One of the most frustrating things when considering installing new blogware is literally the fear of the unknown, basically, despite the different things written about one piece of blogware or another, until you actually get to play with the blogware itself, you have no real idea what your getting yourself into.

In the old days an installation was the only way to pursue the matter, but I’ve recently discovered a great site that runs demo versions of blogware and other content management systems (many of which also do blogging) so that you can literally try them out before you install.

OpenSourceCMS has by way of explanation: “This site was created with one goal in mind. To give you the opportunity to “try out” some of the best php/mysql based free and open source software systems in the world. You are welcome to be the administrator of any site here, allowing you to decide which system best suits your needs.” And that is exactly what its good for. There seems to be a fairly strong user community as well with a rich variety of comments and rating provided on the various offerings that can also serve as a guide when your considering your next blog install.

Duncan Riley> Welcome to guides, the new category here on The Blog Herald that will now include all of the good stuff: tips, advice and the highlighting of the people and places to help you with your blogging. Sure, there’s been plenty of this before, but its normally gone under the comment category. Comment will now be exclusively for rants and opinion pieces, whilst guides will be where you can find some help and guidance in the wide world of blogging. I’ll also be looking at going back over some old posting to re-categorise them as well to make them easier to find.

Duncan Riley> I did an interesting email interview the other day with a leading Australian newspaper on the subject of blogging tools which, like any good interview, really got me thinking in regards to where is the best place to start blogging. Now I know not everyone will agree with the answers I gave, and as always I welcome your comments and feedback, but this is what I gave them.

Q – For those who are not ready to D-I-Y, which system is the easiest? Is it still Blogger?
I’d still recommend Blogger as the best starting point, it’s very easy to use, even for somebody who has no experience in blogging, yet its also flexible and provides the ability to expand and customise a blog as a new blogger develops their knowledge.
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Duncan Riley> In the age of Google Adsense, running your own advertising on a blog can be a minefield for the new blogger or experienced blogger alike. A variety of interesting terms are often used and knowing what to charge is can also be difficult, but the rewards can make the effort worthwhile, and whilst you might not end up a multi-millionaire (or home owner like Darren Rowse) a little bit of knowledge can go along way to providing extra revenue and even a better experience for your readers.
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