I’ve decided I want to start a blog, but I can’t decide on a site. Most of the sites that appeal to me charge - and I assume there are additional bandwidth charges, if traffic reaches certain levels. I’d rather not start out on a site with charges, unless they permit advertising (not ugly stuff; just AdSense or something like that).
Every time I sit down and research sites, I wind up more confused about the whole thing, so I’ve decided to ask for help.
What I want to do is definitely not a journal; it’s opinion.
I use myblogsite.com, which is run by fortunecity - I’m not aure what the bandwidth limitations are, but I haven’t run up against them yet, and I’m posting photos on a regular basis. They do have very occasional bouts of weirdness (such as not serving up images) and downtime, but this is quite infrequent and short-lived. I haven’t yet had the time to work out any of the fancy presentation/layout options they offer.
Well, what sites do you like and what features do you like about them?
Blogger works perfectly well for most people, except that a) there’s always something broken (to be sure, it’s generally something that you can easily workaround and doesn’t affect viewing your site) and b) people don’t want a X.blogspot.com addy.
They also don’t host images, but flickr or imageshack will solve that problem. As for AdSense, they encourage without requiring it.
Advantage: free, easy, no comment spam.
Some people like typepad or MT because of the trackbacks. I think Typepad has a free personal account. Unfortunatley, it’s prone to both trackback and comment spam.
So, let us know what you like and why and we can help better. I’ve got a blogger accoutn and have recommended their services as addons to a couple commercial Web sites. The owners of the sites are pleased with it.
I’ve looked at Blogger several times. The advertising revenue from the blogs goes to the site, and not the blogger, if I understand what they say correctly. I want the money - however little or much - myself. Just call me greedy, I guess.
I don’t recall looking at myblogsite.com before. Not sure how I missed it, except that there are zillions of sites. :sigh: It does look very much like what I believe I want - free, with lots of features.
Bandwidth doesn’t have to do with posting photos, AFAIK. And I’m not thinking of posting photos anyway. Bandwidth limitations and charges kick in if something you say attracts lots of attention, and you get lots of hits. I’m a bit of an iconoclast, so it’s entirely possible that some things I say could attract attention. Or maybe not, :rolleyes: but I don’t want to get caught flatfooted.
One thing I forgot to ask about before was security.
<paranoia mode>
There is a person who harassed me in 1988 so much that I moved. He found me again in 2003, and caused me some problems, though not even remotely like those before. And he did back off after a few months. I would not be happy if he were able to attack my site, especially if he was successful at it.
</paranoia mode>
I guess that’s one reason why I’ve been so hesitant. That, and wanting the moon, in terms of cost and features. :smack:
Blogger used to be supported by ads that were placed on every blog. That is not the case anymore. They encourage you to sign up for AdSense, where any advertising revenue is split per their agreement.
I think it’s safe to say that you will never cause enough traffic to upset these hosting companies.
Well, if you’re worried about this individual figuring out your user name and password and logging into your blog to wreak havoc, then I suggest you either a) don’t get a blog at all or b) choose some very long, very random passwords. IIRC, your blogger username doesn’t have to be the same as your blog’s title, if that helps.
I guess that’s one reason why I’ve been so hesitant. That, and wanting the moon, in terms of cost and features. :smack:
[/QUOTE]
Some blog sites seem to meter your usage in several ways, including:
-The amount of storage space you’re allotted
-The amount of content you can upload in a given time period (upload bandwidth)
-The amount of visitor bandwidth
Both of the bandwidth items on the above list will be strongly impacted by having photos in your blog - they consume more bandwidth to upload than does text and they will also consume more bandwidth every time they are served up to one of your visitors.
but I don’t want to get caught flatfooted.