I have just retired and about to head off with the boss (Lesley) on a few trips in the Van. I've been thinking of starting a free blog on wordpress. I'm not a faceache person.
Planning in including not just trips but additional activities, say fishing, hikes or camping.
I would appreciate any tips or hints the more experienced have.
Neil
wendyv said
12:20 PM Sep 17, 2020
Go for it!
It is a great way to preserve your own experiences for later memories, and can provide valuable information for others who are planning activities.
It would certainly be of interest for you to include the additional activities.
I use Word Press. I am not very tech savvy, and have found their help service prompt to reply and really excellent.
When I was starting out with Word Press, I found one of the pre-made formats/templates that they offered, and use that, rather than try to set up one of my own from scratch.
I found that I needed to resize my photos down, to keep within the allowed limits as my posts accumulated.
I also found that I needed to move up from free site to a paying one, due to the size as my posts accumulated.
Look forward to seeing your blog posts. Don't forget to put notifications of same in here....
Cuppa said
07:38 PM Sep 17, 2020
Moving to wordpress was a huge learning curve for me. Had I have understood the differences between wordpress.org & wordpress.com I think the struggle would have been greatly simplified, but it took a while & lots of confusion before it clicked. I went with wordpress.org from the outset because I was keen to avoid a repeat experience of losing my blog when an online blog host ceased to be, but I did find the relationship between the two confusing & frequently when seeking help would find myself in the wrong camp.
Wordpress.com is quicker & easier to begin, but it may be more limiting for those who want something a 'bit different'. Thats my understanding, but not from having tried it myself.
That said, Wordpress is probably the least likely blog host to cease existence, & were I starting from scratch I may be tempted by it's easier start up. As it is, I am now reasonably conversant with Wordpress.org (well at least to do what I do) & have no reason to change, & it does have the advantage of being hosted on my own web site ....... but the down side is that I will be paying web hosting fees forever! Most of the wordpress stuff I use is free.
One piece of advice may or may not resonate - there is lots of material out there to assist you to reach & hold an ever larger audience. The trouble is, as I see it, is that too many folk succumb to this pressure of 'how to do it' & subsequently end up all being much of a muchness, always trying to come up with exciting & catchy headlines, often with little in the way of interest to back it up. All glitz & no substance. Of course there are exceptions. On the other side of the coin an excellent piece of advice given to me by an experienced grey nomad travel blogger who encouraged me to take the plunge long ago. He said "People really are not interested in what you had for breakfast".
I think an individual writing style develops & evolves over time.
I am not 'numbers driven' but it is fair to say that my modestly sized audience is important to me. Maintaining the motivation to continue a blog over time, & it is quite a commitment (many well meaning folk fall by the wayside fairly quickly because of this) is made easier when you know folk appreciate what you do.
On occasions folk have commented on how good my memory of past travels is. The reality is that my memory is not great at all, but having kept a record - what I have written - brings back far more than the words I've written, there are lots of memories & emotions between the lines too.
I continue to get as much pleasure from re-reading my past blog posts as much as I do writing new ones.
-- Edited by Cuppa on Thursday 17th of September 2020 07:45:20 PM
-- Edited by Cuppa on Thursday 17th of September 2020 07:58:21 PM
Chris61 said
11:02 PM Sep 17, 2020
Another fan of Wordpress, start off basic, just writing a few words in a blog. As you get used to it, start getting creative, add some photos, some web links, add your own pages. Take it as fast or slow as you like. As you learn some of Wordpress features, you can go back and edit and enhance older posts.
Mike Harding said
06:31 AM Sep 18, 2020
Perhaps also consider registering your own domain and setting up a website that way you will have a permanent and eternal "home".
It's not hard or expensive to do, I use Bluehost:
https://www.bluehost.com/
They have some good deals for new signups.
dorian said
06:47 AM Sep 18, 2020
Your own ISP may provide you with your own free web space.
-- Edited by oldbloke on Friday 18th of September 2020 11:25:44 AM
markf said
11:32 AM Sep 18, 2020
I got hold of "jandmf.com" via No-IP and set up WordPress here at home on a Raspberry Pi. I found it all quite easy but then I have quite a lot of relevant experience to fall back on. I made a lot of use of WPBeginner to get things rolling along. Everything that I've done is here.
None of it is hard - just long winded. Getting the right look is the most tedious part of it. Google took a real beating while I was getting it all going... After a few months, because I'm a curious tinkerer, I've gathered a bit of knowledge of the internal workings of WordPress so if you've got any questions please ask away. If I don't know the answer I'll try and find the answer.
I went with self hosting because I didn't want to have any restrictions imposed by a third party hosting provider.
-- Edited by oldbloke on Friday 18th of September 2020 11:25:44 AM
Wordpress.org can be free, or paid for, depends which template you choose for your site. Also some add-ons cost, but many dont. Wordpress.org does not provide any storage . You provide this via setting up your own domain. Ie you pay a web hosting service to provide you with a Domain & storage space. My site for example ... is cuppa500.com, & I have it hosted by a hosting company called GoDaddy (google them). There are any number of web hosting companies, all with a variety of storage options. If you go with Wordpress.com your blog address will be a Wordpress.com address. Eg.oldbloke.wordpress.com as opposed to something like oldbloke.com. If you go with Wordpress.com I believe they will provide a range of storage options & you will not need to learn how to set up your own web site as well as learning how to set up a blog.
oldbloke said
07:54 PM Sep 20, 2020
I have discovered
Google
Wix
Weebly also offer free web sites, along with a few others
Hi,
I have just retired and about to head off with the boss (Lesley) on a few trips in the Van. I've been thinking of starting a free blog on wordpress. I'm not a faceache person.
Planning in including not just trips but additional activities, say fishing, hikes or camping.
I would appreciate any tips or hints the more experienced have.
Neil
It is a great way to preserve your own experiences for later memories, and can provide valuable information for others who are planning activities.
It would certainly be of interest for you to include the additional activities.
I use Word Press. I am not very tech savvy, and have found their help service prompt to reply and really excellent.
When I was starting out with Word Press, I found one of the pre-made formats/templates that they offered, and use that, rather than try to set up one of my own from scratch.
I found that I needed to resize my photos down, to keep within the allowed limits as my posts accumulated.
I also found that I needed to move up from free site to a paying one, due to the size as my posts accumulated.
Look forward to seeing your blog posts. Don't forget to put notifications of same in here....
Moving to wordpress was a huge learning curve for me. Had I have understood the differences between wordpress.org & wordpress.com I think the struggle would have been greatly simplified, but it took a while & lots of confusion before it clicked. I went with wordpress.org from the outset because I was keen to avoid a repeat experience of losing my blog when an online blog host ceased to be, but I did find the relationship between the two confusing & frequently when seeking help would find myself in the wrong camp.
Wordpress.com is quicker & easier to begin, but it may be more limiting for those who want something a 'bit different'. Thats my understanding, but not from having tried it myself.
That said, Wordpress is probably the least likely blog host to cease existence, & were I starting from scratch I may be tempted by it's easier start up. As it is, I am now reasonably conversant with Wordpress.org (well at least to do what I do) & have no reason to change, & it does have the advantage of being hosted on my own web site ....... but the down side is that I will be paying web hosting fees forever! Most of the wordpress stuff I use is free.
One piece of advice may or may not resonate - there is lots of material out there to assist you to reach & hold an ever larger audience. The trouble is, as I see it, is that too many folk succumb to this pressure of 'how to do it' & subsequently end up all being much of a muchness, always trying to come up with exciting & catchy headlines, often with little in the way of interest to back it up. All glitz & no substance. Of course there are exceptions. On the other side of the coin an excellent piece of advice given to me by an experienced grey nomad travel blogger who encouraged me to take the plunge long ago. He said "People really are not interested in what you had for breakfast".
I think an individual writing style develops & evolves over time.
I am not 'numbers driven' but it is fair to say that my modestly sized audience is important to me. Maintaining the motivation to continue a blog over time, & it is quite a commitment (many well meaning folk fall by the wayside fairly quickly because of this) is made easier when you know folk appreciate what you do.
On occasions folk have commented on how good my memory of past travels is. The reality is that my memory is not great at all, but having kept a record - what I have written - brings back far more than the words I've written, there are lots of memories & emotions between the lines too.
I continue to get as much pleasure from re-reading my past blog posts as much as I do writing new ones.
-- Edited by Cuppa on Thursday 17th of September 2020 07:45:20 PM
-- Edited by Cuppa on Thursday 17th of September 2020 07:58:21 PM
Perhaps also consider registering your own domain and setting up a website that way you will have a permanent and eternal "home".
It's not hard or expensive to do, I use Bluehost:
https://www.bluehost.com/
They have some good deals for new signups.
OK. Thanks gents. A bit to think about.
Sooo, is WordPress.org free?
Also how much storage is there?
Are there other options?
Gets a bit confusing.
-- Edited by oldbloke on Friday 18th of September 2020 11:25:44 AM
I got hold of "jandmf.com" via No-IP and set up WordPress here at home on a Raspberry Pi. I found it all quite easy but then I have quite a lot of relevant experience to fall back on. I made a lot of use of WPBeginner to get things rolling along. Everything that I've done is here.
None of it is hard - just long winded. Getting the right look is the most tedious part of it. Google took a real beating while I was getting it all going...
After a few months, because I'm a curious tinkerer, I've gathered a bit of knowledge of the internal workings of WordPress so if you've got any questions please ask away. If I don't know the answer I'll try and find the answer.
I went with self hosting because I didn't want to have any restrictions imposed by a third party hosting provider.
Wordpress.org can be free, or paid for, depends which template you choose for your site. Also some add-ons cost, but many dont. Wordpress.org does not provide any storage . You provide this via setting up your own domain. Ie you pay a web hosting service to provide you with a Domain & storage space. My site for example ... is cuppa500.com, & I have it hosted by a hosting company called GoDaddy (google them). There are any number of web hosting companies, all with a variety of storage options. If you go with Wordpress.com your blog address will be a Wordpress.com address. Eg.oldbloke.wordpress.com as opposed to something like oldbloke.com. If you go with Wordpress.com I believe they will provide a range of storage options & you will not need to learn how to set up your own web site as well as learning how to set up a blog.
Google
Wix
Weebly also offer free web sites, along with a few others
www.websitetooltester.com/en/blog/best-free-website-builders/