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December 11, 2005
WordPress.com free hosted blogs now available to the general public
What was previously ‘invite only’ is now available for everyone to blog on. That’s right, anyone who wants to can now get a free blog hosted at WordPress.com.
WordPress.com deserves it’s own review, although it’s currently still in beta form — albeit a very usable beta. When I’ve time do a detailed write-up of my WordPress.com experiences.
The bare bones explanation is that WordPress.com offers the a newer, beta version of WordPress that you don’t need to install on your own server. Instead, you just sign up and immediately get a subdomain on WordPress.com (like http://freeshipping.wordpress.com). You can login and start blogging right away — it’s ease of use is beautiful for the novice blogger. It supports categories (and subcategories), trackbacks, and all the other trappings that I view as being necessary for any blogging tool. It has a WYSIWYG interface with a rich text editor, as well as the ability to edit the HTML directly. It also allows you to upload pictures and then drag and drop them into your posts. In short, it’s super easy to use, and changing the presentation of your blog takes about two clicks (click on Presentation, and then choose the theme you want).
The shortcomings are that there are very few themes offered for use, and you cannot customize the themes yet (you can’t even specify the font color – supposedly changes to this are in the works, as mentioned above it is still in beta). You also cannot add additional themes or plugins as you can with the full version of WordPress (which requires installation on your on webhost w/a mysql database).
So what you get is a blogging platform that is VERY easy to use, and very slick, but rather limiting for expert bloggers.
Also of note for the many bloggers who hope to earn some money through their blogs, is that WordPress.com currently does not support adding Adsense code to your blog entries, so those looking to monitize their blogs should look elsewhere (at least as of this writing).
For newbie bloggers, WordPress.com could be the blogging tool you’ve been waiting for. And it’s FREE! If you don’t care about customizing your templates, it sure beats the pants off of Blogger, even in it’s beta form. More experienced bloggers should check it out, if only to be able to be part of the creation of the next version of WordPress — there is a Feedback button where you can submit ‘bugs and hugs’ as well as any suggestions of what you think WordPress.com needs to be a more fully functional and customizable blogging tool, and suggestions are often implemented at a rapid rate.
December 11, 2005 in Weblogs, WordPress | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (3)



WARNING: Reports of legitimate Blogger/Blogspot accounts being deleted without cause
Please update your bookmarks to reflect the new, permanent location of How to Blog. Comments and trackbacks on this post are now closed. If you wish to comment on this post, please visit the new site!
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As is often the case whenever there is a free tool available, it gets abused by spammers. Such has been the case with Google’s free Blogger service, and lately they’ve been very active in trying to delete blogs that they view as spam (aka splogs).
Normally I’d say that’s a good thing, but apparently they’ve been a little overzealous in their cleansing of the system and many individuals are reporting that their legitimate, hand crafted Blogger blogs that they spent much time on have been deleted without warning or explanation.
The English Guy has a post entitled Google/Blogger Deleting Real Blogs that I’d highly recommend reading if you’re a current Blogger user or considering using their free service.
A thread at the Blog Party forum suggests that Google is targeting bloggers that have multiple blogs which link to each other. This is a tactic which many legit bloggers do and is a major part of how the whole blogosphere works. It is also a tactic that is used by sploggers. But that in and of itself should not be a reason to go on a search and destroy mission for all bloggers who interlink their sites. The logic in that is faulty – just because a tactic is used by sploggers doesn’t mean that everyone who uses that tactic IS a splogger.
So if you’re using Blogger and you have multiple blogs which you like to link to each other, you might consider porting your posts over to another system, such as TypePad or WordPress.com, before you wake up one day to find your blogs gone and have to go through the nightmare of trying to reach support personel (which has been reported to be very difficult) and proving that your blogs are legitimate.
Consider yourselves warned..
UPDATE 1/30/06: as you can see from some of the comments on this post, blogger.com is currently on a big blog-deleting spree. Again, consider yourselves warned! And btw, I know I originally recommended wordpress.com as an alternative, but if you're looking to incorporate Google Adsense into your blog, you'll need to use TypePad b/c wordpress.com doesn't support 'em. Or else switch to a solution where your blog is hosted on your own server, and then you've many more options to choose from
December 11, 2005 in Blogger, Reviews, TypePad, Weblogs, WordPress | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (5)



December 08, 2005
OFF-TOPIC: Exclusive coupons and discount codes for online holiday savings
http://www.emilyrobbins.com/how-to-blog/off-topic-exclusive-coupons-and-discount-codes-for-online-holiday-savings-303.htm
Please update your bookmarks to reflect the new, permanent location of How to Blog. Comments and trackbacks on this post are now closed. If you wish to comment on this post, please visit the new site! Thank you!
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As an affiliate, I get some private coupons and discounts that aren't made available to the general public (these are deals that you can't get just by going to the companies' websites), so I thought I'd share them with my blog readers as it's that holiday time and it's always good to get some extra savings (most of these coupons are only good through the end of December)!
Ebay coupon codes (only valid if you pay with Paypal)
- C23-GiftGuide $15 off $100+
- C22-GiftGuide $5 off $50+
- C11-GIFTGUIDE 10% off ($25 max discount)
$10 INSTANT REBATE with purchase of $50 or more at Lamps Plus
Save $30 off Purchase of $300 or more at Lamps Plus
Save $50 on orders of $500 or more at Lamps Plus

10% off lingerie and sleepwear at Bare Necessities (discount reflected when you add items to your cart)
Take $10 Off orders over $100. Enter special code 'HOLTEN' at checkout.
Take $20 Off orders over $200, plus FREE Shipping! Enter special code 'HOLTWE' at checkout.
December 8, 2005 in Ramblings | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (1)


