When I first started writing a blog about three years ago, I found myself constantly explaining the strange phenomenon of “blogging”. I would talk about the excitement of publishing your own ideas, commenting on the blogs of others and the buzz that comes when you begin to shift from a readership of one to 10 or 20 or 30 or more. In turn, I would be met with blank faces. You see, blogging is hard to understand from the outside. It is fundamentally about participation.
Since that time, things have changed – a little. I no longer have to explain what a “blog” is – and I am often asked ABOUT my blog, rather than being asked WHY I write a blog. And increasingly, my friends and family are thinking about establishing their own blogs, which means that they turn to me for advice.
Over the last few months I have spent quite a lot of time playing with WordPress, setting up new blogs and explaining how blogging software, domain names and social profiles fit together. I have explained the process of setting objectives, writing “About” pages and getting into the rhythm of writing.
Finally, I turned to the draft of a book that I had begun months ago – The Dialup Guide to Blogging. I had written this simple guide after I moved house, only to find that the broadband access that I was used to, was not on offer in my new premises. Months of dialup access transformed my approach to writing and reading blogs – and I thought I’d jot down some of the lessons I learned. Increasingly, I found myself printing this out and sharing it with friends to help them get started.
So I thought I would turn this brief guide into something useful to a wider audience. This brief, practical guide is now available for purchase via Lulu. It comes in a paperback and a downloadable (eBook) version – and could well be the best $10 you have ever spent (even if I do say so myself).
The book takes you through a series of steps that will make your life as a dialup blogger much easier:
- Chapter 1 — Knowing Your Objectives: Blogging is much harder work than it first appears. By asking yourself some serious questions you will be able to frame your blog in a way that is valuable to you as well as to your readers.
- Chapter 2 — Welcome to Your Domain: Looks at some of the basic elements of web domains — what you need to think about and how you go about getting a “domain” of your own.
- Chapter 3 — Setting Up Your Blog/Website: Helps you set up your website — either for free or for fee.
- Chapter 4 — Setting Up Your Social Web Identity: Looks at a variety of ways to create your social web identity, suggesting sites and tools that will make your dialup life easier
- Chapter 5 — Writing Your First Posts: Is about writing your first posts, establishing a publishing rhythm and finding “your voice”.
- Chapter 6 — Making Blogging Easier: Explains where you can find ideas for your ideas — that is, how you can find topics to write about, and some of the practicalities of blogging.
- Chapter 7 — Out and About in the Blogosphere: This last chapter looks at contributing to ongoing conversations and determining where best to direct your reading efforts.
Now, if someone asks you what they need to do to get started with blogging, you can simply send them this link – or better yet – buy a copy for them as a gift. Enjoy!
