would like to do a blog for our travels - but how to start? (1 Viewer)

[Hel999]

I would like to do a blog of our travels but am not great with computers and im not really sure where to start. any advice on where to start?

 

[irnbru]

Try looking at the resources on fun. Blogs are great, not only does it mean you can recall yoyr trips but everyone else hears about your adventures

 

[Old Soldier]

Hi. Try this site...https://wordpress.com. Easy to join, free and straight forward to start your blog.

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[Clarky]

Hi. Try this site...https://wordpress.com. Easy to join, free and straight forward to start your blog.

Another vote for Wordpress.
Very easy to use and you might be surprised at how many people in how many countries get to read your words of wisdom...................or in my case ramblings.

Richard.

 

[PaulB]

Another vote for wordpress.com. Here is my blog no programming knowledge required all works on templates. https://paulbsramblings.wordpress.com/

 

[scotjimland]

I use Google Blogger.. it's easy to use ,

my Singer Sewing machine blog has a world wide audience with over 25,000 page views.. rarely a day goes by without a comment on it

Blogger is a great blog tool. It offers open-source blogs and automatically submits your blog to one of the best search engines available. It is perfect for casual and semi-professional bloggers. - See more at: <Broken link removed>

How to start a Google Blog

https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1623800?hl=en


If you really want simple, start a Facebook page.. it's easy , free and your friends can follow you and also post

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[DBK]

I think it's worth considering why you want to write a blog. If it is just to record your travels and photos then starting your own using WordPress or blogger etc will do fine. Quite a few folk do on here and they post from time to time telling folk they have just done an update and leave a link. However, I'm not sure how much interaction they get compared to just posting an account of your travels directly here on the forum. This is a great way to get comments and above all suggestions on what else to see in the area where you are and where to go next. However, a dedicated blog might be easier for non-motorhoming friends and relations to read your words of wisdom but most blogs I've seen have what I find is a confusing layout with the most recent entries at the top. It is possible to change this, at least in WordPress, but folk seldom do.

 

[mowbotman]

I was thinking the same,what is the best iPhone/ipad app,can you just use the app when no signal or abroad when data cost are high, then sync once a day,not sure how the apps work

 

[DBK]

I was thinking the same,what is the best iPhone/ipad app,can you just use the app when no signal or abroad when data cost are high, then sync once a day,not sure how the apps work

You can get WordPress apps which work offline. https://apps.wordpress.com

Alternatively, you could use Google docs I suppose because it keeps a copy of the document on your device and syncs it when it gets a connection. You could then copy and paste what you have written into your blog when you have a connection.

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[Fenman]

@DBK has got it dead right.
I love reading of other people's travels, especially if they include photos.
Take an example from @Robert Clark and his postings. Lots of info and photos and easy to read.
While wordpress is okay it is on another site. I never remember to go look at these blogs as it simply slips my useless mind. Invariably the blogger forgets to post a reminder here or if they do it isn't every time they add to it so when you go to their blog you have to scroll to the last bit you read. In the end that gets tedious.
Stick with MHF you know it makes sense.

 

[****]

I use Google Blogspot

http://mytintent.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html

What is i upload my pictures to google and if i want to use on in the blog its just a case of click a link and its done. Plenty templates to use and its Blogging for dummy's easy.

 

[Jac Sprat]

No one has mentioned doing the blog on here which i do (jac sprat's blog)
However it's hard to know if it gets read as people don't tend to comment (only get those on forum chat or on Facebook) however I was amazed to see recently it had over 1000 views so I guess people will click on it through here.
Depends what you want. We were inspired by blogs we read on or through here so I wanted to do the same.

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[wanderer]

We did an Overland trip London to Australia in 2011 took 6 months and we used travellerspoint for our template . The blog is http://palaceboy1.travellerspoint.com/ . We were with total strangers at the beginning who were also writing blogs and after a couple of weeks were discussing how many views they had , the highest was about 100 when i checked mine it was over 1000 and i thought strange .This discrepancy continued and then i realised what was going on , i needed a user name so i called myself "palaceboy" after my football team then i needed a blog title so came up with "Overland Cruising" i had not given any thought to the gay connection and viewers of the blog were not getting what they expected . As of this morning i have had 872,967 views and it still comes up on the first page on the search engine .
It probably wont bother anyone but a lot of the blogsites mentioned here are banned in certain countries but i was still tapping away with travellerspoint

 

[Jo662]

@DBK has got it dead right.
I love reading of other people's travels, especially if they include photos.
Take an example from @Robert Clark and his postings. Lots of info and photos and easy to read.
While wordpress is okay it is on another site. I never remember to go look at these blogs as it simply slips my useless mind. Invariably the blogger forgets to post a reminder here or if they do it isn't every time they add to it so when you go to their blog you have to scroll to the last bit you read. In the end that gets tedious.
Stick with MHF you know it makes sense.

I think you are right,just look at Ian the builders thread as good example!

 

[Fenman]

@wanderer can you elucidate on why some of the blogs on here are banned elsewhere please?

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[travelbunyip]

Hi , Our page on blogging gives a few useful links as to how to set up a blog site.
http://www.travelbunyip.com/homepage/blogs-and-blogging/
We used the you tube video and you can see the results in our blog site below.
A blog does take a lot of work and you have to consider what you are trying to achieve and is the effort involved
getting the desired results of your objective. In our case we have a record of our trips and we have inspired others to
be more adventurous in their travels. Good luck and be sure to place your blog on the Motorhomefun Blog section if you decide to go ahead with one.

 

[wanderer]

@wanderer can you elucidate on why some of the blogs on here are banned elsewhere please?

You will find facebook is banned in China for example and certainly Blogspot was treated the same as facebook. There were also problems in Uzbekistan , Turkmenistan and Mongolia

 

[scotjimland]

You will find facebook is banned in China for example and certainly Blogspot was treated the same as facebook. There were also problems in Uzbekistan , Turkmenistan and Mongolia

don't think I'll be losing sleep over that ..

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[dippingatoe]

I think it's worth considering why you want to write a blog. If it is just to record your travels and photos then starting your own using WordPress or blogger etc will do fine. Quite a few folk do on here and they post from time to time telling folk they have just done an update and leave a link. However, I'm not sure how much interaction they get compared to just posting an account of your travels directly here on the forum. This is a great way to get comments and above all suggestions on what else to see in the area where you are and where to go next. However, a dedicated blog might be easier for non-motorhoming friends and relations to read your words of wisdom but most blogs I've seen have what I find is a confusing layout with the most recent entries at the top. It is possible to change this, at least in WordPress, but folk seldom do.

I would love to change mine around, I hate the way it is now, but don't really know where to start. I there something simple to follow somewhere. I am not a techie in any way plus just at present even the simplest of tasks seem hard

 

[Fenman]

I would love to change mine around, I hate the way it is now, but don't really know where to start. I there something simple to follow somewhere. I am not a techie in any way plus just at present even the simplest of tasks seem hard

I just had a quick look at your blog and I see that you have exactly the problem that DBK and I mention in that you have to go all the way through it to get to the start. But at least you have a monthly list to one side.

DBK said that Wordpress blogs could be done the other way round and I would suggest that you look through their website and see if you can do just that to one already started.

By the way, I read your bit about buying a house in the Limousin. The property market over there is a nightmare. It's made a whole lot worse by the inheritance laws - so houses end up after a few years in the joint ownership of a whole bunch of relatives who can't agree on the value and hence they sit for years until they simply fall down.
Despite all that we hope to be moving over there this year to live in our French village after 15 years of using the house as a holiday home.

 

[JockandRita]

What no one has mentioned yet, is the ability to get online when abroad.

Rita and I have been MH'ing outside the UK since 2005, and apart from finding the odd freebie WiFi signal from a hotel, we never manage to get online. This is the first year we have had our own internet connection via an unlocked MiFi and a 3 sim card. We've only been away 18 days, and already I have used up almost 2Gb of my 12 month/12Gb allowance, mostly by uploading (resized) photos of our current trip on the "Morning Funsters" thread, as well as a bit of browsing. As well as data consuming, writing up a blog can also be time consuming..............unless you leave it all for a rainy day, when there is bu##er all else to do.

Unless we get free or cheap WiFi when we enter Croatia, we might not be online for the next two to three weeks. It's not everyone that has (or needs) a smart phone on a contract, with fair usage internet included.

Regards,

Jock.

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[LesleyC]

We started a blog a few days ago (on blogspot/blogger), because we're off on a John O'Groats to Lands End (and back) cycle, starting this weekend. Him cycling, me driving. A few friends have suggested we blog it, so we thought we'd give it a go.
So far, its been relatively easy. The web interface is good, and I've even made a post from my phone too (just to try it out in advance, because laptop isn't coming).
I'm not convinced that anyone actually wants to read any of my ramblings, but seeing as I don't know anyone in Latvia, and we seem to be getting someone there reading it, I guess there must be a couple of really bored people out there.
If you want to have a quick look, it's here. Nothing fancy on it, haven't learned any of the advanced stuff (and probably won't bother to), but this seems to be making the friends/family happy.

 

[****]

Just go to pubs cafes with free internet and nurse a pint/tea

 

[mowbotman]

I dont get it, i have just sorted out a blogger name from the link at the bottom of your blog page ( powered by blogger ) set it up, but when i logon it looks nothing like yours , were do i start ????

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[mowbotman]

is there an app dor iphone which will makenit easier

 

[DBK]

As an aside,

I dont get it, i have just sorted out a blogger name from the link at the bottom of your blog page ( powered by blogger ) set it up, but when i logon it looks nothing like yours , were do i start ????

I'm not sure what you mean. When you log on you should be on the editing page, with options down the left, such as templates and layout. When you add a post, you need to click publish and then if you click view you should then be able to see your blog.

I've just created a new blog. The edit page looks like this:

And the blog, with just one post which reads "This is the first post" :

 

[****]

Remember and press update (on the right) after your edit or it wont publish on the blog.

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[JockandRita]

Just go to pubs cafes with free internet and nurse a pint/tea

What with, my laptop or tablet? That's asking for trouble from thieving scroats.

Regards,

Jock.

 

[****]

What with, my laptop or tablet? That's asking for trouble from thieving scroats.

Regards,

Jock.

Cant say i have ever had any of my stuff stolen or been so paranoid to think like you either.

 

[JockandRita]

Cant say i have ever had any of my stuff stolen or been so paranoid to think like you either.

Each to their own, but a smart phone is easier to carry, and conceal from would be opportunists.

May I refer you to Rule No1.

Regards,

Jock.

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