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What is a blog?  I can’t tell you how many times someone has asked me this with a look of complete confusion on her face.  Maybe it is a strange word but it is actually a neat concept loved by many people out there today.  Blogs are becoming increasingly popular. 

An easy way to think of a blog -- short for "weblog" -- is as an online journal.  It is a place to share information with others.  Blogs can be shared with the public or password protected; there are blogs out there on millions of topics personal, political, technical, and otherwise. 

If you want to set up a blog, there are a few steps that need to be taken and a few decisions that will need to be made.  One of the first decisions is whether to go with a free, less-personalized service or one that costs a little bit but can be personalized.

There are several providers of free service, including wordpress, blogger, and typepad. The disadvantage of a free blog host is that you cannot have a personal URL, though you can personalize your blog in other ways. On the plus side, hosting is free, and it is usually much easier to set up and update your blog.

If you choose to host your own blog on your own URL, you can personalize it in many more ways, with themes, customized logos, and more.  The disadvantages include the added cost to purchase the URL and the hosting for the website, and the added hassle of craeting your blog yourself.

After making these decisions, you will then need to figure out what you would like your blog to be about. Will it be personal or for business use? What will be the focus of the blog? What will you call it?

It is important to blog on a regular basis, so be sure to choose a topic that you can write about easily and often!

Best of luck with beginning your adventure.