Blogging has quickly become one of the favorites pastimes of the age. Yet, there are many still struggling with getting acquainted with the home computer. I have filled in the blanks for the beginner. Step by step instruction on creating a blog site on Google Blogger.

Upon reaching the site, you will see a page with three easy steps to create your own blog. This is really the easiest blog site to get started on. You will need to first submit some basic information like your email address, password that you will be using, and your display name. This display name is quite important if you are looking to promote your blog to a certain niche market. This name will become searchable and should convey something on what your blog is all about. Decide what your primary posts will be about and work from there to choose a display name. Or choose your usual display name if you have one that has stuck with you for a while. Click the orange continue button to move on to step two.

Naming your blog site is next, this is where you need a great title that is concise and will let the viewer know what you are all about. Your choice here can also be the first part of your blogger web address. Make a weighted and clever decision as this one will stick with you. When you have completed this step, click the orange continue button.

There is a large selection of your background template choices on this next page. You can move your cursor around on the template pictures and click to view template. A preview of what your site layout will look like will come into a larger view. When you have decided which one would best suit you, click the little button to highlight the circle and continue.

Your next page should read "you have just created a blog, now start posting." Click to continue. Now you have some choices to make. If you would like to post, the screen is right there to do this. It will resemble a filing card folder. The top most tab is highlighted as "Posting". This is where you will manage or edit your posts and moderate any comments on your blog. If you were to receive a comment that you did not wish to have shown on your blog page, you can delete it here. If you have need of a change in one of your posts, you can click on edit posts and change and remedy any misspellings, add to a current post, write a new one, or even post a photo or video. Pay close attention when you move your mouse over the little icons above your typing area. This will reveal what each is for by showing you a bit of text as an explanation.

Every time you arrive at a new page, get your bearings. Study the page for a moment and become comfortable with how you arrived and how you can easily get back to the original page. Take a minute and click between edit posts and moderate posts. Click back to the top posting. Familiarize yourself with shuffling back and forth.

On making a post, you will see an area at the bottom of the posting area that says labels for this post. Here you will type some key words and phrases. They are terms that people type into a search engine. Whatever you think others will search for when looking for your post, is what you should type here. If your post is primarily about video games, typing video games alone will not get your post spotted often. Typing video games by XBox or video action games is much better and will allow your post to be higher in the search engine.

Let's move on to the settings tab. There are sub headers that include basic, publishing, formatting, comments, archiving, site feed, email, and permissions. The basic page is the one you will arrive on each time you click on the settings tab. On this page you will type a brief description of your blog. This will display directly under the title of your blog on your blog page and is viewed by all that visit your site. Check the settings below the description. I usually leave them as is except for the show email posts link. I change it to yes. There is a brief description of what each item does listed by the yes/no button. Save your settings. This is also the page to delete your blog if you ever wish to.

The publishing tab will be used if you wanted to redirect another personal web address to your blog site. We will save this step for when you get more comfortable.

The formatting page includes a time zone adjustment that you can set for your time zone, a show link field which you will want to set to yes if you will want to include any clickable links in your posts, and a post template for more advanced backgrounds. Be sure to save changes where needed and if you would like eight or ten of your posts shown on the first page of your blog, adjust the number in the box before you save settings.

The comments section is loaded with choices pertaining to other viewers who would like to leave a message on your blog. I generally leave the default settings as is except for enable comment moderation. Google will email you when a comment is made to your blog so I retype my email address here. Clicking the question mark will give you more information on this. Filling in a comment form message is a great idea to provide boundaries for your visitors or to just introduce yourself and say hello.

Archiving and site feed are best left set at default and to learn about another day. The email tab is to use if you would like to type up an email and then directly post it to your blog site. You create the email address by filling in the space on mail to blogger address. This is a real time saver so be sure to write your information chosen somewhere safe.

The permissions tab is a way to allow another author to write posts to your blog and to choose who can view your blog. Sharing your blog with everyone is the only option for anyone who wants visitors and viewers.

My part two will include all of the information on your template tab. Remember that at any time, you can save and log out and come back when you have more time to complete your set up. Take it a bit at a time and get very comfortable doing each step and on each page. Mistakes are fixable in the edit area so take some time to play with posting until we move on to the template section.

Stephanie Haile aka Wavecritter Google Me

http://www.GoogleMeFast.com

Have you ever really considered just how big the Internet is? Or the number of people currently connected or joining every day? It staggers the mind, doesn't it? With the playground of events, music choices, video on demand, photos and graphics, interests, personalities, news, business tips, information, and excitement out there the lone blog is like an inner tube on the ocean.

Getting a visual effect of where you float, should set this reality in perspective for you. So how does the lone blog become an island at sea? Or eventually a continent? Starting at the size of an inner tube, this goal might seem a daunting task. One step at a time and one link back at a time will create the island that you are building for the site.

Begin this blogging journey by constructing three on three separate networks. Make them each different, but have yourself in there as well so each blog is just an extension of parts of who you are and what you are all about. Work on them a little at time or get it done in a few days, it is entirely up to how much time you have and how quickly you can learn each site.

On most sites there is a "widget" or area to list links or something called a "blog roll" or "log". Here you will want to start your list with your own blogs from the other sites and any friends sites that you know about. You have just blew your inner tube up to a small fishing boat. If you have an organization, group, team, or club that you are a member of ask them if they have a site and add them to your list of sites. In turn, ask them to add you to their favorites list.

Be sure to go and comment on your friends blogs every week or every other week, leaving your name and web address as a signature. Every time they visit their own site and see your comment, they will remember to go say hello back to you increasing your visitors and ranking in the system.

What is your favorite of your three blogs about? There is always a favorite after you put the time and effort into creating it and each one comes into its own personality. Get a domain name, be creative in the choosing, pick a name that fits what your blog is all about, and redirect it to your site. As these sites are so generously made available by brilliant sites such as Google, Vox, Wordpress, Yahoo360, and countless others, they are also subject to terms of these companies. Be sure to read through the rules and what is and is not allowed on these sites. Even when you do follow the rules there is always the chance that your site will be taken down. With a redirected personal URL, you can then put up another blog and redirect your URL to a new one. Better still, you can purchase your own blog site just like any domain name but if you need to keep all this as inexpensive as possible stay with the free sites.

Always be on the lookout for new sites in your network that you can add as a favorite or to your list, if your site offers a group area, join a few groups that you are interested in. Add your sites to a host of submission sites available to the Internet world. MyBlogLog, Technorati, Digg, Article99 these are but a few of the sites that offer a submission area. Use the link to your site everywhere as your signature file. Everyone who comments, be sure to comment back with a back link to your site.

The lone blog, an inner tube on the ocean has now stepped up to a tug boat. To bring it one step further, maybe to a great sailing ship, you will need to make a few comments on some heavy hitter pages. Find some outstanding sites that interest you and make a few comments to the author. These are not going to be regular pages generally, they are going to be sites owned and authored by big web site owners and gurus of the industry you are involved with or are curious about. These are pages of organizations and clubs with many members commenting on the pages. High traffic sites are a way to not only get your name out there, but they also benefit the site owner of the high traffic site. This is why they will readily post your positive comment on their site.

A sailing ship on the waves of the Internet sounds like a safer deal altogether than an inner tube floating haplessly and crashing among the bigger, more threatening vessels doesn't it? No longer alone, your visitors will enjoy your fresh, newly posted content every week and enjoy themselves.

Stephanie Haile aka Wavecritter Google Me

Creating and maintaining a blog site requires that you schedule some time every week or two for posting. Keeping your blog site fresh and loaded with new information will keep visitors coming back. Navigating the template tab also requires a block of time for learning.

After arriving at your blogger site. You will have a list of choices that include page elements, fonts and colors, edit HTML, and pick new template.

The pick new template tab allows you to totally choose a different layout than you originally had decided on. It is best to be entirely content with your main background before you venture into the page element choices. Not every layout will look well designed if you change the background main layout after you have made your page element placements.

If you would like to get a bit adventurous, then click on the fonts and colors tab. Any changes made to the original template can be brought right back by clicking the link revert to template default on the right of the color box, so don't hesitate here to play around. The scroll down box located on the left, shows you the color scheme for your chosen layout as it is at present. To change one of the font colors, click on page background, link color, or any of the specific texts listed in the box. Then click the color choice you would like to see instead and that color will change in your viewer box on the template below. The font style is changed the same way. Click on which text to change and then a new area will open and replace the color box to offer choices for your font text. Be sure to save changes once you are happy with the editing process.

Even though we will not be making changes to the HTML tab, let's click on it. Every opportunity to get a look at HTML is an opportunity to learn. It does look like a big mess of typing gibberish, but every time you take a glance at it, you are one step closer to doing it.

Onto the page elements tab. Here you will notice a basic layout format for your header, page elements, blog posts, about me, and your blog archives. Every element has an edit button for quick changes at any time.

Adding content to the about me section is a good place to start. Click the edit located in the about me section and compose a line or two of interest about your blog or yourself. You can also add and show your geographical location here.

Leaving your blog archive as it is, is best as well for now. Adding a page element is the next step. Let's click on the add page element on the sidebar just above the blog archive. The choices here are amazing. You can add a photo, video, news reel, a poll, slide show, or a random list of your favorite anything. There are items I will not be going into as they are more involved, but we will cover the basic ones.

If you have an account with PhotoBucket or Flickr or would like to set one up and get a slide show set up to then transfer to your blog, then clicking slide show will get it up for you. To add a photo to your page is very easy if you have a photo or image already on your computer. You would click on browse, look in the file where your image is located, click that image and save. It will load and you can title and caption your image.

How about a list of your links to other sites? Click on the add page element and choose the link list. You can link to your business sites, other blog sites, any site that interests you and your blog page viewers on the way.

When you have a few page elements saved, you can rearrange the order by right clicking and holding down your button while your mouse is over the element and dragging it to the spot you would like it to be, up or down in the order. Again, be sure to save these changes.

Adding a news reel to your blog on a subject of interest to your main subject is an outstanding idea. As you type words into the search expression box, news article types will begin to reveal themselves in this edit page element box related to your text. This is one of the best ways to get content about your topic onto your blog. Adding a poll is great fun and a very easy page element to include.

Give yourself some time on many of the other elements as some are more difficult to do. You are ready to view your blog after making the save changes and to start a new post if you have not already. Applause on a job well done. As you add new posts to your blog, this will all come easier and you will gain confidence and get comfortable with the Internet and your computer system.

Stephanie Haile aka Wavecritter Google Me

http://www.TheLoneBlog.com

Make your blog a place you will long to visit daily and one that you are passionate about. If you personally don't enjoy your topics and discussons and are just slapping things up to get people to view your site, they will know and not appreciate you very much. I absolutely Love to blog, think I want to make to the very best blogs with the very best content I can. Keep the mindset and care about your writing, your blogs, and your Internet Image, namely yourself.

When you create a blog, you can go by topic, like a specific type of animal, a Dog perhaps, or topics, like pets from home, or general overviews, mammals in general with pets as a suc topic, or even a blog on the entire animal kingdom. Or, just blog about your daily life, save memories of your familys adventures, journal, personal online diary, travels, or vacations.

Just be sure to enjoy the subjects at hand and enjoy your blog!

Stephanie Haile aka Wavecritter Google Me

Below Is A very Cool Video Blog Or VLOG! About Monster Lobsters! My Husband Made It, He loves to dive Floridas East Coast.