Moments in time: I soak up the sun at Ta Keo, Angkor, in CambodiaBLOGGED OUT
BY NICOLE TAN
StarMetro takes a look into the wide, wonderful world of blogging with a new columBy travel blogger Nicole Tan. This week, she shares her personal experiences and provides some tips on how to start your own blog.
BLOGGING may not sound like a typical job, but it's what I do. I am a full-time blogger and traveller but I also have an eye out for my education and am also a soon-to-graduate part-time online Masters student.
While my friends and family may know me as Nicole Tan, to the blogging world, I am Nicolekiss and my travel blog - nicolekiss.blogspot.com - has a stable traffic of about 3,000 unique visitors a day.
My greatest passion in life is travelling and my blog chronicles my journeys and will be part of my legacy as I attempt to be the first in my family to travel the world.
I began blogging about one-and-a-half years ago in the comfort of my own home while leading a dull life pursuing a part-time Masters course over the Internet. One of my earliest blog entries was a recording of me singing in front of a video camera.
However, as time passed, and with a little luck, I got to know some of the more prominent bloggers in Malaysia, some of whom may be featured in this column in the future. Thanks to them, especially links on their blogs, and features in newspapers and on TV, my own blog became better known and my traffic grew steadily.
That was when I got the opportunity to do what I enjoy, travelling, and earn an income for it. My love for travelling began when I was only 20 and decided to backpack around Europe for two months alone. It was reckless, dangerous, stupid and exciting but I was hooked!
One of my biggest challenges is travelling on a shoestring budget with my laptop. A recent attempt took me through Indo-China, to places like Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, all the while struggling to find an Internet connection to publish my entries online.
It wasn't an easy task finding a broadband connection in Laos but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love what I do and will continue doing it for a long time.
Starting your own blog
Blogs have become quite a fad in Malaysia.
It is no longer a space to express emotions alone and, with several thousands new blogs created every day, they have become platforms for creativity, news reporting, marketing and even money making.
Here are a few easy steps to creating a blog.
1. Choose a domain – The domain name is like the address of your blog. Choose wisely. The last thing you want is to choose a domain name like loveyousarah and break up a year later. Mine is Nicolekiss and many readers call me that instead of my real name Nicole.
2. Select a host – Many Internet web hosts offer free hosting services for blogs. Some of the more commonly used host sites are Blogger, Xanga and Wordpress. If you’re willing to splurge a bit, pay for your own domain name, so instead of iamaloser.blogspot.com you would get iamaloser.com (or .net, whichever rocks your boat).
3. Pick a theme – This is optional, but important. Almost every blog has a theme or topic.
It can be about celebrity gossip, cars, travel (like mine), food (the most common), places of interest or even people.
Trust me when I say that I have seen blogs with the weirdest topics.
4. Start writing – It is that simple. Just type “hello world”, click “publish” and you have your very first entry! It’s up to you how impressive or simple you want your first entry to be, it doesn’t matter. Just make sure it will not be the last.
Great! Now you’re on your way to revealing all your dirty little secrets to some 6 billion readers out there.
BY NICOLE TAN
StarMetro takes a look into the wide, wonderful world of blogging with a new columBy travel blogger Nicole Tan. This week, she shares her personal experiences and provides some tips on how to start your own blog.
BLOGGING may not sound like a typical job, but it's what I do. I am a full-time blogger and traveller but I also have an eye out for my education and am also a soon-to-graduate part-time online Masters student.
While my friends and family may know me as Nicole Tan, to the blogging world, I am Nicolekiss and my travel blog - nicolekiss.blogspot.com - has a stable traffic of about 3,000 unique visitors a day.
My greatest passion in life is travelling and my blog chronicles my journeys and will be part of my legacy as I attempt to be the first in my family to travel the world.
I began blogging about one-and-a-half years ago in the comfort of my own home while leading a dull life pursuing a part-time Masters course over the Internet. One of my earliest blog entries was a recording of me singing in front of a video camera.
However, as time passed, and with a little luck, I got to know some of the more prominent bloggers in Malaysia, some of whom may be featured in this column in the future. Thanks to them, especially links on their blogs, and features in newspapers and on TV, my own blog became better known and my traffic grew steadily.
That was when I got the opportunity to do what I enjoy, travelling, and earn an income for it. My love for travelling began when I was only 20 and decided to backpack around Europe for two months alone. It was reckless, dangerous, stupid and exciting but I was hooked!
One of my biggest challenges is travelling on a shoestring budget with my laptop. A recent attempt took me through Indo-China, to places like Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, all the while struggling to find an Internet connection to publish my entries online.
It wasn't an easy task finding a broadband connection in Laos but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love what I do and will continue doing it for a long time.
Starting your own blog
Blogs have become quite a fad in Malaysia.
It is no longer a space to express emotions alone and, with several thousands new blogs created every day, they have become platforms for creativity, news reporting, marketing and even money making.
Here are a few easy steps to creating a blog.
1. Choose a domain – The domain name is like the address of your blog. Choose wisely. The last thing you want is to choose a domain name like loveyousarah and break up a year later. Mine is Nicolekiss and many readers call me that instead of my real name Nicole.
2. Select a host – Many Internet web hosts offer free hosting services for blogs. Some of the more commonly used host sites are Blogger, Xanga and Wordpress. If you’re willing to splurge a bit, pay for your own domain name, so instead of iamaloser.blogspot.com you would get iamaloser.com (or .net, whichever rocks your boat).
3. Pick a theme – This is optional, but important. Almost every blog has a theme or topic.
It can be about celebrity gossip, cars, travel (like mine), food (the most common), places of interest or even people.
Trust me when I say that I have seen blogs with the weirdest topics.
4. Start writing – It is that simple. Just type “hello world”, click “publish” and you have your very first entry! It’s up to you how impressive or simple you want your first entry to be, it doesn’t matter. Just make sure it will not be the last.
Great! Now you’re on your way to revealing all your dirty little secrets to some 6 billion readers out there.
1 comment:
huh. nice post
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