Contents

Know more about this
(or any other) subject?

Show off your know-how at Quamut Wiki.

Learn more with these titles from Barnes & Noble

Clear Blogging: How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them

The Everything Blogging Book: Publish Your Ideas, Get Feedback, and Create Your Own Worldwide Network

Previous:
The Anatomy of a Typical Blog

Next:
How to Create Your Own Blog

How to Use a Blogging Service

A blogging service provides a complete and ready-to-use blogging platform that enables anyone to create and maintain a blog. Most blogging services have a tiered pricing structure that lets users create a bare-bones blog for free, then pay for additional features or hosting space if desired. All blogging services include a simple signup process, after which users can begin blogging right away. Some of the core features that all blogging services offer are:

Web-based software: This helps bloggers write, organize, and publish content, even if they have no prior knowledge of computer programming or code.
Web hosting: This service provides space on a remote server for storing the files that make up a blog.
Basic blog elements: This includes all the basics (comments, archives, and so on), plus additional, easy-to-use perks, such as color schemes and design templates that allow you to customize the appearance of your blog.

Most blogging services now offer these additional features as well:

Moblogging: Post text or photos to your blog directly from your cell phone.
Photoblogging: Post photos within your entries.
Podcasting (audioblogging): Post audio recordings of your blog entries by phoning them in or uploading an audio file from your computer.
Videoblogging: Post videos within your entries.

The ease and convenience of blogging services make them ideal for beginners, though advanced users might miss the creative freedom and control that comes only from creating a blog from scratch (see How to Create Your Own Blog).

The following sections describe each of the major blogging services, including details on pricing and the additional features that each service offers.

Blogger

Blogger® (www.blogger.com) is a service that was started in 1999 by a small company called Pyra Labs, and bought by Google in 2002. Blogger is entirely free and considered to be the simplest and most popular blogging service, making it the best choice for beginners.

Distinguishing Features that Blogger Offers

Google AdSense® advertising: Blogger now offers bloggers the chance to earn income with Google AdSense, the web’s leading advertising platform (see How to Add Advertising to Your Blog).
One-click photo posting: Integrate photos into your blog quickly and easily.

TypePad

TypePad® (www.typepad.com) was introduced in 2003 by Six Apart. A pioneer of the do-it-yourself blogging scene, the company also created Movable Type® (see How to Create Your Own Blog). TypePad is a paid service, offering Basic, Plus, and Pro accounts for a small monthly fee. Robust yet easy for beginners to use, TypePad offers the most creative flexibility of any prepackaged blogging service, making it a great choice for artists, designers, and photobloggers.

Distinguishing Features that TypePad Offers

Photo albums: As a TypePad user, you can create an unlimited number of photo albums and include links to them from your blog.
Regulates readers and reader comments: TypePad helps regulate readers by using features such as password protection for private blogs as well as IP banning to block unwelcome readers and spam robots, or spambots, which post comment spam (unsolicited, ad-based spam comments).
Design management: At the Basic and Plus levels, you get prepackaged design themes and a drag-and-drop theme editor. At the Pro level, you can edit your blog’s CSS and HTML (the computer code that specifies how to display your blog) by hand.
Income: Pro-level accounts feature support for text-based advertising and tip jars, which allow users to make cash donations directly to you.
Customer support: All levels of TypePad service offer email-based customer support.

WordPress

A relative newcomer to the prepackaged blogging scene, WordPress® (www.wordpress.com) began as an open source project for bloggers interested in hosting and managing their own blogs. Their prepackaged blogging service is worth looking into if you want a free blogging service with few bells and whistles.

Distinguishing Features that WordPress Offers

Design templates: Use one-click installation to access WordPress’s several predesigned blog templates.
Custom sidebar content: Add content, such as blog stats or Flickr® (www.flickr.com) photo previews, to the sidebar using WordPress’s drag-and-drop interface.

LiveJournal

LiveJournal® (www.livejournal.com), an online blogging community, was created in 1999 by a college student and purchased by Six Apart in 2005. LiveJournal offers a free Basic account, a free Plus account with ads and some special features, and, for a small recurring fee, a premium Paid account with all of LiveJournal’s additional features. Extensive community features make LiveJournal a good choice for young bloggers or those seeking a strong, well-connected blogging network.

Distinguishing Features that LiveJournal Offers

Profiles and friends: Each LiveJournal user can create a public profile listing his or her location, birthday, friends, and interests. LiveJournal’s unique “friends” feature allows its users to meet online in interest- or location-based communities. Bloggers can also add a “friends page” with links to all of their friends’ LiveJournal blogs.

Acknowledgments & Disclaimer