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[Michael Brett Company: One-24 Contribution Level: 2]

It looks like everybody agrees that Wordpress is the cream of the crop. But it can be hard at first. So, if you want to get started with it, you might check out out Wordpress Tutorials ( http://www.wordpresstutorials.com).

It is a independent service which is not affiliated with Wordpress and they do charge a monthly subscription fee of around ten bucks a month. But if you are having trouble getting started with Wordpress, you might find that it is well worth it.

[Paul Butler Company: Numis Network Contribution Level: 2]

I agree that blogger would be a great place to start but definitely migrate to wordpress hosted on your own site. Also look into Squidoo, this is also a very powerful platform with a ton of traffic...
Best Wishes...
PAul

[Guest]

it really depends what you are looking for but seeing that wordpress has all the best plugins and many free traffic generation techniques... stick with the bid dog

plus the wordpress themes are just rocking !! check out this theme... eurobig (or something like that)

oh and squarespace isn't bad either... has great stats and easy wysiwyg editor which is perfect for newbies (wordpress and the code can get tricky at times)... for a complete newbie i'd probably recommend squarespace and for the more advanced wordpress

[Charul Shukla Contribution Level: 1]

Well i hope you must have decided what platform you are going to use after reading so many replies here, here is my advise:

Free Blog = blogger.com
Hosted Solution = wordpress

dont even think of anything else, until you requirement are so large that you need to think.

[Chris Smith Contribution Level: 1]

I always tell people that are new to blogging to learn on one of the popular free platforms... Wordpress.com or Blogger. I would suggest saving your content to your computer while you are learning. You don't want to lose your work if by chance, your blog gets suspended. I've seen this happen with free Wordpress accounts. That is why most experienced bloggers will tell you to host your own Wordpress blog. That way you own your own content because you are hosting your blog on your own server.

I use Squarespace and I've used it for about 2 years now... I love it! The content is hosted on their servers, and it's a paid service with plans starting at around $7 per month. I've never had any issues with them nor have I heard of others having issues with them as far as hosting. You can see my blog listed under websites in my profile if you'd like. Some recommend Squarespace for newbies because it's easier to use than a hosted Wordpress blog. While that's true, it's also great if you are an experienced blogger... the founder of Digg endorses and uses Squarespace and I guarantee you he's not a newbie! All the available plug-ins are thoroughly tested and work flawlessly with Squarespace and everything integrates very well. There are far more plug-ins available with the hosted version of Wordpress, but the learning curve is far greater and it will be more time consuming to learn than Squarespace. That's really what it will come down to if you are new to blogging... how much time do you have if you are new to internet marketing to dedicate to blogging when there are so many other things to learn. Blogging is very important as a vehicle for distributing your content so it is something that I feel, needs to be learned. I am not new to internet marketing or blogging and I use http://www.squarespace.com. For more info about blogging, go to Google and do a search under the phrase "Wordpress vs Squarespace" ... this will help. As always, it's your choice... I hope this helps.

[Debbie Turner Contribution Level: 3]

I don't recommend you use ANY blog service that has access to your cpanel. I see a lot of people here recommending blogger and wordpress.com. That's not a good idea. Reason being, the people who originated blogs did so NOT to be used as a promotion of product, service or self. If something you do or say rubs them wrong, they can go in a shut your blog down. Gone. All the time, energy, effort, you put in to design and build your blog and following, GONE.

Wordpress.org will provide you with instructions on how you can install your own blog on your own hosting account. There are many free blog templates to choose from if you Google "Wordpress Themes". Some are free, others have a small charge for the design. If you need to outsource the installation and set up of your blog, there are many great services, Ben Cope with Word Press Dream Themes is one that I've used and he does a great job. There are many peeps within this forum that can probably help you out as well for a small fee.

As part of your installation you will want plugins (features) that help you rank on search engines. Any blog guy should know what they are.

Another blog service that was recommend in this thread was squarespace. I haven't personally used it, but I hear good things about it. You have control over that so you're protected from shut down.

Here's a resource for you regarding video tutorials for wordpress.
http://wordpress.tv/category/how-to/

Hope this helps.

[Melanie Kissell Contribution Level: 3]

Hey Tracey,

You'll most likely get a "mixed bag" of suggestions here. Everyone naturally has their favorite blogging platform.

I'm an avid blogger and I would like to recommend that you begin with either "Blogger" or the free version of "Wordpress". Of the two, Blogger would be the simplest one for you to set up. It's hosted by Google and very user-friendly.

BLOG ON!

Melanie Kissell

[Contribution Level: 2]

I'm new to blogging and started out with a free blogger account. I've found it very easy to use and I had no problem adding Adsense to my blog. I'm really quite pleased with the template, layout and overall result. But after reading the other posts here I realized I had better start backing up my work, just in case. It's also great to know that, when I have more time to devote to learning it, I can migrate my blog over to to wordpress.

Thanks!

[Nathaniel Johnson Contribution Level: 6]

just wanted to throw my two cents in here - wordpress is hands down my recommendation. If you want a free wordpress site - yousite.wordpress.com - just go to wordpress.com.

If you want your own hosted site you'll need to go to wordpress.org and set up an account.
I have set up a tutorial showing how you can get your own domain, get a hosting service, and get started on your own wordpress site for less than $2 out of pocket cost today...

-- here is the article I wrote on this subject - http://realincome4life.com/2009/03/3-st ... n-website/

let me know if anyone has any questions regarding setting up their own site.

[Adam Taha Contribution Level: 8]

For beginners, with no techy, then it be blogger.com and then it be wordpress.org

I use blogger at moment but in time I am going to sort out wordpress.org cause I want to use CSS and start creating my own layout and design.

Adam