why should i blog?


To get a job in today’s market, to keep your job, to stay in touch, and to learn and to keep moving forward, to support a cause, make a difference, exercise your voice, stay intellectually alive.

And there's always: I think, therefore I am.
Social networking image from thumbshots.org.Many positions advertised today require social media and blog skills, including much-desired positions in "green" companies and non-profits. Employers are finding employees through the Internet. A blog will give you visibility on the internet and, thus, in the job market. 

A recent scan of 1,000 jobs listed on craigslist in the San Francisco Bay Area indicated:

  • 199 companies have social media as a requirement;
  • 405 companies refer to Web 2.0 and a component of the job;
  • 105 include the word "blog;"
  • 44 include "blogging."

Understanding social networking (including blogging) has landed me interviews resulting in part-time and consultative job offers. Little else in my substantial background is opening doors. The Internet IS the way the world is doing business.

WHAT TO WRITE ON YOUR BLOG?

Anyone researching today’s job market, thinking about career changes, reading about “green” companies or nonprofits is coming across new information daily . . . information that might help others or that is just worth storing somewhere in case you need to review it at another time.

As you come across valuable information, type it into your new blog. You will start sounding knowledgeable and this could lead to a job offer.

Or perhaps you have a cause you support; talk about that on your blog. You’ll be learning and helping at the same time.

Information herein is a quick overview. You might find it worthwhile to read just one book on Social Networkinghttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=terrapublishinghouse-20&l=ur2&o=1 or Blogshttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=terrapublishinghouse-20&l=ur2&o=1.

This information may look like a lot, you probably will get frustrated, but just go step-by-step. It may take a couple of hours to set up, but it is worth it and it is fascinating once you get the mechanics out of the way.

Updated August 15, 2009

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overview of setting up a WordPress blog . . .

WordPress is purportedly the easiest to use and it is the most popular right now.
You do not need new software. Blogs are a perfect example of “cloud computing,” which simply means using the internet to access software running on someone else’s hardware.

Differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org:  

Wordpress.com is free. However, you end up with a clumsy url, i.e. yourname.wordpress.com. If future employees (or your family/friends) forget the wordpress portion of the name, they will not find you.
Wordpress.org requires that you have your own url and hosted web site. Here is a link to my favorite site for purchasing Web names and for hosting:

www.godaddy.com

GoDaddy charges about $10 per year for reserving your chosen name and around $5 per month for hosting for their economy package. . . the site offers many add-ons for additional fees, but you do not need them. It also is set up so that you can download Wordpress from their site so that you have the appropriate paths and do not have to fuss around with codes (which are complicated to find and complicated to use).

Instructions follow, and I’m on the other end of eMail, but it might be easier for you to go to one of the following: 

Online textual Instructions: www.wordpress.org or www.wordpress.com 

How-to Video for a WordPress Blog
Or, start here if you wish to do what I do to set up each blog  . . .  

  1. SITE NAME
    • Figure out what you are going to name your site. Anything with one word is probably gone, i.e. diamonds, books, health. Many two-word names are gone. If you have a “common” name, it is probably gone. Write down several ideas and versions of your name. This part may take you longer than it does to set up your blog. BIG TIP: No “dots,” “dashes,” or “underscores” in your chosen name. Absolutely no one remembers them.
  2. GO TO GODADDY.COM www.godaddy.com
    Of course, you can use who you want. But these instructions are specifically for GoDaddy. I have been using their services for 12 years. No complaints.
    • From GREEN bar on top, select Domains and Register from the drop down
    • Begin your search by following instructions (Enter a domain name)
    • When you find one that works for you (or several . . . they are about $10 each to reserve and you only need to pay hosting for one site), register that name for at least one year. You don’t need any extras. Just register the domain name for now and worry about extras later. An eMail account comes with each domain.
  3. STILL ON GODADDY – RESERVE HOSTING (2-24 hours)
    • Select Hosting from the control bar, then Web site hosting. Note, you can also use WordPress hosting, but I always go with the Web site hosting to reserve maximum flexibility. I use their defaults (i.e. Linux) and I generally pay for a year although GoDaddy will bill in three month increments.
    • Choose ECONOMY PLAN (if you grow beyond 10 GB, you can always add).
    • Click 3 (or 12 months), select ADD.
    • If you want to find out everything about their services, read the rest, however, I go to bottom and hit the grey NO THANKS bar to go to checkout.
    • You will receive eMail notification of your purchase.
  4. STILL ON GODADDY – SET UP HOSTING (2-24 hours)
    • Setup your account: GoDaddy is in Arizona, always there, and can help with this if you get confused (which is easy to do initially): 480 505 8877. (Note that they do not give specific support for blogs as it is an external “product” available through GoDaddy.)
    • Select Hosting/My Hosting Account
    • Click on “Manage Account” to the right of your new account
    • Click YOUR APPLICATIONS on top.
    • Click on Blogs on the Left.
    • Click on WordPress.
    • Click the INSTALL NOW orange button and follow instructions for name and password. This automatically sets up WordPress on your site.
  5. TO WORDPRESS:  YOU NOW HAVE A BASIC BLOG. YOU WILL WANT TO CHANGE ITS APPEARANCE
    • Note, I don’t think there’s a live person at WORDPRESS. As with all blogs, you are pretty much on your own. If you get stuck anywhere, just type the issue or error code into google.com . . . I promise you that someone has posted the answer.
    • Go to: http://YourSiteName.com/wordpress/wp-login.php and sign in with the Username and Password you selected when you downloaded your WordPress blog from GoDaddy.
    • This is the basic blog. You will probably want a new one. The easiest way is to select one from WordPress as it will be uploaded for you without having to use external software.
    • Select Appearance on Left/Add New Themes
    • Install Themes: Find Themes. This opens hundreds of tested themes that you can use. Find one you like and select “Upload” on top of the page.
    • Note: Many WordPress themes are available on the Web and you can also upload them after you have downloaded them to your hard drive. If you take a theme from the Web, MAKE SURE it is a WordPress theme.
    • Editor and Theme Files. I wouldn’t touch these unless you are familiar with HTML. These completely control the appearance of the page(s). One missing bracket and the page will not display. If you DO wish to change, say, the Styles (style.css, which controls colors, etc.), copy that code completely into a doc file and save the original. That way if you can’t repair it, you can always just put the original back online.
  6. YOUR WORDPRESS DASHBOARD
    • Click each of these to become familiar with what’s there. This gives you quite a bit of leeway in setting up your blog.
    • Settings: Check each section for features. Here you will add your blog title and Tagline. You can also post via eMail (which I have not done as I like more control over the page than that allows)
    • Links: You will probably want to delete all of the links there; most go back to some type of WordPress group/blog and there’s no reason to divert your audience.
    • Users: Set up your eMail address and title.
    • Posts/Categories
      • Add categories for your blog, i.e. Travel, Notes, Favorite Pubs, Career, Degrees
      • To add a new Post, click Add New and begin typing. There are lots of built-in codes for you to make it easy. If you know HTML, you can go into that section and tweak your work also. Save your work as a draft or Publish it immediately by hitting the Publish bar near the upper right.
      • Post Tags: Include anything of relevance to your post. If you are running a business from your blog, you will want to visit google.com/analytics and/or searchenginewatch.com to find the most searched words. These help with positioning and driving your market to you.
      • Upload images.
  7. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
    There is a lot to wade through. Worth reading:
    http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons  where you will find WordPress for Beginners. Again, it looks overwhelming, but you won’t need to read all of it, you don’t need to know any of the complicated coding, etc.

    Mainly you will need to go to:

REFERENCES