What Exactly Is a "Blog"?

I use blogspot.com It is free and very easy to use. I just picked a template that I liked, then the colors, and that was it. Entering a blog post is simple, and kinda fool proof with the easy to understand instructions they give. They walk you through the whole set-up process so you don't need to know anything about how websites work and all of that.

Many people use their blog as a journal. You can make your posts private, so that only you and people you invite can read it. Or you can make it public and then everyone can read it.

You can choose whether you want to accept comments or not. You can also set it up so that you have to read every comment and approve it before it is posted for everyone else to see. That way you have some control over comments being left by others.

People can join your blog by becoming a follower. That means that when you make a new post those people automatically get a notice in their email or whatever saying you posted.

If you want friends and family to read your blog, just give them the address and they can read it. If you want other people to read your blog a good way to get people to your site is to leave comments on other blogs, and include your blog site. Most people will go look at a blog that has left a comment on their blog. It's like returning the favor sort of thing.

Blogging is really easy, so just jump in and do it. Personally I don't worry about people reading it or not. I think I have 2 people who read mine (that aren't friends or family). The blog is more for me, an outlet for thoughts, than anything else.

Yes, a blog would work for record keeping. We have one for our family. You can use blogger.com (same as blogspot.com) or wordpress.com. I know blogger is free, and I think wordpress is too. I'm sure there are other places, but I am not familiar with them.

People can leave comments depending on how you have it set up. If you chose to not allow any anonymous comments (this can weed through any annoying spam comments that might show up), then they will need to have some sort of sign in to leave a comment. I have a blogger account, and I can use that sign in to leave a comment on any type of blog. It's very easy.

People don't really join. They learn your webaddress and they check back and see if you've updated. Or if they have a reader, like Google Reader, (this grabs the "feed" of all the blogs they read and puts it in one place for them to read), then they'll be able to follow you that way. Or, if you include a 'follow me' thing on your blog, they can "join" that way and it'll show you that they are following you. But a lot of people follow along in different ways (such as the reader I mentioned). You can also add an email subscription from a place like Feedburner (it's free) and you put that on the side of your blog. It allows people to sign up to receive your blog updates as emails instead of having to go to your blog itself. This is very appealing to a lot of people. I prefer it myself too!

And, there are companies out there that will let you upload your blog to their site to print off into a book. That's what I'm planning on doing to have an actual journal in my hands of what I've written on our website. I hope that helps!

Blogger is super easy! I do a blog for our son (and it is like a journal). I mainly do it because our son has been diagnosed with ADHD, allergies, asthma, and developmental delays. It helps me to keep track of what goes on at each appointment and I can look back and see "progress!" My hope is that it helps other moms, too, that are dealing with similar situations. I love to read other moms' blogs as well to see how they handle different things. If you would like to check mine out feel free! www.thelewisfamilyjourney.blogspot.com

A blog is pretty much a journal. Blogspot.com is free and pretty easy to use. I have a spa blog up there and my brother has a blog on there for family and friends that aren't in town to see how his kids are groeing up. You can make it private or public dependign on what you are looking for. You can make money off of it as well though I hear there are pretty tight rules on that. It's kind of fun and I think you will enjoy it.