I've Got One, Have You? (blogger.com)

Member Name: spencer_hawken

Product:	blogger.com
Date:	19/06/08 (135 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great way to make your own mark online, cheaply and easily

Disadvantages: None . . . . . . . YET !

I guess we all dream about having our own little piece of space on the internet. It's nothing to do with fame; it's just somewhere that might just be there long after we have gone, or something someone might stumble upon. You could call it our own creative space.

Though they were not necessarily know as Blogs from conception almost 15 years ago, these little pieces of Internet space have grown more and more in popularity. There are certain blogs that have become internet notorious, two women I can think of have done very well at Blogging, putting there innermost thoughts down for the world to see, these two ladies did more than that however they spoke about their sex life, and before they knew it their Blogs were earning them big money. Now don't get me wrong you don't need to air your dirty laundry in order to have a blog, you can write about whatever takes your fancy whether it be you, your dog, or your hobbies.

I chose to write two blogs over two issues that are passionate to me, movies and money. The reason this came about was one through want, and one through necessity. The necessity came about because I'm pursuing a career of my choice rather than one carved of convention, the one through want was simply another venue to get my movie reviews seen.

People are put off of building both blogs and websites because of the potential minefield of technical know how you might need. I'm one of those very people, yet over the last 6 months I've been building websites, blogs, lenses the works; and all of which with no technical knowledge whatsoever.

This brings me to Blogger, while there are other Blogging web options Blogger is by far the most popular, from the kinky knitwear woman, to the Laurel & Hardy Fan, to the Brown Dress Lady they all have Blogs with Blogger, and there are reasons for this. Firstly they get the most attention; secondly because they are so straight forward your 8 year old could manage one.

Setting up a Blogger account is straightforward and simple, all you need is an e-mail address, and joining and having full access to the wide range of facilities costs you nothing at all. Once you have set up your account, a process that literally takes 60 seconds your ready to go building your blog.

Layout on Blogger is restrictive to some degree, if you stumble upon a Blogger page they all look kind of similar, though not in a bad way; Facebook and Myspace all look the same (with little tweaks) but are still incredibly popular, Blogger is exactly the same.

You start off by naming your Blogger, once you have selected the web URL (internet location) you get to set the name of your actual Blog, you can choose this to be similar or different to your actual URL address. Then you go onto the layout, there are a limited but decent variety of different styles, plain to some with minor decoration, though as I said they are all fairly similar. Once you have done this your pretty much ready to go, simply make your posts daily, hourly, weekly, monthly or yearly, the choice really is yours you're not set to anything and inactivity will not shut your Blogger down.

You can add pictures, video, links and coding to your Blog to add a little flare to your daily postings. With each post you are asked at the end to use keywords, these keywords help Google to direct people to your Blog. So if you wrote a Blog piece on drowning cats (I'd not advise this), once your Blog is listed with Google, anyone searching "Drowning cats" might get you as a first option.

You can jostle the layout about a bit, moving the components to different places simply by selecting the layout option. But to change you're fortunes it's the option "Add A Page Element" that sets your world on fire. You can select a series of add on features to add to your blog to make it more useful to those landing on it, at the time of writing the following add on's are available:-

Blog List - This allows you to list some of your favourite Blogs, once you have selected some you like you might want to let them know you like their Blog and that you have added there's to your Blog list, you might find they will reciprocate, giving your Blog more traffic.

Slideshow - This allows you to add photo's to your Blog that the viewer can peruse at their leisure.

Poll - Allow your visitors to take part in polls, whether it be "Do you think I'm big headed?" down to "Should Lily Allen dye her hair?". People popping by can vote, and see how the ratings are going.

List - Add lists of your favourite thinks, books, CD's, plants etc.

Link List - Whether it's a Blog or your favourite website, list them here and let the world know, they can simply click through.

Picture - A simple stand alone picture.

Adsense - This is a referral scheme that places adverts on your website or Blog and for each person that clicks through, you'll get an incredibly small fee. This is a separate service from Blogger and something you need to sign up for, but again there is no charge. While if you're looking to earn it's pointless, if you want your Blog or website to be seen it's imperative. You see search engines and specifically Google use something called spiders, these spiders scan what's on the internet looking for detail; a Blog (Website) unless it's incredibly popular can take you years to get listed on Google. Adsense is owned by Google (as is Blogger) adding Adsense to your Blog or Website attracts the spiders, you could have your Blog or website at the number one spot on Google within four weeks of joining Adsense. If you used Google's Adwords it costs you money to be seen, this cuts all that out of the way double quick.

Text - A simple side option, you might want to tell the world you fell in love with a carrot.

HTML/Javascript - If you are a bit more knowledgeable jazz up your Blog, I'm not so this means nothing to me.

Feed - If you have ever heard of RSS Newsfeed but are uncertain what it's all about here is the chance to find out. Newsfeed are direct patches or elements of websites that utilise this option, Entertainment and Newsites use these. What it allows you to0 do is have the most up to date info from your favourite websites all the time, all the reader need do is click on one that catches there eye should they feel the need. Google focuses its spiders on Newsfeed too, but it does not work with the same speed as Adsense, and your posts although noted in Google will be much further down. A combination of the two works a charm however.

Labels / Blog Archive- A kind of list showing all your Blog posts so readers can click to specific ones in an instant.

Newsreel - Works much the same as Feed.

Video Bar - Add your personal video's or link through to Youtube, then have these sat on the side of your Blog.

Logo - Add a Blogger Logo, not a lot of sense to this but it brightens things up a bit.

Profile - A bit of text about you.

So that's it. These add on's work that is why they are there so use them.

As for in general Blogging, it's great fun it gives you a chance to get stuff of your chest or just chew the fat. But if nothing else it's a sign that you are here or that you were at least. And while some on websites are good for now, later on down the line they will become compacted and disposed of. A Blogger is yours for life, and beyond.

One thing to remember, we all know something that someone else does not know, we all can do something someone else cannot do. For whatever your good at, Blog it.

Blogger can be found at: www.blogger.com


Spencer Hawken 06/08

Summary: Blogger allows you to creat an online diary, or talk about your passions.