Custom Web Log Platforms

If you already have a website such as www.<mycompanynamehere>.com or www.<mylastname>consultants.com, you may want to add a web log page to your site instead of using a blog service such as blog-city.com.

All the commercial websites are showing their hip (me too) side these days by hosting web logs for their employees on their site: CNN, BBC, cnet, and MSNBC host blogs for their correspondents, for example (see Figure 13.22).

Figure 13.22. Corporate blogs are all the rage.

To add a blog to your site, take advantage of great software and web services provided by web log platformscomplete code that you simply drop into your existing site's template and then customize. Two popular web log platforms are WordPress and Movable Type.

Movable Type

http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/

A complete commercial web log platform with special pricing for nonprofits, schools, businesses, and individuals. Multiple people can contribute content to a single blog, which is perfect for a business environment.

WordPress

http://wordpress.org/

A powerful open-source (free) web log platform that simplifies the process of creating a professional-looking blog site. Hundreds of themes (templates) are available that will make you look like a pro.

You can always grab your existing Blogger.com blog and move it to your site, but the template may not match your site, and if Blogger ever goes down, your blog will be trapped.

Creating a blog using one of these tools is not difficult but is beyond the scope of this book. Visit the blog for this book (www.blogsbestof.com) for steps on adding WordPress or Movable Type to your existing site. Entire books also exist on the use of these two Web log platforms. Also check out Sams Teach Yourself Movable Type in 24 Hours.