Have you ever wanted to start a blog but never knew where to begin?
Blogger is an excellent place to start a personal blog.
Started 17 years ago, blogger is an online free blog-publishing platform; owned and managed by Google.
You can use it to start a blog where you discuss your views on something, post information about common problems/challenges, offer free advice for the public, and even allow the public to comment on the content as well.
How to set up your blog
First, you need to sign up for an account at http://www.blogger.com (you must have a google account.)Then set the name of your blog, choose an easy to use template and voila!
Since Blogger provides free hosting for your content, you don’t need to buy anything. Your blog will be identified by the name after the blogger URL. If you have an existing domain name, you can connect it to direct on the blog as well.
Blogger Features
⦁ Wide array of languages. Blogger platform is available in 60+ different languages. Meaning that you can create a blog in your native language if available.
⦁ Ready made templates. These are also free to use and help the user to easily format and customize them into their preferences. Some of the templates allow the user to display content in various orientation and styles like timeslide, snapshot, flipcard, magazine…etc
⦁ A user-friendly interface with simple drag-and-drop page building features.
⦁ You can add labels on different categories of your blog. This would help the readers find specific topics easier and overall it makes the blog look colorful as well.
⦁ Should you want to make your blog posts private or restrict them to approved readers, it’s possible with the platform. You can choose to make certain articles or content for a bunch of friends or family without the public viewing them.
⦁ It’s mobile responsive. The user is able to post pictures directly from their handset into the blog. Also, you can post articles directly from your email address.
⦁ Compatible with social sharing. From the platform, you can rely on Google+ to promote your articles, besides other social media networks like Facebook and Pinterest.
⦁ You can also embed YouTube videos on the blog posts too.
Downside
Though it might seem like an interesting platform, its future is unpredictable. Google hasn’t updated it for some years, which could be an hint that the Blogger service might come to an end. But this has no worry because, should there be such an event, Google may offer some directions on how to transfer files and contents into a different platform before closing account. The number of blogs per user are 100 maximum, and the number of pictures directly uploaded are limited to 1GB of space. If you have a Google+ account, photos uploaded will be stored on your Google Photos’ folder which gives each user a cool 15GB space. This space is also shared by gmail and google drive. So, use it wisely.
If any of the posted article violate their terms, your account might get terminated without prior notice.
