How to start a Blog !!!

Getting started with Blogger

Blogging is an very creative work where you can express yourself to the outer world. It is true that once knowledge can help other’s, so many time you can find very knowledge based write on it.

There are many sites who offer free & paid blogging service, including blogger. You can choose any of them.
I my self like blogger much because of many useful features (that we will discuss in later posts).

Now come to the point, that how to start blogging on blogger. Blogger gives an easy way to discuss, collaborate, or share your thoughts with the world.
This is a preliminary guide which will help you to familiarize yourself with some important features of Blogger and get started writing your own blog.

To start using Blogger, you must have Blogger id. This is a one out of many Google Services. You can sign here with your Google Account. (If you use Gmail, Google Groups, or orkut, you already have an account.) If you don't have signup here>>

Steps

1. Sign in to Blogger
2. Create a blog
3. Write your post
4. Adding an image
5. Adding a video
6. Privacy and permissions
7. Customizing your layout
8. Follow other blogs

Sign in to Blogger
To get started with Blogger, go to the Blogger homepage, and Sign in. Enter a display name and accept Blogger's Terms of Service. Then click the Create a Blog link and get started!

Create a blog
After getting in to the blogger Dashboard, click on the Create a Blog link. Pick a name and address (URL) for your blog. Then, choose your favorite template (this is how your blog will look when you publish it). Now get creative, add information to your personal profile, and customize how your blog looks, if you feel up to it. Start blogging now!

Write your post
Once you've signed in to Blogger, you'll see your dashboard with your list of blogs. Here's what you need to do is:

• Click the NEW POST button and enter anything you want to share with the world.
• Next, you'll see the Create New Post page. Start by giving your post a title (optional), then enter the post itself.
• When you're done, click the Preview link to make sure it's ready to go.
• Once you're satisfied with your post, click the Publish button. This will publish your new post.

Adding an image
You can add an image from your computer or the Web to your blog. Click the image icon in the post editor toolbar. A window appears prompting you to browse for an image file on your computer, or enter the URL of an image on the Web.
Once you've selected your image, you can then choose a layout to determine how your image will appear in your post: 

• The 'Left', 'Center', and 'Right' options allow you to customize the way your blog text will flow around your image.
• The 'Image size' options will determine how large the image will appear within your post.
• Click UPLOAD IMAGES to add your image, and then click DONE when the notification window appears telling you that 'Your image has been added.' Blogger will then return you to the post editor, where you'll see your image ready to be published to your blog.

Add a video
To add a video to your blog post, click the film strip icon in the post editor toolbar above where you compose your blog text. A window appears prompting you to 'Add a video to your blog post.'
Click Browse to select the video file from your computer that you'd like to upload. Note that Blogger accepts AVI, MPEG, QuickTime, Real and Windows Media files and that your video must be less than 100MB in size.

Before uploading your video, add a title in the 'Video Title' box and agree to the Terms and Conditions (you'll only have to do this the first time that you upload a video with Blogger). Then click UPLOAD VIDEO.
While your video uploads, you'll see a placeholder in the post editor showing where your video will appear. You'll also see a status message below the post editor letting you know that your upload is in progress. Depending on the size of your video, this usually takes about five minutes. When it is complete, your video will appear in the post editor.

Customizing your layout
Your template will give the look to your blog. When creating a new blog, you're first asked to choose a default template, this is the basic design of your blog. You can choose from customize your blog's design using our intuitive drag-and-drop interface. You can also add powerful gadgets such as slideshows, user polls, or even AdSense ads. Changing the fonts and colors on your blog is easy too. If you want more precise control over your blog's layout, you can also use the Edit HTML feature. To edit your blog's layout, follow these steps: 

• Click the Layout link from your dashboard below the blog you would like to customize.
• From the Page Elements sub-tab, click Edit to edit existing gadgets, or Add a Gadget to add new ones.
• To add a new gadget after you've clicked Add a Gadget, simply click the plus sign next to your desired gadget. You can choose from gadgets by category, or search for a specific gadget in the top right of the pop-up window.
• Once you've added the necessary information to your selected gadget, click SAVE. Your layout changes will appear instantly.

Privacy and permissions
By default, your blog is completely public, and can be read by anyone on the internet. However, if you want to keep it private, you can do that, too. You cna change these settings on the Settings | Permissions tab.

1. Under the 'Blog Readers' heading, you'll probably see 'Anybody' selected as the default. When you change this to 'Only readers I choose,' you'll get an Add Readers button.
2. Click the Add Readers button and then enter the email address of a person to whom you'd like to grant access to your blog. To add multiple people, separate their addresses with commas.
3. For each address entered, the Google Account associated with that address will be given access to view your blog. If an address is not associated with an account, that person will receive an invitation email with a link allowing them do one of three things:
• Sign in to an existing account.
• Create a new account.
• View your blog as a guest (no account required).

Follow other blogs
With the Blogger Following feature you can keep track of the blogs you follow via your Reading List on the Blogger dashboard. There are several ways to become a follower of a blog. One of the easiest ways is to visit a blog that has added the 'Following' widget, ad then follow these steps:

• Click the FOLLOW THIS BLOG link under the 'Followers' widget.
• You'll then see a pop-up window with the options to either follow publicly or anonymously.
• Select how you'd like to follow the blog, then click the orange FOLLOW button. You're now a follower of the blog! If you chose to follow the blog publicly, your profile picture will be displayed on the blog with a link to your Blogger profile.
• When you become a follower of a blog, the blog will also be added to your Reading List on your Blogger dashboard. Additionally, you can become a follower of any blog or URL (even if the blog doesn't have the 'Followers' widget) by adding the blog to your Reading List on the dashboard.

This tutorial will give only the start, but many thing you will learn while start working with it.