Need input on blog (engraving & rod building)

[Ray Cover]

I am considering creating a blog relating to my rod building and engraving.

I would like to include some of my rod building experiments & philosophies. Rod building techniques I use (including engraivng & machining parts) etc.

Here are my questions for those of you that have set up blogs.

1. Is it worth the time to do? My goals for this idea are to draw more traffic to my website, draw more traffic to the rod building and engraving forums I use, educate people on just how much work goes into a well built custom rod.

2. What is the best software to use? I need a software that is flexible enough to allow me to mix up the format by using mostly pics at some times more text at others and even add a video clip from time to time. I have Iweb on my Imac but I have not messed with it enough to know how well it will work. The Iweb does have blog templates but they seem pretty static.

Also I am not at all interested in free services that are going to put advertising on my blog.

3. Can I host it under my current domain name on my existing web space. As big as my web space is my website is only using about 20% of my available space. IF I can have it closely tied to my website all the better.

4. Any other info you all are willing to share will be appreciated.

If you have an example of a blog you have I would like to see it.

Thanks,

Ray

 

[TallGary]

Ray,

Don't have any experience setting up a blog but I ran across some information the other day on one of my favorite sites -- look at the right hand column for an announcement on a tutorial on setting up a blog using WordPress.

http://www.thefreecountry.com/

Best of luck!

Gary

 

[KatherinePlumer]

Woo hoo, a topic I know something about!

1) I would say yes, definitely worth the time and effort. In fact, the initial time and effort is pretty darn minimal as far as setup goes. To really make it appeal to people though you have to be willing to maintain it, and that's where a lot of people fizzle out and don't post more than a few times a year. My experience with a blog is that it'll bring in new people (who just randomly surf in through keywords) and it'll keep your "fan base" checking in on you a lot more often than they otherwise would, because there is something very neat about seeing what sorts of things people are up to. It's a great place to give people a behind-the-scenes look at what you do and what your ideas are, other than the finished products that are posted on your site. My blog (it shows art in progress, lots of photos, info about the birds and horses, and the occasional rant) gets the most visits compared to any other part of the website, and I often get people coming up to me at shows (art shows, chicken shows) and telling me that they read it.

2) I use blogger.com. I think wordpress may be pretty similar but I'm not familiar with it. Blogger is free, and if you host it on your own domain (versus their "blogspot" blogs) there are no ads. You don't need any special software. You post by logging in to their server. Mine is hosted on my own domain (which was easy to do). Adding pics is no problem, you can add video by linking to it, etc. You just pick a template, add headers and links and whatnot, and their software handles the layout, archiving etc. I've been totally happy with it. I post a blog on livejournal too but that doesn't seem as professional.

3) yes you can, as stated above

4) it's addicting if you like to write and show off your stuff

Mine: http://www.KatherinePlumer.com/blog.html (I'm not an engraver, so no engravings on there, but there is some scrimshaw floating around).

Go for it!

-Katherine

 

[vilts]

Hi Ray,

I think this is a place where I can chime in and where I have at least some experience, okay little more than some - 7 years of web development.

Katherine said very well, maybe I can add little more info.

1. Is it worth? I think definitely yes. But I think with blog you must be able to update it regularily, be it daily, weekly or monthly to keep people interested. If I find a blog that interests me I'll just add it to my Google Reader and wait for new posts, so I don't have to remember the address and check every day if it has something new. But if it dormant for too long, then what's the purpose?

2. Software? There are million and one ways, but I can strongly suggest Wordpress. It's all web-based and you don't install anything on your computer. You add, update etc. from your browser, something like this forum, but there you have much-much more flexible environment to work in. You can customize almost anything - design, comments, it collects your web traffic and whatnot. Using web-based sotfware for this kind of thing is much-much-much more reasonable than whipping it up on your computer and then uploading. Trust me, I've been creating dynamic webs from last century

3. Where to host it? There are 2 ways you can use Wordpress, maybe others too. Either on their servers or install it on your own server. I use theirs, but maybe someday I'll transfer it over to my own server, there are some plugins that I want to use, but it can't be done on their host (feedburner being one, it helps to promote your blog better). They have free service with 50MB of space and no ads, and you can use your own domain name with their service. If space runs out you can always upgrade. To install it on your server you'd need option to use MySQL database and a guy who knows little about installing stuff on servers. I can volunteer.

4. Other info? Well, as I've seen from web you make superb products with awesome engravings. A blog where you describe the process and show photos would be just super. Throw in few tutorials here and there and you'd have at least one subscriber .

Although one suggestion about your current website, if you don't mind. I think it should need a new improved design. Current one looks like it's from 90's and usability could be improved a lot. Even changing few things could help alot.

I started my (second) blog to track my process of going from full-time computer programmer to blacksmith, although now it seems more like engraver... My first post there got about 3000 views on first day, but now I've about 20-40 views after new post. Maybe I can't write interestingly enough?

Journey from programmer to blacksmith

'Coincidentally' my last post describes an engraving process. It could be one way to do a tutorial, but I did it just to inform my readers, who mostly are computer geeks, how one goes from start to finish in engraving project.

If you have anything you need help with while setting it up I can help as my skills allow, just ask away

So, when can we see your blog?

 

[Santo]

Hi Ray,
Go for it!!! It's fun and rewarding. I use blogger.com also but am going to check out some of the other ideas from the comments here. Here's the one I started a short while ago. It needs updating and some organizing but it will give you an idea -- www.gsanto-scrimshaw.blogspot.com
Good luck and have fun with it. I think blogging is a great way to not only show your art, but also share passion and philosophy.

Santo