I get the, “What is the easiest way for me to create a Blog Site?” question quite often. If you are reading this column I imagine you know what a web site is. However, just in case I want to define a “blog”. A blog is a combination of the words weB and LOG. Basically, you could think of a blog as a public online diary, a personal history keeper, discussion area or a platform to share whatever you like.
Recently I have started testing a site that has been around since the late ’90s but never held much appeal for me. Blogger.com started out as a clunky and easy to create but not very efficient blog making site. Google acquired Pyra Labs, the company that started and owned Blogger.com in 2003. At that time, I tested the platform and was again unimpressed.
Now, seven years later I checked it again and it is much more flexible and very easy to set up and use for non-geeks.
It takes about three basic steps to create your site online. Once your blog is live, you may make simple edits, such as changing the color scheme or theme. For advanced users, you may also make more difficult changes like editing the underlying CSS code.
Basic users need not fret, you can have your new blog up and running in just a few minutes and it will look very professional when you are done. It took me 4-5 minutes to have my new site, http://ron-doyle.blogspot.com up and running, but I’m a geek. As long as you are good at pointing and clicking it shouldn’t take you much longer to create your new blog.
Here are the basic instructions; keep in mind that you must first log in with your free Gmail Account.
Go to “blogger.com” and choose, “Create Your Own Blog Now”. 
You will have to verify your account through a call to your phone. I used the phone call and received a five digit number to enter on to that page. Now all you do is; enter your blog’s title, mine is “Ron’s Blog” which you have to admit is pretty creative. Next, create a URL for accessing the blog. All you do is choose what to put in front of the “BlogSpot.com.” Mine is “ron-doyle.blogspot.com“.
Finally you choose a Blog Template which is the basic background image and button types, etc. for your site. The one I used is very much “me” called, “Desktop Section” and it was a free template. Fine tune it by changing colors or adding gadgets. I didn’t mess with my colors; however, I did add a site search for demonstration purposes. Yes, there are two searches now on this “play” site. The one at the top I added, the one at the bottom is the default. These final steps are optional. Don’t fine tune if you do not care to.
Try my new blog out this week, post things, comment, etc. If you set up your own blog at Blogger.com, or anywhere else, please let me know so I can check it out.
