Sunday, December 6, 2009

Me 2 Point Oh

What comes first, the chicken or the egg? We've all heard the question, and now I realize what a conundrum it really is, and how legitimately it applies to a number of situations that might arise in one's life.

Take, for instance, the fact that I REALLY want to work on and launch a second blog that will document my forays into studying, using, recommending and living social media. My trials, my stupidity, my 'ah HA!' moments and my frustrations. I want to document them all - and tell y'all about it, if you care.

Ah, but here's the rub. I don't want to create a URL and drop into another templated free site, but I want to proceed with careful forethought. This is because, as a strategic communicator, I really want to build a brand. I want to target my expertise and build this new second site as the go-to site for insights, information, perspective and my personal professional brand. And I want it to have my personality, and my 'look' and especially have a URL that is memorable.

But I know there are platforms out there that I could still use that are free, and I know that using some of these would be just fine, thank you. But the process? I want to document it, and I need HELP people!

What platforms should I look at and why?
Who knows of some free custom blog designs that are really cool?
What advice do you have for me? I already have the name, and hope that the platforms I use will allow me to link into all my other engagement tools easily, but what else?

Would LOVE your comments and insights. Thanks in advance.

6 comments:

  1. My favourite blog, Popwatch, from Entertainment Weekly magazine (owned by TimeWarner) is a wordpress blog. I'm just putting that out there.

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  2. Hey Pam! I'd recommend www.tumblr.com as a good blogging platform with a ton of good themes. I use Blogger mostly for pragmatic reasons: I like to have my services connected to one provider for convenience. But regardless of whether you go with a free or paid option, it's not difficult to put a custom domain (like www.paminottawa.ca) on top of your free blog. Peter Smith, Eric Portelance, Nick Charney, and a lot of others (myself included) all do this. Cheers!

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  3. Seeing some cool things there. Will explore some more, then eventually start the process of getting this thing up and running. Maybe a xmas project. Now. Custom domains...is that something I would pay for somehow? How does one 'put' a custom domain on a web page? Oh, I have so very much to learn!

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  4. Hey Pam. Yeah, a domain name will cost you a bit, but I think it's good for branding. I think I paid $13 a year for my .CA name. I did my own tech support as far as modifying Domain Name Server settings to attach the domain to my existing Google blog address (this is definitely serious geek work; not for everyone). Your domain registrar can also probably do this for you if you're not comfortable. It may even be done automatically if you register your domain through your blog provider (though the cost of the domain may not be as cheap).

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  5. Update regarding domains: If you'd like to register a name using a local Ottawa company for easier support, you might want to consider http://www.domainsatcost.ca

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  6. Okay - great thoughts. First things first, I need to look at setting this blog up on a free platform that looks like it will work best for me - likely over xmas - and then get going. Enough talk and sifting through info. I'll learn as I go, right? The process will be my University of Social Media degree!

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