Set up a blog Create your blog

1Sign up to Blogger

Go to www.blogger.com. Scroll down the page and click Create your blog now. You'll be prompted to create a Google account (Google owns Blogger). Enter your email address, password, a display name (the name that other Bloggers and visitors to your blog will see), enter the word verification into the box provided, accept the terms and conditions, then click Continue.

2Create your blog

Choose a name and address for your blog (this takes the form www.insertnameofblog.blogspot.com); ours is www.computingwhichblog.blogspot.com. Choose a template and click Continue. You will receive a confirmation message telling you that your blog has been created. Click Start posting.

3Adjust your settings

Before you add posts (the online equivalent of an individual diary entry), click the Settings tab. Under the Basic link, add a description of your blog, and click Save Settings. Click through the other tabs to customise your blog. 

You can redirect your blog to a different domain name (see 'Publishing' at the top), change how your posts are displayed ('Formatting'), restrict access to your blog ('Comments'), decide how often to archive your posts ('Archiving'), create an address to which you can send new posts ('Email') or add other people who can post to the blog if it's run by a group of friends ('Permissions').

4Design your blog

A purely text-based blog would be a little dull. Select the Template tab to add 'elements'. Elements are items such as pictures, lists, logos, information about you, other web links and so on. To change an element click the blue Edit link beside it. We've added a description of the magazine under 'About me'.

5Add a picture

We also want to add the Computing Which? logo. To do this we click Add a page element. The window that appears displays all the available Elements. To add a picture click Add to blog, under the heading 'Picture'. Enter a title and a caption, then browse to its location on your PC, or online.

6Add a list

We'll add a list, too. Again, click Add a page element only this time select 'List'. Give your list a title (a list of your favourite books, say) and decide whether to sort it alphabetically, reverse alphabetically or not at all. Type in a book name, click Add item. Repeat until your list is complete then click Save changes.

7Move page elements

We've previewed our blog and decided that we want our list to appear underneath the 'About me' section. Moving elements is easy. Simply hover your cursor above an element until a cross appears. Hold down the left mouse button, drag the element to your desired location, and release the mouse button.

8Start Blogging

Now you have the basics of your blog you can add a post. Click the Posting tab. Under 'Create' add a title for your post. At the top of the post is a row of icons. These enable you to add web links, pictures, and lists to your blog and to change the font size, colour and type. Spellcheck your blog, then click publish.

9Change template

Now that we've finished we think the green template originally chosen looks a bit lurid. To change a template, select the Template tab > Choose new template, select another > Preview Template. Once you find one that you like click Save template.