WebJunction

The example below uses blogger.com, but there are other tools as well (including BlogLines, MSN Spaces, and others). We are in no way endorsing this particular tool--just trying to make it as easy as possible for you to get started!

Want a guided walkthrough?  Take a look at Lori Bell's five-minute video on creating a blog.  

CREATE YOUR BLOG

Step 1: Go to http://blogger.com Click on the arrow labeled "Create Your Blog Now".

The next screen will ask you to chose a user name and password. This will be needed again for future visits to your blog, so make note of it! You will be asked for a display name – a fun name used when signing your blog posts. You also need to enter an email address and to read and check the “acceptance of terms” of service agreement.

Step 2: Hit continue and move on to Name Your Blog. Choose a good name for your Blog, one that people will understand and reflects the topic of your blog. You then choose the beginning part of your blog address – again make sure it makes sense with your blog theme/topic. There will be a scrabbled word for your to “uncode” and type in. This is just to verify you aren’t a spammer! There is a choice for Advanced settings.

Step 3: After hitting the continue arrow again, the next page helps you choose your design, style template. Choose the custom look (which you can always change latter) and hit continue.

Step 4: WOW! You have now created a blog! But you want to make it unquie? Personalize to work for you? Well these next steps help you create your personal profile and customize your blog. Click on Start Posting arrow. Now you are in the area where you have many tabs and options. Try posting a message to test it out and view your first blog's post!

CUSTOMIZE YOUR BLOG

The SETTINGS Tab

Basic section: This is where you can personalize your blog such as as change your blog's title and write up to a 500 word description of your blog. Other yes or no options appear:

• You have the option of allowing Blogger.com to list your blog so others may find it, or keeping it unlisted. If you want to be found, say Yes to posting it.
• You also have the option of allowing Quick Editting of your blog posts while you are logged on. This mean while viewing a blog post, you will see a little pencil next to the "posted by..." section. Click on this to edit your post without having to go to the editting area again.
• You have another option to choose yes or no to Show Email Post links. When you say "yes" users will see an envelope next to the "posted by ..." section. They can click here to email this particular post to a friend!
• Your last choice in this section is whether to allow the "compose mode" to your post editor. The compose mode is a wysiwyg feature, or a way to edit your posts without having to know the raw HTML code to do so. If you are not sure, leave it as YES.
• Lastly here is where you go to delete your blog. Of course if you just created one, why delete it now? DONT FORGET TO SAVE!

Publishing section:

• The default here is to publish (that is what make the blog online so others can view it) your blog through blogger (or blogspot.com as they call it). Leave it as is and follow whenever you are prompt to "republish" your blog. But, if you have a Web site already, you may publish your blog on your own site. Thats where the FTP and SFTP come into hand. Check out this Help file if you decide to try this: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=121
• Next you see your personal Blogspot address. You may change this here, but it is subject to availability - someone might already have claimed the name you want!
• The last item on the page sked if you want to notify Weblogs. Weblogs is a service that automatically notifies subscribers when new content is posted to a blog. If you want readers of your blog to know when a knew post has appeared, change this to YES.

DON'T FORGET TO SAVE!

Formatting section:

This section is pretty easy to understand. You have basic formating choices: how many days will you show on your main blog page; choose your date header format and your archive date format; choose timestamp format, time zone and language; encoding is only if you are publishing your blog in another language than english.

• Convert Break Lines will add single and double spaces to posts, when users hit return.
• Showing the Title Field will allow you to entitle your posts. Show Link Field allows you to put links to other Web sites in your posts.
• Float alignment allow your to work better with align text and images to appear nicely on your blog.
• Lastly, Post Template will save users time by pre-formatting the post editor so they can quickly add posts. and ... DON'T FORGET TO SAVE!

Comments section:

• Choose to SHOW or HIDE comments users make to your posts; choose whether you want registered users of blogger, your specific blog or anyone to comment on your blog; and decided whether new posts will list "comments" or not.
• You can choose to SHOW backlinks or HIDE them. Backlinks enable you to keep see when other pages, or other blogs, on the web link to your posts. A cool feature to SHOW! You can then decide to show this feature on your new posts or not.
• There are a variety of timestamps to choose from. Also, you choose if "comments" should pop up in a new window or be shown on the page.
• Next, word verification: If you choose "yes," users leaving comments on your blog will be required to complete a word verification step, looking at an image of deformed letters. This step helps automated systems from entering comments on your blog.
• Enabling comment moderation: Choosing "yes" here will then give users an email form for their comments. This lets you moderate comments via email and can be a blessing if hot debates start flaming on your blog! For more information: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=1220
• You can also choose to show profile images from other Bloggers along with their comments, if they have one on file.
• Lastly, comment notification allows you to enter an email address and Blogger will email you whenever someone makes a comments on your blog!

Archiving section:

Choose daily, weekly, monthly, or none for automatic archiving of your blog. Enable Post Pages give each of your posts their own unique web page, in addition to appearing on your blog's front page. SAVE SETTINGS!

Site Feed section:

Allows your blog to be published for syndication so it can be displayed elsewhere online. For more information on this topic, check out the help section: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=698

Email section:

Here you can enter an email address here to have your blog mailed to whenever you publish. The Mail-to-Blogger Address is creating a SECRET email that you can post with using your email. Also check the box as to whether or not you prefer your email posts to publish automatically by email. Otherwise, you'll have to log on to Blogger to publish your posts.

Members section:

Do you want other people to post to your blog (and not just comment to your posts)? Then add Team Members here! They can be Administrators or not. You are an Administrator and so you can edit ALL posts, add and remove team members, grant admin access, and modify blog properties. Non-admins can only post. You choose! This could be a great way for a group to work together on a blog! SAVE YOUR SETTINGS!

The TEMPLATE Tab

Edit current:

Here you can change your navigation bar color and you can actually edit the HTML raw code of your template. (SAVE SETTINGS!)

AdSense:

You can choose this advertising program (run by Google) in order to place content-relevant advertisements on your blog and actually make money from every click on the ad on your blog! You will go through steps to create an account if you choose Adsense.

Pick New - Sick of your template choice? Pick a new one here! But make sure you SAVE SETTINGS.

View Blog

This is best part! Click here to view and use your newly created blog and have fun!

More Resources

• Here's a succinct summary of why a blog might be worth considering as a web site for your library, from Amanda Etches-Johnson.
• And here's a good list of steps to take once your blog is up and running, so others know what you're up to.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.