Setting Up a Hosted Blog
A hosted blog is one that lives on the server of a blog company and is also maintained through that company’s production interface. Hosted blogs are quick to set up and easy to use, and you usually don’t need to download and install software. And some of these services are even free. Using a hosted blog solution means that you can begin blogging very quickly and also that you don’t need to have all the technical skills required to install and configure software on your own Web server. A hosted blogging solution will let you get right to blogging rather than distracting you with complicated technical issues.
Although using a hosted blog can simplify the process a great deal, you still have some decisions to make. Quite a few really excellent hosted Web solutions are out there to choose from. You can find a company whose package suits you, but you may have to shop around a bit to do it.
The right hosted blog solution for you depends on a number of factors:
� Budget: Hosted blog solutions come in several price ranges. Some are free; some require a monthly fee that varies depending on the use you are making of the blog.
� Flexibility: Depending on which hosted blog solution you choose, you will have different builtin functionalities. Look for one that will give you the ability to add tools and make changes, even if you don’t plan to do so right away.
� Future plans: Be sure to consider your long term plans for the blog when you choose your blog solution; if you choose a stripped-down service now, you may limit yourself in the future.
Moving a blog of any significant size to a new host is a task to be avoided if you can possibly help it!
Good blogs have some important features in common that you should look for while shopping for a hosted blog solution.
Even if you’re not sure what kind of use you’ll be making of your blog at this point, the following functionalities are found on most good blogs, and having them can make yours more usable and flexible in the future.
� Categories: As you blog, you may find that you are doing things differently than when you started — you might even develop a new goal for it. A blog created to talk about technical trends, for example, might start to have a significant number of posts about one trend in particular. So you can use this trend as a category. It can be challenging to make sure people get the information they are looking for, and categorizing your entries can help you deal with this. Most blogs archive entries by date,but that only tells part of the story if you’re looking for a specific piece of information. Using categories for your entries lets you subdivide things logi¬cally and gives your users a better chance of finding information that was posted last month or last year. Some categories will get more use than others, and you’ll undoubtedly add some over time (and even stop using others), but not having this functionality makes your life harder.