Help Please! Blogging and Vlogging

[Hannah F]

I'm just starting a new WIP, so I thought it might be a good time to start a blog (or even vlog now and then!). I'm therefore looking, please, for advice on easy (gotta be easy - I've a tiny brain) and free (I literally have no money) hosting services. Do any of you use an easy-to-use free one you would recommend or have advice on any that dummies like me should steer clear of?

 

[Emily]

I use WordPress and have for about 12 years... So I'm used to it, but initially I had my TechnoBrother to dig me out of any pickles, and now have a TechnoSon for when I do something stupid...(I too suffer from a tiny brain and also am rather scattered and have a short attention span). So perhaps have a TechnoSomeone in the wings. I think @Paul Whybrow has had trouble with WordPress, and favours Blogger? Tbh, I've had both and went back to WP, I thought the aesthetics were cleaner.

Also, recently (well, probably 5 years ago. In recent memory) they changed it so the dashboard is SO much easier to use. Like anything, you have to just play around with it, get used to it, and be willing to use YT tutorials a lot. Hth!

 

[CageSage]

And remember (for Wordpress) to keep it off-line until it looks good. This is under Settings (on the dashboard), Privacy, with three options: Private, Public, Coming Soon.
Then it doesn't matter how much you play, if the Private is ticked, no one else sees it until you're ready.
I like Wordpress, and use the free version (which means you get a wordpress in the url), but all these things have occasional problems. Nothing is perfect, so keeping things as simple as possible until you're comfortable with everything and understand where to look and how to do stuff is the way I work with it.

 

[RK Wallis]

I also used WP for maybe 15 years, and you do need to play with it. I also paid but I'm sure they have a free package. The templates helped when it came to setup, but you still need to play. I used to try something, publish it, and then check if it looked the way I wanted. If it didn't, I'd go back and edit then republish. I'd keep doing that until the layout was what I wanted.

I know nothing about Youtube...

 

[Eva Ulian]

It is one of my firm policies not to pay ANYTHING for services on internet, not even a web-name domain- all I have on internet is completely FREE.

I once tried to get a free WP blog/website but it became such a hassle, I just gave up. Not so with blogger. I loved blogger so much I now have FIVE blogs and each not only different, but also with a dynamic format, which you can’t get anywhere else, certainly not on WP- plus you can change the format any time almost automatically.

Here are the Blog formats I use so you can see in action what your blog could look like, but they have others starting from the classical one:

Flip card: © Eva Ulian - Il meglio e il peggio- e non solo...

Flip card: The Real India ©

Magazine: © Eva Ulian- The best and the worst- and not only...

Mosaic: Eva Ulian Impressionist paintings, words and pictures.

Snapshot: © Eva Ulian DOGS and CATS... A PICTURE A DAY KEEP THE CATS AT BAY

And if you want to incorporate your blog into a website you can use what they call PAGES: Blogger

I’d love to do Vblogging, but have no idea how to set about it yet. I do have a U-Tube channel in case you are interested in setting one up- but haven’t really got the hang of doing videos since I haven’t a clue how to edit one yet, nor am I proud of what I have uploaded either.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt2lvJ2qu4nNvHtEmAm15mg

To set up your own blog you need to open an account with blogger or U-tube by digiting google blogger sign up etc. Go for it- you can always delete anything you don’t like. Remember to use goggle as your search engine because blogger belongs to google and other search engines may not be so compatible.

Let me know how you get on.

 

[Emily]

I LOVE your paintings Eva!

 

[Vagabond Heart]

I'm just starting a new WIP, so I thought it might be a good time to start a blog (or even vlog now and then!). I'm therefore looking, please, for advice on easy (gotta be easy - I've a tiny brain) and free (I literally have no money) hosting services. Do any of you use an easy-to-use free one you would recommend or have advice on any that dummies like me should steer clear of?

I wish I could help you but I pay for mine. Because my son broke his back: and while he was at my house, strapped into his back-brace, bored witless, and on a permanent, weird grumpy-high from painkillers, he demanded I change my blog as, and I quote, ‘your Wordpress one looks crap and it’s unprofessional to have wordpress in the url’. So I did. And, to be fair to him, my readership has massively increased. But even so.

 

[Nikky Lee]

I guess it comes down to what you want your blog to do. Do you want it to sit on its own? Or are you thinking of slowly building up a website around it?

I second @Eva Ulian that Blogger is very easy to use, but (correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while since I used it) you can't build a website around it. However, I'm fairly certain most web hosting services can integrate a Blogger blog into its site these days.

For me I use Wix so I can have a blog and website all in one, and I've found it fairly intuitive. There's a free version of that as well. You can also play around with the site in preview and not publish anything, meaning you can jump in and try it out without worrying about anything going live.

 

[Eva Ulian]

I LOVE your paintings Eva!

Coming from a writer friend and painter- touches me really. However, you'll probably like the ones on my impressionist website better- there are just a few but selected ones- here's the link to my homepage on that and you can see pictures of when I was rich, famous and young BTW @Hannah F google also has lovely websites free you can use see link Impressionist Painter Eva Ulian

 

[Eva Ulian]

you can't build a website around it.

There are PAGES you can build around the blog which serve as a website, but I agree, it doesn't feel like a real website, still I have other websites those powered by google Eva Ulian Fiction of Reality Writer and freewebs Eva Ulian

 

[Hannah F]

It is one of my firm policies not to pay ANYTHING for services on internet, not even a web-name domain- all I have on internet is completely FREE.

I once tried to get a free WP blog/website but it became such a hassle, I just gave up. Not so with blogger. I loved blogger so much I now have FIVE blogs and each not only different, but also with a dynamic format, which you can’t get anywhere else, certainly not on WP- plus you can change the format any time almost automatically.

Here are the Blog formats I use so you can see in action what your blog could look like, but they have others starting from the classical one:

Flip card: © Eva Ulian - Il meglio e il peggio- e non solo...

Flip card: The Real India ©

Magazine: © Eva Ulian- The best and the worst- and not only...

Mosaic: Eva Ulian Impressionist paintings, words and pictures.

Snapshot: © Eva Ulian DOGS and CATS... A PICTURE A DAY KEEP THE CATS AT BAY

And if you want to incorporate your blog into a website you can use what they call PAGES: Blogger

I’d love to do Vblogging, but have no idea how to set about it yet. I do have a U-Tube channel in case you are interested in setting one up- but haven’t really got the hang of doing videos since I haven’t a clue how to edit one yet, nor am I proud of what I have uploaded either.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt2lvJ2qu4nNvHtEmAm15mg

To set up your own blog you need to open an account with blogger or U-tube by digiting google blogger sign up etc. Go for it- you can always delete anything you don’t like. Remember to use goggle as your search engine because blogger belongs to google and other search engines may not be so compatible.

Let me know how you get on.

Great! Thanks. I'll take my time, check them all out!

 

[Hannah F]

It is one of my firm policies not to pay ANYTHING for services on internet, not even a web-name domain- all I have on internet is completely FREE.

I once tried to get a free WP blog/website but it became such a hassle, I just gave up. Not so with blogger. I loved blogger so much I now have FIVE blogs and each not only different, but also with a dynamic format, which you can’t get anywhere else, certainly not on WP- plus you can change the format any time almost automatically.

Here are the Blog formats I use so you can see in action what your blog could look like, but they have others starting from the classical one:

Flip card: © Eva Ulian - Il meglio e il peggio- e non solo...

Flip card: The Real India ©

Magazine: © Eva Ulian- The best and the worst- and not only...

Mosaic: Eva Ulian Impressionist paintings, words and pictures.

Snapshot: © Eva Ulian DOGS and CATS... A PICTURE A DAY KEEP THE CATS AT BAY

And if you want to incorporate your blog into a website you can use what they call PAGES: Blogger

I’d love to do Vblogging, but have no idea how to set about it yet. I do have a U-Tube channel in case you are interested in setting one up- but haven’t really got the hang of doing videos since I haven’t a clue how to edit one yet, nor am I proud of what I have uploaded either.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt2lvJ2qu4nNvHtEmAm15mg

To set up your own blog you need to open an account with blogger or U-tube by digiting google blogger sign up etc. Go for it- you can always delete anything you don’t like. Remember to use goggle as your search engine because blogger belongs to google and other search engines may not be so compatible.

Let me know how you get on.

I love the paintings! Love the one with the tower reflected in the water!

 

[Hannah F]

I guess it comes down to what you want your blog to do. Do you want it to sit on its own? Or are you thinking of slowly building up a website around it?

I second @Eva Ulian that Blogger is very easy to use, but (correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while since I used it) you can't build a website around it. However, I'm fairly certain most web hosting services can integrate a Blogger blog into its site these days.

For me I use Wix so I can have a blog and website all in one, and I've found it fairly intuitive. There's a free version of that as well. You can also play around with the site in preview and not publish anything, meaning you can jump in and try it out without worrying about anything going live.

Hmm. One I can build a website around. I like that idea. I've fiddled with WP website before and hated it. Wix however seems very easy with their drag and drop system and choose your format then personalise it. I think I'll play around with a wix blog. See if I like it.

 

[Eva Ulian]

Hmm. One I can build a website around. I like that idea. I've fiddled with WP website before and hated it. Wix however seems very easy with their drag and drop system and choose your format then personalise it. I think I'll play around with a wix blog. See if I like it.

I've never tried wix, I guess because it probably wasn't around when I first started blogging. As long as they don't mess you around with the free version and plague you with ads and so on- go for it. However remember the algorithms- blogger may place your blog more in sight since it's owned by google, and may ignore a less known server.

 

[Hannah F]

blogger may place your blog more in sight since it's owned by google, and may ignore a less known server.

Good point.

 

[Hannah F]

Good point.

Hmm. There are lots of restrictions with blogger; more flexibility with Wix which also seems to be google-linked. You can link it to your website (when you build one) and, if you wish to in future, easily upgrade to your own domain name. Also, there is the option to use it as a sales tool (I'm guessing that's an option only if you pay for your domain) which you can't do with blogger (against their terms and conditions).

I think I'll spend the rest of this month privately playing with Wix, see what I can come up with.

Some blogs I've looked at on-line look like websites! I'm beginning to wonder why you'd need a website if you have a good blog? Anyone got any opinions? Answers?

 

[Eva Ulian]

Hmm. There are lots of restrictions with blogger; more flexibility with Wix which also seems to be google-linked. You can link it to your website (when you build one) and, if you wish to in future, easily upgrade to your own domain name. Also, there is the option to use it as a sales tool (I'm guessing that's an option only if you pay for your domain) which you can't do with blogger (against their terms and conditions).

I think I'll spend the rest of this month privately playing with Wix, see what I can come up with.

Some blogs I've looked at on-line look like websites! I'm beginning to wonder why you'd need a website if you have a good blog? Anyone got any opinions? Answers?

I think you should go where your heart takes you and at the moment that's with Wix. I didn't have a website for quite a while because I was happy just communicating through my blogs and that's why I believe blogs are more important because you can communicate with them even daily if you wish, they are dynamic whereas a website is static- they are there for permanent info on you- that too eventually you will feel a need to have.