Mcneri’s Blog

Many bloggers are faced with that huge dilema of self-hosting or not. Often times by the time they have blogged for a few weeks and read a few posts about hosting blogs, the blogger becomes convinced that they should self-host. Unfortunately, this is unknown terrain and uncharted waters for many-a-blogmaster. There are six essential steps of thought that every blogger should go through if they indeed want to self-host painlessly.

1. Are you ready to blog?

Blogging is interesting and exciting depending on how well you are able to execute it. It is rewarding and gratifying to see complete strangers respond to your writing with comments and exchange of personal experience. Blogging is really a trip for those ready to blog. Are you ready to blog? Are you ready to keep up with the demands of an ever increasing audience. Are you ready to engage your readers? If you are ready to work tirelessly on a thankless project (at least initially), then move on to the next step. If not, look for something else to do.

2. Can you start afresh?

Often times the first steps on the internet and in the blogosphere are baby steps in the wrong direction…possibly on the wrong terrain. We may have signed up for one useless hype of a “pay-for-this-and-get-rich-NOW” scheme. We paid and paid but did not get rich. We received websites or web pages to make money but nobody came. We even tried to resell one thing or the other but it failed. The realization that you need to start afresh is an essential second step. Do not be afraid to get back to the basics. Remember Abraham Lincoln? he became President one day because he kept on starting afresh. get ready to start afresh.

3. Identify your blogging platform

before you start blogging, you must decide on the blogging platform to use. there are numerous options, but the most popular ones according to a poll by Problogger last year were Wordpress.org (self hosted)[36%], Blogger(free hosted)[25%], and wordpress.com (free hosted)[15%]. There are many other less popular platforms including Typepad, Moveable Type, Typepad, Drupal, Joomla, Nucleus, Livejournal. This list is non-exhaustive. The important thing is really to know which platform works for you. One could test-blog and see how easy it is to work with the various platforms. Just sign up with a not too interesting name and start a blog. Your main purpose would be to test the interface and see whether a particular platform works for you. You can delete the blog after you have tried it for a few minutes to an hour. Sample several of these blog software to decide which one works best for you.

Look for reviews of blog platforms and explore services offered by the free hosting platforms like Blogger and Wordpress.com. What support would you get? Can you monetize the blog? What restrictions exist? Does the platform host any A-listed Blogs? What do other bloggers have to say about the platform? By the time you have gathered that information, you would have identified the platform you like the most.

4. Identify your niche

Identifying your niche is about identifying some area you have a passion for. I will use swimming as an illustration. Do you like swimming? Do you know a lot about swimming? Do you have anything to say about swimming? Like say the history of swimming, trends in swimming today, swimming events calendar. Once you have identified a niche which you have a passion for, you are almost there.

5. Identify your blog host

Often times everyone is apprehensive about web hosts and yes you should be. Your host could be your key to success or your doom. Look for a great web host. There are many but since we are talking about hosting a blog here, I will suggest one of these top hosts: Bluehost, Hostgator,or Hostmonster. These companies are big time which means they have and are continuing to fine-tune their services. Essential components include the ability of these hosts to provide you the blogger a cPanel where you can see your whole hosting platform. There you would be able to install several scripts via the popular Fantastico or Elephante. These are tools that help you make a decision because there are so many software at your disposal. You could do a one-click Wordpress install (actually three clicks) or go for Joomla or Nucleus. Fantastico guides you through the installation of your blog platform and you are almost ready.

6. Network and Traffic

When you have completed the first five thought processes and actions, then it will be time to drive traffic to your blog. You also have to network reasonably well so that Social bookmarking sites like Digg and SU will be sources of traffic for you. Also join traffic networks like Entrecard in the first few weeks and aim at converting one traffic visitor a day. At the end of 365 days, your blog readership would theoretically be 365. Another important community to join is BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog. You will generate traffic from there too, a lot.

Conclusion

Once you have all these in the pipeline, believe it or not you are ready to self-host your blog. If you do not try, you will not succeed. Other aspects of self-hosting are beyond the scope of this article, so I will save that for another day.

This post is tagged Abraham Lincoln, Blog, Livejournal, Web hosting service, Wordpress.com