There are several blogging platforms available for the start up blogger. Everyone here is obviously familiar with Active Rain as a blogging platform. Blogger, now owned by Google is free and widely used. Squarespace has received favorable reviews. WordPress is popular with power users.
Me, I'm a TypePad user.
For those of you who might be interested in giving TypePad a try as their "outside world" blogging platform, I thought I'd put together a series of occasional tutorials plus tips and tricks. You'll notice I created a brand new account for myself for the purpose of this demonstration.
To get started from Square One:
Go to http://www.typepad.com/
Click Free Trial
Create An Account
Tip: Choose a member name that is similar to your own personal name, not the name you intend for you real estate business weblog. Why? Because as you get more and more comfortable with blogging, you'll find yourself wanting to create weblogs for your pets, your grandkids, your road trips across the country. Typepad Pro lets you create an unlimited number of weblogs under one account. When you login to work on one of those personal weblogs, you'll feel silly having to login with your business blog name. Trust me on this.
Create Your Blog Address
Tip: This can be changed later, in fact, it will change once you choose and park a unique domain address. Also it will be only one of the many blog you may end creating. So, don't loose too much time obsessing on it.
Review and Agree to the Terms of Service. Yeah, you gotta check the box.
Choose Your Plan
The first 30 days are free, but Typepad does require you to input your billing info before you proceed. I use Typed Pro at $149.50 per year, because "Pro" is the system that gives you an unlimited number of blogs, and the option of working directly under the hood with the CSS or HTML. If you decide that TypePad is not for you, you cancel before the end of the 30 days, and owe them nothing.
Design Your Blog
You will change this in a few minutes, you just need something to get launched. I suggest choosing a 2 or 3 column layout -- and whatever theme initially catches your eye, please sure to notice there is a drop down list.
Choose Privacy Level
For the moment, choose Not Publicized. After you get set up, you'll change that.
The sign up process will move you to the Confirmation page, then the Congratulations Page. Click get started
The system will send you to a sart page that looks like this.
Click on the tab marked Weblogs and let's start tinkering
The next screen gives you a menu of things you can do with the weblog.
Click on Design
Click Change Theme
Choose Custom Theme
......and .... my next post will explore Editing the Elements to Customize Your Theme
Miriam, to answer the question "Why Typepad"? Let's see, I started with Blogger -- and there's actually quite a bit a customization you can do with Blogger -- but I wanted something a bit more "elegant" and just by chance ended up going with TypePad rather than WordPress.
There are are a few things that can be done in WordPress that can't be done in TypePad... but I since thought TypePad was a bit overlooked in the Project Blogger competition, I thought I'd try to remedy that oversight.
My only experience with wordpress is when I'm contributing posts at Rain City Guide. I have two typepad blogs; one for mortgage and a neighborhood blog that I now have neighbors contributing their own posts to! I've done a series of post for my neighbors to help them ease into blogging and writing post using the typepad format.