WordPress

Widgets For Your Blog

December 6, 2009 By Loren

Blogs bring a lot of pleasure to their owners for many reasons, and one of the things I like most is the fact that you can tweak your blog to your heart’s content. Widgets are one of the most useful tools that you can employ to make your blog look just like the way you want it to.

Widgets may sound cool, but do you have a clear idea of what they are and what they can do? Again, let’s go the most basic route: widgets are basically groups of code that can be used in various web sites (including your blog). They do not require any additional programming work on the par of the end user (you and I). All that you need to do is copy the code to your blog, and you’re good to go.

That’s the (slightly) technical part. Now let’s focus on the more practical aspects of widgets. Basically, you can find widgets of any kind that can add visual appeal to your blog. More than aesthetic value, widgets also offer a lot in terms of usability. Think clock widgets, calendar widgets, countdown widgets, map widgets, comment widgets, popular post widgets, and so on. In fact, there are countless widgets available online today, that it is probably impossible to count them!

As you start your blogging journey, you may be tempted to grab each and every widget that catches your fancy. Trust me, this is NOT a good idea. There is such a thing as having too many widgets in your blog, and if this is the case, you will probably end up with confused or irritated readers – both having negative implications for you.

So what are you to do then? Let’s begin with the most essential widgets that you are going to need. After a few weeks or months of blogging, you will have enough experience to pick out more widgets that will be beneficial to your blog.

Popular Posts Widgets
I think that this widget is one of the most important tools out there. Once you amass a lot of posts in your blog, it could be hard for readers to find older posts, even if they are your best posts. The solution is to use a popular post widget which will highlight these posts. Making it easy for your readers to find these excellent posts works in two ways: one, you give quality content to your readers, making them happy; two, you increase your chances of having readers subscribe to your blog.

Labels or Tags Widgets
Blog platforms usually have these widgets as a default, but you should always make sure that your widget is up and running properly. The reason is quite similar to the rationale behind the first widget I mentioned – you want readers to navigate your blog more easily and to find the posts most relevant to them. Just remember, though, that you have to label or tag your posts properly in order for these widgets to work the way they ought to.

Related Posts Widgets
Do you want to get more page views and promote posts that may not be as popular as the others? Then get a widget that provides links to posts with related content. Again, this will give your readers additional information and give you benefits as well.

These are only some of the most important widgets that you can use for your blog. As you go along, I am certain that you will find more.

Now You’re Ready To Create Your Blog

November 28, 2009 By Loren

Creating your own blog is as easy as pie, or as easy as taking candy from a baby. Come to think of it, though, with what the blogging platforms have to offer these days, it might even be easier to create a blog than to do those two things I mentioned! After reading through our introductory pages – from common blogging terms to blogrolls to blog templates – you are probably quite eager to get a start on it.

At this point, you should already know what kind of blog you are going to create. Whether it is a personal blog, a sports blog, a political blog – it does not matter. The important thing is that you know why you are creating a blog and what you are going to be writing about.

Now, what you have to decide on is the blogging platform that you are going to use. As we are using WordPress, you can expect me to suggest this blogging platform. There are many reasons for this, one of the main things being the fact that WordPress offers a host of features that make is very easy for new bloggers to create and maintain their blog.

The first thing that you have to do is to go to the WordPress home page. I am assuming that you do not have an account yet, so the next step is to click on the SIGN UP button. Trust me, you won’t miss it – as of this writing, it’s this big orange button on the right. You don’t need to pay for anything in order to create an account – just make sure you have a valid e-mail address.

As with most other accounts online, you need to designate a username and password that will be associated with your WordPress account. You will also be asked to read the terms and conditions – make sure you do, even if you don’t really feel like it. Here’s a very important thing: make sure that you choose the option “Gimme a blog!” That’s what you want to do, right?

On to the next step…you have to choose the domain of your blog. For free WordPress blogs, this is the usual pattern: http://name.wordpress.com/. You can choose what goes in place of “name,” but do realize that it has to be unique. If someone else has picked that name, then you will have to think of something else. You’ll also have to enter the title of your blog. This does not have to be the same as the domain name. Take note that the domain name, once chosen, cannot be changed; but you can always change the blog title anytime. Securing a good hosting plan for your wordpress blog is quite easy. There are many hosting companies supporting WordPress. At Webhostingsearch.com you can go through reviews of leading wordpress hosting companies that can help you find the best host you can utilize in creating a great site. Once you’re done, you are READY TO BLOG!

This is the fun part – you will be redirected to your dashboard, which is the page where you can access practically everything in your blog. From here, you can choose the blog template that you want. You can also start writing your very first post. Now I won’t keep you – try it yourself and pretty soon, your blog will be up and running.

All About Blog Templates

November 28, 2009 By Loren

If you were to ask me which aspect of starting a blog involves the most fun, I would have a hard time answering you. Right now, though, off the top of my head, I would have to say that choosing the blog template is right there at the top of my list. This is even truer for those who are into designs and those who place high value on aesthetics.

Let’s revisit the term “blog template” just in case you’ve forgotten what it means. Simply put, a blog template determines what your blog looks like. Of course, it is coded using a language, but the end result is what you and your readers see. From colors to fonts to the number of columns – all these depend on the blog template that you choose. As you can surmise, your blog template of choice could very well define the visual success of your blog. As such, you have to be discriminatory in choosing a blog template.

So where do you start? The beauty of blogging platforms (especially Blogger and WordPress) is that they come with default blog templates. This makes things so much easier for the new blogger. Even better, you can choose any default template if you cannot make up your mind just yet – you can always change the template later on.

As with many things that have “defaults,” the blog templates that are available from most blogging platforms may not meet all of your needs and preferences. The good news is that you can find other blog templates online which you can use for your blog. You can either look for FREE blog templates or find a designer/programmer who will create a custom blog template. Naturally, if you decide on the latter choice, you should be ready to pay for the designer’s services (unless you happen to have a friend who does this).

Here are some things to consider when choosing a blog template – whether free or paid.

1. What sort of layout do you want?
What I mean is this: how many columns do you want in your blog? Do you want one main column for the posts and one sidebar on the right? Or maybe you want it on the left? Or maybe you want one main column for the posts and two sidebars – one on each side. This is a great place to start as you can search for free blog templates depending on the number of columns that you want.

2. What color scheme do you have in mind?
Everyone has a favorite color – what’s yours? Blog templates have default color schemes but many also have options to tweak the hues. When checking out blog templates, make sure that the color suits your preferences AND the overall theme of the blog as well.

3. Do you want a custom header?
The header is that image at the top of the page, and it is something that I value highly. The header is often the first thing seen by readers and I think that it has to make a good impression. Now if you think like me, then you will have to look for a blog template that allows users to change the image for the header.

4. What other customization requirements do you have?
Aside from changing the image header, you might want to be able to customize other aspects of the layout such as the size of the sidebar and so on. I suggest listing these things down so that you can check as you are going through various blog templates.

Widgets For Your Blog

Now You’re Ready To Create Your Blog

All About Blog Templates

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