If you know how to blog from your own website then
you will have many options open to you in the design and functionality
of your blog that are not available on a hosted blog.
You can use
Blogger from blogger.com or Wordpress from wordpress.com. Each has its
own peculiarities, benefits and disadvantages, such as the lack of
trackback and categories on Blogger, and the relatively poor raw html
editing facility on Wordpress. However, each has its fans and
adherents, and those used to one or the other are generally loathe to
changing. Neither, however, offers the wide range of options open to
those that have chosen to run Wordpress or any other blogging software
from their own webspace.
Those who use the hosted versions likely
do so either because they have no need of the options that the uploaded
software offers, and are happy operating a blog using the range of
options offered by the blog host. Others might not have a website, and
have no intentions of having one because they have no need for their
own site. Many bloggers are not involved in internet marketing, and are
not using their blogs to make money - not even Adsense revenue.
They
enjoy blogging about the political issues of the day, the latest movies
and even just their everyday lives. Others, however, use blogs
professionally as part of their business, and a blog is a great medium
for advertising a business or a product. It is an ideal way of linking
several websites that have been designed to sell different products,
and even cover different niches. This is not easy to do without a blog,
since search engines such as Google frown on adverts on one website for
anther site offering information on a totally different topic.
What
is regarded as a lack of relevance in a website is diversity in a blog.
So how do you go about running your blog from your own website?
Wordpress.org offers free software that you can upload to your own web
space. The best way to do this is by use of an ftp client. This is
software that allows you transfer files and folders from your hard
drive to your website. It can also be used to transfer files from one
website to another.
Upload facilities on websites allow you only
to upload files, not folders or directories. Without an ftp client, you
would have to create folders identical to those containing the
Wordpress files. You would then have to upload each file individually,
while maintaining the original directory structure. This can take some
time to do, and errors are easy to make. Your first steps, then, are to
download the blogging software to your hard disk, then ftp it to your
website. When doing this, your ftp software will also allow you to
change file permissions as detailed in the blog set up instructions.
You will also have to use a text editor to change the contents of a few
files, but this is fairly simple to do.
You then have to create a
MySQL database for your blog. MySQL is a powerful Open Source Software
database management system that uses SQL (structured query language)
that most normal web hosting services offer free on your web space. The
database is easy to set up by following the instructions that will
likely be provided by your web host.
After that you are all set.
You can use the default page template that comes with Wordpress, but
you now have complete flexibility in the look and feel of your blog.
You can upload any of the thousands of free or paid templates available
online, and also any of the plugins that you want to use. You can edit
all of the template elements you want to completely customize them,
including the stylesheet for the whole page, the header, footer,
sidebars and so on. You can add graphics, Adsense blocks, affiliate
links and even offer your own products for sale.
Plugins are
software elements that provide specific resources to your blog.
Examples are calendars, anti-spam filters, RSS feeds, sitemap
generators, tag systems and so on. There are thousands of them that can
be used to totally customize your blog.
If you have your own
website and business, then a blog can be a very dangerous thing. It can
become so addictive that you can find yourself neglecting your website
and business and spending all your time blogging and trying out various
plugins, templates and themes.
Knowing how to blog from your blog
from own website can be very useful, but make sure that you budget your
time on it. A blog is a great thing, but very addictive.
If you want more information on blogging and setting up your blog on your own website, visit BlogonBlog where you will find several hints and tips, and also a link to Create A Blog that provides you with more detailed information on blogs.
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