Blogging????

[Redwahine]

For those of you that maintain a blog would you please share the pros and cons of the various blog sites out there. Which sites are easy to use? Free of fee?? Ease of adding photos?? Etc. Any recommendations? Warnings?? Thank you.

[Bethers]

I love WordPress. I own the website and get it through my hosting company so can't talk about the one you do directly from the internet. I find it easy and have unlimited photo upload, etc. I believe with most of the "free" ones you are limited in photos, and if you want more, you then have to pay for that.

I also prefer one blog to go to for years and years ... that's my preference. I'll admit I miss posts of Liz's because she's on her third blog address, and I sometimes want to search and get frustrated searching on three different sites to find a post I "think" she did in the past But that's her choice and I respect that and see some others are doing the same. When I switched computers, I only saved to favorites the latest of their blogs. Not saying my way is best, just what I like and why.

Editting to add ... any of the blog services that works for you and you use is the one you should go with. I think they all work fairly well. Some of us will like one, others another.

[AlmostThere]

To be honest, I miss our members posting their pictures/travels on here. I thought this was what this forum was for.
JMO

[Bethers]

To be honest, I miss our members posting their pictures/travels on here. I thought this was what this forum was for.
JMO

Lenora, when I'm traveling, I can't afford the time and the bandwidth required to go through photobucket (or another service) and post lots of pictures. But I can post them all on my blog in less bandwidth and much less time. Plus that's how I save what I'm doing for myself, so it makes sense to only do it once.

I, too, love pics on here - but sometimes it's simply not feasible - and with the blogs we can see so much more. I do try, when possible, to post some of the pics directly. Like you, I like having them right there ... but I understand others who can't afford the bandwidth to always load the pages and wait till they have free wifi, for example, who can then go to the blogs at their convenience. It's difficult to please everyone ... sometimes I have trouble doing it so that it pleases me

[grammynmaggie]

I started with word press....didnt care for it..
I use blogspot...plain format...no bells and whistles ...
I do not have the problems that some people have with it
and i think I dont because none of the bells etc. just plan format
I dont post many pics on the forum because I only have 5 GB of
band width ...I have verizon and that is all I can aford...I cant post
everything both places...family wants to see whats going on and they
dont come to this forum...so I had to pick where the pic's where everyone
could see them...sorry but had to do it this way...
I love blogspot because it's : easy to use, I can up load my pics right from my computer and dont have to use an on line service such and photo bucket
I think Margie told me she blog for 4 years before using up all her pic room on blogspot...I have been blogging for 3 yrs. and have a long way to go...because i only put about 3-4 pic on each post some like to add alot...I dont have good camara and havnt traveled much yet to put on more than that...any way the main reason i made a blog was for family to keep up with what me and Maggie were doing if they wanted to...but now it has turn out to be a little more than that for me...Its more for me now....
here is link to my blog
http://grammyandthepapillonprinces.blogspot.com/

[mitch5252]

Me, too...I rarely go to blogs.
That could eat up an entire day!!

[Bethers]

Me, too...I rarely go to blogs.
That could eat up an entire day!!

I don't go to most unless they post a link to specific threads here ... if it's something I'm interested in seeing, I go to that thread. Same as I don't read every post on here ... truthfully don't have the time ...

I do mark favorites on a few blogs. Do not have time to regularly read everyone's.

[longdog2]

I like Google's blogspot. It is very easy to use and free. Other than that, I tend to agree with Beth on everything else. Blogs are more a record of what you are doing for you and for your friends and relatives. It's easy to go back and find things. Google Reader is a very easy and free way to keep track of blogs you want to follow. You just enter the blog name on a list. That way they are all in one place. When there is a new post, the blog name is highlighted. I prefer a running blog versus a new one each year but, for those who do a new one that I want to follow, I just leave the old one on my Google Reader along with the new one. That way I can go back if I want to find a post about a place I want to go. We have some women on this forum that have some really great blogs. Many of my blogger friends followed the blogs of the ladies who went to Alaska last year and really enjoyed them. Some of those readers will be heading north this summer.

[WickedLady]

I rarely look at a blog. Takes too much time. I'm lucky to keep up with the posts.

[rvgrammy1953]

I did a blog on blogspot for our trip west last year, but haven't done anything else after my summary in Dec. May start again when we leave here....Gee, I haven't taken very many photos since we landed in GA, either...

[HorizonSeeker]

I started blogging with Google Blogspot when I was teaching in Thailand. When I returned and went back to my same old teaching life I left the blog up but didn't add to it. Then in 2011 when I bought my rv I started a new blog. I don't have problems with the Google blogger but I don't do a lot of fancy things either. Just the basic. I do post a lot of pix but have not gotten even close to using all my space. One thing I did start doing while in Thailand was to start uploading my pix to Picassa Web. That way they are accessible to me even if I don't have my computer. I upload everything to Picassa but don't use all the photos on my blog. I too have a 5G limit on my data while I'm traveling. Makes it hard to upload to photo bucket.

[BirdbyBird]

I also use the blog spot and it is simple. I understand that posting pictures directly on the forum is easier for the reader. ...but the blogs allow some of us to share our travels with a larger circle of friends, family, passing acquaintance to a second cousin. And as Beth stated our blogs can become a visual diary of our travels.....

We all know how much fun PHotobucket is.....

[TarheelBornGal]

I have used blogspot and weebly for my own personal blogs, and most recently, Wordpress, which I use for a humane society I volunteer for. Wordpress is by far the most full-featured and complex, and I struggle with it. It's very possible that if I used it for a personal site, it would be easy-peasy like the others, but for an actual non-profit's site, it's complicated. There are so many plug-ins and add-ons I don't really understand, and I just stumble around. I inherited the duties of being a webmaster from someone who had already set it up, which makes it harder since I didn't set it up myself.

I have been using weebly for our Belize blog but am considering going back to Blogger for our RV blog (when we buy an RV and hit the road!) because it's the simplest of all, but I remember having problems in the past with photos and it being very slow at times. Still thinking on that one...

I agree with the person who posted about google reader. I follow a good number of blogs there, and it makes keeping up with new posts so easy. The only down side is if I'm too busy to read for a week, am traveling or whatever, there are hundreds of new posts when I can finally catch up. As long as I check it every couple of days, it's manageable. I probably subscribe to 30 blogs, but some are much more active than others.

[Dawn309]

I like blogspot too. It is easy to use. I, like the others have said, do the blog for family and friends as well as anyone interested here.

[Sandersmr]

And an advantage for me to using blogspot (when I remember to blog - it's been a few years ) is that Picasa easily feeds into blogspot. I use Picasa to organize my photos and Picasaweb rather than Photobucket. I find it a lot easier to use.