5/24/2005 8:43

I have been blogging (only) since December, 2004, and am blown away by the increasing number and types of people who are blogging - about everything from a to zed. I'm a fan of (the probably now defunct) Project Greenlight, for example, and Chris Moore has a blog. Even that guy, who's a maniac in his regular work life, has found time to do it. Actually, I've found the busiest people are some of the most prolific bloggers.

In a recent cover article, BusinessWeek says there are 40,000 new blogs launching every day.

For this corporate blog, we have been using the MovableType platform, one of many that bloggers use. I'm sure we pay a monthly fee, and someone in our engineering group graciously set it up for me and Tara to use.

I can easily add new users, create new categories, remove all the &^&%$&%$# comment spam and post entries. I figured out how to link to images, but I'm not very good at it. We are still waiting on our favorite engineer's help to create a blogroll and our bios and favorite links.

So, while it's easy for a marketer to blog using the tool, we still have a dependence on more technical resources for some of the basics.

I'm also involved in creating a presentation on the Alphabet Soup of marketing trends - Blogging, RSS, Podcasts, SaS... In preparing for it, I wondered how so many people started blogging every day. I decided to try setting up my own blog, using one of the free tools available, blogger.

How to get started blogging:

When you go to their site, you get a friendly welcome page, asking (and answering) the question: What is a blog? I was pleased when it actually said Create a Blog in 3 Easy Steps! Create an account, Name your blog, Pick a template -- GO!

It took three minutes. Seriously. The hardest thing for me (and I'm not kidding) was to choose which cheesy template to use for my free blog.

I suggest that anyone who finds blogging the slightest bit formidable, go to blogger go to msn spaces, try it out! In all of the research I've ever seen - and in talking to some of the most experienced bloggers out there - everyone says: just try it. Blog. Then blog some more.

And now I'm here to tell you - it's a piece of cake to do a little discovery. And it's free. Know that you just might look like everyone else out there - cheesy templates and all. But at least the mystery of how to get started won't be so scary any more.

Grab a little curiosity and go.

Try it. See for yourself what all the hype is about - so you'll know how to deal with it when it's finally forced on you.

Posted by at May 24, 2005 8:43 AM

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