Here it is, your not-so-definitive-yet-highly-helpful-guide to starting your very own blog!

Many people would wonder, “why would a church or ministry need to start a blog?” Well, for one thing, you are reading a blog right now. A blog is really just an online medium that has a multiple array of functions. Some use a blog to journal, others to communicate news, others to show pictures and videos. Some combine multiple elements into one blog. Churches can use a blog as their main web site.  Pastors and ministers using blogs to communicate to others is not new. Here are some notable blogs:

Dave Workman-Vineyard Community Church

The Resurgence-Mars Hill Church Seattle

Allen-Calvary Austin

Relevant Church Blog

I am surprised that more churches do not utilize blogs. You can get a lot of information out quickly, and people do not have to spend a lot of time to get the gist of what you are trying to say (most readers average 1 minute on a blog).

Blog Software

First step, you have to figure out how you are going to host your blog. There are many free blog services out there. There are the ever-popular Xanga and Blogger, but there is also WordPress, LiveJournal, and the much despised MySpace. A newcomer to the arena is Microsoft with their Live Spaces. Search Google to find hundreds of others.

The advantages of using a free host are plenty. The cost, obviously, is free, you do not have to do any of the hosting work, there are communities already built in which makes it easier to attract traffic, and they are loaded with features that take little effort to implement.

The disadvantages are plenty as well. You may have to subject your readers to advertisements that annoy or you disapprove of (MySpace is the worst with this as they often advertise dating services that appear to be more like call-girl services). You may be governed on your content. There are spatial limitations in regards to the amount of pictures or videos you can post, and you usually have to have a prefix or suffix added to your name (for example, “yourname.blogspot.com” which can take from your credibility or professionalism.) Finally, you may be limited in your blogs look and feel.

Alternative: you could host your own blog

I chose this rout for most of the above reasons. I wanted to have complete control over the look, feel, and content. Mostly, I like having my domain name (youseedrybones) independent of any prefix or suffix. So, how does one do this? It might sound complicated, but let me tell you ONE of the easier ways. I am not saying it is the only way, but it is probably the easiest. Register your domain name with GoDaddy and buy your hosting from them. They offer hosting plans for as low as $4.25/month in some packages. They will install WordPress to your site for free. Their tech support is top notch and very helpful even if you created the issue; like when I destroyed my wife’s personal blog. Sorry Honey.

(follow this link to check out GoDaddy: www.GoDaddy.com )

If you go to most other hosting services, you will have to install WordPress on your own. If you are not computer/Internet/code savvy person, this could be frustrating to no end. I stumbled through my first WordPress install and have the scars to prove it. They brag about their famous 3 minute installation, but do not tell you there are some tweaks depending on your hosting…

Why WordPress?

This is my personal choice. It is highly functional, has a great support community, its free, you can add widgets and advertising, and it is really easy to use. You can choose from many others if you like. John from Church Crunch writes a great article on 10 free web site builders here.

WordPress is also easy to edit using Windows Live Writer which I wrote about here.

Find a niche.

When blogging, if you are attempting to communicate a message, it is important to find a niche. For example, some blogs write on personal finances. This blog you are reading here works on finding and sharing ministry resources. If you are a pastor, make sure your people know if you are communicating an extended sermon or if you are blogging personal information. Jumping back and forth can confuse and alienate readers. If you are looking to do both, I would recommend two separate blogs. Remember, your niche can be a particular part of ministry (youth, events, small groups) or it can be a way to add additional ministry to your church or organization (maybe a “car fix-it” group, or a resource for single moms. Some blogs could be for communication among teams, like hospitality or worship bands.). As an individual blogger, you can launch an entire ministry (like this site).

Regardless, you can use blogging to “spread the kingdom” to many others. But beware, blogging is a lot of work and it will take trial and error. Building up a readership is hard and takes time. You will drop the ball at times. Perseverance is important.

Last bits of wisdom

1. Give your readers expectations. For example; update on the same day, every time. If your readers know to expect a Tuesday update, they will come back every Tuesday looking for something new. If you update everyday, make sure you stick to it. On that note, do not update everyday unless you are ready for that kind of commitment. I just started, and it can be exhausting at times.
2. Only disclose information you would be willing to tell your mom. I have readers from Texas, Spain, and New Jersey. I do not know anyone personally in those locations. They are people I have never met, and I do not feel like divulging any overly personal info. In turn, you can irritate and alienate readers if you get too personal (or those close to you if you spill their privet info all over the Internet). It should not be a surprise that if you go into details about “that weird rash” you might lose readers.
3. Keep it simple. Make sure readers can easily navigate your site. It might seem like the more links the better, but that is not true. Given most readers will only spend a couple of minutes on your site, try and make the information as easy to find as possible.
4. Believe in what you are writing. Do not write stuff because it sounds educated or because it is the hot issue right now. Write about things you like writing about.
5. Proof Read. I am guilty not doing this at times, but it is important.

Have questions about blogging? Please feel free to leave them in the comments sections and I will answer them.

-Don-

iTrack Mine (.com).  You track yours.

Let us say I owned a GREAT book that you wanted to read, but you did not know I owned it, read it, and it is currently collected massive amounts of dust on my book shelf. You decide you want to buy the book. First you check your favorite local used book dealer. It takes you 30 minutes, and they don’t have it. You try the library. They don’t have it, but could in a few months, they put you on a waiting list. Another 45 minutes of your life gone.

You check Amazon, Borders, Barns and Noble, and Books-A-Million to get the best price. 20 minutes. Amazon has it for $12 plus $5 shipping. They end up being the best price (hey, after shipping, you saved $1.20 over the brick and mortar store!). Seven to ten days later, you have your book!  Isn’t the internet great?!

What if you knew I owned the book and could barrow it for free?

You would have saved over an hour-and-a-half (plus seven to ten days) and $17. Right?  But how could you possibly know I had the book you wanted? That is where   www.itrackmine.com comes in.

It is social bookmarking for your stuff.

You can upload your stuff, music, DVD’s, books, by Title, ISBN or UPC to their website. Then, you can give access to others to view your library. If they have access, they can make loan requests, read reviews on items listed, or browse public libraries made by other users!

Another great feature is that it is web based meaning you can use it on any platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix, gOS, whatever).

And it’s mobile.

I do not have a Blackberry or iPhone, but if I did, I could access my library or others as they have a special mobile site for easy browsing (I know, if you have an iPhone there is no issue, but not everyone has AT&T).

Join me…pleeeeeeeaaaasee. Don’t make me beg (anymore).

I would like to test this out with a group of my friends to see how it works. So, who are my friends? Right now that would be anyone who signs up. My username is FriarDon. I have one book added, but will try and add more this weekend. If you try it out, let me know in the comments. We can be book buds!

Besides personal, how is this good?

Wouldn’t it be cool if churches, schools, students, etc. used this to share books and media? Think about it. I have some books that cost over $100 (yes Jason, there are a couple at CCU that meet that $85 mark) and I know of some that cost around $400 (I really want them, they are writings of the Ancient Near East societies, they are awesome). We could share them, keep track of who has them, save time and money.

Won’t you sign up? It’s free.

Have a good weekend, and stay warm.

-Don-

Digital photos rule our lives.

With the nature of digital cameras, we may often find ourselves with TONS of pictures littering our hard drives.  Our only limitations with digital cameras are really our batteries and storage space. The reality is, even with a photo quality printer, most of us print out very little of our pictures. While printing at home is convenient, it can still be cost prohibitive.

Some of us bought digital picture frames to constantly scroll through pictures. Others of us have several CD’s or DVD’s made. If you are like me, you have several folders strewn across several computer (only one of which is actually mine and is currently not working) and the rest being housed on the camera itself.

How can we organize them?

I am sure by now many of us know about Flickr and other similar online photo organizers/presenters. Online photo organizers are all well and good, but what if you do not want to actually put them online?  It takes a lot of time, there can be upload limits, privacy issues, and there is currently uncertainty if Flickr is going to make it in the new year. That is where we take a look at photo organizing software.

What are some of our options?

Easier asked then answered I think. There are literally thousands of applications out there. As I do not have time to play with thousands, I am going to tell you about three of them. While two are free (Picasa and Photology), one cost about $300 (Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, may be cheaper with academic discounts). I will also be upfront, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (APL) is more powerful than the others and contains an amazing editor for photos.

Let’s start our evaluations.

Photology:  Arguably the most creative photo organizer of the bunch. Photology is the photo organizer for the unorganized. No need to go through and tag pictures or put them in specially organized folders  by date or event. Photology will actually search photos by what is in them. For example, you can search for photos by content (pre-determined) and Photology will do its best to find them. While the search is not perfect, it does very well. I did a search for photos containing flowers and was surprised when a photo of a couch with a floral print showed up in the results. I did a search for snow, and a picture of Matt McCoy popped up…like I said, not always perfect. The best part though, is I never labeled or tagged any of my photos. I just allowed photology to search my hard drive and add any photos it could find (it even found some REALLY old photos I used on this site a year ago that I did not even know I still had on my hard drive).

The adjustment tools are basic, very basic. They include a red eye reducer, crop, color adjust, and a rotate tool. Not anywhere close to Photoshop or The Gimp, but it is not supposed to be. The entire interface is easy to use and pretty slick. From almost any screen you can print, set a photo as a wallpaper on your computer, or email.

Verdict: Light weight and imaginative. Hopefully the company will continue to improve on their already stable and impressive product. If you do not want to go through and tag or label photos, but want them easily accessible, this program is for you.

Get it here: www.getphotology.com

Picasa: This little program is owned by a big company, Google. Picasa is one of the first photo organizing tools I used. It is more traditional in that you organize through folders and a labeling system. It is solid and highly organized. You can import quickly from a camera or pre-existing folder. You can view your photos as a slide show, timeline, or quickly burn a selected amount of photos to CD.

The editing tools are basic with just a few more choices than Photology. Some of the cool features in Picasa are the ways it is integrated with other Google products. You can quickly export a picture to a blog, your own Picasa web space, or even Google Earth. Other options, like print, upload, and email are available as well.

One bonus was the screen shot feature. If you hold Ctrl and hit the Print Screen button on your keyboard, you can take a screen shot that appears right away in Picasa. Really nice for blog posting about photo organizing software.

Verdict: Great for the old school photo organizer fans. With the way it can interface with a Flickr like website, I am surprised it is not more widely used. Upon using it again (I had not used version 3 until the time of evaluation for this review) I have decided it is my photo organizer of choice.

Get it here: www.picasa.google.com

Light Room: This bad boy is the heavy hitter.  Unlike Photology and Picasa, Adobe Photoshop Lightoom (APL) uses a lot of resources (RAM and CPU) If you are using it, I would recommend at least 2GB RAM and some sort of dual or quad core machine. Like I stated before, APL is far more professional and has many more options available  for it. The editing tools (under the Develop tab) is more like Photoshop than any of the others. You can edit the exposure, temperature, burn, dodge, grayscale, and more using sliders, plus you can edit using the histogram for even more fine tuning. Many of the options I remember from my photography classes in high school and college almost a decade ago. Back then, we would have killed to have this kind of editing power for so cheap (I learned a lot of my photo editing on Photoshop 4 which could hardly compare to some of the free editors out there today). Like our other selections, you can print, upload, and view a slide show right from the APL interface.

Verdict: The short amount of space I give here only scratches the surface of APL. It’s ability to interface with other Adobe products makes this a must have for any armature photographer who hopes to become a more serious photographer anytime soon. If you have the $300 (or $99 for the upgrade) to shell out, I would encourage you to buy it. Since I only had a 30 day trial, I will be sad when it expires.

Get it here: www.adobe.com

The last words.

I know there are many other photo organizers out there. Actually, being an Apple user, you might be surprised to hear that I cannot stand iPhoto. It is slow and clunky and takes over your your photo collection. While Picasa wins no style points (really has the ugliest interface of the three reviewed here) it is my choice. If price was not a factor, I would choose Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

For non-profits and churches, these programs can be highly functional. You can share, edit, and organize photos of events quickly and easily. In today’s world where the digital camera is king and one can take virtually unlimited photos at little or no cost, using an organizer becomes more important than ever.

Let me know what you use to organize and edit your photos in the comments. Disagree with my assessments? leave a comment about that as well.

-Don-

Are you a blogger? Then you will love this.

I will confess, I am 60% Mac Fan, 20% Linux fan (I use Mint and Ubuntu ) and 20% Microsoft fan. And earlier this month I was only 15% Microsoft fan. For me to sing the praises of a Microsoft product is a HUGE thing.

Enter the Live Writer. (Warning, small amounts of geek lingo included)

While backing up my blog and upgrading to the latest version of WordPress, I somehow lost TinyMCE. This is the visual editor that makes WordPress act more like a word processor. You probably use some version of it or something like it on Xanga, Blogger, MySpace, etc. This is what allows you to change fonts, colors, and add images or video to your blog.
I was about to re-add it when I decided to try something new, a stand alone editor. I wanted something that would be available even when I was not online. MS Word just didn’t cut it.

My search lead to several different options. Some cost money, some were free. Some plugged into my browser (defeating the purpose of a stand alone product) while others just looked complicated. When I found Windows Live Writer, the screen captures looked slick. I decided to download the beta (beta just means it is a pre-release that is still being worked on) and give it a test drive.

Wow.

You start by following prompts to enter your blog info.  You are not limited to just one blog either, you can enter multiple blogs if you choose. This feature is great as you can remain organized offline while being writing and editing whenever is convenient. The program has a couple of toolbars at the top and a blank page below. Once you see this, if you have been blogging for more than a couple of days, you will know what to do. You can edit text, makes lists, add pictures and videos, or even insert maps! The interface is WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) and you can do a web preview so you can see how your post will look on your site.

I am very impressed with the programs ability to upload and crop photos. If you have ever uploaded photos to a blog, you know how painful this can be. With Windows Live Writer, you just drag and drop, edit, crop, and you are done. Perfect. Easy. Simple.

For those of you who use HTML or are code addicts, there is an HTML view.

(**NOTE** If you are using WordPress, you cannot change font, size, or color. My apologies, it appears that you can change these things, I just had an errant install. Upon reinstall things are working fine. Sorry Microsoft! You can bold, underline, strike through, italicize, change colors, fonts, sizes, and add headings.)

Who is this really for?

If you are a “power blogger” who uses WordPress, TypePad, LiveJournal, Blogger, Windows Live Spaces, or the Moveable Type API, or even a You Tube user, Than this is for you. It makes editing your blog easier than using Word, and defiantly more easy than your blogs current editor.

The little things.

Call me simple, but I love the included spell check (no grammar check, but we know most bloggers use poor grammar anyway), a quick publish button, an actual page editor (if you have a site with multiple pages you can edit or create them as well), and the option of opening your blog in your browser as soon as it is published.

Hang ups?

None really. The program exceeded my expectations. For a Beta it has been remarkably solid with no crashes. The only thing I wish is for a Mac version and support for more blog platforms.

Final.

If you are a church, ministry, or an individual and want to start a web site, it is high time you recognized that blogging is a viable format. Blogs can be cheap or free and highly functional.  If you are looking for a cheap “web presence” for your church or ministry*, Windows Live Writer is a tool you can use and count on. Unlike some platforms (Drupal, Plone, etc) it makes blogging easy and accessible for everyone who may have to update your site.

I love this program, even if it is not made for a Mac.

*This week (Wednesday) we will talk about how to start a blog, so be sure to visit us then.

-Don-