Blogging Advice

[slamjet]

I've come to the point that I believe I'm ready to blog away my experiences and advice as an excommunicated church person and the journey to stay in the faith. I've been thinking of using a domain name I've had for years (slamjet.com, no, nothing's there yet) but I'd like to get some advice before I jump off the cliff.

So the open question: What should I know/expect with blogging?

And the specifics:

How should I begin?

Where should I begin?

Should I use my domain name?

Which is the best/easiest blogging service to use (I am bad at websites, go figure)?

Any other advice? Feel free to answer even if to say yes, go for it or no, you're not worthy

[annewandering]

Do it.

If you allow comments vet them before they post. It would be easy for 'coming back' topics to go antimormon pretty quickly.

Also make sure people dont think you are a substitute for a bishop chat.

You have a lot to offer that could be helpful for others.

[beefche]

I would make the comments such that you have to approve them before they are published. You'll get traffic (more than you think you'd get) and some of it will be very negative, spam, or just horrible. You can make your own rules on what will eliminate someone's comments from being published.

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

I've come to the point that I believe I'm ready to blog away my experiences and advice as an excommunicated church person and the journey to stay in the faith. I've been thinking of using a domain name I've had for years (slamjet.com, no, nothing's there yet) but I'd like to get some advice before I jump off the cliff.

So the open question: What should I know/expect with blogging?

And the specifics:

How should I begin?

Where should I begin?

Should I use my domain name?

Which is the best/easiest blogging service to use (I am bad at websites, go figure)?

Any other advice? Feel free to answer even if to say yes, go for it or no, you're not worthy

Slamjet, I think that is awesome. I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I do have some experience that I'd be happy to share.

First I agree with the others...due to your topic, I would suggest Moderated comments. That means that when people comment, you will need to read it and approve it before it is posted to the blog.

How to begin...I suggest blogspot.com It will literally walk you through all the steps to set up a blog. Almost anyone can do it (even me and I'm not computer savy, but I am internet savy).

Where should I begin? I think start with a post that tells a little about you (whatever you are comfotable sharing), and explain a little of what readers can expect in future posts (so they'll know they want to come back. )

Domain name? I'm not sure. If you want to, but I think it is easier if you use the blog name. You could also connect your domain name I believe.

Which service? I think the two most popular are blogger and wordpress. A lot of people like wordpress, but I tried it once and to me it was confusing. I prefer blogger because for me it is easier.

Once you get started, the next step is to let people know you are out there. You can put your blog link in your sig line, here, in email, etc. You can share on FB, twitter and google+....

I can't think of any other advice right now. I have really enjoyed blogging, I think you will too! If you have any more questions let us know.

[Wingnut]

I wouldn't use slamjet.com unless you put a lot of effort into your SEO. No one using keywords such as mormon, LDS, excommunicate, rebaptize are going to hit on slamjet.com.

Depends on what you're hoping for in an audience, though. Do you want to blog for yourself, to put your story out there and hope that maybe it helps someone else along the way? Or do you want to blog specifically with the intent of reaching others?

[slamjet]

I want to blog as a person who has been ex'd, who is not hateful of the church, who is working on coming back to the fold and the events of that journey. I'm not planning on posting sacred things that has happened, but I have come up with 20 topics to write on.

But I decided to not use my domain but I'm having a hard time figuring out what URL to give it (that "your_url.blogspot.com" type of thing). So for now, I posted my first post and it is here:

"As Seemeth Me Good"

So if anyone has a better suggestion on a URL, I would appreciate it. I believe I have a good, unique URL and title that really means something to me (and not in a drug kind of way, puleeez). But please, critique away.

[slamjet]

I couldn't get blogspot to do what I wanted so I went ahead and am now using wordpress. And just because, I bought a domain (Reconverted | One Man's Journey from Excommunication to Rebaptism to Temple Worthy and Beyond) to go along with it. So please give it a look and see if it will fly. I figured after a few more posts that I should really work on getting it out there. Address is in the sig below