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Blogging

What is blogging?
Blogging is a relatively modern invention, but it’s become hugely popular in a short space of time. A blog is an online diary or journal in which people publish their thought, views and life experiences. The word ‘blog’ is abbreviated from the term ‘web log’.

Blogging Top tips!

• Talk to friends, parents or others about what you plan to do with your blog before you start it. You’ll get useful feedback.

• If you’re under 18, speak to your parent / legal guardian before writing anything online. Make sure they know what you plan to do and don’t keep secrets from them about what you do online. Many blogging sites have a minimum age people have to be to sign up and start blogging.

• Think very carefully about what information you put on the internet. Information placed on line can be around the world in hours. Most bloggers blog anonymously – they don’t use their real names. However bloggers can be traced by their internet service providers.

• Never give out details of where you live and be very careful about what uploading photos or anything that could help identify you. Remember there are dangerous individuals out there who are very good at hiding their identify when online. Don’t believe a stranger is who they claim to be, don’t give out private information and if you are suspicious of anything you receive or read online, speak to a teacher, parent of guardian.

• Decide whether you want your blog to be private or public – most blogging services allow you to password protect your blog so only certain people can read it.

• Run a test blog for a little while to get the hang of it. You can use a normal word processor and just add an update to the same page when you feel like you have something to say! That way, you’ll get a feel for what you want to write about and it’ll help you think about what you want to write for the world to see and what should be private.

• Think about whether you’d like to have a theme for your blog or if it’s something you’ll update whenever you’d like to share a few thoughts or experiences. One popular theme for blogs is music – where people write reviews after going to a concert or hearing a new band, song or album.

• Select a service provider – one of the most popular is blogger.com but there are many others available. Most blogging services are free.

• Set up your blog – every blogging service provider worth their salt now makes blogging with them very easy to set up. You’ll need to visit the individual services’ websites for info on how to sign up and start blogging. You can be blogging in very little time.

• You can customise how your blog looks once you’ve signed up to a blogging service. They’ll offer lots of templates that you can choose from. You can also add blogging freebies to your site – buttons, images, blog chalk, message boards, music playlists, etc.

• Keep your posts short – especially when you’re starting out. Long post will scare people away and most just won’t bother reading at all if there’s a lot to read!

• Entertain! Try to keep your blogging style really chatty. The best blogging sites are an entertaining read.

• Don’t publish mistruths or rumours. Bloggers can be taken to court.

• Write regularly – people are more likely to keep checking back to your blog if there’s a recent post on there.

• Be patient with your writing – just like everything else, the more you write the better you’ll become at it. Writing a blog is a good way of developing your writing and communication skills.

Links and contact details

How To Blog: A Beginner’s Blog Publishing Guide

How to Start a Blog (WikiHow)

How to Start a Blog (Working Smart, Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers)

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