Maybe it’s because I’m a total geek, but I’m really like blogs! I was thinking of stuff I wanted to add to this blog and ways to communicate to the outside world our existence, and in my research I’ve come across some really cool sites and some cool stuff!
If you are new to blogging or haven’t ever considered starting one here is some basic info!
If you are a parent, a blog is a great tool for sharing pictures, videos, and all those precious moments that would otherwise be unknown to those who were not there to experience them first hand. Blogs are a great way to share information and a great resource to find information!
These are a few sites that offer blog hosting:
- Blogger.com – a product of Google, blogs are easily created and managed, and it’s Free! Page elements and widgets are easily added with little to no effort. If you are a beginner this is a good place to start!
- WordPress.com – also free, this site gives more in design options and is good for both beginner bloggers as well as advanced. Page elements and widgets can be a little trickier to work with (esp when you are OCD and stubborn like me), but there are lots of options available!
- Typepad.com – offers different packages with varying bandwidth, customization options, etc. There are tons of options for customization and design and while experience with blog design is not required, it helps!
- Squarespace.com – also offers different blog packages, the cheapest at $7/month. Squarespace is relatively easy to use and is one of the few sites that has pretty “girlie” templates. Customization options are available but you would need to have at least basic knowledge of CSS to really make a difference in appearance.
These are just a few that are out there and are ones that I have personally tried.
Here are a few sites to find cool widgets for mommies that can easily be put into your blog:
- Lilypie.com – Cute Pregnancy counters, Child age counters, Adoption count down counters, etc.
- Babystrology.com – 3D Baby ticker. It’s really weird, but really cool!
- Flickr.com – animated picture boxes from your Flickr account.
Note: You have to have a yahoo id to use this!
To have a successful blog, the key is to consistantly update your content…OK so I haven’t updated the recipe and quote yet, and we still have some blank spots…do as I say, not as I do! You get the idea though! If you have the same thing posted with nothing new for a long period of time, you will lose your audience. Notice I said consistently update and not constantly update. You don’t need to spend a lot of time updating your blog. Let’s face it, we are limited in time as it is and every spare second is a second savored!
I could dedicate a whole blog just to blogging, but since that is not our main focus I’ll leave you with just the basics!
Tomorrow is the morning spot on KPRC and then off to March for Babies! If you are an early riser check us out at the 6 am spot on channel 2! If you are like most people, including my hubbie, just set the DVR and sleep in a little longer!
