If you like to write, express your opinions, or share your creativity with others, you may be interested in starting your own blog. Internet services have opened doors to connecting and sharing with others simply and easily from your home! One of the most popular ways to share events going on around you, or express your thoughts and creativity is through a weblog, or blog. They are usually free and easy to set up a new account. Here is a step-by-step guide to the easiest way to create your own blog:

1. Find a host. Unless you want to create your own website, you’re going to have to find a website that will host your blog. In other words, you need to find a website that will let you have your own page to update, etc., but they do the work of saving and displaying your page (along with the collection of other pages from bloggers like you) on the Internet.

There are many sites that host blogs for free. You can ask your friends for input if you want to be in the same blog community that they are, or you can search online for blog sites. Blogger.com, Wordpress.com, Weebly.com, Xanga.com, and LiveJournal.com are among the top most popular free blog hosts. Also, many social networking sites, like Facebook and Myspace have a section for writing notes or blog entries, so they too could be used as a blog, but these websites are not focused on blogging. Sometimes your internet provider, like Copper.net, will host blog accounts. Go to the member’s homepage or contact your ISP to see if this option is available for you.

2. Create a new account. In order for you to have a blog page, you’ll need an account with a username and password. Your username usually ends up being the primary name for the blog, e.g., “user_name.blogger.com” would be the url to your blog and probably show up in one or two places on the site. You’ll want to pick a username that fits you well and a password you can remember.

To create a new account, you’ll often see a “sign up” or “new member” link on the home page of the blog site. You can probably find a help section for more information. When you click to start a new membership, you will probably need fill out a form with some basic information, like your email address and what you want as your username and password. These forms are often very simple.

3. Select your blog title and (if available) subtitle. Blog titles are often where you can be creative, interesting, and unique, then the subtitle kind of explains what the blog is about. Think about what you want people to know about your blog from first glance. Is it going to be a little bit of everything? Are you going to focus on a specific topic or hobby of yours? Let people know in a unique and interesting way. You may want to browse through other people’s blogs for some ideas and inspiration—perhaps of what NOT to do too!

4. Choose your colors and layout. This is the part where you can really set the mood and create the first impression you want. When people first come across your blog, this will be the first things they’ll see. A dark background with deep colors can present a dark and mysterious mood, a bright colored layout can bring a happy or exotic feel, and a neat neutral design can come across in a professional tone.

Most host sites will have several predesigned themes to pick from. This is a good place to start, especially while you take some time to learn how to make design edits. Each site is different, so you’ll have to learn how to change backgrounds, colors, and widgets specifically on this site. There should be plenty of help pages to show you how to do everything. Don’t worry if you aren’t sure you what you want your layout to look like, you can always change it later! Sometimes its fun to go with a completely different look some months into your blogging.

5. Write your first entry! You can write a short piece just to see what it’ll look like and let people know you’ve just started, or you can jump right in with your first feature-length blog entry! Be yourself! Have fun and be creative. The important thing is expressing yourself, not worrying about how many people will read it! You can always make edits to posts later, but don’t forget, as soon as you hit “publish”, your entry will be open to anyone who has Internet service, so you might want to read it over for any grammar/spelling mistakes at least once before you publish!

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!

Internet service has opened doors to making information, education, and entertainment available on demand. Always readily available and easily assessable, websites are the new wave of fast easy access to almost anything. Blogs are an excellent example. Short for “weblogs” blogs can be anything from a personal journal or diary to a professional analysis of news and trends in a large variety of genres. Some people blog as professions, others for fun. Either way, blogs are an entertaining and popular way to get information, news, updates, and commentaries on the topics that interest you—or provide an interesting viewpoint on daily activities and other life topics.

Since blogs are just written entries and not usually representing any business or organization, they aren’t often edited or pass inspection of anyone before they get published. Therefore, you can’t always expect them to be professional and reputable. They can, however, represent a business or characterize the well-thought out and researched opinion of well-spoken and knowledgeable individuals. These are usually the type of blogs that have the most visitors, incoming links, and subscribers, so the blogs getting the most attention have reason to be popular. They are probably good resources—at least for getting insight on other points of view, etc. Here are some of the most common types of blogs:

*Personal Diaries
Many people enjoy keeping a blog of entries on personal events, thoughts, or as an outlet for their creativity. Sometimes it’s a way to keep friends and family informed, others simply want to express themselves and sometimes keep their identity anonymous. Personal diaries might even be a collection of poems, pictures, and the like.

This type of blog can be very interesting and inspiring. It’s a way to see the world through another person’s point of view—from across the country or even the globe! You can find blogs such as these as a source of entertainment or to learn about a certain type of lifestyle, career, region, etc., from someone who experiences it from day to day.

*Business Blogs
Blogs can be a useful form of marketing or advertising. Whether a blog offers advice, describes services, or posts entries about related content that would be useful to customers, business blogs’ primary function is to attract new customers, assist current customers, or attract business or links from affiliates.

Regardless of the “marketing” nature of business blogs, they are often helpful and legitimate resources. Unlike a personal blog, these blogs must be accountable to the business they represent, so they are often reviewed by others or must conform to stricter standards. Thus, the blog has a higher probability of containing usable and reliable content.

*Professional Blogs
Believe it or not, there are a number of people who can make a living from blogging. Whether people or companies need these bloggers to post articles or entries for marketing purposes or they simply have a valuable, professional insight that can be a useful and coveted resource for other companies.  A professional blog could also be an insightful informational blog written personally by a professional that only or mostly includes professional topics. These can be useful to those who want or need that “inside information” for that profession or topic.

Professional blogs often get a lot of interest and attention because the writer is famous or at least well known in their field. Most people read these blogs to gain from the wisdom, experience, and insight of someone of this person’s standing. They will usually be focused on a genre, profession, or topic that will most likely be of interested to a certain group of readers. They could be about fashion, politics, sports, finance, business, marketing, etc.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Online Marketing Representative and Customer Service, Copper.net.

Copper.net is a nationwide Internet services provider that is all-American owned and operated. Call today, 1-800-336-3318 or sign up online at www.copper.net! Check out my blog for more articles!