Creating a blog/website help

[Adze]

Hi, I am looking to start a food blog with recipes and such, i have started using a Facebook page (started last night) and at some point in the near future i would like to move it to its own website and just use the FB page for links for new blogs etc. 

 

I just have a few questions so i can try and set this up properly so i dont make life harder later.

 

Should i buy a Domain name now? it seems cheap around $12. thhis way i don't risk losing it later on.

 

If i do by a domain name can i link it to my FB page till i decide to build my own site? so if they type my website address eg example.com it will ten redirect to my facebook page eg facebook.com/example?

 

Once i decide to start the actual website what is the best program/way to set up for a blog, I have heard word press is good, is there any others?

 

If you have any other information that you think will help it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you 

[WndrGrl]

I cannot answer most of your questions, but according to my Social Media professor, Wordpress is the easiest way to get your own website up and running. I started on Blogger, but I found Wordpress to be more user friendly.

[Adze]

thanks

[BigDRay]

1) Totally opinion but no, I don't think a domain name is very needed at such an early stage as just a facebook page. Though, you'd be better off making a pro/con list for that one and weighting it out.

2) Last I checked, yes. It is possible to get a domain name and have it directed to facebook.

3) As far as "free" there's wordpress and Blogger. Here is a comprehensive list of good blog software. Honestly all there is to finding one or lists of them for choices is to google them.

As far as extra information goes: Go straight to an expert for any in-depth questions, even once you've started the blog. There's always Steve, and other guest writers on here that you could E-mail or any other bloggers that you think could give some insight.

Link to your facebook page so we can check it out! The more traffic the better right?

[DChristian]

The thing about using Facebook to host your content is that Facebook then owns that content and you're at their mercy as far as the content's availability.

 

I would suggest starting a blog on Wordpress.com. You can have links to your posts automatically post on Facebook. If and when it makes sense to buy a domain and/or move your content to a self-hosted website, Wordpress makes that fairly easy to do.

[Wondertje]

This is based on personal experience alone, but here's what I think.

 

1) Yes, you should get a domain name as soon as possible.

Reason: Unless you want the blog to be read by your parents and a few friends, you want to make sure that people have something to remember it by. When finding a new blog to read, it's been said many times that people will remember/notice a few things first such as, graphical layout/design, name/URL and content. Sure, if your content is mindblowing and great, the rest might not matter so much, but in general all three things have to fall in place for someone to subscribe and even recommend it to their friends. And that's how you build a solid base of readers. Now think about it, if you find two food blogs the same day whilst searching, they have similar level of graphic layout and content but one is "www.foodland.com" and the other one is "imakegood.blogspot.com", which one are you more likely to remember and/or pass on to family and friends? Majority of people would take the one with a simple URL. With that said, also graphical layout is important, and is something that should be looked into before launching your blog.

 

2) Yes, it's perfectly possible to get a domain name and have it direct to facebook, but I don't recommend it!

Reason: Similar to the post above, setting up a blog with an alright standard of graphical layout doesn't take very long at all. And I genuinely believe that having your URL link to nothing but a facebook page, will distract the user and lower its value. In the end, it will make it more difficult for you once you start building because people might remember the link, and that it leads to nothing but a facebook page and not even be willing to try and click it again. Studies show that internetting is very much acting on memory and feeling, so it's very important to give viewers a good feeling, and good memories/impressions from the very beginning. So take the extra day, or two that it will take to set up a blog, before launching your project - you'll probably be happy you did.

 

3) I'd recommend you use Blogger.

Reason: Setting the whole project up with a google account is a great way to get everything sorted for you. When you buy a domain name, you can also buy webhosting/email and such things, which might be something to look for in the future. However, as a starter project using a Google Account + a domain name only, can get you very far for a few reasons. Google accounts are 100% free for this purpose and they do fill in multiple things; you can create your blog, you get an email address which you can use as your contact address if people want to contact you through your blog, you get access to google documents/drive where you can share things with your viewers/readers in an easy manner. In general, it's just a good place to start because it's collected and easy. No need for 10 different accounts to get everything started and going.

 

Good luck on your project

[Adze]

Thank you for the help. The current face book page is https://www.facebook.com/ManMeetsThermo

 

The point of the blog is to give recipes for man pleasing meals made with a thermomix (will put in directions for people without thermomix when possible) as most websites seem to cater to woman. in the last 12 hours we have had about 140 people like us and most of them are women. which is funny as mentioned it is based towards men go figure and we have only been posting links to other peoples pages with recipes.

 

We will also be including Paleo, dairy free, nut free and other recipes for people with dietary requirements. my son has FPIES and it is not fun and he can't eat a lot of store brought packages food due to reactions. It is amazing how many things rice flour is in. My wife also cooks for a elderly couple who have very strict food requirements and heard stories from them about how hard it is to get good that they can eat that tastes decent. So it is a niche market blog wise.

 

 

i brought a domain name last night from namecheap.com as they seemed to be one of the cheaper ones and i have heard good things about them. The domain name is www.manmeetsthermo.com 

 

I will look into blogger, if i can set it up with out using a host yet that would be great. As i would like to start publishing my own recipes and get people on my site as opposed to linking to others. If the site kicks off i might look into hosting somewhere else and using wordpress or similar later on.

[Adze]

Ok the blog is up and running using blogger with my domain name check it out at http://www.manmeetsthermo.com

 

I only have a couple of recipes up at the moment.

 

Thanks everyone for your help. especially Wondertje for the help with blogger.

 

Its good out if i get enough people coming to the site i will probable get a host and use word press. you seem to be able to do a lot more a lot easier. but it will do for now

[the 13th letter]

I realize you've already made your decisions and set up everything, but allow me to add another opinion to the mix.

The thing about using Facebook to host your content is that Facebook then owns that content and you're at their mercy as far as the content's availability.

Spot on! This is actually true with whatever host you use, unless you're running the blog on one of your own computers from your (mom's?) basement. It does ultimately boil down to deciding who to trust with your blog. I'd personally suggest going with smaller one- or two-man companies where you actually can meet the people in charge, instead of a large company such as Google, Inc. (Blogger) or Automattic, Inc. (Wordpress.com). But that's just how I feel about companies… maybe you feel different.(Note of caution: Wordpress comes both as a software package and as a web host (where the software is pre-installed and administered by Automattic, Inc., who also happen to have written the software in the first place). My concerns above relate to Wordpress the web host. If you host your blog with the Wordpress software but with another web host, the trust issue is shifted to that other web host instead.)

1) Yes, you should get a domain name as soon as possible.2) Yes, it's perfectly possible to get a domain name and have it direct to facebook, but I don't recommend it!3) I'd recommend you use Blogger.

Agreed on 1 and 2, disagreed on 3 for the reasons about web hosts stated above (but again, that's personal taste).On top of the trust thing, having everything tied to your Google Account means that that account becomes a "single point of failure": if you forget your account name or password—or worse, if someone else knows them—then you've locked yourself out of your blog and your e-mail account… and maybe allowed whoever knows your credentials to wreak havoc on your blog as well, destroying your online reputation. I can't really tell you how high the risk is… I personally think it's high enough to be worried, but everyone else I've talked to yet has disagreed with me.

[DChristian]

 

Spot on! This is actually true with whatever host you use, unless you're running the blog on one of your own computers from your (mom's?) basement. It does ultimately boil down to deciding who to trust with your blog. I'd personally suggest going with smaller one- or two-man companies where you actually can meet the people in charge, instead of a large company such as Google, Inc. (Blogger) or Automattic, Inc. (Wordpress.com). But that's just how I feel about companies… maybe you feel different.

 

 

This is a fair point. Though I never had problems when Wordpress hosted my blog, there wouldn't have been much I could do if they decided to be dicks.

 

If you're paying someone to host your blog. (I use dreamhost to host my blogs that I run with the Wordpress software), you own your content and are renting space from the hosting company, much like renting a storage locker for your belongings.

[Adze]

thanks again for the info.

 

i agree with wordpress/blogger hosting my site that i am at there mercy. the only reason i went with blogger for now is i can use my domain name and they will host free of charge.

 

I will defentely spend a bit of time researching a company to host the site when/if it gets to the point. I still think i will use wordpress software as i watched a few youtube videos and it seems very easy to use. 

 

Plus i have used a couple different emails for bits and pieces and the domain name is registered to a different account. so worst case if i ever get hacked i can shut down the hole site quickly and i have the blogged backed up so i can start another account and copy it across until i get the original one back up. 

[Wondertje]

On top of the trust thing, having everything tied to your Google Account means that that account becomes a "single point of failure": if you forget your account name or password—or worse, if someone else knows them—then you've locked yourself out of your blog and your e-mail account… and maybe allowed whoever knows your credentials to wreak havoc on your blog as well, destroying your online reputation. I can't really tell you how high the risk is… I personally think it's high enough to be worried, but everyone else I've talked to yet has disagreed with me.

 

 

Personally I have things set up like this, without saying too much:

 

Google account 1 - Personal things, email I give to friends/co-workers, my regular day-to-day activities etc. Also uses a "normal" password so to speak.

 

Google account 2 - Public things such as blogger, youtube (if I ever upload videos, for watching I use personal account), anything I share with the world where, if I ever got hacked, I wouldn't want them to get anything of my private/personal things. This account also has a special, nowhere-else-used password that's based on much more high-security measurements than my regular one.

 

Google account 3 - Only an email, the email I use for public, tied to nothing else but an email account, so if any of my "fans/readers" ever try to hack me using that email, they would get pretty much nowhere. This one also has a password that's based on higher security than my regular one, but is different from my other secure password.

 

Then it's pretty simple, I keep my personal account logged on almost all the time, with my second account added to it (since google supports multiple logins). This makes it super easy for me to just use my google account during my day-to-day activities, switch to my public account with a simple click, send off my blog post and then switch back to my regular account. The public email account is set up to forward all the mail to my regular account, so I can check email easily and without switching anything.

 

I'm pretty happy with that set up at least, and it feels rather safe to me. And since google supports multiple login, and fowarding of emails, I'm pretty much only using one account, with the rest just being background stuff needed for security