Starting A Blog

Ready to become your own publisher?

In last month's newsletter we discussed why you might want
to start a blog. Listed here are some various resources where
you can go and start your own blog with various options
available to choose from.

These blogging sites can help you make your mark on the Web.

AOL Journals:
You don't have to be an AOL subscriber to use AOL's blogging
service, AOL Journals. You only need to register and walk
through a quick creation process for a basic blog. AOL
Journals may suit AOL instant messaging users especially
well, since you can post blog entries via AIM.

On the downside, AOL runs banner ads along the top of your
blog, and the look of the blog isn't highly customizable.
So while it's acceptable for, say, family blogs, AOL
Journals is not a smart choice for a small business owner.

AskJeeves Bloglines:
If you can't get enough of reading other people's blogs,
check out Bloglines. This free news aggregator service
delivers a customized news page that you design. You
choose a group of blogs to which you'll subscribe, then
Bloglines grabs content from them when it's updated.
You can use Bloglines for any news offered via RSS
(Really Simple Syndication), an option you'll see at most
major news sites and many blogs.

You'll also find a blog-creation tool here, for sharing
blog clips with friends, but it isn't very intuitive.

Blogger.com:
Run by search-engine king Google, Blogger.com helps you
step through creating and publishing a blog in just a
few minutes. You can't beat the price: It's free. And
you'll find good-looking design options and cool features
like AudioBlogger, which lets you call in by phone to
leave a message that's posted on your blog in MP3 format.

Blogger has new features including a photo Slideshow and
a Poll option by Adding Page Elements. You can also make
a Blogger publicly available as anonymous, to Gmail users
only, or to registered Blooger users only.

On the downside, you can't password-protect your blog using
this service. Still, Blogger.com is a good way to try on
blogging for size.

LiveJournal:
LiveJournal is an open-source blogging service that's free
to join but costs $25 a year to enjoy some of the most
high-end features, such as embedded polls and surveys,
custom themes, online photo storage, and phone posting.
When you pay, you can also receive new posts via e-mail or
text message.

The service--which was recently acquired by Six Apart,
the company that brings you TypePad (see below)
--is very community-oriented. You can aggregate your
friends' most recent blog posts in one place or create
a community blog where several people with shared
interests can post on a certain topic.

MSN Spaces:
MSN's free blogging service offers a bit more flexibility
than Blogger.com. MSN Spaces boasts a quick setup process,
good templates, and easy-to-use editing tools, plus the
ability to post entries via cell phone. You can also share
music playlists with friends. And you can make an MSN Space
blog publicly available to everyone, to a small group of
people, or to no one.

TypePad.com:
The TypePad service isn't free, but it's a good value,
starting at $4.95 per month for a personal weblog with
one author. (PC World named it Best Blogging Tool in
the magazine's 2005 World Class Awards.) TypePad offers
a really understandable interface, classy templates,
and a text editor that makes it simple to jazz up the
look of your blog.

TypePad also expertly guides you through tasks such as
password protecting blogs, sharing online photo albums
and setting up pages that blend text, photos, video and
audio using the company's unique Mixed Media templates.
All in all, TypePad will make your blog more
sophisticated, for a reasonable price.

Yahoo 360:
Yahoo's free service, still in beta testing, shows users
how to write and publish blogs, as well as share content
like music, post pictures, all while keeping control
over who can visit the site.