artfulife

There are a ton of different blogging platforms out there. I can’t say that I’ve used all of them, in fact so far all I have used it WordPress. I wanted to get up and running quickly, so I did a few searches and found that WordPress was highly recommended by a wide variety of bloggers. Since I felt time was of the essence for me, I went straight for it. It was easy to install, set up and start writing on.

I do plan to check out some other platforms over time, I just haven’t gotten there yet. But, I know that many of you will probably want to do a lot more research before making a decision. To help make that a little easier, I’ve listed below as many of the platforms that I could find and have provided the following quick links to the product website, features, documentation, download page and pricing or donation page. [Read more →]

Well it’s a banner day here at artfulife. I got my first article published early this morning and I was just notified that my second article was published a little while ago. This one actually paid upfront, too! Woot! So, please check out Top 10 Nightclubs and Bars in Atlanta.

Technorati : atlanta, bar, dance, drink, entertainment, martini, nightclub, nightlife, travel

I’ve been working on getting writing out into the world in other places. I figure it is great practice, and the more the artfulife name gets out there, the better. So if you have time, check out my first published article over on Associated Content: Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie - The First Battle. It’s a bit of a kitschy piece, but someone had to do it, and heck, it might actually net me a buck fifty.  Be sure to leave me a comment!

15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Introduction

1. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Select your Blogging Software
   Coming Soon:
2. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Get Webhosting
3. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Get Advertising - i.e. Google Adsense
4. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Learning your Blogging Software
5. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Choose a Visual Presentation
6. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Get Google Analytics
7. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Get Site Meter
8. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Setup Bookmarking and RSS Buttons
9. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Set up Pinging Services
10. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Choose a Blog Editor
11. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Determine a Theme
12. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Write, Write, Write
13. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Sign up for all the Social Bookmarking sites
14. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Bookmark it!
15. 15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Read and Comment on other Blogs

15 Steps to Setting up a Blog - Everything Else

Technorati : blog, blogging

Starting a Blog can be a daunting task if you’ve never done it before. I always considered myself to be very Internet savvy and I’ve never had difficulty getting around or doing what I wanted to on the net. I have a MySpace page, and Facebook page, I’m hip, I’m cool, right? Well all that came into question when I had the bright idea of setting up my own blog.

I did not have the first clue on how to start a blog. Up to this point, the only thing I really knew about a blog was how to read one. I figured I was pretty good at that. I read quite a few, including but certainly not limited to: lifehack.org, Dark Roasted Blend, Neil Gaiman, haha.nu, Daily Kos: State of the Nation, and of course icanhascheezburger home of the lolcat phenomenon. I did mention that I had a wide range of interests, didn’t I? [Read more →]

Welcome to artfulife.com. A new blog about art, living, and a full life. As I began working on this project, I read a lot of websites, articles and blog posts about how to start a blog and what to write about. Nearly every one of these mentioned that a blog should generally be narrowly focused in its theme. So, I debated back and forth about whether I wanted a single blog with a focus as wide as my own interests, or if perhaps I should set up a few blogs and concentrate on specific topics within each. Considering this is my first blog, I figured I better get one going before I jumped into two, three or more.

With that said, what you will find here is mixture of art information, life lessons, amazing information and helpful tidbits to get you through the day. I’ll be posting “How To” articles (starting with a series on what I learned in my search for information on how to set up this blog), links to interesting and cool things I’ve found throughout the Internet, information on art, artists, my art, and the art scene in my local area and just about anything else that I think others might find interesting or useful.

I am looking forward to hearing feedback from my readers and please know that I welcome any and all comments. Also know that I will dump the spam, but welcome trackbacks and links to your blogs. If you see something you like and you want more, let me know. If something is just way off base, let me know that too. I may not always agree, but I for know that you can’t learn if you don’t listen. So shout it, shout it, shout it out loud.

So you want to set up a blog, but at this point you aren’t interested in revenue streams, residual income, ad placement, hot zones and affiliate marketing. You just want to give your blog a name and get going. Well there’s nothing to worry about, there are a ton of services out there to get you started doing just that, here are a few to get you going: [Read more →]

There are a lot of blogs out there about a lot of things, but you shouldn’t worry too much about what the other guy is doing just yet, instead what you really want to focus on in the beginning is what you want your blog to be about. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in the blogging world is trying to force yourself to write about things that you don’t know and/or that do not interest you. You’ll write badly, be miserable, and no one will care.

If you want a blog about your family, daily life, activities with your kids and that sort of thing, then set one up. It may not be a revenue generating giant, but you’ll have what you want and you’ll be happy. If you want to write about training horses, your life in the circus, etching poetry on the head of a pin, then go for it. Just know what you want to do to begin with and you’ll have an easier time making some of the other decisions. [Read more →]