Blogs and Why I chose Blogger

My goal for this blog, and the monthly newsletter I'm starting, is to provide a resource for my clients and help them find inexpensive and easy ways of marketing their sites, and to grow on-line.

I started looking into blogs last January and took a class with HTML Writers Guild (they have great on-line courses) for Moveable Type's blog software. So many of my clients have talked to me about starting blogs for their sites, I figured, I might as well be a test case for setting up a blog to see if it is as easy as I thought (it is).

Like many of my clients, my time is precious, so when the HWG course seemed to drag on and the teacher's notes were hard to follow (it was a new course, new teacher) and client deadlines started to encroach, I wasn' t able to complete the course. Moveable Type has been around the longest and has some nice features, it's competitively priced, but I chose Blogger, because it's FREE. Google owns Blogger. I set it up so it runs from my server, but you can also just have it run from their server. MoveableType sells TypePad that runs off of their servers, but they charge you a monthly hosting fee depending on which level TypePad you need.

I've always felt blogs are a young person's game and I worry that after logging 8-10hrs on the computer, I won't have the bandwidth to spend another hour blogging, but I realize I have to find new outlets to help my clients stay ahead -- I read a ton of trade journals and newspapers on a variety of subjects from business, web to graphic design and communication. When I saw an article in How Magazine (great design pub) I realized I need to share some of what I read with my clients.

Before you launch your own blog, I'd recommend reading a few blogs for a month to get a sense of what works and doesn't work for you.

If you're at all unsure, check out Lynda.com (a great resource to learn just about any software associated with the web) she's now offering on-line videos (online learning library). Blogger, for instance, is a 3.5 hour course that takes you step-by-step through the process to set up a blog. It's mind-numbingly easy. Lynda Weiman was one of the first web teachers (she came up web safe colors) and has remained the best. She offers books, dvds, cds, videos etc. I have to say the on-line videos are the best because you can open a second browser window and work along side the video.