How to start a cruising blog

Was just reading a recent post and the suggestion from a few members was, " why not start a blog".

So after searching, found that little information was available here on TF with regards to starting a cruising blog.

Now please understand that not all of us are " Computer Savvy", that being said, if you have suggestions for the following, please lend a hand. That being said, I'm a recent convert to Mac and Apple, they just seem to work better for us. With a MacBook Pro, two IPads, a mini Mac, two IPhones and IPod, well you get the idea.

1) Would you suggest using a free site, and if so, what are the drawbacks? And what sites are used by most of you that are recognized for cruising?
2) Would establishing a domain name and starting your own web site be more beneficial?
3) I personally don't like sites with a lot of advertising or spam. How do you control this or can you?

Hope this not only helps me, but, just might help other as well.

Thanks in advance, Crusty

Forgot about this, I did a Google search several times on this subject. And most of the information seems to be related to making money from a blog site.

I'm not interested in that, just a means to share the travels and stories of the journey. As well as easy to post pics and a few videos.

Thanks again, Crusty

There are several places. Probably the two best known (by me anyway) are blogspot.com and wordpress.com

I would say both have pros and cons. We use blogspot and are somewhat happy with it but I wouldn't mind trying something else. The problem is once you start with one it is hard to change without making it difficult for those that follow you to find you again.

Blogspot was pretty easy to set up.

Crusty Chief said:

Forgot about this, I did a Google search several times on this subject. And most of the information seems to be related to making money from a blog site.

I'm not interested in that, just a means to share the travels and stories of the journey. As well as easy to post pics and a few videos.

Thanks again, Crusty

Click to expand...

You don't have to have adds on your blog and alot of people like us don't. Unless you get thousands of hits a month you won't get more than a meal a month out of it. You have to do it just because you want friends and family to be able to follow along if they so desire.

Thank you for the quick response, and I've heard many people say that it's difficult to transfer from one provider to another.
I kinda wanna do this right the first time. Hence the questions.

Crusty,

Blogspot is a little funky to use and one thing that I don't like about them is since we started our blog they have changed the software a couple of times. They didn't seem to add any features (that I know about or would use), they just moved all the buttons around and changed where you find certain things. Just to make it look new and improved I guess. That kind of stuff pisses me off but unfortunately that seems to be the mindset of most program writers. I know Richard on Dauntless uses wordpress. Would be interested to hear his thoughts on it.

I too use blogspot. See my signature and I am some what happy with it, except for us non savvy folks it is not user friendly at first.

I use Blogspot too. No problems with it so far though I haven't posted to it in about 2 years, no cruisin' lately, too bad.
I think all of them are "last entry at top of page" which is nice if you are reading it every day. But, it is odd to read the early entries "backwards"

I use Wordpress and it seems to be pretty idiot-proof, drag and drop photos to upload, type some words and hit publish. I've never tried Blogspot so really have nothing to compare it to.

Nordhavn 47 - Sea Eagle Blog | Cruising the Pacific Northwest

Blogs

We use Wordpress and are happy with it. Easy after a learning curve.

Kindred Spirit | LIVE in the sunshine…SWIM the sea….DRINK the wild air
Al

blogspot

Steve said:

...I think all of them are "last entry at top of page" which is nice if you are reading it every day. But, it is odd to read the early entries "backwards"

Click to expand...

Start at the very oldest post and then go through the blog by clicking "newer post" at bottom of page. They then come up in chronological order.

Thanks Everyone for all the great information! Hope to get more info from others. Have already started the research.

I tried to post earlier and wanted to post a video to see if it worked. After it loaded I clicked to submit and for almost an hour all I got was a message that it was processing.

Now when I check back nothing from that post made it. What did I do wrong?

GFC,
Was the video regarding a blog?

Boydski said:

I use Wordpress and it seems to be pretty idiot-proof, drag and drop photos to upload, type some words and hit publish. I've never tried Blogspot so really have nothing to compare it to.

Nordhavn 47 - Sea Eagle Blog | Cruising the Pacific Northwest

Click to expand...

Me three.

I pay $90 ? per year to avoid ads.

Relative easy to use.

I have a web site, but can't seem to get past first step, "enter your cc number"

So I pay and then forget about it on an annual basis.

Then every year I tell myself this year I will cancel it, but when the time comes, I convince myself I'll do it this year.

Yeah, the only thing I do every year is pay!

Wxx3 said:

Me three.

I pay $90 ? per year to avoid ads.

Relative easy to use.

I have a web site, but can't seem to get past first step, "enter your cc number"

So I pay and then forget about it on an annual basis.

Then every year I tell myself this year I will cancel it, but when the time comes, I convince myself I'll do it this year.

Yeah, the only thing I do every year is pay!

Click to expand...

Wow I did not realize that wordpress charged. Makes me glad I am with Blogspot now. Free and no adds.

www.wix.com

This is what I am using.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#

As a guy who runs a web development company (my last site was sold last year, so can't point you to any current examples), I would recommend Wordpress. One of the advantages is it can easily be integrated into another web site, moved to another web site (not another blog site) easily and has thousands of very cool free templates you can easily install to jazz up the look of your blog, plus you can use templates that allow nice cover page design, with your own photos, etc.


Just my 7 cents (inflation).


Dale


PS: the last site I had developed was an online used Porsche sales web site, which I sold to a dealer...)

Many boaters post on blogspot.com.

I also use Wordpress, but host the site myself. It's not exactly free, but I have complete control.

blog.mvarchimedes.com

Rusty,
Congrats on the Magazine article, and they found you from the blog!
So do ya think it was the GB, or your amiable personality?

Thanks for the input,

Crusty

Crusty Chief said:

Rusty,
Congrats on the Magazine article, and they found you from the blog!
So do ya think it was the GB, or your amiable personality?

Thanks for the input,

Crusty

Click to expand...

Pretty sure it was the boat.

So far, most are recommending Wordpress. Any other suggestions?
I did look up Wordpress and they seem to have several different options.

Personally I have used Wordpress and find it very user friendly. There are literally dozens and dozens of options for blogs but there is one that was created by a long time Nordhavn owner and software engineer, Ken Williams, that looks to be fairly popular. It's called Talkspot, here's a link: Free Website Builder - www.talkspot.com