Creating a blog is a fast way to publish content online. It is much like a website except a blog is run by a series of scripts that generally publish and organize the content by date and categories.
Blogs are typically easier to setup than websites because most blog platforms come with ready-to-use templates and there’s no software or FTP needed to publish your content to the Web.
I use WordPress for this blog, and the theme (design) I use is called Thesis.
The easiest way to setup a blog is to choose a web host that has a WordPress install script. So all you have to do is sign up with hosting and install WordPress from the hosting control panel.
Instantly, you’re ready to begin blogging.
Blog or Static Website?
A static website is a series of pages that are manually put together using HTML and CSS. 2CreateAWebSite.com is a static site.
This is my main tutorial site and you may notice the content organization is more controlled and logical. It’s not ordered by date or category like my content here. It’s organized by steps so it’s easier to reference. The content is also not updated as frequently.
If you use WordPress, you can create static content, but it’s important to learn how to edit your navigation/theme to make use of those static pages and create a more logical navigation.
This blog is more like a journal/magazine where I just publish random articles related to Internet marketing. Since the articles are organized by category, it would be harder for people to follow if they wanted to learn how to build and promote a website. That’s why I reserve my blog for “latest news” and use my static site for teaching.
Most people choose blogs today because they are easy, dynamic and universal. I personally like having a static site as well because it’s easier for people to follow my tutorials.
You don’t need a static site and a blog, just make sure you organize your content in the most useful/logical way for delivering your content. Not every kind of site is best for a traditional blog format.
Many people tell me that blogs are difficult to navigate and find information. That’s because most bloggers don’t make good use of static pages. So their site just becomes a list of random posts in different categories, and the older content eventually gets buried. While that may be fine for some sites, others may benefit from a more static organization.
If you are creating a tutorial/reference site, visitors may get lost and have trouble finding the information they are looking for. That can be rectified by making use of more static pages. That’s really the key whether you accomplish this with a blog or static site.
How you customize your blog design with static content will depend on which blog theme you use. For example, Thesis easily lets you add static pages to your main navigation without editing the code. You can even create a drop-down navigation with ease. Free themes are often more difficult to customize unless you understand PHP and CSS.
Consider a Premium Theme
There are tons of wonderful free blog theme designs, but I am so glad I use a premium theme. The code is usually cleaner (loads faster), the design is easier to customize, they are more search engine optimized and you typically receive free upgrades for life.
Many new bloggers gravitate toward the free themes at first, but often struggle with customization and later discover the benefits of having a paid theme.
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Wonderful website you have here but I was wanting to
know if you knew of any community forums that cover the same topics talked about here?
I’d really like to be a part of online community where I
can get responses from other experienced people that share
the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know.
Thanks!
Thanks for the great guide, I have been looking into blogger and wordpress both for sometime, and found that wordpress is too good to use!
I would like to thnkx for the efforts you’ve put in writing this web site. I am hoping the same high-grade website post from you in the upcoming as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good example of it.
I never thought that there are 2 types of websites(static and dynamic). I just make blogs using blogger and reading this motivates me to use wordpress using the thesis theme. I’m gonna use wordpress for my new site when I made one. 🙂
Lisa i really admire your works and your sites too, to be honest you are my one of inspiration on blogging.
Hi everyone, thanks to you all that are trying your best to bring out answers for us, we appreciate, at least, i now know where i stand. thanks
Hello everyone, who can help me suggest a way i can monitize my blog, i have many visitors a day but nothing to do with them? i don’t intend selling any affiliate product, but rather make my money in order ways
Please help!!!!!
Hello, thanks Stuart, i created a free blog with blogger on how to become a good and successful singer, but i want to monitize my blog with google adsense or other means, can any one help me by giving me some tips?
Hi everyone,
im working on internet blogs in english, german and other languages, does anyone have interest to make a project international?
Creating blogs are very easy. You can either create your blog with a paid one or free. In creating blogs you need to design it with themes and arrange the widgets. The looks of your blog depend on the characteristics of the owner. Great article Lisa!
Great post for those of us who struggle with creating websites. The content management systems have really meant we can make professional looking sites, without the pain of creating all the backend stuff ourselves.
Hi miss Lissa
I have recently created a self hosted wordpress site and few days ago. My content is about how to get games paying in really low prices and i have this guide on a static page which is also my home page.But i have also started posting about upcoming games and now i am confused about what should be my home page;the static page or the posts?I have searched for answers but i didn’t got any clear answer about what is best for SEO.I would really like you advice.
Hi, Lisa,
Can you please share the language you use for your Disclosure page?
Thanks so much.
It’s at the bottom of the blog. Feel free to use and change it to fit your blog.
Thanks, Lisa.
Hello,
I have not yet applied for adsense and I’m wondering if google will allow adsense and clickbank or any affiliates posted on the same page? I’m new to blogging and I want to earn some passive income. Tanx!
please liza, help me i tried to post on additional pages , aside from the home page.
please i want create social site help me
revd udoka
Thanks for the Blog. Some good advice for someone who is just starting out and experimenting.
hi i am in the developing stages of trying to blog with wordpress and maybe later a website. I would like to own my blog yet I’m confused on whether buying a domain name comes with the hosting or do I just use the hosting from wordpress. Is getting a domain/host very expensive?!?! I also would like to have a nice looking site… I looked at a few of the templates yet and I do not see many to choose from. Maybe I’m overlooking them…I don’t know but I truly truly would like to start very soon. I was afraid but not anymore. Since coming to your site. I see all is helping each other…@Scarlet 🙂 So I don’t want to have any fear. (a few years now) Its time to get going.
Still no response from you or any of your readers. Great advert for how to manage your blog. I guess I can delete that bookmark and remove the subscription.
I see your reading population is not very active nor responsive. I’ll go elsewhere.