So, you want to be a blogger?

#BLOGGING 101

Over the couple of few days, I have met many people who have been to my blog and now want to start their own blogs. I have had the privilege of giving a lecture on blogging and so allow me to say, it is flattering and I would like to thank all those who stop by the blog to get annoyed, entertained, informed, or just wonder and ponder the criteria I use to highlight stories.

Whatever your reasons, you are paying for my butter and for that I am grateful. Many ask how I began and perhaps it would be prudent to mention that no columnist would be foolish to write about his whole life for the masses to gorge on. You get my point right?

It is just that nobody’s life is that interesting- and so this column is not about me at all! As you venture into this journey of being a blogger; you will need sources of ideas. If you tend to listen more and talk less, you will be surprised at what you will hear.

People love to talk; especially about themselves. In fact, if someone starts a story by telling me, “by the way don’t write about this,” chances are I will write about it because deep down they want me to.

So bars, office, campus, social media, restaurants, dreams, news, elevators, pharmacies, bank queues…there is always someone saying something worth writing about or at least worth mulling over.

Today, allow me to orient you, if you are thinking of joining the club, on top five blogging platforms to help you start:

1.      Blogger

Owned by Google, Blogger is easy to use and you can instantly set it up in just 15 minutes. Blogger supports drag-and –drop, template editing, dynamic updating, geo-tagging for location-based blogging, and easy publication from editing tools.

2.      Tumblr

It is a fusion between a full-fledged blog and a Twitter feed. Known as short-form or micro-blogging, its style of blogging focuses on short and frequent posts that are normally longer that twitter updates but not as formal as a regular blog post. The ease of set-up coupled with its informality is Tumblr’s winning combination for non-committed bloggers.

3.      Wordpress

You have the option of setting up a blog on your own server or creating a word-press-hosted blog.com. Wordpress has themes, plug-ins and gadgets of all stripes.

4.      Squarespace

This is a commercial blogging platform. It’s pricing is based almost entirely on volume and not on the idea that the lower tier member don’t deserve all the cool toys the premium members get.

5.      Open Diary

Started in 1988, the blog has hundreds of thousands of diaries. It allows people tip sot comments on others’ diary entries.

So, join the club that has over the years helped to spark knowledge and ideas than any other publishing innovation since the printing press was invented.

So, take a stop by my blog sometime: Nairobi’z Blogazine (nairobizblogazine.blogspot.com) and let us engage.

By Embukane Vincent Libosso.