I put off starting a blog for a long time because I thought it would be hard. I thought it would be technical. I thought I’d have to install scripts and tear my hair out getting them to work. At that point, most of what I’d read about blogs and RSS was just so much geek-speak.

Was I ever wrong!

When I finally got the courage to give it a go, I went to blogger.com and signed up for an account. To my amazement, I had a blog set up in about 5 minutes. My first post was uploaded to my site about 10 minutes later.

The only thing even remotely technical I was required to do was enter the FTP settings for the website my blog would be published on. But even that wasn’t a requirement. With Blogger, you can set up a blog on their site, Blogspot, and not even worry about FTP settings.

Since then, I’ve started 3 Blogger blogs on different sites. Blogger remains one of the most popular blog applications in the world simply because it is so simple to use and set up. If you’re a technophobe or don’t have the time to learn something completely new, I would urge you to drop by Blogger.com and take a look. You could be blogging - and enjoying the benefits - almost immediately.

Another very simple blogging tool is Wordpress. This blog is my first Wordpress blog, and I’m very impressed with how powerful it is - as well as simple.

Wordpress is installed on your own website, but don’t let that stop you. Most hosts that have Cpanel already have Wordpress ready for you to install. Look in your Cpanel for the Fantastico application, click it open, and then choose Wordpress to install. It will automatically install it on your site for you, and you can start blogging right away.

If your host doesn’t already include Wordpress in the scripts on your server, you can still pick it up at:

http://wordpress.org/

Then go to the Wordpress Wiki for instructions on how to install it in 5 minutes:

http://wiki.wordpress.org/?pagename=5MinuteInstallation

Wordpress is free, open-source software. It is very simple to install, even for technophobes, and has a lot of online documentation. There are also many sites with free Wordpress add-ons and templates. I’m using a template for this blog that I picked up at Alex King’s site:

http://www.alexking.org/index.php?content=software/wordpress/styles.php

The Wordpress Wiki is a wealth of information on all things Wordpress, including installation instructions, help files, a long list of template sites, and all kinds of hacks and extras you can use to modify your blog and make it original.

If you’re a Wordpress user, another place to visit is the Wordpress discussion forum:

http://wordpress.org/support/

If you’re a new blogger, both Wordpress and Blogger are very user friendly. There isn’t a long learning curve. And you won’t have to learn any new technical tricks. Why not give one of them a try?

For more tips and ideas on how to make money blogging, be sure to visit my “Why Marketers Should Blog” weblog at (what else) http://www.WhyMarketersShouldBlog.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Linda_J_Bruton

A lot of blogging software is specifically designed to be simple to use, but even the least intimidating blogging program can feel very overwhelming to somebody who has not spent a lot of time learning the ins and outs of different kinds of software. Particularly for newer bloggers, learning how to use the interface of blogging software is the most difficult part of blogging.

If you are somebody who feels comfortable expressing themselves in another medium, it may prove to be well worth your time and effort to learn blogging software, but that doesn’t mean that the task will be easy.

The main thing that will help you find success as you learn how to use a new kind of blogging software is to try and take things slowly. Many people get so excited about learning to blog that they try to rush into the thick of it and start exploring the most complicated features of a program right away. This can lead to getting confused and feeling frustrated, and all too many
potential bloggers burn out during this stage of the process.

If you take your time learning the basics of your blog software program before you move on to more advanced techniques, you will be more likely to retain what you have learned, and to keep feeling positive about your ability to understand the world of blogging.