January 17, 2003
From the desk of Jane Galt:More than a couple of people have indicated that they saw the segment on PBS and they want to start their own blog. How do they get started, they ask?
Well, if you don't have your own domain and host, you can start off by going to Blogger. Blogger is free software that will let you get started posting entries. They also have a free site, Blogspot, where you can host your blog. Don't worry about going to Blogspot; Blogger will let you set up a site there as part of starting the blog.
If you're a more advanced user with your own site, I use Movable Type to make this blog. It's also free to download, although you are encouraged to tip. It's a more complicated setup, so unless you're Unix/Web proficient, I recommend starting with Blogger to see if you like Blogging.
If you want a spot to host a Movable Type blog, I can recommend my provider, Cornerhost.
If you want a domain, Register.com will help you find one. It's more expensive than other services, but the service and features are better, and it's only $100 for two years.
You'll want to play with your template -- add links and features. This HTML Guide will help.
You'll also want to publicize your blog, after you've got some content -- I had some advice on that, way back when.
After you've publicized it, you'll want hit counters to track your stats. I use GoStats and Bravenet, both of which are free.
Posted by Jane Galt at January 17, 2003 8:31 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksI just want to add something as a trademark attorney for those of you who wish to start your own blog with your own domain name.
I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the ICANN Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy. This is the world-wide arbitration system for "top level domain names". Examples of these are any domain names which end in .com, .org, or .net (for example, janegalt.com), you can link to their site by going to: http://www.icann.org/
If someone has a trademark in the domain name you picked (or a trademark similar to the domain name you picked), they could file a complaint against you under these rules. Therefore, to prove good faith, before picking a domain name I would do a US Trademark search. You can do this by going to http://www.uspto.gov/. Got to trademarks, then go to search and then do a beginning search for the domain name you wish to use. If you find nothing that directly relates, then, use the domain name you want. Otherwise, this will let you know that someone has obtained trademark rights in the domain name you are interested in and you should perhaps pick something else.
While the chances of someone trademarking something like janegalt.com are relatively slim, this 20 minutes of work could, potentially, save you hundreds, perhaps thousands, in legal fees. Since it costs you nothing but time, it might be worthwhile.
I believe that I will not waste 20 minutes of my valuable time protecting MY registered domain name. Who else in the world would WANT "gutrumbles.com?"
I rest my case.
The owner of the trademark "TUMMY RUMBLE" for one. Don't worry, the mark was cancelled. You're safe. took me 1.5 minutes to check.
Jessica wanted OUT of Jessica's Well.....surely she didn't have it trademarked.
Crossing my fingers.
What a very nice service you have provided. Thank you. I started mine about two months ago, and have been sick for a while so I haven't posted lately, but am looking forward to getting back into it. Thanks for your tips.
Good for you for the helpful info.
And good for your readers for adding their 2 cents.
I would venture to disagree about Register.com, however, as there are many registrars that are so much cheaper, yet offer fine service and plenty of add-ons. For basic registration, one really shouldn't be paying more than $10 per year anymore. Godaddy.com is just one example.
Thanks for the info and advice, Megan.
Can one add a comments capability to blogspot? I'm happy to have a site that runs, and since I'm not too computer savvy, I'd like go under the hood as little as possible, in part because there's this html stuff in there that I haven't figured out yet.
For that matter, how does one link somebody else's post, or an article somewhere else? How can I add a link to favorite blogs? Ah, Megan, would you please just fly out to California and come hold my hand for a little while?
Regards,
Jeff
I fully agree with Megan that Blogger is the best way to start out if you've never had a website. But soon you will want to make the transition to Movable Type. It's not hard, but it requires a solid afternoon of sitting down and reading poorly-written instructions. It's well worth it for anyone who has paid for hosting and would like to be able to control all aspects of they way their blog is published.
To those who are feeling a little wary about the switch to Movable Type from Blogger, let me assure you that no Unix knowledge is required (if you are, like me, a dependent Windows user) despite Megan's caution. I recommend a good FTP program (I use CuteFTP) that you have read the instructions for, so that when Movable Type tells you to "CHMOD all Perl files to 777", you will know that you can do that by simple right-clicking even if you're not sure what it means.
Linking is easy. Up there in the title bar, where it gives the URL of the page you're at, you highlight the URL and copy it. Whatever software you use will have a handy little button to make the link -- you highlight the text that you want to be the link, click the button, and copy the URL into the resulting dialogue.
To link someone's weblog, you find the permalink for their post (usually named something snappy like "Permanent Link" or "Link"), right click on it, select "Copy Shortcut" (if you're using Internet Explorer; I forget what the exact wording is on the Mozilla/Netscape engine, but it's similar), and then go into the link dialogue box to paste it. (CTRL + V is the universal Windows paste command.) Simple.
You add a link to other people's blogs by going into the links section of your template. There are usually a couple of sample links there, so all you do is copy the sample link line and paste it directly beneath itself. To change where the link is going, find the part of the line inside the greater than/less than signs. The part you are looking for looks like this: a href="http://www.janegalt.net" or whatever the URL is. Replace www.janegalt.net with your target URL. Replace the link text with whatever you want it to say. (This sounds obscure, but it won't be when you look at it. If there's a link on your template to google, and you copy the line with the word google in it, the part of the line that just says Google, and is located between a greater-than sign and a less-than sign is the part you want to change. So if you wanted to link this site with the headline "Greatest Web Site on Earth", to change a google link you would change the part that read "http://www.google.com" to read "http://www.janegalt.net" and change the part that read Google to read Greatest Web Site on Earth. Honestly, it's easier than it sounds. I'd never made a hyperlink before I started the site.
For all newbies, a great tool is the View Source option on your View menu. You can go to any web site that's doing something you like and find out exactly what's in the HTML that makes it do it. Then you steal it. Anyone who saw this site near its birth probably noted the suspicous resemblance between my links and those on Instapundit. That's how I got it.
adding my 2 cents to David's comments about domain charges, i'd have to agree.
i started doing domain registrations back in 1993, and my first two domains were registered when they were still FREE, so $100/2 years is way too much.
Check out dotearth.com as well. right now they are running a $25/2 years special on .com, .net, and .org, and a $15/2 years special on .info
Great information. I'll have to point those who ask me about setting up a blog here for the quick info.
Like David and the others though, I would disagree with you on the registrar, but then again it really depends on what features you want. Of the handful of companies I have used, I love godaddy.com (great pricing and zero problems).
The key is finding an affordable, reliable host. The key word here is reliable. My host is driving me mad with downtime. Hence, no working website link added.
Come over to cornerhost. They specialize in bloggers, offer very reasonable rates, and I've only been down twice in the last year.
I like Register, but I use it for a lot of corporate stuff -- it's worth it not to have to hassle over a vanishing registrar.
Thanks so much for this post. My blog has been up for only two weeks. I couldn't get my counter to work. I just put up one from Gostats and it works just fine. Someday I'll put up a hidden counter, but I'm happy right now to have one that actually works.
My registrar of choice is registerfly.com - $9.99 a year, and they do DNS hosting too (this is important - if you use a webhosting company they will do the DNS hosting too, but otherwise you may be up a creek if you go for a registrar that doesn't offer free DNS).
Also, along DNS lines, they let you do it all - CNAME, ANAME, and the more low-tech stuff like frame forwarding. If you don't know what this means, don't worry about it. But if this is what you're looking for, like if your site is virtualhosted off a university server, registerfly is great and won't gouge you on the price.
Good advice about the trademark search. It only takes a moment and can save you lots af trouble.
Registerfly? There seems to many many complaints about them. I used them. They charged my CC and didn't provide the service. They won't stay in business for long with bad practices like that. Crooks.
I like dotyou.com. They have dynamic DNS so you can host your blog even if you have a dynamic IP address. This means folks with cable Internetway I or DSL where their IP keeps changing can still host. Dotyou. Good prices. Manage your own DNS. Very sweet.
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