Author: Dr. Satish Chandra Satyarthi

When you read articles on blogging you get this word ‘WordPress’ so frequently. Here in this small post I will explain in very simple language what exactly WordPress is.

WordPress is basically a blogging platform, a technology, a software or place that anyone can use to make a blog. Any person with or without the knowledge of any coding or programming language can make a blog in just a few minutes. The popularity of WordPress can be understood by the fact that as of December 2011, version 3.0 of WordPress had been downloaded over 65 million times. A major percentage of websites and blogs on internet are made on WordPress platform. So WordPress is not for making just blogs but any online content including a website, an online portfolio, photo gallery etc. You can call it a CMS (Content Management System).

So How much does this Wodpress Cost?

Nothing. It’s free and that’s the best thing about WordPress. WordPress is an Open-Source Software (A software that is made by voluntary work of a community around the world, and is available for free use. Linux, Android and Open Office are some other popular examples of Open Source software). So anyone who has the knowledge of web programming can contribute to further development of WordPress and related tools. And anyone with no knowledge of HTML, PHP, SQL and other such technical things can use it freely for blogging.

How can I use WordPress?

OK. So now you are interested in starting a blog with WordPress and want to know about how you can use it. That’s great! It’s much more easier than you think. Let’s start with the basics. If you search internet you will find that there are two WordPress websites- WordPress.com and WordPress.org. I will write a separate post about the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. but for the moment, the simplest way to explain the difference is as following:-

• WordPress.com is completely free (except certain upgrades) for making a blog while WordPress.org will cost you some money.
• Free WordPress.com blogs like www.blogname.wordpress.com while the WordPress.org blogs look like www.blogname.com (that’s why they cost money).
• Starting and maintaining a blog on WordPress.com needs no or very less technical knowledge while WordPress.org needs some technical knowledge.
• You don’t have much control over the design and layout over your blog on Free WordPress.com while WordPress.org gives you complete control over your blog (again that’s why it costs money).

So How do I make my new free WordPress Blog

Just go to WordPress.com and create a new account by signing up. Choose your brand new WordPress blog name and you are ready to roll! You can check this Complete Guide to making a WordPress Blog (To be Published very soon).

And What if I want the WordPress.org

Wow! You seem really excited about blogging. That’s really great! You will need a domain name and web-hosting to get started with WordPress.org. You can get the domain name and web-hosting from WordPress itself or from other companies. There are so many. You can check this Complete Guide to making a self-hosted WordPress Blog’ (To be Published very soon) for a detailed tutorial on starting a blog or website with WordPress.org.

You can also check Wikipedia, WordPress.com and WordPress.org if you interested in knowing more. Or you can simply ask me in the comment section below. 🙂 Thank you for reading.

Now we already know what a Blog is, why we should have a Blog and we also know about WordPress blogging platform. Let’s know about another popular blogging platform- Blogger or Blogspot. Blogger is the most popular free hosted Blog-Publishing platform on internet. It was started in 1999 by Pyra Lab and was later purchased by Google.

Blogger provides you free hosting on Google servers and a free domain. The domain that you will get will actually be a subdomain of blogspot.com. So, your blog URL will look like ‘www.yourblogname.blogspot.com’. Blogger is very popular among beginner bloggers for following reasons:-

1. Almost everyone has a Google account. So you don’t have to make another new account on some website.  Your Blogger account will be integrated with literyour exiting Google (ex. gmail) account.
2. It is easy as ABC. Blogging on Blogspot is literally a kid’s play. Even if you don’t have any technical knowledge at all, your blog can be online in 5 minutes.
3. Domain mapping, hosting, Search Engine Optimization, blog backup everything is handled by Google. You just have to write the content.
4. Blogger offers a decent collection of free templates and gives better customization options than many other free blogging platforms.
5. If you don’t like ‘.blogspot.com’ suffix you can use your own custom domain for free on Blogger.
6. Google even  allows bloggers to use Adsense advertisements on the free blogs (which many other platforms don’t) and make money online.
7. It’s absolutely FREE!

But there are some minus points as well:-

1. You have to abide by the Terms and Conditions of Google (though they are not very strict).
2. A blog on Google is like a rented online space. You don’t have complete ownership on your blog. Google can remove it anytime if it wishes.
3. If your blog gets popular and you want to move to your self-hosting, the transfer process can be really lengthy.
4. Less customization option than self-hosted blog.
5. ‘.blogspot.com’ tag does not look professional.

But as it’s free there is no harm in trying. Go make a blog with Blogger, experiment with options and you always have the option to move to other free hosted blogging platforms or to make self hosted blog. Before that you might like to know 10 Reasons Why You Should Make a Blog.

First of all, Don’t feel embarrassed if you really have no idea about what a blog is. Though there are hundreds of millions of blogs already there on the world-wide web yet there are still millions of people who don’t know what exactly a blog is. And there is nothing abnormal about it. A physicist might think how someone on earth can not know what capillary force is. But is it like that? Do I need to feel embarrassed about not knowing what capillary force is?

Blog is basically the short form of ‘Web log’. But is that all you wanted to know? I am sure, not. Sometimes even the people who have several blogs and have been blogging for years have many misconceptions about what a blog is. The biggest misconception about blog is that ‘it’s kind of an online personal diary’. It’s not. Another big misconception is that Blogs are something that anyone can make and websites are for elites, celebrities and big companies. There are other people who think that only the ‘big’ people, who are creative or artists and have so many great things to write, generally have a blog. All of these conceptions are completely wrong. Let’s see what actually blogs are.

Blogs are Websites

Yes, blogs are technically just one of several types of websites. The main difference between websites and blogs ; or in other words the main characteristics that makes a website a blog; is that the blogs are ever-changing and interactive while websites are static and monologous. The content of blogs are regularly updated while the websites has almost static except the addition of some notices, new information etc. To understand it better take and example. You have a shop or company and you want your product and contact info available online for business purposes, so you make a nice website with a few pages like- about my company, our products, contact us etc. You hardly need to change this content unless you got a new product or changed your location or something like that. now suppose you want to share some  memorable moments or events of your life with others online. You want a place where you can write anything and everything that comes to your mind. you can’t do that on the website of your company. You need a more personal and informal place for that. That’s where a blog comes in. You put new experiences, thoughts, rants on a regular basis on your blog and appear in a chronological order, the latest one being on top and old ones going down.

Second important thing is interaction. while websites are a means of providing information to readers in a monologue form, blogs are all about dialogue and discussion. You don’t want to give anyone in some corner of the world to write some comment on your business website, right? But you will be happy to get comment from even some on Mars on a poem that you recently wrote and put on your personal blog. You might even say a a big THANKS to the person who liked your poem and commented. That’s the biggest difference between a website and blog. Blogs are not only about you but also about the readers who read your blog and comment. This interaction is what makes a blog a blog.

Blogs are not essentially Personal

No, they really aren’t. I gave you the example of a blog as a place where you can share your personal experiences, thoughts etc. But that’s just a type of blog. Blogs can be about anything from a diary about memorable moments with your girlfriend/boyfriend to about your research articles on nuclear pollution; from how to keep your house clean to how to repair an airplane. The difference between a website and blog is getting so blurred that it’s difficult to distinguish most of the times. In technical terms the websites of big media names like TIME, Newyork Times etc. are blogs as they continuously update their content and are also open for comments. So are the biggest tech sites like CNET, ENGADGET etc. Huffington post are examples of how a blog can become a big media name and earn more money than many mainstream media houses. Did you get the point?

Blogs are not for elites and celebrities

Even cats and dolls have blogs. I am not kidding. No. actually I am. Okay. You google yourself. And I am sure they are not any elites and celebrities. And if they are so are we. Blogs are all about sharing and expressing yourself. And I think common people think much much more than elites and celebrities. And you don’t even need to think to write a blog. You can write about whatever is going in your life, what you already know. You can write about last night’s beer party with friend with some funny pics and it can be a great post. You can write about how much you love your mom or why you miss your childhood friends. There are common people out there whose blogs are more popular than those of big celebrities just because of their unique, interesting and informative content.

Types of Blogs

As I said earlier, a blog can be about anything. I repeat, Anything. The greatest thing about blog  is that there is no censorship, no protocol, no rules. Definitely your readers have the liberty to differ from your opinion, they can contradict your point in strongest words possible, they can even abuse you (believe me some do) but they can’t stop or censor you. And you have have all the right to publish or delete any comment.  Simply said, you are the editor and owner of your blog. OK..let’s come back to types of blogs. Most of the blogs on internet are written by a single person but the may or may not be personal. There are corporate and organizational blogs (like blogs of Google and Facebook), Media blogs (like Al Jajeera and The Times of India), Tech blogs, Travel blogs, Fitness blog, Fashion Blog and so on. Just find a niche (a field of your interest) and you are ready to roll.

Why should I have a blog?

Because everyone else has it. According to recent researches (i write this when I have no proof at the moment. the number of blogs on internet has crossed 180 millions and is increasing at a rapid speed. So you need a blog just don’t feel left out. Writing blog can also improve your overall thinking process, writing skills and last but not the least your brand value on internet. There are many other reasons. I will write a separate detailed post on it very soon. *Update: You can check 10 Reasons Why You Should Make a Blog.

How can I have a Blog?

There are plenty of options out there- free and requiring money. To start off, free platforms are better. Once you get the whole idea of blogging, the technicalities involved and think you need a more professional and polished platform you can move to paid options. The most popular blogging platforms are WordPress and Blogger.

Do I need technical knowledge for Blogging?

No, you don’t. Especially in the beginning. what you need to focus on is the content and the technical people at blogging platform take care of everything for you and as you go on you learn many technical things yourself. And in case you are stuck somewhere,  there are many people out there in the blogsphere who know more than you and are ready to help without charging you a single penny (You can write to me as well).

Do you have any more questions about Blogs and Blogging? Or do you have any opinion about blogging, Please let me know through comments.

This is the first post in the series on ‘Blogging for Beginners’ I just tried to introduce blogging in this post. You will see detailed posts on various aspects of blogging, including technical tutorials, very soon. Your comments and suggestions are welcome. And don’t forget to subscribe to get all the posts in your email inbox.