How To Become A Blogger Step 1: Why You Should Use WordPress

So you think you want to become a blogger but you don’t know where to start.

This first video tells you what a blog is and what is the best blogging platform to use. It will also explain why we have chosen to use “wordpress” as our blogging platform.

1. What Is A Blog?

A blog is just like any other website however a blog is a collection of articles that are listed chronologically. Blog articles can be separated by category and organized with tags.

Blogs allow you to add new content very easily with no need to understand HTML or code. Content on blogs are usually updated frequently and guests can leave comments on your blog articles; which creates a more interactive environment between the reader and the publisher.

2. Should I Host The Blog Myself?

There are two types of blogs.

Externally Hosted Blogs

Eternally hosted blogs are usually free and easy to get started with. However they lack the control that a more advanced blogger would get from hosting the blog themselves.

Also you can never actually have full ownership of your domain name, at an externally hosted blog your web address will always be listed as a sub domain for a larger website.

Your web address for an externally hosted blog will look like this:

www.myblog.wordpress.com

Self Hosted Blogs

This means that you purchase the domain name yourself and you also provide for the hosting of the website.

WordPress is a extremely sophisticated piece of FREE software that will run your blog, it is also very easy and effective for both beginners and professionals to use.

There are other blogging platforms available, but WordPress is by far the best

3. What Are The Most Popular Blogging Platforms.

For an externally hosted blog there are currently 5 major blogging platforms.

1. www.Wordpress.com – Different from wordpress.org but runs the same software

2. www.Blogger.com – This is googles blogging platform

3. www.Typepad.com

4. www.Livejournal.com

5. www.Blogharbor.com

6. www.DevHub.com – Check out our guide to getting started on Devhub

If you’re brand new to blogging then you can test of some of these platforms first to get used to using the interface and learn more about how blogs work with little to no commitment.

Once you’re ready to host your own website then you’re ready to visit wordpress.org