everything you need to do to start and maintain a blog  
in the order in which it needs to be done...
Begin here
preperation
Choose your purpose

Choose your platform

choose your theme
personal blog or work blog? Self reflection or self-promotion?

hosted on your own website, or hosted by the blogging software? 
The former is more complicated but allows for more control

Are reporting on your activities, providing links, reviewing applications 
or discussing big ideas?
software
first lets look at the two most popular free platforms
this is wordpress.com - the developer hosted 
version. wordpress.org is the version you host 
yourself, on your own registered domain (ie yourname.com)
this is blogger, which is 
developer-hosted only
lets take a brief tour of the alternatives
content
it is probably over-simplistic to divide LIS blogs into 'types'
but I'm going to do it anyway...
Diary Blogs
Big Ideas
Links 
Technologies
Blogs which give you 
regular updates on the 
author's professional 
activities - what I did, 
where I went, what I 
learned from it.
Blogs which debate the 
big questions facing librarianship on the 
modern era - the future,
the cuts, the advocacy
movement and so on. 
check out: 
http://librariansontheloose.wordpress.com/ 
check out: 
http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/ 
Blogs which give 
you links to all the 
most interesting 
content around the 
web, relevant to the 
Information Profession.
check out: 
http://stephenslighthouse.com/
Blogs which focus
on the tech trends,
the new tools, and
the innovation of 
social media for use
in the Library realm.
check out: 
http://www.philbradley.typepad.com/
of course, many of the best blogs...
combine them all together
subscribe this instant to:
http://librarianbyday.net/
Ideas
Diary
Links
Tech
registering your blog
essential features
best practice
back to the PowerPoint
by Ned Potter
http://thewikiman.org
there are still a few essential steps to take before you start blogging
Part of 'Entering the world 
of blogs and blogging' - a workshop at the CILIP 
Career Development Group
New Professionals Conference

July 5th 2010, Sheffield
you'd be surprised how many people don't do this next bit...
There are a million and one features and widgets you can add to your blog -
here are the essentials:
Blogging has its own etiquette, techniques, and best practice
Thanks for watching. To view the powerpoint presentation that comes before and after this Prezi, go to http://bit.ly/9g4vH1 
community stuff
visual stuff
accessibility stuff
Comment on other people's blogs, engage with the community
ALWAYS link to other blogs you mention (and everything else); remember to use Pingbacks
Respond thoughtfully to comments on your own posts
An attractive visual theme is important, but most subscribers will be using Google Reader or similar so it's more vital that the theme is functional
Develop a visual identity and retain it throughout your social media wherever possible
Use pictures or graphics whenever appropriate to liven up your posts
Avoid the use of Serif fonts (e.g Times New Roman) as they are difficult for visually impaired users to read
It helps dyslexic readers if you: avoid bright white backgrounnds (use off-white if you can), ensure the text and background colour aren't too similar (as they may set their browsers to display only monochrome), and use bold where you might have used italics 
Above all, link sensitively. Use the 'alt' and 'title' tags properly, and hyperlink entire relevant chunks of a sentance - don't just link 'click here' 
general stuff
There's no excuse for not using a spell-check, yet so many people don't...
Think VERY carefully before publishing anything aggressive - don't forget, what you say on the internet will be around forever, even if you delete it
Use punchy titles for your posts - library blogging is a crowded market place, so people won't want to read yet another post unless the title grabs their attention
for a hosted 
wordpress.com 
blog
for a self- hosted 
wordpress.org 
blog
twitter: displays recent tweets. Always good to link back to your own social media
delicious: if you use delicious, displaying your recently added bookmarks shows a little more of your interests and personality
RSS: enables people to subscribe to either or both of the posts and comments feed of your blog
Blog Subscriptions: some people prefer to subscribe via email; they can do that here
Image: cement your social media visual identity with a logo or head-shot here 
URLs for all of these are in the workshop booklet:

Twitter, delicious and subscribe plug-ins, for the same reasons as listed above
Wordpress Popular Posts: if you display the five posts with the most views or comments, it may draw people in to explore your blog further
Add-to-Any - allows people to bookmark or subscribe to your blog via numerous platforms
Backtype Connect - picks up links to your post from twitter and and relevant comments from other blogs
Wordpress Stats - allows you to see which posts are viewed more than others, the links your readers click, and how they get to your blog
Subscribe To Comments - allows people to subscribe to the comments feed of a specific post
Register the blog with Google (http://www.google.com/addurl/)
Link to it from the UK Library blogs wiki (http://uklibraryblogs.pbworks.com/) 
Burn a feed with Feedburner (http://feedburner.google.com/)
Register your Gravatar (globally recognised avatar: http://en.gravatar.com/)
Put something of yourself in there. Don't be afraid to show some personality, and write about what you feel passionate about.
(and don't forget to choose a kick-ass name, too...)
For more info on this presentation see: http://thewikiman.org/blog/?p=783