So you want to start a college football blog? Bravo!
The college football blogosphere is a wild and wooly place, underdeveloped and cavernous compared to its peers in politics, news, and teenage diaries of nothingness. Which is why now is the greatest time to get in on the action.
There are many and various definitions for a blog, so we'll just call it a public diary, updated as often as possible, and published to a potentially vast audience. If you're reading this you probably want to create your own college football blog---good starting point.
To get from here to the point where you're blogging you need two things---1)a plan, and 2)the necessary resources to enact that plan.
We hope your plan is to blog about the sport in general, or a team in particular. Within that framework, be sure and brainstorm for a bit and determine the things you'd like to talk about, what you'd like your blog to look like, and whatnot. If you have no idea what to do, be sure and take a look at the many college football blogs we've linked on here. Read them, take a look at the layout, the writing styles, the various features on the blogs, what they're talking about, how often they're updated, what works, what doesn't, and what suits your tastes best.
My blog here at Resource is one that fits my needs quite nicely, but it may not be what you desire. This is where the brainstorming and window shopping come in handy.
Once you've got a plan, its time to gather necessary resources.
This is where things can become exciting but also intimidating. There are many blog platforms out there for you to choose from, ranging from the very basic to the obscenely complicated.
For beginners, I definitely recommend Blogger. It's a free blog building program that you can sign up for and have a fairly decent looking blog in no time. It's very easy to modify once you get used to it and especially if you have some expertise in the mechanics of websites and blogs. This might be the best 'training wheels' option out there. But don't feel ashamed by that term, I had to learn the ropes on Blogger before I could arrive at this point with my own website and different software platform.
The best way to get a feel for what platform---such as Blogger---might work for you, just search around in Google or Yahoo for blog or blog programs and see what pops up. Others I've noticed include MovableType, SquareSpace (what I'm using right now!), bblog, b2evolution, and many others. I highly recommend reading other blogs and if you see something appearance-wise that you like, be sure and see if the blogger/blog names its blog software. Email them if the answer isn't readily available---I've found bloggers to be ridiculously helpful in helping others get started. Please note that most blog programs may cost you a few pennies and dollars. Not everything on the internet is free, sadly.
As an aside, some of the platforms confused the Resource crew and were ditched out of frustration. I think I'm fairly computer and internet savvy, but even some of those programs went over my head. Again, don't be intimidated, just try things out and get a feel for what works best for you.
Blog Software Websites:
- Real Sports Bloggers - realsportsbloggers.com is a sport blog collective that seeks to network together a wide variety of sports enthusiasts and feature their opinion all in one place.
Other Information:
- If you want to have an actual website address, there are many affordable companies that can help you, from Register.com to the infamous Super Bowl ad company, GoDaddy. You may also need to purchase a website hosting package if your blog software doesn't include one (SquareSpace provides my hosting, bypassing having to go through Register).
- Here is a link from a prominent blog, the Mudville Gazette, on some blogging beginners. Good resource. And here's another link with all kinds of info from SeeTheDonkey.
- OJR: Are you using the right blogging tool? There's a good listing and explanation of blogging software/tools in this link.
Just drop an email to collegefootballresource-AT-hotmail.com
Good luck and happy blogging.