I assume that you are blogging because you have something to SAY.
Many photo & video blogs exist; however in ministry blogging text is extremely important.
When I started blogging my biggest enemies were:
- time: it took a lot of it to write one post
- content: what do i want to say about what i want to say?
Main Point: You do NOT want your blogging platform to help your enemies.
If you are new to the blogosphere then you might not have the expertise to synthesize your content with your platform. If you are running a self-hosted Wordpress blog and do not know how to add links or photos without having to comb through google or Wordpress.tv to find the answer, adding to your time, and keeping your content from displaying the way you want it to.
I use TypePad for my personal blog because it allows me to produce content in a short amount of time and without having to know or use a lot of code.
Characteristics of a TypePad candidate:
- Has lots to say but limited knowledge of html, css, and seo
- Wants others to find their blog with as little effort as possible
- Desires a semi-professional look to their blog (read does not look like a standard blogger blog or wordpress.com blog)
- Desires to spend more time WRITING than CODING
Semi-secret blogging reality: Most people ’start blogging’ four or five times; choosing Typepad does not mean you are choosing a soul-mate.
Let me be clear: Wordpress.org is the most robust and full-featured platform out there, Blogger is cheaper and easier to set up. TypePad is in between.
Would love your thoughts on what you like/do not like about your blogging platform? Is it time to ’start blogging’ again on a new platform? Can we help in any way?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t know if this is totally about the whole subject, but let me know what you think. 1 month ago if you would have asked me about blogging I would have said “blogging who has time to write or read blogs”. Thanks to Brian B he has really gotten me thinking. To me it almost seems like blogging is the new website. I, a friend, and my wife the other day were comparing our ministry website http://kevinandjenn.cccministry.org with a pastors site http://bryanstupar.blogspot.com (blogspot sorry Brian). What became clear to me is both have much the same things pictures, videos, etc but then my friend said something profound. “I like blogs because I know right away what is new and it makes me want want to keep coming back, I don’t want to have to search for what is new.” Now I just have to decide do I want a blog to take over my website, do I want a free blog or is typepad really worth the cost. So many life altering decisions. Let me know your thoughts.
I have already commented on my platform, but more publicity for a great platform can’t hurt, right? Tumblr is by far my favorite. It is designed with really short posting in mind, and that makes it extremely useful for ministry bloggers. It’s free, and with the help of a friend who is slightly geeky, you can customize it like crazy. You can also use it with your own domain name. Did I mention it’s free?
hey ben that’s a great distinction you make about ’short posting.’
typepad excels for those who want to write longer posts, and have some search engine optimization options without getting too crazy.
that’s a great question to ask as one starts blogging, or restarts: how long are my posts? am i more of a ‘burst’ or ‘long-winded’ writer?
kevin these are great thoughts.
keeping our supporters up to date is probably the biggest challenge, especially if you are in a location distant from your largest base.
a blog can not only provide fresh, relevant content to your supporters, but can serve as a place to link to and from. you can post something on your blog, then share that link on facebook, instantly extending the reach of your post.