Blogs - their purpose?

[Margaret]

Could someone please explain how you set up a blog and connect to the blogosphere whatever that may be.
I have kept clear of such things, but if they really are that useful, am willing to reconsider.
if this subject has been done before, a link would be useful!

[Martha]

Here's some previous links you might find useful, to give some general background...

viewtopic.php?t=1215

viewtopic.php?t=3851

viewtopic.php?t=2361

[Wol]

Margaret

Sorry - blogosphere may be just one of the Wizard's expressions - I'm not sure. It means everyone else out there online and blogging. We use Blogspot, and the link is here https://www.blogger.com/start. The instructions for getting started are quite good, but I find html teeth gnashingly frustrating and unless you persist and until you get the hang of working with it, pictures and text seems to end up wherever the whim takes them.

I am sure there are people on the forum who know a great deal more than me and have lots of tips for making it a pleasant and creative pastime. For us, the blog has proved worth it in terms of the useful contacts we have made, but we have found it takes more work than we expected.

[Margaret]

I had a look at some of those links and, honestly, a. no time to go through it all and b. don't understand (little grey cells disppearing at a rate of knots, sorry).

[Normandy Cow]

I had a look at some of those links and, honestly, a. no time to go through it all and b. don't understand (little grey cells disppearing at a rate of knots, sorry).

In that case, I think the only way for you to do it, is to take the plunge and just do it!

Just go to www.Wordpress.com, click on "Sign Up Now" and follow the instructions! OK, it will be very basic at first, but once you get going, it will all fall into place and make sense. You can then jazz it up as required. The point is, you have to start somewhere...

I did, and look where I eventually ended up: www.normandygite.wordpress.com

Good Luck, and Happy Blogging!

[Margaret]

I am happy to try but realise it is hard work. Blogging has always seemed to me to be about a lot of people producing hot air of no interest to anyone. What interests me is how you get anybody to read it and how it helps business. This is probably the main part which I don't understand. I imagine I can probably cope with the 'how' as long as I understand the 'why'!

[Margaret]

OK, I've looked at normandygite.wordpress. I do something a little similar on our own website. I just call it 'news', it contains mainly hard facts and has no photos.
I guess this is not what other people think of as a blog (leaving aside the content issue for a moment). So, what makes a blog different, how do you get people to read it, how does it drive business?
Presumable just changing my title from news to blog does not make it a blog?
Perhaps the problem is that I would not read these things (no offence intended to the normandy gite person whose name I do not know!), so have difficulty understanding why anyone else would! However, I am a writer in my day job so producing text should not be a problem!

[Mouse]

Writing blogs is the same as writing anything for public consumsion; make your entries short, sweet and interesting...or funny if your sense of humour leans to that.

Mr M does one on 'ibiza experiences' as, believe me, they can be very funny. It's his hobby as he loves to write so it wasn't really set up for a particular purpose other than a quick way to keep family and friends updated on what we're up to, however we do have past guests who read it - so it's a nice way of keeping in touch and new clients get a feel of who we are.
We have links through to our own villa website which is also a blogstyle site (quicker and cheaper than setting up your own site & th big plus for us is that we can put lots of videos and photos onto it including village life; blues band in the local, atmosphere of locals restaurants etc)

Unless your guests are particularly interested in your life or the goings on in your area & you're prepared to put in the time to keep it upto date then I wouldn't bother. I think it's something you have to enjoy so that it comes.

'course some blogs become a 'must read' and if you ever manage to get to that status on the net you're quids in!

Mouse
x

[Normandy Cow]

margaret,

No offence taken - I agree about who one earth would read it!!!

But the point is that blogs really help with SEO. Within a few days of starting my blog, it was being picked up by Google (didn't have to go through the "sandbox") and a lot of people then found our website via the blog.

Also, once someone is looking at our website and thinking about booking, the blog is just one extra thing to make the website stand out. You can put bits and bobs in there that you wouln't necessarily have on a main website.

I haven't had time to look at your website and the "news" section, but I'm guessing that is fufilling the same purpose, so yes it is probably a "blog" too.

[Wol]

NC - I particularly enjoyed the video of driving down the lane - a real bit of fun.

[Margaret]

I hardly dare post this, as I am really feeling spectacularly stupid on this whole subject. I just don't understand the connection between the Blog websites I have been recommended to sign up to, the blogs on people's websites, SEO etc. etc. How do people find your website from your blog - is that the blog you just write on your website or the ones on blog websites?

[Giddy Goat]

This is an interesting slant on blogs, since blogs have been the buzzword for a while, yet I too share the question 'what's the point'. I read NC's reply with interest.

Could you go perhaps re-name this thread "Blogs - Their Purpose" or similar Margaret so that others get a more accurate flavour of the topic? I'm sure the two of us are not alone in aspiring to a proper blog of our own, but wondering whether it would be worth the effort!

[Elle1971]

I am a newly converted fan of blogs. Both hubby and I have personal blogs... full of nonsense that we enjoy ourselves. We also have a relocation blog... for people relocating to Lanzarote - and all I can say is wow! Blogs just seem to get picked up really quickly by search engines, and we ranked an page one of Google for a couple of really key phrases within a fortnight. It shocked us, and that's our Business! We've kept our blog non-commercial... although it contains links to our own sites, and a couple of clients. But yes, I'd say it's well worth the effort. We do 1 blog article per week on it... plus a spanish phrase of the week too, for fun. It's a bit of effort at first (but whoever mentioned wordpress earlier is giving you really good advice, as it's quick and easy to use)... but the rewards are definitely there.

Good luck!

Elle xx

[Margaret]

OK, I have set up a blog in Wordpress. How do I get it to drive people to our site? Where do I put our url(s)?

[Hells Bells]

Margaret, use the blogroll. You'll find it in your dashboard.