Blogs - their purpose?

[Margaret]

Thanks, I've done that. Can't see how to get it to appear in posts though. Or isn't that how it works? I have looked in various help and FAQ places but can't find anything which explains!

[la vache!]

Margaret, I've just started a blog using squarespace as recommended by another LMHer. I have never got to grips with blogs before, but it is actually a piece of cake if you follow a couple of the tutorials.

[Normandy Cow]

Thanks, I've done that. Can't see how to get it to appear in posts though. Or isn't that how it works? I have looked in various help and FAQ places but can't find anything which explains!

Margaret,
Go into Presentation, then click on "Widgets" and make sure that Links are included in your sidebar (or wherever you want them to be).

Alternatively, you can just include a link to any other website within your text.

Have you watched these videos?
http://www.georgetownprofessor.net/podblog/?page_id=47
Although they refer to an earlier version of Wordpress, they do cover all the basics and I found them really really useful to get me started.

EDIT: This one specifically covers links:
http://georgetownprofessor.net/lms/file ... links.html

[Wol]

Well, I've discovered a really useful purpose for blogs - I've just emailed someone we only know because he contacted us via our blog. I just asked him to go and turn off the water at our house because it's -3C in Preuilly at the moment and I'm worried our pipes will freeze. He responded within minutes with 'Will do'. How nice is that

[Mountain Goat]

Margaret

I would suggest as a first step that you get some content on your blog. You don't have to have your 'home' page of your blog in blog format, you can have it as a normal page. We haven't started to blog, but will do eventually.

See ours (it's a freebie WordPress theme) - www.leysinchalet.com and we are treating it as a normal webpage. After 3 weeks it started getting on Google page 1 for our main keywords (beaten this week down to page 2 by our own listings on HR and HL - weird), after 4 weeks it got a couple of bookings, after 8 weeks we got an article written about us in the Mail on Sunday (COL - that's cringe out loud). Cram your first page with as many keywords as possible, try and get them in your title etc.

You can link to your conventional sites either in the BlogRoll (we call them Links on ours) or in your text (highlight what the phrase/word you want to link, and in the WordPress editor, click on the anchor logo to link it to the site of your choice). You can even link by your images.

Not sure on WordPress.com but if you go to Options / Privacy you can keep it private until you're ready. For the first month or two we blocked out search engines without realising it and thought the whole thing was a waste of time - basic and fatal mistake.

Join the WordPress forum for the few dozen questions you may have - it operates 24/7.

Then ask a pro to tweak your problems, like we did - quoted £10k by a nice young man last week.

Content, some images, useful content, useful links, and you're away. Good luck!

MG

[Margaret]

Good heavens, that's brilliant but I wouldn't know where to start! I just started writing news and that has been hard enough to figure out. I did manage to get links listed and a bit about us. I tried to find the different formats you could use but it was taking hours to download even one (dial up!) so I gave up. Do you use this as an extra website? As you can see, I still have not got my head round how it all works and why!

(We were in the Mail on Sunday through one of the lettings site. You don't know the meaning of cringe till you do Overseas Property TV - did anyone see one of our programmes last night? Of course, you are all far too sensible!)

[Mountain Goat]

Are you using WordPress.com?

What about the TV prog. repeats?

MG

[Margaret]

Yes, Wordpress.

On Overseas Property TV (287 on Sky), we have done Destination Lunch, Head to Head and also Property Pensions which has not been shown yet. The last one is the only one which might be worth watching!

[Mountain Goat]

Ah, Sky, I'll hunt around for a digibox - last seen in the loft now we're using Freeview.

Take all my advice with caution, as I don't use WordPress.com but will open up a site and see how many of the features are different.

MG

[Giddy Goat]

Wish we had the wherewithal to see the programmes Margaret! Hope you were pleased with the exposure - great!

Blogs are lovely to have but will remain forever unachievable by this goat. You're all awesome.

[Normandy Cow]

GG, have you taken a look at the videos I suggested in an earlier post? You'll see how easy it actually is. The hardest part is composing the text, and that's your area of speciality!

[Giddy Goat]

Thanks for reminding me NC, I have just bookmarked it for when we're back to normal chez nous. Regular access to a computer is a bit hit and miss at the mo. Posting here's one thing but fiddling about with a blog is quite another!

Nevertheless, I don't rate my chances very much. A goat knows her limitations!