Posts Tagged ‘decisions’
Blogging, Hosting, and All That Jazz
Once people find out that you do blogging and sometimes even get paid for it, they all seem interested in finding out how you do what you do. The hard part for me is taking almost two years of knowledge and condensing it down to a five minute synopsis and still have them understand what I am talking about. I try to hit the major points and let them make their own decisions from there.
One of the first things I tell them is that they should get their own domain. If they just want to try it out, yes, a free platform is okay. However, if you are truly serious about blogging, you really need to be on your own domain. If you want to make any money blogging, it is almost a requirement that you are on your own domain. Most advertisers do not free platformed blogs. Having your own domain shows that your serious. Would you trust an expert whose domain ended with blogspot.com? Most people would not.
After you have your domain, you have to host that domain somewhere. There are so many sites out there to choose from it can actually make your mind spin. There are sites out there like Web Hosting Bluebook that really can help you make your decision. They have everything from a hosting glossary to reviews on each of the services, so you understand what each one is offering. You have decide what company works best for you. I personally use Bluehost and love them (which is listed on their list!).
Once you have your hosting, you also have to decide which blogging platform you want to use. There are several platforms to choose from: everything from Typepad to WordPress. I personally use WordPress, and I love that too. Once you figure out how to use it, it really is easy. There are thousands (yes, I said thousands) of plugins that can do almost everything you want them to do (now, if you could get one to clean my house I’d be in seventh heaven – lol).
Once you have done all the above, you really need to figure out what you are going to blog about (though you may have figured this out before you bought your domain). You can have a niche blog or just a general one. Niche blogs mean that you only talk about one topic whereas a general blog pretty much covers everything under the sun. This post is on my general blog. However, I have 3 niche blogs also.
I guess my last piece of advice I can give to you is that you need to have fun with it. If you dread blogging each day, it will show in your writing. If you feel like you are burning out, take a step back. I love all the people I have met blogging, and this is something I will never regret doing.
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Additions and basements
While on vacation, we made some big decisions about the house. Bill is pretty sure we can’t afford to go up (that and we don’t want to go into a ton of debt trying to just get the shell and then there isn’t enough cash left over to actually finish the thing). We do need the extra space (Will’s bedroom is only 9×11 without a closet). However, we have an unfinished basement that would really give us the extra space we need. We really just want a toy room and a living room down there. Bill would eventually like a bar and maybe a pool table with some billiards supplies. I wouldn’t mind being able to put our dartboard back up too. I am pretty sure Bill wouldn’t mind if I tell him to put up a game room like that. (My grandma had a pool table in her basement, and as kids, we always played with it. Not that it actually made be a better pool player – lol. She actually still has it too. She also still has a foosball (sp?) table that we enjoy playing with too.) We have almost 600 square feet that we are working with, so we really can do almost anything we want. We have gotten several quotes in the last three years about fixing our leaky basement floor, and I think this year we are going to make this a reality. We are setting up talking to my hubby’s friend Tony about putting a bathroom in the basement first and then calling US Waterproofing to come out and give us an estimate next. My goal is to have a finished basement by Will’s birthday. Now, whether that is really going to happen is another story.
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