E-Blogger ?? or Would Something Else Be Better??

[rockinhippy]

Novice Alert

I set up an E-Blog a long while back, but didn't do anything with it, bar take an age to work out how to decorate it etc.

I do remember at the time looking at several blog network site, reading recommended ones on here etc, I think I even played with setting others up, but can't remember what/where etc - & also after a minor problem with a friend using ideas of mine for her business, I sort of went off the idea for a while as I realised a lot of the stuff I wanted to blog she could end up the doing the same with, which could eventually impact on my own business & also just not really had the time or the available brain cells

Anyway after a few posts on the Arts & Craft thread, which I enjoy, I thought - actually I really DO want to do this - searched my saved links & found the E-Blogger one I'd set up & added my first proper tutorial to it :) - I think its okay, but as i'm a complete novice, I'll let you be the judge of that.

My questions are?

Is E-Blogger okay ?? - or should I be using something else ??

Is there any way on E-Blogger that I can section off my tutorials ?? -
I mean my blog will be varied but mostly foody & craft related & I want to separate things like recipes, baking, sugar craft & have separate craft sections

• IE: Kids Crafts, Garden Crafts, Up-cycling, Sewing Tutorials etc etc

Can this be done on E-Blogger - I found the "label" function, but that seems to be just a way of adding tag words??

Also how do you get followers ?? - how does that all work ??

I'm posting the link to my blog, feel free to let me know if my tutorial is clear enough to follow, or could be improved & if my "blurb" sounds okay - I wrote that ages ago, seemed okay at the time, but now not sure that its right

Novice Blog Here

TIA :)

Shameless Bump

anyone ??

I am not familiar with e-blogger, but it looks to me like your blog is created in blogspot - is that the same thing? ::also a novice icon::

I like your tutorials a lot, but could I just make a small plea for you to make your blog a bit more readable visually? I know this wasn't the feedback you asked for, and I'm sorry to be intrusive or rude. But at the moment the font you're using is quite hard to read, and your leopard print background is also quite busy and a bit eye-hurty! In general, I think italics are considered hard to read, and is that comic sans in your header? (Am a font fascist. I will stop now!)

I love blogs that are really clean and crisp and uncluttered and easy to read. This one springs to mind, so you can see what I'm blathering on about.
www.danamadeit.com/

I am sure there are ways to add pages and sections to blogspot blogs, but will await someone with more knowledge than me!

In terms of how to get followers, I think that is the $64,000 question! Following other blogs you like and leaving comments on their posts is a good way to start, though. I have also linked to my twitter and pinterest accounts on my blog, thinking this might help, long-term. I have grand plans to join in some 'link parties' and perhaps get featured on another blog as a guest poster at some point in the future, but all this is a long way off yet as I have hardly any content.

Does that help?

Actually Gus that sort of feed back is very welcome & I have been thinking along those lines - as in it looks too busy - myself - I do want to customise it, but having worked out how & think I know what I'm doing, it comes out as nothing like I want it too - I want a bit of leopard, but the more I look at it myself, not as it is, thats for sure.

No not comic sans, nor italics, though agree it looks that way, just the more interesting in a very limited & very bland choice of fonts - weirdly as I type it into a very plain behind the blog page, it looks completely different, the font changes only on the public view, so its really hard to gauge what I'm doing - I have used splashes of italics to highlight the odd word, but not much.

I've no idea whether its blogspot or not, but having spotted the thread on here where everyone is posting there new blog updates & having a nosey around, I think I've come to the conclusion the E-blogger is more than a bit rubbish - I did think at first it was just me not getting to grips with the site, but having poked around & read "help" pages today I'm starting to see that that its just not that great - so far I can only view other blogs by hitting a "next" button & by the looks of it a lot of those bloggers have thought twice & moved on - which I think I need to do myself.

I'm half way through another pretty long tutorial, so think I will finish that off tomorrow as I think it will be easier to do it whilst its fresh in my head & also I imagine it will be easier to C&P onto another - hopefully better site.

I keep seeing wordpress pop up - is that a better blog site, or is there something better still ??

Thanks for your input, much appreciated :)

I take it back - seems it was me

I think I've found a way around a lot of the design & layout problems & managed to clean it up a lot, I now just need to work out how to see other blogs, bar one at a time

Hi,

I am a big Wordpress fan and would strongly recommend it. I have enjoyed the whole experience of building the site, launching it and of course the blogging part.

I am happy to answer any questions regarding the whole experience, my blog is at www.singletondiaries.com

stop by and say hello

love

BJH

Thank you :) - I'll have a look again - though looking at WP recently it came up that is was charging $99 if you wanted a one you could customise - put me off a bit as obviously being new to it, not sure I would want to pay, as I might find its not for me, but it seems its a popular site, far more so that the e-blogger one, which is making me wonder if I pulled up some cheeky spam page by accident

Just coming back to this thread - I like your revised layout much more! Much easier to read .
Your tutorial is great...at the risk of constantly proffering advice that you haven't asked for, I find my favourite sewing tutorials have LOADS of pictures. They are literally picture, little bit of text, another pic, little bit of text, another pic.... you get the idea.

I really like Wordpress but I am not sure that I a) know how to use it (that's a whole other thread) or b) could put my finger on a reason why it was much better than any other platform. I use both wordpress.com and wordpress.org and both are free. There are lots of additional things you can pay for - I've paid for my domain name, and for hosting, and for an anti-spam comments thing - but there's no reason why it shouldn't be free initially. Until you have so many readers that you need to buy some more bandwidth!

Thank you :) Gus thats good to know - I didn't like the first layout either, but was initially bit stuck on how to change it

& as I said above the comments on how to improve ARE very welcome, as I said, I'm very new to this whole thing, so its all one big learning curve for me & I'm also aware that as I've been sewing/designing pattern cutting professionally for more years than I care to mention & crafting since tiny, I know I'm not the sort of person these blogs are usually aimed at & find it a bit hard to judge what is needed & what is TMI & patronising IYSWIM - so hearing from others who do use blogs for crafting etc, as to how they like to see it is a big help.

I'm a bit behind on my top tutorial, but do intend to add a few more photos - (had a houseful of ill people to deal with) - I was presuming though, that anyone willing to tackle cutting a pattern & making a top, is probably pretty proficient with the sewing part already, so I've just done that part of the tutorial as text - Do you think that is okay ?? or needs photos too ??

I actually lost access to my blog over this last few days, accidentally signed in with Yahoo & ended up signed in with my DDs e-mail - thats been a bit of a happy accident in the end, as trying to find my way back to my own sign in, has meant I've had to poke around a lot & realised that E-Blogger is actually just the updated version of Blogspot I've also found a "dashboard" which allows me to look at various other Blogs & access free "add ons" - which I apparently need to get my blog seen more - lots & lots of info, so I feel a little more like I know what I'm doing - getting there:)

I did look again at Wordpress & realised I had also signed up for that in the past too, but I remembered that I couldn't have the name I wanted & I'm actually preferring Blogspot, as poking around, seems I can do more with it for free than Wordpress

Aha - the e-Blogger / Blogspot conundrum is solved! :)
I am glad that you've managed to find out some more by poking around. I posted on here asking for some Wordpress hints and tips, but actually managed to find out some of the things I wanted to know all by myself, which made me feel almost worryingly smug.
Like you, I feel as if I know a LITTLE bit more about what I'm doing, but I'm still very aware of a vast chasm of ignorance ahead of me. And looking forward to learning more!

Glad you are not offended by my persisting in offering advice. Obviously I can only advise from my point of view: I am a keen sewist, but not very experienced, and the more 'holding my hand'-ish a tutorial feels, the more likely I am to follow it. I loooove this woman's tutorials here:
www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/2012/01/evelyn-top-tutorial.html
(where does she get the time? I swear she's banging out dresses for her daughters every other day. Highly depressing. I am quite pleased with myself if the house is tidy enough that we don't have to physically wade through toys to get from the front door to bed.)
Anyway, I digress. Although I've never cut out my own pattern, she makes it look so easy, and her step by step pics are so beautifully clear that I feel quite convinced that I could if I wanted to, and it feels a bit demystified. When I read instructions that say 'cut your pattern', I feel myself starting to panic in a way that I don't if there's a lovely clear picture showing me how, ifyswim?

Hmmm. It all depends, obviously, on who your readership is (mine is currently non-existent!) and what you want your blog to do.

I realise I have been here dispensing wisdom from on high on your blog, and rather rudely not mentioned mine. If you would like to return the, ahem, favour, by giving me any feedback on my blog, then you are most welcome. I'm www.cornerbycorner.co.uk
I have applied to join the network, but haven't heard back yet.