# Looking for a Free Blog



## MA-Caver (Jan 20, 2009)

A friend finally convinced me to start up a blog. Trouble is where I'm at now I can post and post but everything is in order that I posted... and not always related... what I'd like to find is a blog that allows me to catalog my posts by subjects, i.e. a group that talks about MA, another about Caving, another my own personal thoughts/feelings/ideas, music lyrics, pictures, etc. etc. instead of a person having to scroll down to find a subject. 
Likewise one that is reader specific and not just ANYONE except those I invite or whatever. 
Oh yeah and it's gotta be free :idunno: got empty pockets at the moment. 

Thanks in advance...


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## Steve (Jan 20, 2009)

MA-Caver said:


> A friend finally convinced me to start up a blog. Trouble is where I'm at now I can post and post but everything is in order that I posted... and not always related... what I'd like to find is a blog that allows me to catalog my posts by subjects, i.e. a group that talks about MA, another about Caving, another my own personal thoughts/feelings/ideas, music lyrics, pictures, etc. etc. instead of a person having to scroll down to find a subject.
> Likewise one that is reader specific and not just ANYONE except those I invite or whatever.
> Oh yeah and it's gotta be free :idunno: got empty pockets at the moment.
> 
> Thanks in advance...


 Wordpress is pretty good, as is Blogger (google's blog software).   Both are free, and both allow you to assign keywords to each post, and then to screen posts by keyword.  In wordpress, it's called labels.  There's a short learning curve with both, but either is workable.  Both allow you to tinker with the CSS, but I think free-blogger is more open than free-wordpress.

My training blog, http://www.stevebjj.com is a blogger blog.  If I had to start over, I'd use wordpress, I think.  I like the labels and wordpress is easier to post to from a phone, when necessary.

The other alternative is to create three blogs and then crosslink as appropriate.  

If you have any questions, I'm happy to help as I can.  I'm not a pro, but I've been blogging consistently for over 2 years now and have picked a few things up.


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## Archangel M (Jan 20, 2009)

Wordpress or Blogger look to be the biggest boys on the free blog hosting block.


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## Steve (Jan 20, 2009)

I should just add that Typepad is the other big blogging software.  A lot of people who are in it to generate revenue eventually seem to migrate to a paid subscription to typepad.  I don't really know why or what they do, but they don't offer anything free that comes close to what blogger and wordpad provide.


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## Bob Hubbard (Jan 20, 2009)

blogger.com  I use it for 4 of mine, its easy to start, and seems user friendly.


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## Brian R. VanCise (Jan 20, 2009)

I love wordpress.  Absolutely love it!


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## Zyaga (Jan 20, 2009)

My blog runs on Wordpress. I don't host mine by them though. I pay for hosting with another company and then installed Wordpress onto it.

You can check my blog out here: Martial Thoughts

You can always later on down the road buy your own domain name(ex: www.martialthoughts.com) and have it point to your Wordpress/Blogger/Typepad blog.


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## tellner (Jan 20, 2009)

I've used Blogger and Wordpress and been happy with both. I started off with Livejournal when they were free, when they were pay-only and when they were free again. It was only out of inertia. The first two really are a cut above.

To give it a little more flair you can get a domain name and have it forwarded to your Blogger account. So wartycanetoad.com could be forwarded to kingfrog.blogspot.com


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## Steve (Jan 20, 2009)

The blog software is important, as it's going to affect how much control you have over the look and feel of your blog, as well as many of the nuts and bolts that go into it.  In addition to this decision, there are some other things I've found useful over time.  

If you're interested in really cultivating a group of readers, I would strongly recommend Feedburner (www.feedburner.com).  Feedburner does a couple of things.  First, it facilitates subscriptions to your blog's RSS feed, which is a very big part of developing a base of readers.  I seldom visit the blogs I enjoy, preferring to read them using Google Reader via the RSS feeds.  Feedburner also helps you track how many people subscribe to your feed, giving you an idea of how many people are following your blog.  Feedburner can also help track how many people are hitting your actual site.

Technorati has also been a pretty good way to publicise my blog, as has been MyBlogLog (affiliated with Yahoo).

Some other things that help a lot are a picture account, such as Picassa or Flickr, and a YouTube account.  These aren't strictly required, particularly with Blogger, as you can add video and pictures from right within the software.


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## Zyaga (Jan 20, 2009)

stevebjj said:


> If you're interested in really cultivating a group of readers, I would strongly recommend Feedburner (www.feedburner.com).



Not sure if you know already, but just thought I'd mention that FeedBurner is becoming apart of Google. The full conversion is due sometime in February.


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## JBrainard (Jan 26, 2009)

Brian R. VanCise said:


> I love wordpress. Absolutely love it!


 
I'll second that. Both myself and my instructor use for wordpress.


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## kittybreed (Jan 26, 2009)

I use Blogger and track stats with Google Analytics. I link my webpage to my blog and also have other martial arts links.


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## Thesemindz (Jan 26, 2009)

Personally, I love Blogger. I have two. It's easy to use, and very customizable. You can seperately label your posts, or set up seperate blogs for each topic, and there is a huge amount of preset gadgets you can add to your page. Very user friendly.


-Rob


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