1. The Basics in Using WordPress

2. How to install WordPress

3. How to customize a theme

4. 7 Steps to Optimizing WordPress

5. ….and much more…

They also offer a number WordPress themes, some are free, along with a number of impressive offerings at a minimal cost.          *Top

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"In quantitative terms, blogging is the most important thing I do. I view it as a form of digital discipleship. Not a substitute for one-on-one. But a great supplement. As NCC grows larger, I feel like it’s a way that our congregation can know what is going on in my head and my heart at any given moment."

Here’s a link to a valuable list of blogging guidelines from a veteran blogging pastor.

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By Bob Walsh (Berkeley, CA: Apress, 2007, 351 pages)

An excellent book on why one should blog and how to get started. Bob suggests that one starts by reading lots of blogs and become initially engaged in the blogoshere by leaving comments.

Next he gives suggestions about getting started publishing a blog with Blogger, Windows Live, and TypePad and evaluates which blogging platform might be best for you considering your goals and what type of blog you wish to publish.

<<Read the rest of this review on my BOOK Reviews blog>>

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www.bloggingministry.com 

If you have linked to some of my articles or pages in the past and wish to maintain the links, drop ‘charismatica.com/bloggingministry’ from the permalink and insert ‘bloggingministry.com’ in its place and it should still work.

Blessings, Dr.D

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In the process I decided to move this blog to a new host. That has complicated matters and will somewhat delay everything being put back together.

If you are running on a WordPress program, I would strongly suggest that you upgrade to the 2.5.1 program as soon as possible. Supposedly they have closed all the gaps that hackers used to gain access to this blog and database.

Blessings Dr.D

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Images are one way to dress up your blog and set it apart from millions of others that feature only text. They say that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, advertisers have proved that proverb a long time ago and have taken it to another level.

With pictures and images mixed into your posts, you can create greater interest in your viewers to actually read your posts. Images and pictures definitely improve a post and can also help you take your blog to the next level.

I have been experimenting with using images on my blogs for the last 2 months and it is increasingly getting much easier for me to provide pictures or images for the majority of my posts.

Over that time I have found a number of good sources for free ‘clipart’ and pictures on the web. Also, I have run across a number of issues and pitfalls that every blogger using images and pictures should fully understand.

Here are a few important issues and procedures that everyone using images needs to be aware of:

1. Copyrights: The images and pictures on regular news sites (like Reuters, AP, CBS, NBC, USAToday, etc.) are copyrighted and one needs permission to use. Generally it is not worth the time and effort or subscription fees for the regular personal blogger to pursue.

2. Credit: One should always check out the ‘conditions for use’ of any picture or image from a source. Sometimes a credit is all that is necessary, sometimes a link is wanted. Always check the link out–it may go somewhere that you and your regular readers would rather not go. Sometimes an image is unconditionally free for the taking and other times a small fee or site membership is required. I personally use only unconditionally free stuff.

3. Download to your site: It really is tantamount to stealing if you merely ‘copy and paste’ and end up using the source’s URL to support an image on your site. I have found the ‘Windows Live Writer’ particularly helpful in converting images to my URL–most of the time I have been able to ‘copy and paste’ into the editor and it successfully stores and posts to my blog.

4. Check and Confirm: After publishing a post with an image, it is a good idea to hover over any newly posted images to see if it really is hosted on your site and to check for any unwanted or unsolicited links that may have been hidden in the image code.

5. Hosted blog sites: Blogs that are on free hosted sites like Blogger and WordPress.com have only a limited amount of storage space available for each blog. Pictures and images can quickly use up a lot of the available storage. Many bloggers use other sites like Flickr to store their images and pictures online.

Here are some tips on finding images and pictures for your blog posts:

1. You can always purchase ‘clipart’ programs with 1,000’s of available images on nearly any topic. I have actually found this too time consuming to use usually.

2. Use Google or Yahoo to find images or pictures. For example, I recently was looking for a good photo of Pope Benedict. In that case I googled: “free photo of pope benedict” and eventually found a good one on an official church site that I was unconditionally free to use.

3. Wikipedia: I have found that Wikipedia is a good source for free photos, particularly of famous people. Anything there has entered the ‘free’ public domain.

4. Christian images: Since my blogs are Christian and I write substantially on religious subjects, I have need for sources of Christian and religious images and symbols. Here are some sites that I repeatedly turn too:  Christians Unite/Clipart , Christian Freebies , Christian Symbols , Religious Symbols , Christart , CrossDaily.

5. Picture Sources: If you have a digital camera you can always make your own pictures or turn to other sources: iStock Photo ,  PD Photo , stockXchng , Flickr.

Finally, here are links to a couple of good articles on this subject:  Where to find Images for Your Blog ,  A complete guide: how to make your post attractive using images *Top

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"6 Reasons Pastors Should Blog"  by Abraham Piper @ Desiring God (John Piper’s website)

Abraham starts off with his own reason behind the article:

"In this article I want to convince as many pastors as possible to sit down and start a blog today. If I can’t convince them, then I want to convince churchgoers to hound their pastor until he does."

Abraham then lists 6 important reasons that pastors should blog. The article develops and explains each of the six:

1. …to write.
2. …to teach.
3. …to recommend.
4. …to interact.
5. …to develop an eye for what is meaningful.
6. …to be known.

In conclusion, Piper writes:

"For most of you, anything you post online will only be a small piece in the grand scheme of your pastoral leadership. But if you can maintain a blog that is both compelling and personal, it can be an important small piece.

It will give you access to your people’s minds and hearts in a unique way by giving them a chance to know you as a well-rounded person. You will no longer be only a preacher and a teacher, but also a guy who had a hard time putting together a swing-set for his kids last weekend. People will open up for you as you open up like this for them. Letting people catch an honest glimpse of your life will add authenticity to your teaching and depth to your ministry."

It really is a well thought out article and well worth the few minutes it takes to read it all. The following are links to other articles and several wholes series on pastors and blogging which have previously been featured on this blog:

Getting Started: “Blogging for Pastors 101″

Why Blogging?: It’s “What People Need From Their Pastors”

Pastor Blogs His Sermon Series Notes

“Blogging & Pastoral Ministry: The Series”

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I immediately put it on all of my WordPress blogs through an easy to load ‘plugin’. I am amazed and more than happy with the results!

I have only recently become aware of how important social bookmarking can be to building the daily traffic to your blog. Last month when I was checking out the stats on one of my blogs, I saw that the traffic had jumped up significantly at that site and on one day in particular there were over 200 unique visits to one particular post. When I checked out the ‘referrals’ I saw that most came from "StumbleUpon".

From then on, I have been looking for a way to make it easy for folks to share and bookmark my blog posts. Most of the widgets and plugins I reviewed were to complicated, messy, or didn’t work right on my blogs. ‘Share This’  is definitely the best I have found, If anyone out there has other suggestions please let me know.

‘Share this’ currently has plugins for WordPress, Blogger, and Typepad. They also have code available for other websites. In addition, they offer a toolbar add-on for browsers to make it easy to bookmark and share with your friends.            *Top

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It not only lists Windows Live Writer but many others that may be useful in publishing on a desktop rather than the on-line blogging site editor.            *Top

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The original idea was to start a blog as an actual ministry on the Internet. I figured that I would teach a Bible study, have a Bible Q & A site, and respond to current events from a Christian perspective.

Along the way the original blog has expanded to 8 sites and usually I am way over my head with all the technical stuff. Sometimes I have gotten off track and have forgotten the original vision. Sometimes it has been more like a hobby. Sometimes it has been a burden. But sometimes I remember to include the Lord in what I am doing and it is actually a blessing. It has definitely been an interesting ride so far. There have been ups and downs, but mostly ups and many blessings in the process.

This month also marks the first anniversary of this blog–Blogging Ministry. The original idea was to write about the ‘Hows and whys of using a blog for ministry’ with articles on helpful hints and info. on how to get started.

Interestingly, I didn’t even bother to check out what was already out there and whether there was even a need for a blog like this.

The first Saturday in March 2007, ideas for this blog just began flowing and I jotted down an outline for the first twenty posts. I came up with the name–Blogging Ministry and found the domain available, downloaded a WordPress program, and posted my first article all in one day.

The next day I googled ‘blogging ministry’ and ‘ministry using a blog’ and found a lot of different sites out there including an excellent blog with a name almost the same as mine–I almost flushed the whole thing.

After looking at some of the other blogs, I found that most were technically superior, with the writers showing far more knowledge about the Internet, blogging, and all the technical stuff that goes along with it.

I decided that there was room after all for a ‘technophobe’ like me who could show others who know nothing like I did when I started out. I figured that I could post about stuff as I discover it and give hope to those who know even less than I do.

It is my hope that in the last year that something on this blog has been helpful to someone along the way toward doing some kind of ministry through blogging. At least I’ve had fun in the process, God Bless!

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