Looking for ideas about starting a blog!

Hi everybody! So I just want to say that I am sooo thankful I discovered square foot gardening and this forum! It has opened up my eyes to sooo many changes in my life. I thought I wouldn't know what to do with myself when gardening season ended but instead I have found all sorts of new hobbies because of it. I have all these fun things I do some new (SFG, freezer meals, furniture making) and some old (couponing, catering, cooking, gardening, being a wife and mother) that I thought it would be fun to start a blog and share my learning experiences with people who would like to read it. It would be more of a lifestyle blog rather than narrowed down to one certain topic. I have no idea what to do or where to start so I am looking for ideas on anything. What should I call it, where to start, etc... I know there are a few of you that have blogs so I thought this would be a good place to get some ideas and the creative juices flowing.

I have a gardening-unrelated blog that I'm having to rebuild after some hackers got into the old one and posted adverts for male-enhancing drugs & other interesting things (or I'd give you the link so you could check it out).

I'm not a "pro" or anything, just do it for fun. DH on the other hand, makes his living from online blogging and related sales.

What I've learned from him (& also from my own experiences
with blogging) is that to succeed you just have to START somewhere and then KEEP GOING with it.

If you have a catchy domain name that is available, snag it! You can buy a domain name at godaddy.com (or some other domain-seller) and have it hosted for a fee on a server somewhere (I use hostgator.com though there are many others). OR you can join a blogging community like livejournal, etc. for free.

Either way, just start writing. Don't get stuck on the "small stuff". Before you know it you'll have more posts than you realize. Always, though, keep a back-up of the entire article on your own personal computer (or flash drive) because hackers can and do get in and it will make your life a lot easier to re-post than to re-create. Trust me on that one.

HTH & best of luck to ya!

Cheyanne that is a great idea to create a blog and great advice Mollyhespra! Good luck to both of you!

mollyhespra wrote:I have a gardening-unrelated blog that I'm having to rebuild after some hackers got into the old one and posted adverts for male-enhancing drugs & other interesting things (or I'd give you the link so you could check it out).

I'm not a "pro" or anything, just do it for fun. DH on the other hand, makes his living from online blogging and related sales.

What I've learned from him (& also from my own experiences
with blogging) is that to succeed you just have to START somewhere and then KEEP GOING with it.

If you have a catchy domain name that is available, snag it! You can buy a domain name at godaddy.com (or some other domain-seller) and have it hosted for a fee on a server somewhere (I use hostgator.com though there are many others). OR you can join a blogging community like livejournal, etc. for free.

Either way, just start writing. Don't get stuck on the "small stuff". Before you know it you'll have more posts than you realize. Always, though, keep a back-up of the entire article on your own personal computer (or flash drive) because hackers can and do get in and it will make your life a lot easier to re-post than to re-create. Trust me on that one.

HTH & best of luck to ya!

Molly, great advice thank you, as soon as you are up and running again please post a link!! I would love to check it out!

Molly, did you get yours up an running again? I bit the bullet and got a domain. Now I am building the website at godaddy and it is harder than I thought it would be. The writing is fine it's the set up stuff slowing me down, I am kinda computer dumb. Anyway it's www.growahappylife.com, but nothing has been published yet. I will let you know when it does.

For those with blogs, you may pm or email me your site and I'll add it to our list:

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t6168-list-of-forum-members-with-blogs?highlight=blog

cheyannarach wrote:Molly, did you get yours up an running again? I bit the bullet and got a domain. Now I am building the website at godaddy and it is harder than I thought it would be. The writing is fine it's the set up stuff slowing me down, I am kinda computer dumb. Anyway it's www.growahappylife.com, but nothing has been published yet. I will let you know when it does.

I've got some stuff up on one page that's related to SFG but mostly my site isn't about gardening but about some of my other artistic pursuits. You can check out what I have in the other sections just as an idea of what you can do, but like I said it's not gardening related.

I'm digging (sorry, couldn't resist) your domain name! Let me (us) know when you've got something up!!!

RoOster, I'll PM you when I've got more pertinent stuff up to add it to your list.

I started my own private blog, intended more for my gardening records with photos than others' viewing, and used Google blogs. Just go to Google.com, click "More" at the top of the page and go to "Blogger". It isn't fancy, but it's free and allows you to post photos.

I will let you know Molly, mine isn't going to be strictly gardening but also what goes along with it. Preserving, Cooking. And in the winter months I would like to do some money saving, couponing, crafts. I sound like I have ADHD now. I will let you know when I get it up, just trying to figure out the technical stuff...

Thanks for sharing Judi, that's good to know!!

I will echo johnsonjlj; I used google blogs it was simple and easy to make look 'pretty good'. The great part IT IS FREE.

http://newbesfgga.blogspot.com/

When I got hooked on here I stopped bloging there. Now I use here to document my failures/successes.
Mike

WOW really love your beds mollyhespra. Really neet idea overlaping notches for end closure.

cheyannarach wrote:Molly, did you get yours up an running again? I bit the bullet and got a domain. Now I am building the website at godaddy and it is harder than I thought it would be. The writing is fine it's the set up stuff slowing me down, I am kinda computer dumb. Anyway it's *** but nothing has been published yet. I will let you know when it does.

Hi, newbie here, but I'm actually a site designer by trade. I noticed that you hadn't gotten your blog up and going yet and you had mentioned it was harder than you anticipated. If you need any help, please feel free to shoot me a PM. Everyone here is imparting so much fantastic gardening knowledge, the least I can do is offer some blog/design knowledge in return.

acopley wrote:

cheyannarach wrote:Molly, did you get yours up an running again? I bit the bullet and got a domain. Now I am building the website at godaddy and it is harder than I thought it would be. The writing is fine it's the set up stuff slowing me down, I am kinda computer dumb. Anyway it's *** but nothing has been published yet. I will let you know when it does.

Hi, newbie here, but I'm actually a site designer by trade. I noticed that you hadn't gotten your blog up and going yet and you had mentioned it was harder than you anticipated. If you need any help, please feel free to shoot me a PM. Everyone here is imparting so much fantastic gardening knowledge, the least I can do is offer some blog/design knowledge in return.

That's AWESOME! to the SFG Forum!

camprn wrote:That's AWESOME! to the SFG Forum!

Thanks. And that offer extends to anyone on the forum that needs some help.

My two cents on blogging is as mentioned before the free sites are GREAT! I started with googles blogspot but after a few months moved to wordpress.com . Why did I move? My blog on blogspot didn't get much interest and I had been reading some blogs on wordpress and liked their search features so I moved. My blog, thefruitychicken.wordpress.com is about my orchard/garden/chicken ranch adventures (not that kinda chicken ranch). Both of those sites are free unless you fill up their storage limits which I think would only happen if you were a shutter bug that posted lots of high resolution photos. I would also second the idea about just starting, I try to post at least once a week and have found that it is a great stress reducer for those times when you can't get out in the garden.

Wow Acopley that is so nice of you, I will get on at work tomorrow and shoot you PM with a few questions I have. Welcome to the forum!

MuckMuck thanks for the info, I have already paid for a website at godaddy so I think I am stuck with it. ish I would have looked around a but more but I tried to jump in and just start and am now stumped on the techical parts.. I am going to chick out your blog right now! I love the name!

What I'd recommend (and this is coming from someone who's not a blogger because I don't regularly (enough) have anything interesting to say):

First, I'd recommend buying a domain name. (I see that the OP's already done that.)
Second, buy webspace (webhostingbuzz.com is cheap ($40-ish/yr) and reliable (enough)) that has a good web console that allows you to, at the click of a button, install many useful programs ...like wordpress. (This step may be unnecessary as you can just use wordpress.com, though it offers you a lot more flexibility and options ...and control.)
Third, find a template that you like or pay for someone to custom design/customize one for you.
Fourth, in the words of Brain from Pinky and the Brain, ..."try to take over THE WORLD!" with your new-found blogging fame.

I am working on taking over the world!! But I have already spent my moolah at Go Daddy I bought the domain name and bought a year's worth of website hosting. I just get stuck on the technical parts like how to make links, how to start an archive, how to have a search feature, how to name pages, lol, it's probably not that difficult I have always just been challenged in the computer department.

Good photos
Good content

I'd also read this pretty good article below:

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/10-reasons-why-your-blog-sucks/