How To Blog (103): The Technical Aspects

Welcome back, Champion!

You’re back in the ring and I’m so proud of you. You didn’t quit. You didn’t shrink back. You’re daring greatly by stepping into your calling and THAT IS AMAZING.

If you have stuck with me this long, today we will cover some of the more technical aspects of blogging, branding, and graphics.

Are you ready to jump right into it? Me, too.

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cheering you on today!

Which blogging website should I use?

  • WordPress, Weebly, Gator, Wix, Blogger, and Tumblr are popular blogging sites and have paired with a variety of website hosting providers like Bluehost, GoDaddy, and SquareSpace.
  • Search online “best free blogging sites” or click HERE for advice. Honestly, I love WordPress for all it’s complimentary add-ons and connections with other plug-ins (things that help make your blog work better) like MailChimp for mailing lists and email subscribers and WPForms for pop-up subscribing.How To blog #103 (1)

 

What about a logo?

  • If you’re looking for graphics and design, fiverr.com (Click HERE) artists can produce logos and all starting as low as $5. Yes, for five macaronis, you can choose your artist, negotiate a price, give’em your specs and VOÌLA! You have yourself a logo.
  • Be sure to get a package that includes a vector file and a source file. This allows for more in-depth editing later on when you decide to order business cards, notepads, t-shirts, mugs, or whatever… ‘cuz you’re gonna be amazing!

How do you arrange your website? How many pages, what do you call them, what goes where? This took me weeks and weeks to figure out when I started. Save yourself heartache and brainpower and start with this. You can always modify later.

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just some encouragement for you today. graphic from @buildingbravery on IG

Friendly Suggestions for Creating Your Website’s Pages

  • Have a dynamic HOME page to start where your most recent posts reside. (My site is a little different as I am heading into a new frontier these days as a speaker. But I STILL have a “Blog” page.)
  • Your ABOUT page should talk about your purpose. What should readers know about your content? Mine is called “My Mission.”
  • A BACKGROUND page (mine is called “Who Is The Church Girl?”) is about the author or group of contributors.
  • The CONTACT page is for subscribing, prayer requests, or actually contacting you.
  • On every page, have a subscriber widget in a prominent location.

Getting Graphic: Visuals make a point.

Great graphics are a requirement for blogging. We live in a visual culture. So make sure yours are on point.

  •  You rock visuals yourself but want a little va-voom. Check out free apps like “A Color Story” and “Canva” for customizable photo filters. (A major key for branding, too!)
  • If you’re not rockin’ the world with your photos, there is a great free photo site called Unsplash that I have used for beautiful images, too.
  • Enlist people who have a gift set who are just waiting to use their talents to serve the Kingdom! I use talented teens’ work, evidenced above by Ashley’s boxwood-light photo below.
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Where do you get YOUR “creative-sparkletivity”? (photo credit: Ashley Kim)

If you’ve somehow missed my other posts in this series, be sure to click to read  #101, #102,  #104, and #105!