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Blogging seems to have become one of the latest "must-haves" in this age of technology, and pretty much everyone has at least one. I have three, although I only really maintain one of them. This one is written using Wordpress installed on my own domain. The ease of installation was one of the reasons I decided to use it instead of one of the other options. Another reason was simply the number of templates & themes available. Changing the look of my blog whenever I wanted was something that interested me. And of course connecting with an audience out there was also a draw.

1-Ease of installation
Downloading and installing Wordpress on my own domain was not complicated at all. The Wordpress Codex has all the information you need to do this, both at a high level (their 5-minute installation) and in detail. I had to flip between the two, as I found that sometimes I needed the more detailed information, but I had everything up and running within 30 minutes. That included everything from download to unzipping to upload and database creation.

2-Customization of your blog
Wordpress has a great following around the world, and a lot of these people are developers who have created some wonderful themes for us all to use. It allows people like me the chance to change things around pretty much whenever I want. With a few clicks of your mouse, you can switch from professional to silly and fun and back again. Wordpress allows the use of plug-ins, which let you add little things to your site, like a progress bar, a calendar or thumbnails of your favourite photos. It's all pretty easy to change around, even for the newbie. If you're a web veteran, then there's no limit to what you can change.

3-Finding your audience
I decided to start my current blog after my sister got me back into knitting. Using your blog for something like a hobby or interest is a great way to make new friends, and to expand your own skills. My knitting blog lets me show photos of my progress on my knitting projects, ask for help when I need it, or to challenge friends to contests about who can knit a dishcloth the fastest. The point is, my blog lets me connect with people I might not ordinarily know. My Wordpress blog has a great interface that lets me create posts on line, and I can even set it up to accept emailed posts, which is a handy feature when I'm on the road.

If you're looking for a blog platform to host on your own domain, I highly recommend Wordpress. It's easy to use right from the beginning, plus the documentation and support are quite good and helpful. You can be up and running in no time.

Learn more about this author, Julia Borgini.
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