Setting Up Your First Blog

Creating a blog really could not get any easier. Here we will walk you through the steps and in a matter of minutes you will have your own personal blog!

There are a number of blog providers with whom you could set up your blog. The simplest and probably the most used is blogger. So, we’ll walk you through the steps to set up a blog with blogger.

Applying For A Blogger Account:

1. Go to blogger.com and click on the big orange arrow that says ‘Create Your Blog Now’. Fill out the first page with your email address, password, and your name as you would like it to appear on your blog.
2. Where it asks for a word verification, type in the letters as you see them. This is just so blogger knows you are a person and not a machine.
3. Click in the box next to Acceptance of Terms after you have read and understand the Blogger’s Terms of Service. This is just a standard thing that every website asks for. Then click on the big orange arrow that says ‘Continue’.

Choosing The Name and Look of Your Blog:

1. This is where it gets fun. In the first box, type in what you want the title of your blog to be. For example, if your name is John Smith you could title your blog ‘The Smith Family News’ or ‘The Smith Family Blog’. You get the idea.
2. In the second box, type in what you would like your blog address to be. Your blog address is what people will type in order to get to your blog on the internet. Each blog address is unique and different and most people try to come up with something that relates to them personally and easy to remember. Using the same example of John Smith, you could type in ‘johnsmith’ or ‘thejohnsmithfamily’.
   
3. Then click on the ‘check availability’ button and blogger will check to see if what you have chosen is, in fact, available. If what you have chosen is not available, continue to try different words or combination of words until you find something that is. If 'johnsmith' is available, for example, your blog address will be johnsmith.blogspot.com. Once you have found an available blog address continue to the next box and complete another word verification. You’re almost there!
4. If you thought the last page was fun, just wait. Here you get to choose the template for your blog. 'Template' is a word that basically means, ‘what your blog looks like’. Blogger has a selection of different blog templates. Scroll down and decide which one you would like to start with. There are lots of other templates out there and we’ll teach you how to get these in later tutorials. For now, just choose a template that blogger has to offer by clicking on the little circle next to the blog template name. Then click on the big orange arrow that says, ‘Continue.’ Are you ready?

Writing Your First Post

1. Your blog has been created! Click on ‘Start Blogging’. This immediately takes you to where you will write your first post. Go ahead and type something. Say hello to the world of bloggers or write something that you want to share with your friends and family. Once you are satisfied, click on the orange button on the bottom left that says, ‘Publish Post’.
2. You should see, ‘Your blog post published successfully!’ Now click on the ‘View Blog’ button. Congratulations! You have just created your first post on your blog!

Getting To Your Blog and Posting Again

1. Do you want to post again? There are a couple ways to do this. If you haven’t left your blog yet you can do this from your blog. Click on ‘New Post’ which is in the top right corner. Clicking on that will take you to another blank post where you can publish your post when finished.
2. Or, if you have closed your blog and are coming back at another time just go to blogger.com. Sign in with your email address and password. Your blog name should appear and you can click on the blue button that says ‘New Post’.
3. The easiest way to get to your blog is to just type in your blog address. For example, if your blog address is johnsmith.blogspot.com, just type that in. You'll be looking at your blog in a matter of seconds. You can then repeat step one of this section in order to write a new post.
4. Now is the time where you’ll want to send an email to all of your friends and family to let them know you have a blog. Just send an email to everyone you’d like to share your good news with and include your blog address. Just think how happy everyone will be!

Hopefully, you like what you see and enjoyed doing it. Maybe you feel like you could add a little more to your blog. Keep reading and we'll teach you how to do lots of fun things to enhance and personalize your blog.