Allison Cafe

For many professionals wondering how to start their own blog, let me give you a quick start guide to get a blog started on the cheap and with little prior experience.

First, visit a free blog site such as WordPress or Blogspot and set up a free account. Getting your account started at either site is quick and easy. You will choose your own url prefix such as http://joesmith.wordpress.com. Once your account has been created, take some time to choose a free template for your site that best fits with your site’s content and messaging. Now, while you can certainly keep your costs down to $0 with this method, I highly suggest purchasing a domain name from a site such as GoDaddy and directing it to your new blog. It will look more professional.

Buying a domain at GoDaddy is easy, simply type in the domain you wish to purchase on their homepage to see if it is still available. You may have to brainstorm on new domain names if the one you originally wanted has been taken. Buying a domain name is usually about $9.99-14.99/year, not bad. After purchasing your domain, you will want to have it forwarded to your free blog site at WordPress (or whereever you choose to set up your blog). Be sure to have it “masked”, meaning that when someone types your domain name into their web browser, they won’t notice that they have been redirected to WordPress. The customer support line at GoDaddy is usually very knowledgeable and helpful –  if this has gotten too technical for you, simply give them a call.

This should be enough to get you started. Once you begin blogging and adding photos, you may discover you need to upgrade to a hosted site, which will allow you more disk space for your files and content on your site. Looking for more than a blog? GoDaddy has an easy to use template called Website Tonight that allows you to create a templated website overnight for a low monthly fee.

Now comes the fun part, start writing!

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