Blogs

What is a blog?

Short for "Web log," a blog is like an online diary. It allows a person or group to share a running chronicle with online audiences. You do not need to know HTML, Dreamweaver, etc. to blog. Once you log in to your blog account, you can type your message and click a button to post it to your blog. That information is instantly published to a website which the public can read, or if you have made it private, only staff will be able to read it. You can also add images to a blog post in much the same way as you would send pictures via email. 

When Should I Use a Blog?

• Any or all of the above in one blog (East Hampton Public Library, CT, Bangor Public Library, ME, and Middletown Public Library, RI)

How Can I Start a Blog?

Free blog services can be found with a simple Google search. Two of the most popular are Blogger and Wordpress.com. MySpace.com also has a blogging feature. All of these sites have FAQ section that should help you answer any questions you might have while setting one up.

Blog Setup Guide

Creating Your Blog

• Go to wordpress.com and enter your username, password, and email address, and then click on “Gimme a blog”.

• Choose blog domain name (cannot be changed), blog title (can be changed), language, and keep box checked for your blog to appear in search engines if you would like it to be available to the public.

• Go to your email for your account confirmation. An email with your username, password, and links has been sent to your email address.

Writing Content

• To create a new post, click on “Write” and type in your content. If you would like to include images to your post they can be uploaded from this page as well.

•  You may also want to add categories for your post depending on the purpose of your blog and how specific you want it to be. For instance, if you were creating a review blog, your categories might include: books, movies, music, fiction, nonfiction, children’s, teens, mysteries, large print, graphic novels, or audiobooks.

• You can also create pages with Wordpress. These are usually used for basic information such as an “About Us” page. Each Wordpress blog comes with a default “About” page. To create new ones, click on “Write Page” while in the “Write” section.

Managing Content

• To edit or delete a post or page, click on “Manage” and then select the item you would like to change.
• You can also add new categories from “Manage”.

Allowing Comments

• By default, comments are allowed on each post. You can turn off comments on an individual post or on all posts. You can also limit comments to registered users and/or moderate comments before they are posted. Your options are outlined in the “Options” section under the heading “Discussion”.

Inviting Users

• If other members of your staff will be contributing to this blog, invite them to be users by entering in their information in the “Users” section. You can set users at different levels of authority so that some can only write posts which need administrator approval before being posted while have more authority.

Changing Themes

• If you’d like to change the look of your blog, go to the “Presentation” section and sample some of the other themes. Keep in mind that themes control not only the color schemes of the blog, but also its layout. When you change the theme, you may find that your pages, categories etc. are now in different places on the page and some sections may be removed altogether.