Setting up a Blog

Do you want others to read what you write online? Try setting up a blog with my guide to getting started.

Short for "weblogs", blogs began as online diaries, but these days many are useful and entertaining sources of news and information. A blog is really a kind of mini-website, but with one big difference: it costs nothing, or very little, to run. What makes blogs different from most websites is that they are updated regularly and they are interactive - readers can comment on what you write.

No technical knowledge is required to blog. You type your text as if it were any article and the software of the blog company does the rest. Each time you add another piece of text, "known" as post, that gets published at the top of the page and everything else moves down.

More than 130 million blogs have been started on the web and around a million blog posts are written every day. Every blog is different: some have only one author, some are the work of two or more people, some are streams of nonsense about nothing in particular. Many, though, are clever, informative and well written. These are often the ones that attract most comments.

People blog for different reasons. Some blogs are platforms for the writer's own opinions, some bloggers write to promote themselves and show off their skills, some even sell stuff on their blogs. Other bloggers write to get in touch with people who have similar views, while some blog to share their knowledge. Teachers, for instance, often blog to help students to catch up when they miss a class. Blogs can be password-protected so that they can only be read by those are allowed to view them.

The best blogs are those that specialise. If you cover too wide a topic area, you'll find difficult to attract a loyal audience. People go to their favourite blog regularly, as they know they'll always find something of interest there.  They don't want a wasted visit, so stick to your own particular subject. You'll come across as knowledgeable and others with the same interest will visit regularly.

It is very easy to set up a blog. You can be online within a few minutes of opening an account, Start by looking at as many blogs as possible to get the ideas. Most blogs publish a "blogroll", or list of links to other blogs, so click on those to view more examples. Next you need to select a blog company. The biggest and most user-friendly are free, although they all offer slightly different features, so make sure you investigate and choose the one that provides what you want.

You can write as much or as little as you like but you must add posts regularly. It is best to write every few days, but it doesn't matter if you do so only at weekends or a couple of times a month, so long as your readers know when to expect posts. It is frustrating to visit a favourite blog only to find that it hasn't been updated as expected. You won't always have the time to write long blogs. On those says, refer your visitors to another blog, something in the press or a video clip on the Internet.

Blogging about items in the news will help increase your readership, as more people will be searching for that topic. However, blogging is not necessarily about gaining a wide audience. It is often more satisfying to attract regular readers who interact with you, so write about what you know, check your facts and don't be afraid to say things people may disagree with - it's a good way of attracting comments. You'll soon have a loyal audience who will spread the word about your blog.