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[Another email from our mailbag. If you have a social publishing question (blogs, using multimedia, using social networks), please use the contact form to submit your question. You can catch up on previous reader mail instalments here.]
HEllo,
I am wondering what site I should use to start my blog. I am pretty computer smart and understand a bit of code (I stress A BIT) but the more user friendly the better. My main purpose of the blog is just to get thoughts out of my head on daily happenings around me and everywhere else.
Thanks,
Natasha
Hey Natasha,
If you’re just looking for a personal blog, I strongly recommend Posterous. It is SEO optimized, meaning folks have a better chance of finding your content through search than they would on Tumblr, you can update Posterous by email (so no login or extra steps required), and it is super easy for your friends to comment using Twitter or Facebook.
In fact, when you post on Posterous you can set it up to send your update out to Twitter, Facebook, and other networks.
Posterous is also free, but I stress getting a unique, short, domain name and registering it for two years via GoDaddy. The longer your domain is registered, the most search juice it has.
If You’re Looking To Make Money Blogging …
If you’re looking for something a bit more serious, and want to make money off of your blog, I recommend Thesis and Dreamhost.
Both of those items can be found on the siderbar under “Social Publishing Tools”. (Disclosure: They’re affiliate links. So if you decide to buy them, your purchase supports A Million High Fives.)
I’ve been on Dreamhost for almost ten years, and aside from a random service outage here and there, they are great to use. They also offer a 1-click instalation of Wordpress, so you don’t need to screw around with FTP and CSS.
Thesis is an advanced Wordpress theme that goes for $87. With the exception of graphic enhancements to your blog’s look, you don’t need to know any code to create an awesome looking website. We’re using Thesis here on Soap Box Included.
No matter which direction you choose, you have some great options to work with. And of course, we’re here to answer any questions you have along the way.
