Blogging

I want to start a blog. What are your tips? What are the best sites to do it through?

 

I use Blogger, which is owned by Google:

http://www.blogger.com/

They make it easy for anyone to start a blog, and have lot's of great tools to make blogging fun!

My blog: http://jgrubbs.blogspot.com/

 

I'm hoping for an easier domain name without spending a ton

I want to write as part of ministry, doing devotionals, Bible studies, commentary.

But I also want to have a section where I occasionally talk about politics/events, and a section on my take on sports

 

I also use Blogger, and it's suited my purposes just fine. I've been blogging for almost two years now.

I know of other people who use Xanga, typepad, mu.nu and others. Some of those are not free, though--and I really have to have a free one.

My blog is Notes in the Key of Life Check it out when you can!

 

I too use Blogger.

VERY simple and convenient.

 

With Blogger you can either use their blogspot.com domain, or use your own domain, as long as you have a hosting account. In the Blogger settings you can change it to use FTP to upload your posts to your server, instead of having them host it.

There are also many blogging software packages available that can be installed on web servers to be used with your own domain, here is a site that I host on my server that is using the WordPress software for his blog: http://www.magiccityjazz.com/EdsBlog/

 

I heard that you can place a "tip jar" where people can send donations via PayPal or whatever to help defray costs or if people like your site. Any of you do that or know how?

 

This site has some information about using PayPal "tip jars" and other ways to try to make money with your blog:
http://www.webraw.com/quixtar/archives/2005/04/blogging_101_make_a_little_money.php

 

What kind of copyrights are needed?

 

Copyrights for the stuff you write?

 

Yes. Licenses, that kind of stuff.

 

I have never thought much about copyrights for my thoughts I post on my blog, I believe legally something is copyrighted when you write it and can prove you were the original author.

When I copy and paste from other sources, I always try to link to the original source.

 

What if no online source is available? Treat it like a research paper and footnote the thing? Or just casually do it like when you write a newspaper editorial or article?

 

If you are using a offline source like a book, you could link to the book on Amazon.com and even use an associates link to get paid if someone buys the book from the link.

 

My goodness google's site is so easy to use that I have a blog and nothing to say

Guess I'm going to have to think daily now or else have them drop it :D

 

I would think for copyright stuff you could follow blogs like Mohler's Blog

 

For posting copyrighted information, it is pretty simple. If you feel comfortable that you've given proper credit, you will be fine. I have done a couple of blogs. One was mainly news related, so I linked to stories. The other was academic in nature, so I used the Political Science Writer's Guide format to document everything I posted that wasn't original.