The Basics of Blogging

Hello and Welcome!

My name is Stan Dubin and I've been asked to put together a basic hat so that Scientologists from around the world can start their own "Scientology blog" and help clear the planet even faster!

This whole subject of blogging can be exciting, creative, fulfilling and downright fun. And from a Scientology perspective, blogs can provide an enormous amount of theta to a world very much in need of it.

This hat write-up will walk you through the steps of starting your own blog. Each of the terms you'll need to know will be defined along the way.

I will be taking into consideration that some of the people visiting here will not be speaking English as their first language so I ask your patience if you already understand some of this information.

First things first, what is a blog?

The word blog was created from two words "web" and "log" — the "b" from web is added to the word "log" and we have the new word blog!

The "web" stands for "the system on the Internet that allows you to find and use information that is held on computers all over the world."

The meaning of "log" that applies here is: "an ongoing record of events or items of interest."

Therefore a blog is simply an ongoing record of events or items of interest using the Internet to communicate these items to others.

The word blog can also be used as a verb:  "to blog" meaning to be involved in writing or creating a blog and a “blogger” is someone who is involved in writing or creating a blog.

Blogs are fast becoming a major communications tool on the Internet. As of September 2006, over 75,000 new blogs are started every day! You name the subject, and there are most likely thousands of blogs discussing that subject right now.

How does a "blog" differ from a regular web site? Well, there a couple of key differences and let's take a look at a few blogs and we'll see those differences fairly quickly.

Sample Blogs

Just before we look at a couple of blogs, let's clear another term.

You will sometimes notice words that are in blue that are sometimes also underlined. This is a traditional method used on the Internet to create a "link." A link is simply a method of moving from one page on a web site or blog to another page. This other page could be inside the web site or blog you are visiting, or it could be a page that is on another web site or blog.

People are now using different ways to create links, so you will not always see them in blue and you will not always see them underlined. Links on this blog (on the left and right column) are in blue but not underlined. If you move your mouse over the words that contain a link, the words will change in some way (change color, get a bit larger, etc.) or the pointer may change to a little hand or some kind of change, letting you know you have a link there. On this blog, the pointer turns into a little hand.

Here is a blog created by a Scientologist entitled Education Quotes. The words "Education Quotes" contain a link and of course we click on those words and we will be taken from this blog you're currently viewing off to this new blog.

So give that a click and look over this blog. While you're there, take a minute or two and notice the links on the right side of the blog. Move your mouse over them, click on a couple.

And then return here.

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One of the key differences between web sites and blogs is this idea of linking to many places outside of the blog. Most web sites like to keep the visitor right there viewing that web site, but blogs are well known for providing a ton of opportunities to visit other blogs!

Why would a blog want to send people away from their blog? Well, that's a very good question. The answer lies in a fundamental reason why blogs were created, which was to create a sense of community. The links you find on the left or right side of a blog are there to tell the visitor: "hey, here are some places you can go that has information similar to my blog or other places that I think are interesting!"

These links on the left and right side of a blog are very important for Scientologists to understand and appreciate. With your blog you can provide links to many of the important Church sites and you can also provide links to the blogs (and web sites) of other Scientologists.

Let's look at an example of a blog with links on both the left and right side. It is my blog entitled A Fresh Opinion. Before you head over there, I want you to keep in mind two different aspects of the blog:

1) There are a variety of links on both sides of the blog (feel free to click any of them to see where they lead) and

2) The CENTER of the blog is where new information is being added. When the author of a blog adds new information to a blog, it is called "a post" — he is posting something new. It comes from one meaning of post, which is "to put up a public notice about something on a wall or notice board." When the author of a blog is posting new information, he is putting something up for the entire world to see!

Okay, I've said enough on that point, head on over to A Fresh Opinion.

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Now that you're back, I'm assuming you saw the various links on both sides of the blog. Did you also notice that the center of the blog contained different "posts" that were put up for people to read? Did you notice that these posts started out with the most current post first and then as you scrolled down, the posts went further back into time?

That is another way that blogs differ from web sites. Web sites are places on the Internet with a good deal of information, but once the information is provided, the changes made to the web site are usually not very frequent. Blogs are very different in this respect. A blog author (the person writing the blog) is putting up new information as often as he likes, sometimes every week...sometimes every day.

The more often a blogger (blog author) puts up new material, the better. Why? Well, you've heard of Google? And Yahoo? These are places people go to search for things on the Internet. They are called "search engines." One interesting definition of "engine" is: "that which causes something else to happen." Therefore, a "search engine" causes a search on the Internet to occur.

Besides Google and Yahoo, there are other search engines on the Internet, but the important point is this: the search engines love FRESH CONTENT. And "fresh content" is simply new information that has very recently been put up for people to read.

What this means is that when Scientologists and non-Scientologists alike head to their computer to do a search for something Scientology-related, the growing number of Scientology bloggers will have created an enormous amount of theta places for people to visit.

There is another factor here that is important for you to know. The search  engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) also love LINKS. They rank a site or blog very high if there are many links out there that are "pointed" to that site. To explain that a bit more: I have about 25 links on my blog that "point" to various Church sites. For example:

What Is Scientology?

Who Is L. Ron Hubbard?

Citizen's Commission on Human Rights

And I am also linking to web sites and blogs created by other Scientologists. For example:

Intriguing Videos

Anatomy of the Human Mind

New Civilization Podcast (a podcast is a lecture, interview or any recorded audio that can be broadcast from a web site or blog and also can be transferred to an iPod or other similar device. For more reality on a podcast, click on the New Civilization Podcast link and check out their site. It's very cool!)

As the weeks roll on, I'll be adding more links to other Scientologist's web sites and blogs! And of course, as the Church comes out with new sites, I'll want to link to those as well. For example, just a few days ago, I was told a new site was just released: Scientology Today. So I put up a link on my blog to this new site!

Let's take a step back and consider what we're doing here. Imagine what it will be like when hundreds, even thousands of Scientologists have their own blogs up and running and they're linking (pointing) to our Church sites and other Scientology sites and blogs. The sheer volume of people that we will be influencing will be staggering. When people come to the Internet to find out about Scientology, that's exactly what will happen. Scientology's expansion will be SIGNIFICANTLY enhanced by the simple addition of more and more Scientology bloggers!

To summarize:

1) When it comes to looking for information on the Internet, people use search engines more than any other tool.

2) The search engines love "fresh (new) content" and lots of "links."

3) Blogs provide both of these in great quantities!

Okay, we've covered several of the basics, it's time for a short break.

A Short Break...and a Taste of the Future

Here's a one minute video portraying one of our Human Rights. To watch the video, press the "play button" — the second button from the left under the screen. (Make sure your computer speakers are turned on)

I get goose bumps (and sometimes tears) every time I see one of these incredible videos on Human Rights.

And guess what? Your blog can show these videos! This is actually very simple to do and the hatting on this will be given a bit later on, but for now, it's just nice to know you can add this kind of theta to your blog!

If you'd like to see all of the Human Rights videos right now (for an extended break), click here.

Okay, back to learning how to blog!

Comments — What They Are and How to Use Them

At the bottom of each post on this blog, you'll see three links (if you look just above this post, you'll see these three links): Permalink, Comments and Trackback

A Permalink is simply the exact address on the Internet for the post that you just read. You could click on this Permalink and in the address box at the top of your window, you'll see a somewhat longer "web address" show up. The function of a Permalink is simply to have an exact "web address" for every post that exists on a blog. Having this exact address allows one to save this location if they wish to look at it again later. This particular term is somewhat technical and it is not crucial to you knowing how to blog.

A Trackback is a tool that allows a blog from somewhere else on the Internet to connect to your blog. And vice-versa, it allows you and your blog to connect to other blogs around the Internet. I will go into more detail on how "trackbacks" work later on. It is a fascinating tool that will greatly increase the excitement and reach of your blog.

When you click on "Permalink" or "Trackback", you will see the three letters: URL

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. This is also a technical term and for our purposes here, you simply need to know that a URL is the exact web address for a web site, a blog or a page inside of a web site or blog. The URL is what shows up at the top of your window. An example of a URL is: www.Scientology.org.

Enough of the technical stuff!

Right now, I am interested in you getting a total understanding of what "Comments" are.

Two simple definitions of a "comment" are:

1) an opinion that you express about someone or something

2) a discussion of something someone has said or done

If you recall, I mentioned one of the reasons blogs got started was to create a sense of community on the Internet. Well, the "Comments" feature is a major tool in bringing about this community. When you read a post on someone's blog, you can actually give your opinion or start a discussion about that post! A discussion may have already been started by other visitors and you can join in by leaving your own comment there.

Not every blog offers this commenting feature, but the vast majority of them do.

Let's go a step further. I want you to leave a comment to this post. Scroll down to the bottom of this post and click the link "Comments." Follow the instructions and leave a comment of whatever you'd like.

And then return here.

On this blog, I have the comments feature set up so that I must first approve the comment before it is published to the blog. On many blogs, when you enter a comment, within seconds you'll see your comment. I have set up my blog to approve comments first (before they are published) so that I can ensure that any inappropriate communications don't make their way onto my blog. I think this is a very smart way to proceed when it comes to people leaving comments at your blog.

So, after you've left your comment at the end of this post, I will receive an email saying that you have done so. I'll read it over, approve it and then it will show up on this blog. So if you'd like to come back in a day or so, you should see your comment along with the others that are there!

And I have a personal reason for making sure you know how to use the "comments" feature. My postulate is that MANY Scientologists will come to this blog to learn the basics of blogging. It's not hard for me to envision a number of you will have questions about some aspect of blogging. I'm not sure I'll be able to answer many individual questions, BUT if you leave your question (or suggestion) in the comments section, then here's what should happen:

1) I'll respond to as many as I can in the comments section.

2) Other Scientology bloggers can also respond to your question (or suggestion) in the comments section.

3) People who have that same question will be able to find an answer right there IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!

You've seen Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on web sites? Well, this is similar BUT with a blog it's live and interactive!

So, if you have a question or comment, please feel free to click on the comments link under the post you feel is most suitable to your question or comment.

And we will all find out how using comments can be of great value to a blog!

Setting Up a Blog Account

There are quite a few places on the Internet that will host your blog. To "host" a blog simply means to be the service provider for a blog. These blog service providers have a computer with a tremendous amount of storage space and all of the blog posts (and links, images, etc.) are stored on these computers. That is essentially what is meant by "hosting" a blog. Web sites need to be "hosted" somewhere on the Internet and the same is true for a blog.

Now I have chosen a particular blog service provider. Their name is Typepad. There are many others available on the Internet and by all means you may choose any one that you want. I chose Typepad because they provide ALL of the key tools that I believe a blog should have.

There is a small cost involved with Typepad. If you want to have just one blog going, the cost is $4.95 a month. If you pay a year in advance, two months are free and your cost is $49.50 for a year of hosting your blog. There are two other "levels" of service with Typepad. For $8.95 a month (or $89.50 per year) you can have three blogs with Typepad. I chose the top level of service from Typepad which allows me unlimited blogs and I pay $149.50 once a year for this. I have three blogs so far (this being one of them) and I envision having more down the road. There are many ways a blog can be used and once you know how to start them, it's really very simple to keep them going.

Another reason I like Typepad is they seem intent on providing new, easier and more powerful ways to blog. I have also used their "customer service" support line and they were very responsive and answered my questions fairly quickly (not always the case on the net) and very professionally.

There are other blog service providers out there and some are free of charge. You may head over to any of these other providers and get started. If you type in "blog" and "service provider" into Google or Yahoo, you should have no difficulty finding all of the ones available.

I've chosen Typepad to help people get started with blogging because I'm very familiar with it, it provides the key services and I can walk people through it. Here are some of the following Typepad services we'll be covering:

1) How to set up an account

2) What kind of layout to use

3) How and where to post your information

3) How to create links

4) How to make full use of Typepad's "Comments" and "Trackbacks" (see the glossary if needed).

5) How to place images inside of your blog

6) How to insert video (like the Human Rights videos)

and other neat items.

I realized a good number of Scientologists may sign up with Typepad to get their blogs going, so I checked with Typepad to see if they pay a referral commission. I found out that Typepad does pay a commission for new people referred to them who keep their account active for at least 90 days. This is such a theta activity that the only appropriate thing to do with any referral commissions is to utilize them for another theta activity. Therefore EVERY penny that is paid out by Typepad as a referral commission will be sent to The Way to Happiness Foundation.

And here we go!

After you click on the Typepad image above, you will be taken to Typepad's home page. On the right hand side of the page you will see Free Trial. Click that and then fill out the simple registration form.

When it asks you to "Create Your Blog Address", enter something there that will be somewhat unique and will also give people an immediate idea of what to expect. (Examples: I have two other blogs and I named one of them "thiscouldwork" and the other "afreshopinion"). If you want, you could simply use your name. Many people do this.

Towards the bottom of the sign-up page, you'll need to click the box next to: "I agree to the Typepad terms of service."

Then click the "Next" button at the bottom of the page!

So go ahead and move through those first couple steps and then return here.

On the next page you choose your "membership level" and provide billing information. For now, you're getting a 30 day free membership, so you can choose whatever membership level you want and change it later. Your credit card will not be charged until AFTER the 30 day free membership expires.

Once you've completed this page, you're ready to create your blog design.

Congratulations, you're starting a blog!!

Choosing the Title, a Layout and a Design

On the next page, you can give your blog a "title." This can be different than the blog's "name" or it could the same.

For example, I set up my other two blogs in this way:

— The name I gave to the first blog was: thiscouldwork
— The title I gave for the blog was: Small Business Success

Click here so that you can see how that looks. Notice the words "thiscouldwork" at the very top of the window as part of the web address and the words "Small Business Success" at the top of the blog itself (on the left side).

For my other blog, I did it a bit differently:

— The name for the blog was: afreshopinion
— The title for the blog was also: A Fresh Opinion

Click here to see how that looks.

So go ahead and choose a title for your blog.

Also select a 3 Column layout from the "Classic Layouts" section. You can change this later if you like, but this is the most effective layout style.

Look through the "Choose a Design Style" section and choose whatever you like.

At the bottom of the page under "Blog Privacy", the item "Publicized" has been selected. Leave that selected and then click "Next" at the very bottom of the page.

You'll be taken to a "Confirmation" page. Read it over and then click "Continue" at the bottom of the page.

Typepad congratulates you on the next page and after clicking "Get Started" you'll be taken to main page where you can create your first post!

Your First Post

Sometimes Typepad changes the look of this "main page", but essentially you're looking for the words "begin a new post" or "new post", etc. You may have to click on a button that says: "Post" and then that takes you to the new post window. Whichever it is, you should have a window that says:

Compose a New Post: (the name of your blog)

You can give your new post a title right now or you can do this at the end of writing your post. Simply click inside the "Title" box and type the title of your post.

You'll notice to the right of the "Title" box there is a "Category" selection. If you want to create some categories right now, by all means, go ahead and then choose one of them for this first post. When I created my first post, I didn't have a category chosen as I used the first post as a means of introducing the reader to a little bit about me and what my purpose was for creating the blog.

You do want to create categories as soon as possible as these apparently help the search engines to find your blog. Some categories that I use are:

Assist Technology
Discoveries in Education
Bringing Up Children
Drug Education
The Pitfalls of Psychiatry
Human Rights
Improving a Marriage
Emotional Well-Being
Understanding War and Terrorism
The World at Large

You can certainly use any of the above categories and of course create any of your own.

To create some categories, you would simply click inside the box where the word "Category" is and you'll see a few items. Drag down to the one that says: "Add a Category" and type out the name of the category. You can continue to add more categories if you like or you can go back to your post (and add more categories later). Either way, this little category box is available to you every time you create a new post.

So go ahead and type out what you'd like to say in this first post. I recommend you use this first post as a way of saying "hello" and telling people a little bit about yourself and what you'd like to accomplish with your blog.

You'll notice you have a few "tools" at the top of the post window. Some of these tools help you with the formatting: you can select a word or series of words and then head up to this tools section and click on the letter "B" to make your selection bold or your could click on "U" to underline the selection.

And you have the use of "I" if you want to use italics. I am not a big believer in using italics as these do not always show up very clearly on a computer screen. If I want to add emphasis to a word or series of words, I'll use bold as this is often easier to see. I do not use the underline tool as this can sometimes confuse people that there is a link there. (Most links are underlined)

Depending on whether you are using a PC (Windows based computer) or a Macintosh, you will have some other items available as part of this tool bar. For instance, on the PC there is a little circle of different colors (the Macintosh does not have this color option). This allows you to give your selected text a different color — green, yellow, pink, whatever you like. This is kind of cool, but don't go too overboard with changing the color of your text as some colors do NOT show up very clearly on a computer screen. But if you want to throw in some purple and green here and there, go for it! And you can always choose a color that you like and then see what it looks like and then go back in and change it if it doens't show up well.

(Note: I discovered that Macintosh computers using the Firefox "browser" do have the ability to add color to text. A browser is the tool on your computer that allows you to move around the net and visit web sites, blogs, etc. The most popular browser is Internet Explorer.)

Carry on and write the rest of your first post and then scroll a bit down to the end of the page and you'll see a button that says "Save." Click on that and your first post is now being published!

You can ALWAYS go back in and make changes to a post a few seconds or even a few months later.

Now I realize you may have seen several other interesting (or confusing) features while you created your first post and we will cover them all. For now, I wanted you to get your first post out there.

You're bloggin!!

Books on Blogging

There are a ton of books available that provide additional hatting on the subject of blogs. You can learn more about blog designs and layouts, the history of blogs, different ways to market and promote your blog and quite a few other subjects. I of course will be putting together more material here in this blog, but if you are interested in getting considerably more data on blogs, here are three books I recommend:

Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies

Blogwild!: A Guide for Small Business Blogging

The Everything Blogging Book

I recommend these three books because they are fairly easy to read — for the most part they stay away from technical stuff. They are also pretty good about defining terms as you encounter them and often provide pictures and illustrations.

In "The Everything Blogging Book" on pages 134 - 137 it gives a good explanation of how to get started with Typepad. It's presented a bit differently than what I'm providing here, but it is very helpful.

Even more helpful for people new to Typepad is the "Blogwild" book. From pages 81 - 126 is a very detailed explanation of how to get up and running with Typepad and to use its simple and advanced features.

More Hatting Materials

You can also increase your knowledge of this area by reading blogs that have as their main purpose helping others to become successful bloggers.

Here are a few that you can look over:

Build a Better Blog

Pro Blogger Tips

The Everything Typepad Blog

Now bear in mind these blogs may use terms that they assume you know already. There are glossaries available for blog terms you need help defining. Here is one:

Blog Glossary

Some blogs can get very technical. I usually stay away from them especially if they do not provide fairly easy-to-understand definitions as they go along.

So all in all, there is a ton of information available on the subject of blogging and you just need to make sure you're not accumulating misunderstoods on this. That we know can be dangerous.

Setting Up Links

You've got your first post up and I'm sure there'll be many more to come. Let's switch gears a bit and create some links to the Church sites.

If you are still inside of Typepad, click on the word "Typelists." If you're not still inside of Typepad, using your "username" and "password" log back in at www.typepad.com and then click on the word "Typelists."

You'll see a section entitled "Create a New Typelist." In the first box is a drop-down menu with the word "People" selected. I suggest you leave that selected. There are several other choices you could make here, but I found the simplest one is "People."

In the second box, you'll see "List Name:"  — choose a name that you'd like to use for your first set of links. To give you more reality on the types of names you could choose, head over to my blog and look over the names I've given various groups of links. Click here to do so.

So go ahead and choose a name and then click the button below "Create new list."

What shows up next might be a bit confusing, but the simplest thing to do is click on "Add a new item" which is towards the left and top of your screen.

A smaller box should open up on your screen with several different things you could do. Once again, keeping it simple, you want to enter information in the box entitled "Name:"

Here is where it gets a bit technical. What you want to enter in the "Name:" box are essentially two things:

1) The information that will take your reader to the place you want to send them, for example, to a Church site

2) A brief explanation of where you are sending them.

And both of these items are strung together in a series of letters, numbers and words that do just that. It tells your visitor where they're headed and when they click on the link, they go there!

So, we might as well jump in and look at an example of a string of text that creates a link that will take your visitor to the Volunteer Minister's web site and tells them that's where they're going:

<a href=http://www.volunteerministers.orga>Volunteer Ministers</a>

You'll see this string of text starts with   <a href=   and ends with   </a>   

Whenever you create a link, those beginning and closing items are always the same.

After the   <a href=   you see the following:

http://www.volunteerministers.org

That is the full information needed to create a web address. In this case, the web address takes a person to the Volunteer Minister's web site. In order to create the link inside of Typepad, you need to type it out fully to: http://www.volunteerministers.org

What comes after that is an arrow pointing to the right   >

And after the arrow are the words:   Volunteer Ministers

To finish off this string of text we see   </a>

Let's take a few seconds to locate some of these characters that you will be typing:

• The arrow pointing to the left  <  is just above the "comma" on the keyboard and is accomplished by holding down the "shift key" and typing the "comma" key.

• The arrow pointing to the right  >  is just above the "period" on the keyboard and is accomplished by holding down the "shift key" and typing the "period" key.

• The forward slash character  /  is located just below the question mark on the keyboard.

So, reviewing the entire string of text, we have:

<a href=http://www.volunteerministers.orga>Volunteer Ministers</a>

Going back to the small window that was (and should still be) open — the window that will allow you to create your first link — you would type in that entire string of text into the "Name:" box and then click "Save Item" at the bottom of the window.

You have now created your first link to a Church site. You can continue to add more to this group of links. You can also create new groups giving them different names, if you like. The different groupings I used were:

Questions and Answers
How Scientology Improves Our World
Churches of Scientology
Blogs & Web Sites of Scientologists
Recommended Reading
Other Key Sites

You may use any or all of those groupings if you like, but I recommend you create some unique titles for you blog.

Now it's time for a SHORT CUT! I figured out a fast and easy way to create these links.

Take your first link that you've put together and put it in a word document or any program that will allow you to copy and paste text. (If you are not familiar with "copy" and "paste," go to this web site and you'll know all about it in just a couple of minutes)

The first link we put together sends people to the Volunteer Minister's web site:

<a href=http://www.volunteerministers.org>Volunteer Ministers</a>

I then go to a web site that I want to link to and I copy the web address at the top of the window.

Going back to our first link, I then select the text: http://www.volunteerministers.org and I paste in the web address of the next site.

Let's look at an example. I've got the first link of:

<a href=http://www.volunteerministers.org>Volunteer Ministers</a>

I then go to the Dianetics web site and I copy the web address I find there which is:

http://www.dianetics.org (sometimes there is more text in the web address. If so, simply copy it all)

I then go back to my first string of text:

<a href=http://www.volunteerministers.org>Volunteer Ministers</a>

and I select the text:   http://www.volunteerministers.org

I then paste in the text:   http://www.dianetics.org   (that I copied from the Dianetics web site)

and I now get the following:

<a href=http://www.dianetics.org>Volunteer Ministers</a>

I then select the text:  Volunteer Ministers  and I type in "Learn About Dianetics" or "Find Out About Dianetics", something along those lines. And it looks like this:

<a href=http://www.dianetics.org>Learn About Dianetics</a>

When the link shows up on your blog, it simply looks like this:

Learn About Dianetics

You are now able to create a ton of different links. You can link to all kinds of great Church sites. You can link to other Scientologist's blog sites and/or web sites. You can even link to my blog. Send me an email that you've done so and I'll be glad to link back to you!

In the next post, we'll take a few minutes and figure out where to put these links. The next step is much simpler than this one, it simply comes down to choosing whether you want the links on the left or the right side of your blog.

Glossary of Terms

Here is a collection of the terms that have been defined throughout this blog. If, at any time, you need to refresh yourself on any of these terms, go to the top right of this blog and click on "glossary."