I made a blog article on how to start blogging in 2012 for my friend Sef. Back then, there was still Windows Live Writer. Unfortunately, that software for blogging (from Microsoft) was already discontinued. Good thing there’s a group of bloggers that developed a similar blogging software and called it Open Live Writer.
Nothing much has been changed on how to start blogging in 2020 (or after the pandemic). So I’m posting the updated version (of the original guide for Sef) here.
1. Create a Gmail account – Gmail account is the most useful email on the Internet right now. It’s fully integrated to Blogger, Google AdSense, YouTube and other sites that are owned by Google. Gmail is compatible with email clients like Mozilla Thunderbird and comes with a 15 GB storage space that is shared with Google Photos.
2. Sign-in to Blogger and publish a maiden post – I highly suggest the Blogger platform over Wordpress since it is more user-friendly. It’s also owned by Google so your Gmail email address will work here. Not to mention that Blogger doesn’t delete your blog even if it’s inactive for several months unlike Wordpress.
Give your blog a catchy name – and it will automatically have the domain .blogspot.com
3. Download and install Open Live Writer – from www.openlivewriter.com It’s the best blog tool on the Internet right now and it’s the successor of Windows Live Writer (from Microsoft). Open Live Writer is managed and developed by volunteers like Firefox and Thunderbird.
4. Add your new blog to Open Live Writer – Adding your blog to OLW is easy. Just select Google Blogger and then click on Sign In. It will redirect to a page where you can sign-in to your type in Gmail account.
After signing-in to Gmail, go back to Open Live Writer and it will then download your blog’s theme for you.
5. Start Posting! – Don’t forget to compose your articles in Microsoft Word first. Their spelling and grammar correction tool are very useful. If you’re happy with your blog post or article, then copy it to Open Live Writer. Put a “catchy” blog post title and click Publish.
6. Customize your blog layout – After publishing one or two blog post, it’s time to customize or accessorize your blog. Simply login to your Blogger account, click on your blog and click Layout. You would then see the layout of your blog and you can add items like Popular Posts, Blog’s Starts and HTML/JavaScript (this is very useful) by clicking on Add a Gadget and then drag it on where you want to place it on your blog.
7. Sign Up for Google AdSense – Go to https://www.google.com/adsense/signup/new/lead and fill-out the form. Enter the URL (address) of your new blog i.e. newblog.blogspot.com and Save and Continue. You will need to publish about 20 blog posts before you could add the Google AdSense widget to your blog.
8. Asked bloggers to Link Exchange with your new blog – If you are a reader of popular blogs, it would be great if you could ask them to Link Exchange with you. It’s a great way to advertise your blog. Also, try to make remarkable comments to other blogs or websites that uses Disqus or has the capability to display your blog through your signature.
9. Advertise your blog – on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and to your other social media accounts. Although doing videos is the more popular platform these days, there are still some bloggers that prefer the good-old blogs. This guide is for those who prefer to publish articles and photos rather than create videos.
It's just a matter of choice. What’s important is constant and regular publishing of your work. Good luck!
[Edit: Shout-out to my new team mates – Mark, Tom, Jimm, Drei, Jhoda and trainer Dennis]
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