviewed
  enough to make them viable as well. One such site
  is www.blogger.com

8
What Will This Tutorial Focus On?

• Due to the complexity and the amount work
  involved in making a blog from scratch, this
  tutorial will focus on the basics of setting up a
  blog using the free blog host www.blogger.com and
  their ability to put that blog onto a personal
  website.
• This will give the user a better idea of what a
  blog consists of before they put too much into
  the effort.
• It will also go over some of the main editing
  options that will help to customize your blog.

9
What Will You Need?

• You will need working knowledge of web
  programming skills
• You will need to make sure that your web host
  service supports FTP
• Web hosting service where you acquired your web
  space.
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol) a web protocol used
  to transfer files from your computer to a web
  server, or vice versa (We recommend AceFTP, which
  is free and easy to use).

10
Step One Signing Up for Blogger

• Go to the website www.blogger.com
• At the lower right-hand side, click the giant
  orange arrow that says, Create Your Blog Now

11
Step 2a Sign Up for a Google Account

• Follow the directions on the page and fill out
  your information and click the orange arrow that
  says, Continue, when you are done.
• If you already have a Google Account, then it
  wont let you sign up, but if you go back to the
  start page and sign in using your pre-existing
  information the sequence of steps that follow
  will be the same.

12
Step 2b Signing Up For Blogger With a
Pre-existing Google Account

• Just fill in the needed information and hit the
  big orange arrow at the bottom right.

13
Step 3

• In order to attach the blog to your website you
  will need to click on the hyperlinked text that
  says, Advanced Blog Setup.

14
Step 4a Fill Out the Form

• The FTP Server is the website that you connect to
  in order to update your webpage and you will want
  to mark the FTP bubble for Protocol.

15
Step 4b Fill Out the Rest of the Form

• The FTP path is the directory that you want to
  put the blog information. You want to use the
  directory that is accessible to the web in a form
  similar to this web/wa/
• If you cannot figure out where that directory is,
  you can contact your web host

16
Step 5 Choose a Template for Your Blog

• Choose a template from their list, although it
  can be edited later on, either for another
  template, or with customizable options.
• When finished click the big orange arrow.

17
Step 6 Your Blog has been Created

• Click the big orange arrow to continue.

18
Step 7a Make Sure That it Works

• Post a test (It can easily be deleted later)

19
Step 7b A Successful Post Looks Like This
However
20
Step 7c Check To See If It Did Post

• To Check and see if it did post, type the URL
  that you wanted it to be located at into your
  browser.
• If it shows up, then you can skip the rest of
  step 7.
• If it doesnt then have fun and good luck.

21
Step 7d A Failed Post Can Look Something Like
This
22
Step 7e What To Do If It Fails?

• The first thing to do is go to the setting tab in
  the top left corner.

23
Step7f Common Problems

• A common problem is that the website you used as
  the FTP server is incorrect. If you are unsure,
  contact your web host.

24
Step 7g Another Common Problem

• There could be an error in the username or
  password associated with that FTP server. Double
  check that both are correct.

25
Step 7h If It Still Isnt Showing Up

• If it still isnt showing up, and you are sure
  that your web host supports FTP, then it is very
  likely that the blog is being transferred to your
  site, but to a location you didnt specify. From
  here there are two options

26
Step 7h Continued

• The first problem could be due to an error in the
  Blog URL. Make sure that URL is where you want
  the blog to show up.

27
Step 7h Continued Again

• The problem that is more likely is that there is
  an error in what directory the blog is being
  sent. In this case you want to make sure that the
  base web directory is first, followed by a
  backslash and whatever subdirectory, or
  subdirectories follow until you reach the folder
  you want.

28
Step 7i Follow Up With the Changes

• Whatever changes that you make to FTP URL and/or
  the FTP path, remember to also change the lines
  under Archiving and Sight Feed

29
Step 7j Repost Your Blog Entry To See If It Is
Now Shown

• If it still does not work after this point,
  contact your web host and/or Blogger Help.

30
Step 8 Customize Your Template

• If you wish to personally edit your blog
  template, you will need to understand web code,
  both HTML and CSS. But to do this, merely click
  on the Template tab next to settings.

31
Step 9 Editing Your Template

• To edit your template, merely edit the code
  within the center box, and when finished click
  the large orange button in the bottom left corner

32
Step 10a Editing Basic Content

• Go back to the Settings tab.

33
Step 10b Editing Content continued

• To edit the content of your blog, click on the
  subcategories Basic or Comments under the
  settings tab.

34
Step 11 Editing the Format

• To edit the format of the site click on either
  the Formatting or the Site Feed subcategories
  under settings

35
Step 12 Adding Authors

• If you wish to allow specific other people to
  post on your blog, then click on the
  Permissions subcategory and the the Add
  Authors Button below your username and email
  address.

36
Step 13 Linking

• Now that the blog is where you want it to be, all
  you have to do is link to it from whichever part
  of your webpage you want it to come from (and if
  you want it really fancy, edit the code as is
  suggested in step 9, making a link back to your
  original site).

37
Step 14 Posting

• The final stage of your blog development is
  actually adding material for your audience. Be
  creative, informational, or however the wind
  takes you.