Picking a Blogging Platform

I've had three people ask me in the past 24 hours how to get started with blogging. There are so many resources that it's overwhelming!

If you're TOTALLY new, I suggest first taking a gander at this Blogging 101 slideshare presentation.

OK, so you know what blogging's all about. You want to get started, but you don't know which blogging platform to pick.

The two most popular free blogging platforms are WordPress.com and Google's Blogger.com. I've been using Blogger for the past couple of years and I absolutely love it! But I'd been hearing a lot about WordPress, so just recently I started a new blog about QA Management on that platform so I could compare the two. I know that TypePad is popular as well, but you only get a free trial and then would need to upgrade, whereas WordPress.com and Blogger are completely free. I'm all about free stuff, especially when you're learning and these two platforms have all the bells and whistles to keep you happily blogging for years! I really can't believe that they're free!

As for which to choose? My preference is Blogger, but I've only been using WordPress for a week, so it could be that I just haven't gotten used to it yet. This comparison chart does a good job of showing the differences. However, one thing I can't find with WordPress is an up-to-date tutorial! I found a site with a very comprehensive set of tutorials about Blogger, though. I watched the first two videos and found them very informative. And it looks like the full set of 118 videos is free (did I mention I like free stuff?)

One other really nice thing about these popular blogging platforms is that many other social sites automatically integrate with them. So, for example, you can easily share content from your blog on sites like Twitter, FaceBook, and LinkedIn. You can also, very easily share content from other sites, like YouTube and SlideShare on your blog. If you have a custom blog, it's often not as easy to integrate.

With these popular platforms it's also very easy to add these cool "widgets" or "gadgets" as they're called. Those are the little applications you see on the sidebar -- the stuff to the right on this blog. I just added "Things to Ponder" for example.

My advice is get yourself a blogger account and just get your feet wet! If you want to blog for business, there's a lot more to learn. But for now, let blogger be your sandbox and get out and play!

How to Get Your Blog Post Blasted Everywhere

Every once in awhile I try to post something informative about the use of social media to my blog and this is one of those days. As of today, my blog posts will now be blasted automatically to LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter whenever I post anywhere.

If you're a follower that wants to get to the "how to get your blog post blasted everywhere" information, skip to the [Serious Section] of this post.

If you're one of my FaceBook friends that really only cares about what kind of Romance Movie I am (ok...so you don't care about that either) this is not the right post for you.

If you are a Twitter follower, I'm sorry this is more than 140 characters. I'm also sorry that I don't pay much attention to Twitter, so I apologize for not properly building our relationship.

If you take the time to blog (which is a good idea if you're in business) then it would be really nice to get as much exposure to your blog as possible, right? Well, there are some very easy ways to get your blog posts automatically updated to your LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter accounts. This will take you about 5 minutes to set up and after that! Boom! Every time you make a blog post, all your networks will get updates with your magnificent missive, gaining you instant fame and fortune! Now, don't worry... your networks won't get emails about your blog posts unless they've specifically subscribed to receive them. Your posts will be on your profile pages, but one of the nice things about social media is that all your friends and followers can decide what they want to read. If you've posted about your wonderful new grandchild, for example, and they don't care about your wonderful new grandchild, they can just choose not to read it. (Though I really don't know how it would be possible to NOT care about such a newsworthy post.)

In any case, here's what you do:

[Serious Section]
On LinkedIn:
* Make sure your blog is listed on your "Websites" on your profile
* Add the Blog Link Application to your LinkedIn Profile. The Applications Link is on the left hand menu in LinkedIn.

On FaceBook:
It's really simple to import your blog into your Notes, once you find the right page in FaceBook. (I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I have a very hard time navigating through the FaceBook screens. I know I claim to have all this social media "expertise" but I'm navigationally challenged, in general.) I finally used google to help me find the link. Here it is:

http://www.facebook.com/editnotes.php?import

On Twitter:
Use the application Twitterfeed to get your blog post automatically to update Twitter. For this one, you need to know your blog's RSS feed. For example, if you are using Blogger, your RSS feed will be: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss (substituting in your own blogname, of course.)

OK, there you have it! Go forth and multiply the readers of your blog! And if you don't want all your friends on all your networks to see your blog, well, then... don't do this.