Create a New Blog

Starting a new blog is simple, but before you go in with guns blazing you should have a good idea about the content of your blog - i.e. what your blog is going to be about, how often you will be posting to it, whether you need any special pictures or links for it etc... It doesnt take alot of pre planning to start a blog, just a little bit of forethought. The other thing you need to do is make sure you are REGISTERED and LOGGED IN. [Unsure? Goto Registration Help]

Now you're ready to start 'blogging'. You manage all your blogs on the  Blog Management  page, which can be reached via the  My Blogs  link on the user menu, or the  Blog  tab at the top. There is also a link to it directly at the bottom of this page.

The  Blog Management  page consists of two lists, My Blogs and Group Blogs. My Blogs is your own personal blog list, for blogs where you are the sole author. Group Blogs is the list of blogs for groups where you are a member.

Regardless of whether you want to start a personal blog or a group one, the method is still the same. Once you are on the  Blog Management  page you can click on the  Create a New Blog  button, you will be taken to a page which asks you to fill in a few details about your new blog.

• Title

  The Title is the heading for the whole blog, which goes at the top of every page of your blog. In this example it is Oranges.

• Blog Address

  The Blog Address is the URL on Heavenblogs.co.uk where your blog can be found. For example if you typed orange in this box, your blog address would be www.heavenblogs.co.uk/orange/. So it would be good if your address related to the subject or content of your blog.

  As you can only have one blog per address, once you've filled in this box, clicking the  Check Availabilty  link makes sure someone else hasnt already created a blog with the same address, and tells you if they have, meaning you can type in another option until you find an address which hasn't been taken

• Blog Tagline

  The Tagline is seen next to the Title when the blog is viewed. It is a few words or 'caption' to go with the blog title. In the orange example the Tagline reads A Beginner's Guide. This is the only optional part of this page, you don't need to enter a tagline to create a blog.

• Blog Description

  The Blog Description is next. This is not seen when your blog is viewed, it is for the metadata. The metadata is an important part of websites, it helps them be searchable and consistant. However, dont worry if this confuses you, all the description needs to be is a few words describing what your blog is about. In this case the description reads: Oranges of different types, tried and tested and reviewed. Trying to find a specific orange - look no further!

• Blog Category

  Finally you need to choose a Category for the blog to go in, so other people browsing the site can find your blog easily. For the orange example, the most appropriate category will be Food & Drink.

All these settings are editable, APART FROM the URL/Blog Address, which can not be changed once it is set. As long as all these boxes are filled correctly when you click the  Submit Button , you will be taken back to the  Blog Management  page, where your new blog should appear in your blog list.

From this table you can view your blog (    ), add a new post (    ) and access your blog settings (    ), as well as quickly checking how many posts you have and when the last one was.