One thing you’ll probably learn about me pretty soon is that I obsess about things. When there’s something I want to learn about or do I’m pretty much consumed by it all day, every day until I learn everything there is to know, or until something new grabs my interest.
This week my obsession is called www.lazyperfection.com. I’ve spent every spare moment working on the layout and the organization and all of the little details. For instance, see that area on the right side that says “Subscribe to Lazy Perfection”? It took me at least an hour to figure out how to get it just the way I want it. Maybe two. Working on a website can be frustrating. I’m not a professional website designer so I have to search Google for instructions on how to do everything, and if it doesn’t work I don’t always know why. It feels great when I get things to look the way I want them to, though. Then I can go to bed. Usually at 2 AM.
I figure there might be some lazy people out there who would like a blog of their own so I’m gonna help you out a bit and point you to a few websites and products that have helped me out.
First, there are 2 ways you can set up a blog. You can go to blogger.com or wordpress.com and sign up for one there. Almost all the work is done for you. It’s easy, it’s free and you can be up and running within minutes. Sounds perfect, right? It is if you’re just creating a blog to keep family updated on what you’re doing. If you’re creating a blog for a business though, or want to reach a larger audience, you should host your own blog. While there are a lot of things you can do to customize your blog on Blogger.com and Wordpress.com you are limited to things they provide or approve. I’m a control freak. I want to be in charge of every aspect of my blog. It’s more complicated to host your own blog but it allows you to control every aspect of your image. Below are the basic steps you’ll need to take to set up a self hosted blog.
Step one: get a domain name. I buy my domains from GoDaddy.com. They were the cheapest when I started. There might be something cheaper now but I’ve used them for years, have never had a problem and don’t want to fix what ain’t broke. It’ll cost you about $10 to buy a domain name for a year. As I mentioned in my previous post, it takes a lot of trial and error to find an available domain name. Just be patient. You don’t want to end up with something you hate because you were in a hurry.
Step two: while you’re working on finding the right domain name, you can start looking for a template or a theme. I’m using Wordpress as the platform for my blog. (A platform is essentially the software or program that makes the blog work like a blog.) There are others out there but Wordpress is very popular so there are a lot of plugins available, and you can find answers to almost any question with a quick Google search. Wordpress is an Open Source product which means it’s FREE! Free is good. You can download it for free, find themes for free, find plugins for free… I love free. There are plugins and themes that you can buy as well, but there’s enough free stuff out there to keep you busy for years.
Sorry, I got a bit off track there. So, we’re looking for a theme or a template for Wordpress. Here are some places to get you started. These sites cover almost every free Wordpress theme out there but you can search Google if you want to look yourself.
- Best Wordpress Themes – 10 free Wordpress themes that blow many premium themes away
- Smashing Magazine – 100 excellent free Wordpress themes
- Wordpress – Theme viewer
Free themes are great if you really have no budget and many of them really do look nice. I started out using free themes but got tired of being stuck with certain design elements because I didn’t know the code to change them. I decided to use a paid theme - Thesis. With Thesis, even with no code knowledge, you can change the number of columns on your blog, move elements, change colors and so many other things I can’t list them all here. It’s used by thousands of bloggers, big and small. It’s the theme I use on all of my sites. Chris, the creator of Thesis, works constantly to make the theme better, cleaner and easier to work with. Yes, the links to Thesis are affiliate links which means I’ll make a couple dollars if you click on them and buy the theme. BUT I would recommend it to you even if I didn’t make anything. I use it myself and I recommend it to my friends. If you can’t afford it or aren’t sure you’re serious about setting up a blog, use a free theme. But if you’re at all serious, get Thesis. You will save hundreds of hours of work and frustration and maybe prevent a few gray hairs.
That should keep you busy today. Tomorrow I’ll tell you how to host your site and bring it live. Exciting stuff ! Almost makes me want to make a new blog so I can do it right along with you!
