Blogging is mainstream these days. There is even a segment of blogger's called 'Mommy Blogger's'. We want to share some popular blogging resources with you so you can get started on your own blog whether it's for personal or business reasons. Starting a blog can be a great way to keep in touch with family and if you are a business owner, to keep in touch with your customers or clients.

Definition of a Blog

A blog is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.

There are a few resources and services you can use to start a blog, most are free or have a free option.
Blogger has been around since 1999 and is consistently rated one of the best blogging services. Blogger makes it easy to design your blog using Templates. Adding photographs to a Blogger blog is a breeze with Blogger's photo uploader. Blogger Mobile makes it easy to blog on the go and add photographs to your blog directly from your cell phone. In summary, Blogger is great for beginners but small business owners should look at Typepad which starts at just $4.95 a month. Don't worry though, you can sign up for a free 14 day trial before committing to a paid blogging service. I've been using Typepad since 2005 and love the flexibility offered to those of us who are willing (crazy enough) to fool with the design by using their Advanced Templates. I pay $14.95 a month for Typepad's Pro service which allows me to use Advanced Templates and gives me access to other additional features. While Typepad doesn't offer a free service their Basic service gives users access to a lot of really great features and Basic Templates. Typepad Basic blogger's can change the look of their website with a few clicks of the mouse.
Wordpress is another blogging service that is well liked my many blogger's but I found it more difficult to use than Typepad. That is probably because I tried to use it after having used Typepad for a couple of years so the different features and interface where a challenge for me.

Once you create your blog and have been blogging for a few weeks, you may want to submit it to some blog directories such as Blog Catalog, Mom Blog Network and others. Go to Google and search for "submit to blog directory" and you will find tons of links to blog directories. I am amazed at how many visitors a lot of 'mom blogs' get just because they are entertaining. People love reading stories about other people's lives. If you start a blog and just blog about your life, I'm sure you will have a following in no time.

Last but not least, join website's like Blogher to let other blogger's know you are out there. There is no need for competition in the 'mom blog' world so share your blog with other mom blogger's and they just might share your blog with their readers.

Enjoy!

Alicia