June 18, 2007 at 5:29 pm · Filed under weblog
I am writing a manual on how to start your own blog because of the requests I got in the last few months. The first step was to get a domain and hosting. After this we are now going to run the (open source) blogging software on the domain.
There are a lot of different free tools you can use to build a blog. The most popular ones are Pivot and WordPress (Movable Type has an open source beta release now). I prefer WordPress because of the large active community and the number of plugins that are available. I never used other open source blogging software, but I would recommend WordPress to everyone.
Setting up a WordPress blog is really easy, even if you don’t know much about Internet/PHP/MySQL and all the things you are going to use. The installation guide basically tells you everything. Here is a short summary to see how easy it is:
- Install an FTP program like Filezilla (windows) or Cyberduck (mac).
- Make sure you have a text editor (even better would be a HTML editor like Nvu).
- Download and unzip the WordPress package.
- Create a database (MySQL) for WordPress on your server, if you use direct admin this can be done wih only one click.
- Open wp-config-sample.php in your text editor and fill in the database details.
- Safe this file with the name wp-config.php.
- Upload the WordPress files with your FTP client.
- Run the WordPress installation script by typing www.thedomain.com/wp-admin/install.php in your web browser.
- That’s it! WordPress should now be installed.
You can choose to install WordPress in your root directory but it’s also possible to use a subdirectory (pietervangils.com/weblog/) or subdomain (blog.pietervangils.com). If you have questions about this leave a reply on this post or send me an email.
June 13, 2007 at 6:46 pm · Filed under weblog, wordpress
In the past few months a lot of people have asked me to build them a blog. I wish I could help everyone but I don’t have time for this. That’s why I am going to write a manual how to make your own customized blog.
First you have to choose between hosting the domain yourself or using a free blogging service. Because there are limitations on customization when you are using a free blogging service I recommend to host it yourself. If you really don’t know anything about the Internet I would suggest taking a free service like wordpress.com or blogger.com. Do the same if you don’t want to spend much time in building your blog.
If you want to host it yourself you have to look for a good domain, this can be really hard. There are three main strategies in choosing a domain.
- Your own name (or a nickname): When you write stories about yourself, your expertise or your interests this is the easiest way to come up with a name. (e.g. pietervangils.com or polle.net)
- Using keywords: If you write about a specific topic you can use keywords that match these topics. The only hard part is that the most common words are already gone. (e.g. chinauncovered.com or marketingfacts.nl)
- A fantasy name: We live in the web 2.0 era so it’s also possible to just put some random (pronounceable) letters together and make a new word. (think of websites like flickr.com or zamzar.com). Read Seth Godin’s blog for more inspiration.
When you have your domain you need a hosting company (you can also register your domain at the hosting company). My website is hosted at 1mhosting, they are cheap and have really good service. Because you are just starting with your blog you don’t need a big hosting plan. I would recommend the following: 100mb webspace, 1-3 gb data, 1 MySQL database, PHP 4/5, POP-3 email and FTP access. I love to work with direct admin so that is a big plus for a hosting company, it’s easy to use and gives you all the control you need. I pay € 9 a year for my hosting and I have everything I need. My domain costs $ 6,99 a year (registered at mydomain.com).
It’s important that you use a hosting provider in the country you live in (or close to you) because then you have the best connection to the server. I had my hosting in the U.S. for some time but the upload speed was really bad.
Now you have a domain and hosting, next week more on how to set up your blog. For questions feel free to contact me.
