Start Your Travel Blog

Which Blogger to Use

Over the last twelve years of teaching and travel writing I have used WordPress, Google Blogger and a bespoke content management system. However, in 2020 I have come back to Google Blogger. Sometimes called Blogspot, and branded in orange. The key reason was the ease of managing the blogging package. Google Blogger releases me from lots of administration so that I can devote time to writing. More and more web users have a free Gmail account, or they can open one easily, and this means that they share a common environment with Travel Writers Online magazine. For example, here they can check quickly which blogs they follow, hopefully adding this one to their list. Please click on orange image below. You will need to select and copy our url to paste-in, it is

https://travelwritersonline.blogspot.com

Google’s blogspot offer is free and you can be up and running with your own weblog in less than 15 minutes. Of course, you need a free Google Account which you will already have if you use Gmail. Use Chrome as your browser and Sign In to Google in top right of screen. Your own avatar should appear top right if you are logged in.

Then search for the Blogger start page

blogger.com

Let’s call your new blog site

Portfolio

Google Blogger gives you the chance to paste-in or type-in your new blog name, but then checks to see if that name is already taken. Be ready, then, to amend it slightly to be unique. The system then adds a suffix to the end of your chosen name, with the 2 words blogspot com. You can see it in this blog's url if you glance up to the address box at the top of this screen now. 

Be ready, too, with some text to paste-in to form the content of your first post. Use this text, if you want to make progress, just highlight, copy and paste from below:

Draft holding post. First post coming soon. Please Follow this blog for updates + + +.

Notice that I do not call a post a page. In the blogosphere, pages are static and sit behind the live regular postings. My only page is called About, and I have tucked it away in the menu to the right of the running, regular posts.

On the screen for posting, the large orange + sign lets you open a new wordprocessor-style page to start typing your words. I suggest you have a store of ideas for posts, partly worked-up and ready for further development and proof-reading. I used to use MS WORD but in summer '22 I re-discovered Google Keep, and now grab new ideas in Google Keep first, often on the iPhone when out and about. Then I use journaling to develop them, but that is for another post, and is covered in our textbook.

The basic font that Google Blogger offers you always seems small in the live, published posts. I change my font to Open Sans then change size to Medium.

You can insert images with this mountain icon at the top of the compose screen

It lets you pick jpegs and png images from the computer you are on, or from your own albums on Google Photos. Please have a go now. Make your empty travel blog ready for inspiration.

The only other option to work on when you are getting started is your choice of Theme. Very helpfully, Google Blogger has a Travel theme. I suggest selecting that. You will only learn which theme suits your writing after blogging for a few weeks. Google Blogger lets you change your Theme easily at any time without losing your valuable content. And that's it.

Please paste-in your url to the Comments box on this blog here to share the url of your new blog address...