There are worse things.
My nephew is 21. He's at university, studying French, Spanish and History, and is spending his third year abroad, in Spain, teaching English in a Spanish school. His teaching hours are arranged so that he gets a long week-end every week, so he heads off and is getting to know Spain. He is going to start a blog, and emailed me to ask my advice (I know, I know, how flattering is that?) He is a serious traveler (did South America in his gap year, Central America last summer), and a bit of a photographer too.
So Bloggy Friends, let's do a straw poll on his behalf. Blogger, Wordpress, personal website, or other? Can you recommend any websites that are really helpful on the subject of setting up a blog? I know some of you have written on the subject, in which case feel free to include your own link - though not if it's only relevant to mummy blogging, obviously. I know in our hearts we're all 21 and adventuring every week-end in Spain, but how much did that come across when you were writing that post about setting up a mummy blog?
Please comment if you have something to say, whether you're a regular reader, or just a passing browser. I'm sure it'll help him on his way.
Most really technical people seem to prefer Word Press, so it depends on his ability. I am quite happy with Blogger though.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing he should find out is which platform is better if you're going to post tons of photos, as it sounds like he is.
There you go - no help whatsoever!
I´ve by turns used Word Press and Blogger and I always come back to Blogger because it´s by far the most user friendly. It´s also much easier for uploading photos on. Blogger wins hands down and I´m technical enough to use Word Press. Was that any help?
ReplyDeleteI was recommended WordPress and am completely self-taught so it is doable! If he is going to just do it for a year, a free site is probably the way to go; he can always migrate to self-hosting later on.
ReplyDeleteOh come on, all I want to know is where he's going to be based in Spain? I'm off down memory lane from my year teaching in Spain...
ReplyDeleteIota, you know my thoughts on Blogger...
ReplyDeleteNo idea, but if he wants to save wasting time at the computer writing stuff, how about a photoblog where you can just say it with pictures and get back to the Catalan Mountains and the Pueblos Blancos much quicker?
ReplyDeleteLove J'phine (the photographer)
i like blogger because it is easy, dependable, intuitive, and free. pictures load very easily. edits are simple.
ReplyDeletebut more techy people i know swear by wordpress. i think it has more bells and whistles. i've always been more interested in content than bells, but that's just me.
do let us know where his blog lives, when it begins. i love ex-pat stories. even when they're temporary student ex-pats.
I'm going to check in at this post a couple of times. I'm blogspot but wish I'd done wordpress which is prettier (maybe your nephew is not interested in that but...)more open and displays commenters own blogs and latest posts
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend a brief but informative About page (as I've recntly blogged about!). That helps people quickly get up to speed no matter what point they arrive at the blog.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I would add is (after seeing several of my backpacking (step)daughter's friends' and acquaintances' travelogue blogs), keep the writing tight, succinct and to the point! The blogs I've seen like this tend to become long winded and seem as though they're just records for the traveller as they move around. Which is fine, but in the same post they joke about not having many followers and wondering how other backepacker's sites have so many followers... if you want followers you need to write for them, not for yourself.
Good luck and have fun with it!
I wish blogging had been invented when I did my backpacking trip in '04! I had to send out emails to everyone describing our travels, with of course no pictures as we didn't bring our digital camera (not realising there would be internet cafes everywhere). I have no idea on the technical side, Blogger works OK for me.
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