This chat was broadcast live on April 24, 2014.

This is an archived chat – so sorry, you can’t ask us live questions as prompted in the video  If you are on limited bandwidth, you can also watch the lower res archive of this video.

We offer these chats for free — it’s our gift and we really enjoy doing them.

If you’d like to say thanks we welcome tips & contributions (as well as words of gratitude):

 

General Outline for tonight’s chat:

To blog.. or not to blog? There seems to be RVers starting blogs all the time, but is starting one right for you? We’ll discuss the various motivations behind blogging:

• Keeping family & friends up to date
• Keeping a record of your adventures
• Generating an income

We’ll share some of the rewards of blogging and some of the challenges – from privacy concerns to keeping up with a blogging schedule. We’ll also briefly discuss the various blogging platforms out there — and how to choose what is right for your motivations and technical skill sets. As always, a general Q&A to follow. Please keep in mind:

• We are usually broadcasting via cellular data — video & audio quality can vary.
• All of our video chats are archived to YouTube, and will be available on our Video Cast Center

“We blog to remember… we drink to forget.” – Sean Welsh / Our Odyssey

Further Resources & Notes:

Primary Blogging Platforms:

Blogger (formerly Blogspot) – Owned by Google, and a great platform for basic blogging. Some template options, but not as much flexibility.  You can integrate in Google Adsense into your blog however, so some monetization options are available. WordPress.com – The ‘free’ hosting option by WordPress – where they host and maintain your site for you. Limited options for plug-ins and customizations. They have a lot of restrictions on monetization, so not ideal for those with aspirations of earning some income.. but a great solid option for a free resource for basic blogging. WordPress.org (self hosted) – The go-to choice for serious bloggers. If you have aspirations of growing your blog, making a little to a lot of blogging income, want a more professional online presence or want the greatest flexibility in customizing your blog and features – this is our top recommendation (and what our blog is on). You will pay for a domain name, hosting (as cheap as a few bucks a month, to as expensive as a few hundred for high traffic blogs) and updating and maintaining your blog is up to you.  Hosting options include: DreamHost (our host), BlueHost, HostGator, GoDaddy, WPEngine and many others.

Articles about various blogging platforms:

5 Tips To Creating & Growing An RV Blog – by Nina Fussing of WheelingIt.us

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org – by Team Agreda (aka. Jim & Rene of LiveWorkDream.com)

Using Blogger to Keep your Journal – by GeeksonTour

New Blogging Platforms – Medium, Roon, Ghost, etc. 

The Best Places to Blog (WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, etc.)  – By DearBlogger

Monetizing your blog Resources:

These are communities and courses that are highly regarded for those wanting the monetize their blogs.

ProBlogger -Long time and highly regarded resource.

BlogBrillantly – run by Christine Gilbert of AlmostFearless.com, with a focus on pro-blogging for creatives and artists.

Fellow RVers who are WordPress Gurus:

Want to hire someone to help you setup a fabulous professional looking blog? We highly recommend both these folks:

Boondock Marketing (they did the design of our current WordPress blog and help us with our own unique style of blogging)

Motorhome Office of Design & Technology  (they’ve done a lot of our graphic design work – such as our app icons, and are also WordPress gurus)

And these folks offer free WordPress.com based blogs at:

RVBlogz.com – Jim & Rene of LiveWorkDream offer up free WordPress based blogs at RVblogz.com. Use it to give WP a spin, or set up a free blog there.

Places to list & promote your RVing Blog:

HitchItch.com

RVillage Blogging Group

RV Blogs Facebook Group

Update your RV Forum signatures to include a link to your blog

And of course, engage with other bloggers – many keep blogrolls and link lists of their favorite RV bloggers. The best way to become a favorite blogger? Create great content, and be active on other blogs you enjoy.