In my experience blogs are effective and user-friendly platforms for creating and managing fansite content. Over the years blogs have incorporated many of the features that make other platforms successful – from social media integration tools, to threaded comments, to content management features – blogs can be argued to be the meta-platform for almost limitless site creation. When it comes to blogs, your imagination (and possibly your know-how) really is the limit in terms of what kind of site you can create.
There is plenty to talk about when it comes to creating a fansite using blogging platforms – I’m going to condense my knowledge and experience into bite-size posts which will be spread out over the weeks and months. First lets have a look at some of the most popular blog platforms.
WordPress, in their own words, is about “aesthetics and usability”. Not only is the WordPress platform extremely customizable but it also has a good learning curve for newbies and professionals alike. WordPress also has excellent SEO standards ‘out of the box’ (without having to modify lines of code). However the true power of WordPress – in my opinion – comes from the enormous family of plugins and free themes, which extend the functionality, power and relevance of what a WordPress blog can do for fansite management.
If you plan on using WordPress for your blog you have two options on how to host it so that it goes “online”. You can either create and host your blog for free on WordPress.com, or you may opt to use WordPress on your own server or rented web hosting package (I’ll cover this more in an upcoming post). The choice really boils down to what you want to do with your blog and how comfortable you are with managing the back-end of your blog. If you’re a total novice to blogging or WordPress, you might want to use the free WordPress.com hosting where you just fill out the details for your blog and you’re ready to start adding content to your live blog – simple! This is also a handy option if funds are tight. If you want complete control over your blog, domain (etc) and you’re comfortable with running scripts and making back-ups, then the self-hosted option might be better for you, certainly in the long-run. This is also free, although you have to pay for hosting and a domain name. (again, we’ll cover this in future posts).
I use a self-hosted WordPress installation for FansiteBlogger.
Blogger from Blogspot is a free, quick and easy way to start your fansite. You just fill out the details of your blog (name, etc) and your blog is live and ready for content and visitors. To really utilise Blogspot you can customize the look and functionality of your blog through themes and plugins. One possible advantage of using Blogspot is that it’s now owned by Google and a lot of people using Google for search or have Google accounts, be it Gmail, Youtube, or one of the many others – making it easier for these surfers to potentially find and leave comments on your blog.
Typepad market themselves more towards professionals and small business owners. Typepad costs money – prices start from $4.95 per month for a Basic account to $89.95 per month for a Business Class account. Obviously this isn’t ideal, especially with other options out there that are perhaps more user-friendly and cost efficient. That said, there are some beautiful looking Type fansites out there.
There are other platforms, including custom software used by some of the larger blog networks (i.e. “Blogsmith”, which is owned and used by AOL Weblogs Inc). However if you’re new to creating a fansite or you want to create a powerful, affordable and scalable blog, you wont need to look much further than WordPress, Blogger and Typepad.
