As a newbie blogger there are many choices you must make when starting out. The first choice is which platform to use. Should you go with WordPress or Blogger? I will recommend against going with a Windows Live Spaces blog because it’s not as popular and many bloggers will not leave comments if they have to have an account to do so. My recommendation is if you know nothing about it, to go with a wordpress blog at WordPress.com and I’ll explain why. The blog you’re looking at is a WordPress blog, but I host it myself and there is a huge difference between this and having WordPress.com host your blog.
If you don’t have any experience with blogging or using FTP then go to wordpress.com and create a blog. This is a good choice, really the best choice because if later on you want to host yourself, it will be much easier to do. For instance, you’ve been blogging for a while and you have decided to get serious – you’ll be glad you’re at wordpress! You can move from a blogger blogspot account to wordpress but the move is much more difficult if you’re not experienced. I moved from blogspot to wordpress and everything was fine except I lost all inbound links and my technorati authority dropped from 368 to 0. You have to do a 301 redirect which I did incorrectly! Bottom line? Pay a professional to do it for you if you don’t truly understand how to do it. It wouldn’t cost much and you can keep your rating. This really is only to host yourself. There is no need to move from blogger to a wordpress.com blog. If your technorati rating is real low, go ahead and move to word press. You can import all your posts and comments in one click, it’s that easy. If you have a high technorati rating, follow the advice above. Hosting yourself like I do can be a big challenge. It is the best way overall, but if you’re not willing to study hard and work, stay where you are for now. When you’re ready to host yourself, you’ll know. If that makes no sense, then you’re not ready!
One great thing about wordpress is it offers trackbacks. A trackback is a remote comment on another blog that has complimentary information. You can do trackbacks on other platforms but it may be very difficult especially if you’re a newbie unfamiliar with writing html and other basics. Also, spam can be a problem. You shouldn’t fear spam, but you should learn how to deal with it.
I found the best explanation of trackbacks I’ve seen yet from Jack Humphrey’s site:
video how to do a trackback
I’ve long misunderstood what a trackback is and this has opened my eyes. Lets say your blog deals with advertising. Type your main keyword and the word trackback in your searchbar. You will see all the blogs that offer trackbacks on this subject. Basically you link to the article and write a concise paragraph about it. Then copy the trackback url form that article and paste it in the trackback box on your wordpress dashboard. Then you await approval from them. This is how you can get other blogs to reference yours and it is a very powerful way to build a network of links specifically for your niche. If you want to have your blog be associated with a particular product, etc. this is a great way to do it. WordPress makes this tool easy to use for everyone. Go watch the video and you’ll see exactly how to do it. If you are on blogspot trying to sell, market or even be a writer of non-business subjects – you will have a very tough time getting the traffic you need for your area of interest!
Here’s my post on the most basic things a new blogger should do: New Blogger Wisdom
The BrownBaron has 6 great tips for new bloggers here. The Baron is a new blogger like me but he is wise and his tips are great, so check them out!
BushMackel has a series of posts that start here. I recently found his blog through mutual friends, and it is very unique! Check it out!
