How To Start A Craft Blog

Hmm... have you been a-lurking about the blog scene for some time? Are you toying with the idea of becoming a blogger yourself? Perhaps you are not sure if you are good enough, smart enough, creative enough, pretty enough, interesting enough?! Stop that.

I'm here to tell you that YOU ARE! Blogging (for me) has been an absolutely life changing (huge call!) experience. It's a great way to meet lovely people, stay inspired, keep positive, have fun, vent and get feedback. Blogging is a wonderful tool for people that love to write. There is nothing like the discipline of sitting down every day to tap tap on the keyboard, to hone your style and keep your enthusiasm ticking. And the great thing about blogging is that there is ALWAYS someone out there just like you - so be true to yourself and write what you want to write!

If you've always harboured a desire to write, if you're an obsessive journal writer, if you love to document your life, if you have skills to share, a business to chat about, if you seek to share your outlook on life, if you are looking for encouragement.... if any of those things are true, then you might just like to write a blog!

For me, blogging is about sharing, writing, looking at lovely pictures, finding out about my community, learning new things and enjoying the feeling of being amongst friends.

Where to Start

Start at Blogger. I know, I'm biased, but I blog with Blogger and I love it. It's free, it's easy to navigate and it usually behaves the way it says it will! You need to sign up for a Google Account to use Blogger - but you can do this by signing up using your usual email address. There is a good tutorial here by Blogger and here from a funny guy with a nice English accent - but you can just search on Youtube for other tutorials on how to set up your blog. Before you start your blogger account - think of a name you'd like to be known by, something that means something to you. Just a few words will do - and hopefully this will be your blog name (if someone else hasn't taken it!). I would recommend that the blog URL that you choose is the same as the display name of your blog, so people can find you easily.

Sometimes someone has already nabbed your most favoured blog name - you can counteract this by adding in hyphens to differentiate your blog from theirs - but really, if your name has been taken, just think of a cuter one - without hyphens or dots is easier for people to remember.

Once you've chosen your Blog name, signed up and completed the set-up process, you need to choose a template. This defines what your blog will look like on screen. You can always change that later as you become more confident with the Blogger software. Blogger displays some different templates on the screen during the set-up process - so just pick the one you most like for the moment.

Start Blogging

Just write. Click 'Start Posting' or 'New Post' and away you go! Blogger formats the html (weird internet language) for you - so you just type away, make your changes, add images, spell check, preview and publish! It really is that easy! I think the hardest thing is knowing what to write! It can take some time to learn to navigate all the posting and set-up and layout tabs in Blogger - but just take your time to click around, watch lots of tutorials and you'll get the hang of it. Practice makes poifect!

How to Upload Pictures

I've found a nice Aussie tutorial on uploading images here. You can upload direct to Blogger from your hard-drive - or you can upload from Flickr as detailed in the tutorial just mentioned (I recommend uploading from Flickr). Set up a Flickr account if you don't already have one. This means you upload images to Flickr first - and then you can copy each individual image into Blogger as you need to.

It's a good way of keeping your photos in one spot, and keeping Blogger running smoothly - the photos should load more quickly and you won't be using up all your Blogger image allowance (I'm up to 30% on mine after only 18 months or so). It also means you won't have to delete images after a couple of years of blogging. This is great if you are like me and post WAY too many images!

Customising the Look of Your Blog

There is a good tute here - you can play around and add stuff to your blog to your hearts desire. Probably the first thing you will want to add is your very own Blogroll ( a list of links to your favourite blogs). Blogger will automatically show your profile and your blog archive.

Adding 'page elements' is a great way to make your blog look different to other blogs. Be sure to customise it so that it reflects just what you are all about!

The Most Important Things About Blogging - According to me!

Your content - Write about things you really care about. Be sure you are honest and have some integrity. Don't be a wanker. Don't pretend to be someone you aren't. Don't be pretentious. I promise people will like you just the way you are. And don't reveal TOO much about yourself - your privacy is important - have a think about what you feel comfortable with. As a rough rule, don't reveal where you live, your full name or location-specific details about your kids.

Always proof read and spell check your posts - even the most poignant, funny or clever writing is let down by typos. Once you have clicked the publish button - go and have a look at what you have published. Double check for extra line-breaks or wonky formatting and fix it straight away. NO ONE likes a sloppy blog.

Your images - beautiful images make a blog. Crap ones will turn people away in droves. First impressions count. Brush up on your photography skills. If your photos aren't up to scratch you can fake it by editing them later on a site such as Picnik. Tote your camera with you wherever you go - but beware the 'living for blogging' syndrome which involves planning your day around good Blogger photo opportunities. That is just silly. If using other people's images always ask them first - and always credit images sourced from elsewhere.

Updating - no point having a blog that you only update once a month. Update often. Sometimes just a photo is enough, as long as it means something to you. If you're having a crappy day and can't think of what to write, then trawl the EXPLORE pages on Flickr and post something that makes you feel a bit more chipper.

Commenting - the best way to let people know you are out there is by commenting (thoughtfully, not just jumping up and down saying 'look at me') on other blogs. If someone is religiously commenting on your blog - return the favour - don't be an aloof-no-commenting-blogging-princess (or prince) - we're all equal in blog land and it's nice to know who is reading! Remember, bloggers are people too.

Reading - don't fall into the trap of skimming over other people's blogs and commenting in 3 words. It's so much nicer to read a few blogs properly, as opposed to becoming an image junkie and leaving super-quick dumb comments on zillions of blogs. Be a good Blog-buddy. Meaningful comments are just as important as a great blog post.

Linking - if you love someone else's blog - link to them whenever it's relevant. Put them on your blogroll. Not only will it help drive traffic to their blog (which YOU LOVE) - it'll help your readers get a better grasp of who you are and what you like. Also - if someone is supporting YOU or what you do - in any way, shape or form - then it is nice manners to link to them.

Lurking - bloggers give lurkers (people that visit your blog without commenting) a hard time - but remember that your lurkers may be your most avid readers. They may just be little word-shy or perhaps they are not sure how to use the Blogger commenting function. Or they may just like lurking. It's okay, as long as they keep popping in. Learn to love your lurkers!

Other Cool Blogging Stuff

Flickr - the butter to Blogger's bread.

Bighugelabs.com - a great site for manipulating images you have uploaded to Flickr into cool collages which you can cut and paste into your blog - please note that some people have trouble using bighugelabs mosaic maker - let me know if you are struggling and I'll do my best to troubleshoot for you!

Picnik.com - aforementioned free photo editor - upload to Flickr first and then edit in Picnik

Google Analytics - for tracking how many people visit your blog, where they came from, how long they stay and what they look at

Technorati - for tracking who is linking to YOUR blog

Bloglines and Google Reader - you just add the URLs of your favourite blogs and you can view them all from one website! Beware.. this can be a HUGE suck on your time - it's so easy to add hundreds of blogs - so be selective and delete the ones you always skim over as time goes on. Always click over to the posts you love and comment.

Feedburner - for adding a subscribe button to your blog - readers get it in their inbox whenever you update

Mixwit - for adding mixtapes to your blog - just for fun

I hope this helps! If you've got any queries about newbie blogging, I'd love to help! Don't be shy! Anyone can comment on my blog - even anonymously! You don't need to be a Blogger member.

edit - there is a tutorial here which covers how to set up Google Analytics for Blogger!

edit again - i also wrote a tute on 'how to market your craft blog' - find it here

xx Mikes

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