So, you want to start a blog or basic website for your supporters or the people you’re ministering to, so they can connect with you online better… where do you start?
There seem like there are a thousand options, from learning HTML and coding it yourself or paying hundreds of dollars a year to have someone else take care of all of the work. I want to tell you there is middle ground.
There are 4 basic options that I would suggest for starting your own website. These options boil down to 4 blogging & website platforms that you can choose from, all of which have advantages and disadvantages. I know some better than others and I definitely have one that I recommend.
- Blogger.com – Blogger is Google’s easy to use blogging platform. It’s simple, and friendly and you could set up a free site in about 1/2 an hour and you get every penny and minute’s worth out of it. (That’s a joke, you can laugh.) Blogger sites tend to all look the same, their various themes all look similar and your options are really limited to blog posts and that’s about it. If you just want to get your thoughts down so you can share them with your friends this may be the way to go.
- TypePad.com – Far more advanced than Blogger, TypePad has 4 options for hosting plans that range from $4.95 per month to $89.95 per month. To be completely honest, I still don’t know it very well because I haven’t wanted to pay to check it out. Head to their pricing chart and if your convinced, try the free trial and let us know. I may try to get Brian to talk about this one later since he knows it.
- WordPress.com – Now we’re getting closer to my preference. WordPress.com is way above Blogger and free as well (there are paid options, but if you want WordPress and are willing to pay, check the next option). You can be up in 15 minutes and this choice will provide better themes, plugins to let you do extra things and allows pages that don’t fall into the “flow” of the blog posts (like our “About” page here). If you’re going for free, this is your baby all the way.
- WordPress.org (hosted) – You’re not crazy, this is WordPress again, but different and more freedom. WordPress is a pretty advanced open source blogging and website platform program. The community that works on it is strong, active and amazing at the rate that they update the software. There are thousands of available themes and as many plugins. To take advantage of this you need to pay for a webhost and for a domain (a .com or .org name). This option can require a little more know-how, but that’s what this blog is for – to teach you what you need to know. If you’re interested in this option, check out WordPress.org and comment here for hosting options.
Take some time and think through what you want, perhaps we can help you implement it.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I am a tumblr fan. Click on my name to see my blog, and it is really really easy to use. I had to learn to tweak the code to get some stuff, but it is free, and great for shorter blogging or blogging that is image and/or video heavy. It also works seamlessly with any phone that can email pictures. Makes it really easy to post something in those times where you don’t have much to say, but want to keep the readers happy!
Tumblr!
Crap, I can’t believe that I forgot that! Yeah, what Ben said. Tumblr is a really pretty good free blogging platform. I have one as well that I use for “off the beaten path” posts, it’s at: http://mini.jaysonwhelpley.com/