• Hosting service provider
• Domain name
• Hosting package
• Addons like SSL, etc

All these can be purchased as a single package from a hosting service provider. These components are well integrated. Here is what you will generally go through.

• Selection of domain name with the suitable package.
• Creation of account with hosting provider and payment process.
• Installation of WordPress though a single install software.
• Housekeeping.

Hosting service provider

Service providers give you a combination of tools so that you can start with a website. There are various types of hosting. Primary are Linux hosting, Windows hosting, cloud hosting and dedicated WordPress hosting. WordPress hosting is a bit expensive but worth the extra bucks. Hosting account provides with Cpanel access with total and easy access to hosting account. You can create subdomain, SSL certificates, Mail addresses, File manager, edit php files and so on. Sometimes you get a choice of location of servers. US servers are the least expensive. Most important we get a single click WordPress install like Softaculous. Popular hosting providers are Siteground, Bluehost, Hostgator, Godaddy, Hostinger and a few hundred more. Once you have shortlisted you service provider, you move on to the next step.

Domain Name

This is the most trickiest part of the whole thing. A .com domain name is the ultimate prize. But all the common name and combos are gone. A .in name may or may not be desirable as you might find, traffic going to your .com counterpart. Select and shortlist number of options before finalizing getting the one of your choice. As part of the freebie, try to get the hosting package which gives a free domain name, even if it is for a year.

Domain name should be catchy, simple to pronounce and remember, should reflect the nature of your blog and preferably should not have a spelling mistake. There are a ton of extensions available now, but remember, .com is a top level domain name.

Hosting package

All vendors give a 50% discount over the entire package when buying for the first time. Check the freebies carefully. GoDaddy still does not give a free SSL certificate. Check for the best deal with freebies like SSL, Business mail and domain name. Also go for the maximum duration say three or five years. You get the 50% discount either way. So go for the best package. Take help of a technical expert if required because this is going to be the deal of a lifetime. Package integration is a breeze with most of the top hosting providers. But the very reason why I always recommend top hosting providers is that their technology integration and programming is top notch. The tier two hosting providers have integration issues which leads to headache for all th ethree years you take the package. Once the domain and rest all are set, you can go to install the website.

Single click WordPress website install

Automatic installers usually take care of the technical aspects of WordPress installation. You should keep details like email address, blog name and description handy. A few clicks and your WordPress website is ready. It might take anything between a few minutes to an hour for your newly created website address to propagate through the DNS servers. After that you can login to the admin account.

Post WordPress install

• Secure your account with a strong password.
• Anything can go wrong, so choose the best option for a backup and take regular backups of your blog.
• To not overdo with plugins because they are a security risk and also slow down the website.
• Choose a theme which meets your requirement.
• Get the basic pages ready and apply for adsense as soon as possible.

The post What is a self hosted WordPress website – a simple guide appeared first on Start Blog Writing.

Blogging re-defined

Both Facebook and WordPress began roughly in the same year. In the year 2003, Google acquired Blogger platform from Pyra Labs. While Blogger and WordPress are true blue blogging platforms, Facebook started off as a social network. If we go back to the aim of blogging, all the three of them provide the ability to allow the user to post articles, photos, audio and videos. Which brings us to the question, is YouTube a complete blogging platform.

Different ways to blog

The two distinct approaches to blogging is via website article way and social media platforms way.

Website articles method

The free options available for bloggers are as follows

• Blogger by Google – The most beginner friendly option for bloggers with many of them staying on. You get a subdomain by Google and simple blogging interface. Blogger or Blogspot has been around since 2003 without many changes in design. Integration with Google Adsense is added advantage. Simple design means you can focus on blogging and creating content.
• WordPress – Rich in design and functions with themes and plugins. Launched the same year as Blogger, WordPress has grown from a blogging platform to a content management system. The core functionality as a blog tools will not change. You get a sub domain from WordPress and many features far better than Blogger. The WordPress smartphone app helps you to get more followers in a focused manner.
• Others – There is Wix, Weebly, Jimdo, Shopify, SquareSpace, the list goes on. Everybody is vying for the site builder space. They all want to take the complexity out of design by providing templates and giving all functions like payment gateway, shopping cart, etc in the form of simple drag and drop modules. All of them give a subdomain and website for free.

Paid options are as follows.

• Self Hosted WordPress – If you are in for the long haul, self hosted WordPress is the way forward. You have complete control over design and SEO is a breeze. Looking for sponsors or joining an ad network, this options works best. besides giving a professional look. Choose your hosting provider with care since it is going to be a three to five year commitment. Go for the longest duration pack since you will get a straight 50% discount on your first transaction. Check for free addons like SSL cert and business mail.
• Paid plans by WordPress.com – Plans include custom domain, ads by WordPress, spam protection, CDN and much more. It is like a single platform giving cutting edge features of WordPress. But comparatively, plans are expensive.
• Other options – Google Domains provide an option to buy a domain and link it with blogger website. It also give business mail options under G-suite. Except for the basic integration, the setup remain buggy and customer care is non existent.

Blogging by Social Media method

Popularity of social media networks has tempted the masses to change the definition of blogging. People now assume (wrongly!) that posting updates is a form of blogging too. Here are a few pointers suggesting otherwise.

• Blogging is necessarily writing an article of between 300 to 600 words. How will you post a 300 word update on Facebook timeline.
• Every social network keeps insisting that they are only for updates from friends and family.
• Google does not show search results within the social networks.
• Social media posting is for entertainment purpose, at-least that is what your followers will believe.
• Brands are given promotional tools for business purpose which are misused by influencers to boost follows and likes.
• This confusion will remain because blog articles are also called posts and social media updates are called posts too!

Here are a few social media networks and what they can be used for.

• Facebook – To check-in public places of interest like restaurants, shopping malls, picnic spots, museums, gardens, etc. Post pictures and videos of travel experiences. Use a Facebook page to post short stories, poems or funny one liners.
• Instagram – If you are photographer or travel blogger or posting restaurant reviews, this app can work with short updates.
• Tumblr – Can be used to write posts sometimes detailed ones too.
• YouTube – Integrated with Adsense, this has become the big daddy of money spinning vloggers.

If you are an aspiring blogger, you need to take a long and hard look towards social media before taking a call. Businesses and brand have a presence on social media without need for a website. But for a blogger, a website is the only sign of true identity.

The post Ways to blog – Is social media posting a form of blogging appeared first on Start Blog Writing.

Single page WordPress website

Salient features of single page website are

• Just one page to scroll
• Works great on a smart phone screen
• Content can be arranged in blocks
• Personal websites can be single page
• Website is light and fast
• Anchor menus can help visitor skip content
• Affordable hosting
• Keeps the visitor interested till the end

We have many examples of single page website. But here is a notable few.

Why WordPress

The popularity of single page website means that WordPress has also got single page themes. However Astra still remains the most popular and fast plugin. Another good theme is Neve. With a few other plugins, a fast website is possible.

Difference between a regular website and single page website

• Both are dynamic, but single page website has static content, means content which will be rarely updated
• There will be no blog articles of updates on single page website
• With lack of pages and articles, there is no need for a menu
• A single page website can at later stage be converted to multi page website
• Single page website is best for professionals

The post What is a single page website appeared first on Start Blog Writing.

How is a website made

The pages of a website can be made in different ways. It can be designed using a note pad and writing a series of codes in HTML. By a slight upgrade to IDE (Integrated Development Environment) things get easier, faster and convenient.

But the real fun lies where a site can be made online by anyone. Three main categories of such tools exists, Blogger by Google and WordPress.com by Automattic, Wix, Weebly and others like Shopify and lastly a self hosted website with content management system like WordPress. Lets discuss each one in detail.

Blogger.com and WordPress.com

2003 was a watershed year in the history of internet and publishing. Both Blogger.com and WordPress.com came into being in this year. And they redefined the way a website is made. Suddenly everyone could make a site without HTML coding and without any knowledge of how internet works. Both are free platform and both provide a free sub-domain.

Blogger.com comes with powerful integration of Google Adsense, so this platform has the edge. But the design of Blogger is still very very primitive and it is still a blog. While WordPress.com has beautiful themes which transform the look and feel of your blog to make it look like a website. Hundreds and thousands of bloggers use these two free platforms to host their blog. WordPress also has paid plans.

Amazing world of site builders

Online site builders provide a huge relief to those who want to create something easy on their own. This service is provided by sites like Wix, Weebly, Shopify and so on. They provide ready made templates and blocks. These blocks can be placed on any page, they can be resized or deleted. Blocks and Apps give the necessary tools to improve performance of your site. You get a free subdomain with your account. All website functions are available. Online store can also be created in a few steps.

Self Hosted WordPress website

Finally the most sought after where you can get maximum flexibility is a self hosted website. You need to choose a content management system or CMS. CMS allows you to install and customise your website. It also provides a set of tools to perform various roles right from admin to subscriber. WordPress is the most popular content management system and there is no close second. All hosting providers provide specialized WordPress hosting. Themes change the look and feel of your website depending on its role. Plugins are like apps or software which provide additional functionality to the website. With WordPress, customization is simply a breeze.

https://wordpress.org/

The post What is a website appeared first on Start Blog Writing.

Browser password saving

This is the most common and straightforward way to say a password. The moment your web browser detects a login, it will offer to save the username and password. Google even goes a step further and saves your chrome passwords on the cloud. This facility is also available on all major browsers, but Google and Chrome does it in style! Retrieving a password is even easier and is just a few clicks away. Saving options of the browser can be customized.

And what better way to start you day when you come to know that Chrome browser has not saved your login details. Or you did not click the save button. In such a scenario, retrieving the password from the cloud is also not possible.

Recover your lost password through email

WordPress has a very robust system of password recovery.

After keying in the username or Email Address, your password reset link will be sent to your Email Address. This process is pretty smooth. But it is worthwhile to check if the mail options are working. Otherwise you will end up with nothing in the inbox. Check the spam folder too.

But in case of this author, the reset link never arrived.

If your WordPress installation is powered through Jetpack plugin, you can still login through WordPress and then scroll down to View Admin. But that is still a hyperlink. So again no luck if you have not saved the password.

Login WordPress Admin account from Cpanel

With this one, almost all password reset options are expired. At this point there is nothing much to do, except take a backup and delete the site. After that one can do a fresh install and restore the backup. To do all this, you will need access to your hosting account. But then there is a final twist to retrieving your lost password or rather making a new one.

Once you login to your Cpanel, go to Softaculous. Click on the icon to list all the installations.

WordPress bloggers would be familiar with the icons on the right which are used to clone, backup and delete an installation. Backup also allows you to download the entire installation in a tar package. But if you click on the Admin icon which is located within the blue circle, it will straightway take you to your website, logged in as Admin. This means the admin password is stored at the time of installation. Once you are in, then you can create another password in your profile.

The post Lost your WordPress self hosted site password – here is the last option appeared first on Start Blog Writing.

On the left is the blog with the effect. As one can notice, the notification bar on the top also takes the same color. On the right is the blog without the effect.

How to change color of the address bar

First find out the hex code of the color which you want to use. Use your theme customisation to check the exact color. Next, insert this code in the header.php file in the </head> tag.

<meta name="theme-color" content="#26CE61" />

The hex code, #26CE61 is light green. You need to change it as per your theme color or any other color you want.

If you do not have access to the header file, you can use the plugin Insert Headers and Footers. This plugin allows easy insertion of any code int he header or footer.

Also note that this effect is only visible for mobile browsers like Google Chrome.

The post Changing the color of the address bar in mobile chrome browser for your WordPress Blog appeared first on Start Blog Writing.

Earlier we had seen the first essential page from a blogger point of view.

http://startblogwriting.com/essential-pages-blogger-privacy-policy/

Using Jetpack Plugin for creating a Contact Us page

WordPress users install Jetpack plugin for the variety of features and performance that it provides. Jetpack also provides a Contact Form that making a Contact Us page a breeze. Enable the Contact Form in Jetpack Settings under Writing Tab.

A detailed explanation of Contact Form can be found at the following URL.

As seen from the above, the Contact Form option needs to be toggled and turn on bright blue. Once on, a Contact Form button is visible above the text editor.

Jetpack uses a shortcode to insert a contact form on a page or a post. This form can be customized to add more fields. Once customization is over, the contact form shortcode is displayed in the text area.

Contact page for Blogger by Google

Blogger platform by Google uses gadgets to add a contact widget on your blog. The option is available in Layout. Where ever you want to place the gadget click on the Add a Gadget button.

Blogger gadget does not have any customization options.

Of course you can always use a html code to insert a contact link to your email.

The post Five Essential Pages for a Blogger : Contact Us appeared first on Start Blog Writing.

Do all bloggers need a Privacy Policy

Ideally yes. You might be running a blog which writes an article or posts a photograph and allows users or readers comments. Apart from this there is no other activity allowed on your blog. Even in this scenario, your comment system will collect the IP address, Email address and Website name of the commenters. This information is stored somewhere. It can be used by you or someone else or might be shared with someone intentionally or otherwise.

Other than a simple blog, you might have a website allows membership. You send out newsletters and hold contests. There might even be a forum or a social networking website using the BuddyPress WordPress Plugin. In all such scenarios, you must have a well defined Privacy Policy.

Every blogging platform has some mechanism to track visitors. In addition the blog is submitted to tracking apps like Google Analytics. It is a good idea to let your visitors know about this in details.

How to make a Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy is a legally worded document. There are three primary ways to make a privacy policy page.

• Write it down on your own
• Use a plugin for WordPress
• Use an online privacy policy generator

or for WordPress Users, copy the Privacy Policy of Automattic, the creators of WordPress. Yes, it is permitted and one WordPress plugin actually does that.

Use of WordPress Plugins to generate privacy policy

WordPress Plugins make life so simpler. But bloggers who are concerned about site speeds should avoid this route as another plugin on your blog will create an overhead. One of the most popular WordPress plugin is Auto Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This makes a copy of Automattic policy page and amends it for your blog.

Other notable WordPress Plugins are

Guerrilla’s Legal Pages

https://wordpress.org/plugins/guerrillas-legal-pages/

and

Legull

Use an online privacy policy generator

A Google search gives lots of options who generate a free policy online. One such website URL is as follows

https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/

It features high in Google search results and the presentation is professional enough. They track each act passed by govt and corporations.

Writing down your own policy

Penning down your own policy is actually lots of fun. You can junk the legal tone and write down your thoughts in plain English. Easy enough for most of us to understand. Your policy should primarily cover the following aspects clearly.

• Which visitor info is collected by your website and how
• Who all has access to this info and how they may use it
• If your website has members, the privacy of their personal information
• Info on advertisements on your website and what info they collect
• A link to your website cookie policy
• A link to Contact Us Page

Cover each part in minute details. It is a good idea to read site policy of other websites.

There is only one problem in this approach. There is always a possibility that you must have missed something.

The post Five Essential Pages for a Blogger : Privacy Policy appeared first on Start Blog Writing.

A blog can be simply called as an online journal or a diary. So like a journal or a diary, you start making entries on certain dates, daily or otherwise. Now in the earlier days it was a hard coded html website with entries made by amending the code. But now in the days of blogging platforms and Content Management Systems, we have got ready made tools to blog which take care of the code and other issues and leave us to focus on writing.

Who can blog

Anyone with a device to access to Internet can blog. In their own language. And with translators and tools easily available you can reach across a wider audience. You can blog from your PC or a mobile device. You can write an article or just post some photographs or a video clip. Anyone who blogs is called a blogger.

Till about late 1990s it was understood only programmers could blog, people who had the inner knowledge about the functioning of the computers and internet. By about 2010 it was generally agreed that anyone with English as a primary language with a PC and internet can blog. But by 2015 it was clear that smart phones with big screen and going to be the new weapons of blogging and the primary choice of language will be Chinese, Hindi and Arabic with English relegated to the fourth position.

Why the name blog

As per Wikipedia, Jorn Barger coined the term weblog on 17 Dec 1997. The word was further broken up in two parts ‘we blog’ by Peter Merholz. The term or word blog was finally adopted and popularized by Evan Williams at Pyra Labs. Interestingly, Pyra Labs introduced the service of Blogger to the general public free of cost which is the first ever blogging platform. Blogger was later acquired by Google in 2003.

Anyone who blogs is called a blogger and the service or blogging platform offered by Google is also called Blogger.

How can you start your own blog

Navigating though this website by Team SBW will give  you enough pointers on how to do that. The two most popular platform or tools for blogging is Blogger by Google and WordPress. WordPress even allows you to have a self hosted website or blog on your own servers. Blogging is not restricted to words and picture. You can also have an audio blog and video blog. Best example of video blog is YouTube. Instagram is also a photoblog. A new niche is popular for the last few years, that of microblogging. Facebook, Tumblr and similar options are all microblogs.

Start a blog with or without any investment

Opening an account with Blogger by Google or WordPress will allow you to start blogging immediately without any expense. With a well written and maintained blog on Blogger you can apply for ad sense and monetize your blog.

On the other hand if you have some money spare for your blog and want to take a serious plunge, you may buy a hosting package and a domain name. You may also give the running of your blog to an agency for professional help.

Blogging for hobby or money

Blogging has become serious business. A lot of bloggers have left their regular job to go full time blogging. Top brands are targeting bloggers and their audience. But still a large number of bloggers are just doing it as a hobby or pass time. Either way blogging is now a popular activity.

You can have a ad program running advertisements on your blog. You can also review products or work as affiliates. You can also write guest blogs for other websites.

Once you have a blog ready, you can start to reach out to an audience. Patience is the key here, though the job has been made much easier by the plethora of social media available to us. Remember to network with fellow bloggers and connect with people with similar interests.

The last word on What is a blog

Team SBW attempts to put blogging articles and resources together at this place. It is a long and exhaustive process as the world of blogging has grown exponentially in the past few years. You are all welcome to join this journey.

Summary

What is a blog

1. A blog is an online diary or journal.
2. A person who maintains a blog is called a blogger.
3. One can either choose a platform for setting up a blog or setup a self hosted site.
4. Blogging and social networking is similar activity.
5. Use social media to reach a larger audience, connect with bloggers of similar interests and popularize your blog.
6. Once ready look for options for monetizing your blog.

The post What is a blog appeared first on Start Blog Writing.