When I started with blogging, I had a pretty unclear picture in mind on how to go about blogging. So the result was … mistakes. Human tendency to play and mess around with things is too high that no one gets started in the first go. You need to get through a lot of trouble.

Well mistakes cause problems and problems may lead to mistakes. Here are a few:

Domain with a typo

What if you are with limited resources and buying a domain. While entering the domain you typed “yourdoman.com” instead of “yourdomain.com”. They look pretty similar, right. (If still didn’t find the difference, they differ by just an “i”) Anyone can misjudge this to be right and carry on with the registration. But after registration , you’ll know that you wasted a domain and your 10 bucks. Such a situation sucks. Right?

No Backup, no blog

Well, I have been in such a situation several times now. Some mis happening may lead you to a dead end. Thinking positive, you didn’t take backup, and next day you loose your blog. You’ll be left with nothing expect two options. First to start all over again and second to quit.

What the heck, installation

Installation is fun once you are familiar with it. But for the first timers it can be a hell of a job. I’ll illustrate a few situations :

a) You installed wordpress and but forgot to note down the password provided to during installation. In such a situation, an experienced person would surely change the password using phpmyadmin or do something similar. But a newbie would probably reinstall the whole thing.

b) This happens with many of us, not only bloggers, I’ll say everyone. You downloaded, uploaded and are ready to install a software. And now while installing you come to know that your host wont support all the features and now you need to look for a new host. That is really annoying right!

c) In due to course of installing something, you have a power cut or your computer hangs. Then you’ll surely want to bang your head against the wall that now you gotta start all over again.

d) While installing you come across a field that has to be filled but you don’t know what to exactly fill. eg. you need to enter your mysql username. You created ‘user’ using control panel but you didn’t know that your host add some thing to it like “cpuser_user”. You’ll have good trying “user” when it wont work.

All’s well, that updates well

Suppose while updating your wordpress installation, an error shows up and your blog stops working. If you are a hardcore webdeveloper then maybe you’ll get over this but if not, you’ll have a hard time. You’ll feel helpless as you know what went wrong but really can’t do anything about it. Your blog will be nothing more than a living dead body as it would have everything but nothing would work.

This has even happened to me last year when while updating my blog, something happened and I lost everything.

No money, what to do?

If you got a job or have any other source of steady income, then this point wont bother you. But for people who are beginning or are still studying in schools or colleges then this should be a problem. You have to arrange the startup amount for the initialization by any means. And most people tend to start working as freelancers or turn to PTCs or such programs. Once you are through you’ll feel relieved as not only bloggers but everyone feel at ease if they got money around.

Time and tide wait for none

Well, its really hard to take out time if you are employed somewhere or you need to study. A blog really requires a lot of work to be done. If you can’t devote enough time to it then its gonna be difficult, both for you and your blog. With shortage of time, you can’t really interact with your readers properly, can’t post regularly(you may take my example on this). Nothing is left important when everything is important. You have focus on everything and mange your time well.

My site’s ready, what next?

So every thing’s set and you are ready to take over the world but…… how? Even when a blogger is through with his site, he is yet to face biggest challenge of all, traffic. Getting traffic is the most difficult job for a blogger, an internet marketer or even a small shop owner. To convince people to visit your blog and comment is quite tough.

Out of ideas, can’t think of anything

You have been going great guns past few months but suddenly ………….now what?

You really can’t think of anything interesting to write about. That’s a general thing to happen once you have written so much. Even when you have some ideas, there may come some stituations when you’ll not be able to exploit them. eg. You just got a brilliant idea in your head but while surfing you come across a post, by a fellow blogger, on the same topic. Well, that would be sad and in 90% cases you tend to drop that idea.

No one wants me to blog

Situations will arise when people around you will think that you are wasting your time. That would be very discouraging and some might even quit. You may lose your interest and all the inspiration. I’ve been in such situations and lemme tell you that it really sucks. One day or the other you’ll feel like, “Forget it! Blogging is not worth my time”. errr…. That was ugly.

& many more problems are faced by the bloggers.

You would have gone through similar problems or even something which I was not able to think. I know you wouldn’t mind to share your experience with me or tell about something which I can improve on in this article.

A blogger’s life is sweet, live it to the fullest.

Originally posted on 12 February 2009

THE BASICS – Part 2

This the 2nd part of the Chapter 2 of the tutorial series, I started long ago! Let’s get started.
From where we left was the functionality that the scripting languages provide.
Now in Part 2, we will discuss about the following:
1. Site traffic
2. Search Engines and other traffic sources
3. Optimizing your site

Site Traffic

Like you need automobiles on the road, the same way you need visitors or readers on your site. Amount to people visiting your website is usually referred to as site’s traffic. Actually, the motto of a site is to spread awareness about something. As the time will pass you’ll come to know that getting traffic to your site is the toughest job for a webmaster.

Search Engines And Other Traffic Sources

Traffic coming to your site needs to come from somewhere. There is very little probability that somebody, unknowingly, will directly type in your site’s domain name and reach to your site.
Some sources we will discuss in detail in the following chapters:
1. Search engines
2. Mouth to mouth advertising
3. Social networking
4. Blog commenting
5. Forum postings, etc.
Don’t think too hard, you’ll be familiar with these terms by the end of the tutorials.

Optimization of your site

Optimizing your site involves matching the current standards of the web. Making it compatible to various browsers, search engines, etc. And this what’s gonna help you build traffic.
Detailed info of all the topics will be in the upcoming chapters.

Originally posted on 26 Nov 2008

THE BASICS – Part 1

Introduction

This chapter will make you familiar with a few terms which constitute the basic knowledge required for creating or getting started with websites.

Part 1 will include the discussion about the following terms:

1. Web Hosting

2. Domains

3. Web Pages

4. Scripting languages

Hosting

What is meant by web hosting?

Web hosting allows you to make your site available to anyone using internet. Your website can’t accessed without being hosted on a web server.

Kinds Of Hosting

1. Free Hosting – Hosting on a shared server(i.e. many sites on one server) with all the basic features. This is what you should prefer when starting.

2. Paid Hosting

1. Shared Hosting – Similar to free hosting but may have advanced features.

2. Dedicated Server – A server dedicated to your sites, you get a server on lease and you may use it to your own wish but under some conditions.

3. VPS (Virtual Private Server) – Its like a virtual dedicated server on a big server.

We’ll discuss about “how to use” in the following chapters.

Domain Names

Domain names are a specific identity or address to your website. How do they work? We’ll discuss this in the following chapters.

Web Pages

It is a document which is suitable for the internet can be accessed through a web browser when hosted on a web server. They are generally created using html and css.

Scripting Languages

These kind of languages are used to add functionality to web page. They help you create dynamic sites.

What are dynamic sites?

Using only html would create sites which will be static, ie. there will be no changes in your web page unless you do them manually. When dealing with dynamic sites, you can modify pages or part of pages using a scripting language in a single click. You see tags plugin in the sidebar of this site, it updates as soon as I post an article.

Hope you got what dynamic means.

Scripting languages offer high functionality

You should have seen some web sites which allow to register, login , logout, etc. and that is what I mean by functionality.

Continued in Part 2 . . . . . . .

Originally posted on 21 January 2009

I have been blogging for a lot months now and would say that blogging is a great for expressing your feelings, sharing your thoughts, etc.
Blogging may have plenty of reasons to be written, for example, :
1. You want to establish yourself on internet and get people to know about who you are, what you like, etc. In shot a personal blog. That’s a wonderful way for making new friends!
2. You have an expertise in something and want to spread a little knowledge among others. A public opinion is what you’ll get in exchange. If you know what your audience likes then you know where to make profits from.
If you own a product or offer a service, then blog is the best of keeping your customers updated and gathering their suggestions.
A personal blog- A kind of blog which generally means an online diary! A place for your profile and things unrelated to any relevant topic.

Originally posted on 2008-10-12

Another cool observations from, of course, one of my sites. The site this time is, yeah, divyun.com.

What’s anti-pollution?
It’s just a term created in the honor of askimet, which protects your site from dirty comments which pollute your blog.
So my request to each and every blogger is simple and straight- Use askimet, it helps you prevent unnecessary work.
Askimet comes preloaded by default. But if you have deleted it by default, get it at askimet.com.
This plugin is not only available for wordpress but for some other softwares too like mybb, etc. But you need a askimet key from wordpress.com.

Originally posted on 18 December 2008

If you want to be a webmaster, there are few things you got to know before hand. Webmaster has to manage between quite a lot things which help to him to manage the site!! This article is about “What’s important to a webmaster and why??””
Below, I’ll try to list all the important things for a webmaster!! So here it goes
1. Time
Time is the most important thing for a webmaster. Webmasters who lack in time usually end up in quiting but yeah!! some idiots like me do continue and end up in creating a hotch potch!! lol xD.
From my exprience:
I am a 15 year old blogger who is currently in Class XIth which is one of the most important years for you as a student. Its pretty hard for me to come online an post daily. So what’s the result:-
It took me more than 5 months to reach to this position. And my position is that I can’t concentrate on SEO, promotion or looks.
Conclusion:
If have time by your side, you surely will do better than me and maybe faster.
2. An internet connection
Believe it or not, but you need fast, “a no trouble” internet connection.
From my experience:
Once, a few months ago, my internet connection broke down and stopped working one day! My site was new and needed my attention, but unfortunately, I couldn’t update my site for around a month!! and I had to end up getting a new connection.
Conclusion:
A fast internet connection is a must and an asset for a webmaster.
3. Skills
Well, you should how to use your computer and internet. It should be difficult for total newbie to manage. So I would suggest you to play with your computer and internet until/unless you know quite a lot. Once you reach the saturation point, you’ll know it yourself.
4. A good social background
Knowing a lot of people helps a lot. If you are good at asking people to visit your site, it should be enough for you to get started.
From my experience:
I know a quite a lot people, but I am not good at asking them to comment or at least visit my site. I have been trying my best to get a little social.
Conclusion
Interact with more and more people which will help you create a traffic base for your site.
5. Principal amount
You need something to get started or you’ll end up trying hard to earn that principal amount in vain.
From my experience:
I started without any money. So I wasted a lot of time in getting the starters. If you don’t have money, then you need time in exchange.
Hope the article was pleasing. Please do consider commenting.

Everything needs some inspiration, from somewhere, to be done! The same thing is with blogging. You have to get a little inspiration from somewhere to continue blogging otherwise it becomes a tedious job. Well, I too get bored sometimes and don’t update my blog from days or weeks and I end up in tens of drafts saved still waiting to be completed and published.

Best way to keep yourself ready to blog is by keeping yourself updated about the happenings on internet!! This way you’ll always be able to find some material for a good post!! Reading others’ blogs is also a good way to rejuvenate your knowledge. A good blogger should never lack ideas and should try to blog regularly.

Well, I will not suggest writing long posts instead keep them filled with valuable stuff. 200-400 words should be fine. A post longer than this is a hard time for both the reader and the blogger. First few lines do leave an impression and they should be carefully written.

You should let yours ideas to flow. You should be able to pen down your ideas on a piece of paper/blog. Let me tell, this is the most difficult thing. This happens with me too often, and sometimes I feel like having a plugin which could copy paste the article from my brain to the blog. Unfortunately, you have to do this on your own, no such plugin yet!!

Hope my post inspired to start blogging! btw, What do you do to get inspired to blog?? Please do consider sharing.

Divyun

Originally posted on 03 January 2009

The biggest question which comes across a blogger is what to do when you have nothing to blog? Well, most of the bloggers encounter the this problem unless they do not copy articles from others’ blogs or run some sort of news bulletin. Below I’ll discuss how to find such ideas which will help you blog!
My previous post was about on how to get inspiration when you are to blog. Well, the ideas apply here too. An inspired blogger is who writes wonders. An uninspired blogger is the one who needs inspiration for blogging.:P
The first thing as inscribed in the previous post, keep trying to renew your knowledge. It refreshes your mind and a clear mind knows whats the best to be done/ written . Reading others’ blogs, posting and reading forums, going through news, current affairs. You need to be updated if you wanna blog without any obstacles in mind. You surely don’t want to sit blank when you trying to blog.
Now if you really out of ideas, write about how to blog. Well, that’s what I actually usually end up doing other than saving hundreds of drafts and then deleting them. Don’t think hard, or you’ll get stressed, stay clam. When relaxed try to think again. As said earlier don’t hard but don’t stop thinking either. Try to increase your thinking potential. Expand your imagination to a never ending extent.
Google is your best friend. I always keep telling this to everyone. Always keep googling something or the other about your topic. Every time you type in the keywords your intention should be to learn something new. When you always have something new, you will never be out of ideas.
Keep blogging! Keep trying to blog even when you are out of ideas or are confused with so many ideas stuck in your mind. This helps you gain experience and will certainly help you out next time when you to try to blog. Well, blogging is the best way to learn about blogging. xD Practice makes a man perfect.
Never even think of copying! It doesn’t matter how much you like an article, no copy and paste, please. Well, people tend to do this thing and this tends to lead you to your blog’s end. Originality is what is appreciated. An 100-words original article is a billion times better than a 1000 words article copied from some where.
While writing a weblog post, be true about what you blog. Never try to make up things. You should have a genuine opinion about the damn topic. Writing about anything or everything really doesn’t work. Never go off topic. Everything should be related to your website’s theme. Never go blah! blah! until its your personal blog and it is about you!
Writing about your experiences helps. Public likes reading about people’s experience. Even I do. And that was from my experience.
At last I’ll say that never even think of quitting. That makes you a damn loser!!And if you are thinking of a come back. Ah! That’s gonna be difficult.
What’s your opinion about this?? What do you do when you’re out of ideas. Please do consider sharing.