Originally posted to HubPages in 2014. Updated at the end of the post.

I read a post with this very title (see above) on another site. Great title, low on real content. They talked about what you need but in generic terms. There was nothing there to really help anyone. It was a post created to generate traffic, get readers but it would not keep many of them because it did not back up the promise given in the title.

I’ve been publishing my own sites online since 1998 and I have done in with a sadly modest (miserly) budget.

WordPress Versus Blogger or Other Options, Like Joomla

I will not bash Google Blogger (blogspot.com) because that is a long-lived, free blogging platform which keeps up with trends quite well, has a lot of features and the ability to be customized. You get a lot from Blogger and pay nothing. I still think Blogger is a good way for anyone to start a site, give it some time to see how you like it and evolve your ideas. You don't need to rush into buying a domain, a web host or templates.

However, when you do have your plan and you know what you want to blog about (or create a site for, it doesn't always have to be a blog) take a look at WordPress (not the .com, I mean WordPress.org).

One of the best things about WordPress is the community support. People who like WordPress, get into the spirit of open source and giving and free exchange. This is why you can get such a variety of really good plugins and themes to take your site from out of the box (as is) to something of your own creation. Take a moment to thank the WordPress developers and theme makers who give so much without asking for payment.

Update 2025:

I would not recommend WordPress now. It's lost the focus of being about self publishing for individuals. Now its for WordPress site designers (NOT web designers, I don't think many of them know HTML) to build cookie cutter sites for clients. The software is bloated with things you don't really need and the things you could use are gone. Instead they are plugins you need to pay for. It is VERY hard to find any open source/ free plugins on the WordPress plugin directory now. WordPress is not what it once was. It's a good money maker for the people who sell their services for WordPress, its themes and plugins.

If you need a small site for your business, Blogger has not been entirely abandoned, but people tend to look down on it. You can use the Blogger software with your own domain. That would work well enough to put up a few pages to promote and give information about your business, while using your domain.

My best advice, in 2025, is to go back to the basics, build your own site with just plain HTML and text. You can find lots of guides for using HTML online.

Add images to your site from your own photographs or find someone who can draw and scan the images for you. Don't use images right from the digital camera unless you have settings to keep the images from being huge files that will take time to load or be very large in the space they take up on the web page. There are free image conversion services online. Make sure the one you use does not leave a watermark (ad) on your image.

Instead of a contact form, offer an email address people can reply to. That keeps it simple for you and them. Include your business name, address and phone number too. A photo of your business if you have a location people can come to.

If you want to have something more with a lot of posts, like a weblog, look for software like Chyrp Lite. This is the software I'm currently using. I like AlternativeTo, a directory of software alternatives if you want to look for something else.

Other than the cost of web hosting and the domain, you don't need to spend anything but time to have a site online.

If you only need a simple site to get your business online, keep it simple. Not only will it load quickly but people will not have trouble accessing it. It will be easy for you to update yourself, no need to pay someone to make changes and updates to your site.

Even in 2025, it does not need to be expensive, complicated, or troublesome to have a website or self publish for yourself online.

A site asks you to allow ads on their site, to make an exception with your ad blocker. Ok, I do. Usually because I like the site and use it often.

What is the very first ad you see? An ad for an ad blocker! Of course!

Is it some form of sarcasm?

After using the site, with ads, you quickly remember why you turned on your ad blocker. The ads take over the content. I either give up using the site, find an alternative, or some other workaround. Or turn the ad blocker back on so I can use the site.

I think people who ask you to make an exception and turn off your ad blocker never go into their own site and look at it with their own ad blocker turned off. It would be a shock for them to see how much the ads take over their site. Like trying to enjoy a garden taken over by massive invading weeds. Not the odd wildflower but aggressive weeds with thorns and prickles.

If you have a site and ask people to accept ads make sure you fully know what you are asking. You could be driving people away from your site, permanently.

I've been having a lot of trouble seeing clearly when trying to read websites. The style seems to be small, pale grey fonts which are very hard to read. No problem for a computer, or other machines. I wonder if these sites which are hard to read just expect machines and not human being to read the information? Are they just looking for web traffic for marketing. Content doesn't seem to be very kingly when you can't read it. Anyway, that's a bit off topic but the issue really frustrates me, personally.

I found a way to change settings in Firefox to make websites easier to read. It seems to be working, so far.

Go into your settings, click those three stacked lines in the right top bar of the web browser. Then Settings. From there you should be able to find the Languages section. See images below. Just click the "zoom text only" to turn that feature on. Then go into Advanced and set a minimum font size which your web browser should stick to when it opens web pages. The minimum font size may not work 100%. Some web developers choose to force font settings rather than letting readers choose what works for them. Again, likely valuing cosmetic looks instead of a readable site.

The zoom text only is great and has worked every time for me. Instead of enlarging the entire site, images and all, only the text is made bigger. So sites are not warping as much when I want to read them. Of course, this means zoom will not work for images now if you have been using it that way. But, I find it works well to open images in a new tab. Most of the time the image file is actually larger than the one used on the web page.

Zoom is a feature which allows you to increase or decrease either the size of a web page or the size of the text. This article explains how it works.

Source: Font size and zoom - increase the size of web pages | Firefox Help

Make Blogging Fun Again

Keeping a site up and running isn't light work. Writing, scheduling, promoting, proofreading, maintaining, updating, replying, publishing... all of that takes time and energy. Bloggers get burnt out trying to keep up with it.

What can you do to avoid burning out while still being productive with fresh inspiration to go on creating more?

• Change where you write.
• Change how you write.
• Get some sleep!
• Make writing fun (again).

If all else fails, reconsider your topic. Maybe you just don't have a blog niche which really suits you? Make a list of the things you really do love to read about, find out about and above all - what do you like to DO? Chances are something you are actively participating in will be a much better topic than something you watch from the sidelines.

Write Something Different: Interview Troubleshooting - problems with solutions Profile someone or something Quiz or polls Personal stories Quotes Conversations Explain decisions Answer questions Thank someone Round ups Goals Update old posts Q & A Follow up Checklists Trends Controversial Live blogging - report on an event Life streaming - report on yourself Video posts Promotional - talk about your ebook, etc Contests Ask questions of your readers FAQ (Frequently asked questions) Top ten list Podcast Review Editorial Rant Critique Special reports Post in a series, linked together Cheat sheet Infographic Hand drawn post Web comic Art journal Jokes Webinar Repost a discussion held on Twitter Debate Curated links Collaboration (trade posts with another blogger). Historical Future predictions Shopping ideas How-to Seasonal On this day... Whatever happened to... Tutorial Images with minimal text Advice column Hypothetical (What if...) Satire Inspirational/ motivational News Definitions of words/ jargon Directory of links Join in on a meme, blog fair or other project

Write it Differently

Stop writing everything like a standard blog post. Look at other formats. If you run WordPress make note of the formats available in the toolbar menu to the right.

Get out of your same old post rut and try something new.

Work on scheduling too. Put together a few posts ahead of time and schedule them to be posted in the days ahead. This way you can actually take a few days off from your daily blogging grind. Do something else. (Besides blog stuff - there is a whole world out there, offline).

Write in a New Location

Do you always write in the same place, at the same time, with the same tools? Why not make a change, something simple which will give you a fresh perspective, fresh scenery and people to watch.

I especially like writing in a coffee shop. I find a window seat and let myself procrastinate for awhile with a good latte. Once I stop trying to write it becomes easier to think of things to write about.

Another great discovery is the local transit system. For the cost of a few dollars I can spend an hour on the bus (it doesn't really matter where I'm going) and let my mind drift. I keep pens and paper in my purse or backpack and make notes with ideas as I get them.

Write outdoors too. Put yourself under the open sky with all sorts of room to breathe, relax and wander. Just being outside never fails to lighten my mood.

Unclutter your mind. It's funny how much easier it is for new thoughts to seep in once you have given them some space. Sleep (That thing you close your eyes for). People who keep blogs work for themselves, set their own hours and can have the most demanding boss. Themselves.

How many times have you stayed up late to proofread a post? How many times have you worked through lunch to put in time posting on Twitter? How many times have you not taken a day off in an entire week? What job has such poor hours, unless it is also someone self-employed?

Go to bed. Take a weekend off. Take a vacation and really stop blogging. Don't check email. Don't write a few lines to Facebook or Twitter. Don't do anything... except maybe jot down a note or two when you get a great idea you can work on tomorrow when you're done with your day off blogging.

Remember When all this Seemed Fun? I began blogging because I loved it.

In time that gets forgotten buried and lost. There are so many demands we put on ourselves. So many things others tell us we should do if we care about marketing, traffic, SEO, readers, comments, guest posts, advertising, monetizing and the list goes on. It's all pressure. A lot of it is just plain peer pressure.

Consider this... why do you read a blog (other than your own?) In some cases you may be looking for news and information and nothing more. But, even then, why do you choose one blog over another?

Something sparks your interest, beyond the text content. Most likely the blogs which get and keep interest from their readers are the blogs which have some spark of life, a sense of fun or at least of not being anti-fun, all work and a real chore.

Put fun back into your own blog and your work there.

Do you still love your blog topic? If not, what can you change about it to make it interesting and fun for you again?

Is there a new niche you would love to know more about yourself, something relevant to your topic? Something you just haven't taken the time to find out about or dive into?

A stale blog can't be fun to write. Bring something fresh to your blog and to your time and energy spent on it. Don't be afraid to boldly renovate and go forth in a new direction. Better to make progress in a new way than to burn yourself out and have nothing at all left to say and no real desire to say anything.

Last Night I Graduated from Rocket Squids on Squidoo I wasn't a Rocket Squid Star

I didn't make as much use of the Rocket Squid program as I could have. I could have read more of the articles posted to help us learn more about writing for the web and how Squidoo works in particular. I could have given and asked for more feedback on the lenses (posts/ articles) I was writing. I could have done more but I did learn new things, get fresh ideas, figured out some better ways and I was social and met a few others. The social is actually the hard part for me. We all have our good and not so great areas.

Writing at Squidoo Makes you a Published Writer

However, I don't think I wasted my time being part of Rocket Squids and I don't think it was a waste of time to join and be a student of Squid. That's what Rocket Squids is, a school for Squidoo writers. Actually, Squidoo publishers. Did you know you're actually not just a writer but a writer and a publisher? Which makes you a published writer.

In fact, now that I've graduated I'm surprised to feel a bit like I'm missing something. I will miss the extra quests which came from Rocket Squids, also the bonus of seeing some of the new features on Squidoo first (along with the Giant Squids). But, because I do have over 25 featured lenses, I have applied to become a Giant Squid (kind of like being a Brownie and 'flying up' to become a Girl Guide). I hope I get accepted, but, of course, there is no guarantee. I may have left a few uncaught typos in my wake. I have always tried to write original and creative content.

(Addendum: I did become a Giant Squid).

Maybe I'm a little arrogant to think I didn't really need the Rocket Squid program. I have been writing online since 1996 after all. I've been freelance writing long before that. I'm not a kid, by far. I know how to write. Not that I'm perfect. I will say that to my nephew but he knows I'm joking.

I do have more to learn. Everyone does. The more I do learn the more questions I find to ask. So, the Rocket Squids did help me, yes, even me with all the experience I have had as a web writer, directory editor, forum moderator, newsletter diva, blogger, copywriter, network writer and so on. You can always learn more - if you take yourself a bit less seriously and listen to what others have to tell you.

Want to Become a Rocket Squid?

At Rocket Squids you get help learning how to use Squidoo (the site) itself. You will also get feedback on your posts, weekly ideas you to help inspire you to write, and tips on writing for the web.

All you need is at least one or two lenses published (but not more than 25). You also need the interest in learning - but, if you weren't interested in learning you wouldn't be here reading this!

Writing for the Web... - isn't Always Blogging But, it's a Place to Start

Don't get too tangled up in SEO, writing for Google. Writing online should be writing for people to read and search engines to pick up. Actually, even the search engines (Google and Yahoo) are noticing how much more important the social media and socializing in general are than the marketing. Marketing is all about sales, so often it misses the target entirely because marketers are trying to catch the attention of Google instead of actual human people. People are the ones who read your posts, leave comments and pass along links they valued or found interesting.

Independent Blogger or Network Writer?

Is blogging still worthwhile? Is it worth the extra time, energy and resources to put into creating, maintaining and promoting your own site? Or, is it simpler to write for Squidoo (or other online networks) but only have a share of the profit from your work?

Do you have your own blog or site outside of Squidoo? If so, leave a comment with the link(s). I will visit your site and likely others who stop here will too.

If it were possible to add a third option here I would say the best option is to do both - run your own sites for the experience and be part of a network for the communicaitons and company. But, there are downfalls to each option. Being part of a network community and running your own sites too can burn you out. (I've been burnt out a few times over the years I've been publishing online).

Which is better: being your own blogger or working as part of a network of writers?

Write in Your Own Style and With Your Own Voice

How do writers write?

Anyway, here I am at the end of one path and maybe the start of another. Either way I will keep writing. I love writing. I especially enjoy the new lens format for reviewing items on Amazon. The fun is coming up with ideas around whatever I'm reviewing and making a fully robust post from the original item. There is a trick to it. Create layers to the original idea you are writing about. Don't go far off topic into some never never land... but, build up the topic with extras, layers and bundles of new and relevant ideas. This also works great for fiction writers.

You need to bundle ideas together in a way that makes sense and has flow! I think of it as having a conversation with someone I don't know. I also like to give readers extra information, a new spin on something and something else to think about or read about or study or research - new ideas to explore. It doesn't always work, but I do my best. I like bringing my own ideas, experience and opinions to something that could have been kind of bland just lying there flat on the page.

Writers all have their own style though. Each of us has our individual voice as well. So, if a writer is actually using their own voice, in their own style no two of us will ever have the same post even if we write about the exact same thing.

Writing Style Matters and Can be Developed - ... but working on your writer's voice is more fun.

Writing style is about how you write, the more practical things. Some people write in a casual way with a lot of flow. Some people write in a reporter style, with the facts... mainly the facts. Some writers write like a sales pitch, not always a bad thing.

Then there is your writing voice. This is more about what you say than how you write. It's how you say it. Have you had a conversation with someone really connects with you versus someone who really seems to have nothing to say but keeps talking anyway? Your voice is important. It's how you connect to your readers. Your writer's voice is your personality typed onto the page.

Curated Content Feeds for Web Writers - These are content feeds which I curate on Scoop.it

Web publishing is always changing in small and less subtle ways. One upcoming idea is content curation. Based on the idea of art and museum curators who display stuff (for lack of a better word) in art galleries and museums for the public to come along and have a look.

On the web, content curation is still mostly about finding and displaying content. Finding the content can be the simplest part. Keeping the content displayed takes some extra work for those who do it well. Using a site like Scoop.it does help because the software is set up to upload the link, add an image and just let the curator fill in the blanks (mostly). One very good thing which Scoop.it does automatically is give a link back to the source of the content. Linking back and giving credit is very important. It is one of the important ethical issues which we face as web writers.

So... What did I learn from being a RocketSquid?

I learned about Squidoo. I learned about the people behind Squidoo - I'd already known about some and even bought a couple of books written by Seth Godin. Not because of Squidoo but because I wanted to read more about what his perspective on web writing and publishing was.