Guest post: 5 easy steps to setting up a blog on Tumblr

It’s the official Guest Post Exchange for the 2011 WordCount Blogathon, where many of the 200+ bloggers taking part are swapping posts with fellow bloggers.

Today’s WordCount post comes from Annie Daniel, a blogger and sophomore at the University of North Carolina, who explains the ins and outs of setting up a blog on Tumblr. You’ll find me on Annie’s blog talking about 10 crazy things I did working at my college newspaper that weren’t so crazy after all.

To the unfamiliar, Tumblr may seem like a collection of angst filled, egotistical kids complaining about their terrible roommates and endless steam of homework and exams, or reporting on fabulous weekends at their  fraternity boyfriends’ formals.

This pretty much sums up what Tumblr is about, and most of us love reading it. It has become the creative outlet teenagers and 20-somethings have been looking for to shamelessly report their daily happenings and Internet findings. Keeping up with the lives of complete strangers via quick-witted anecdotes often illustrated with a picture or a still frame from a movie feels much healthier and more productive than stalking someone’s Facebook photo album and relationship status.

Like all blog sites, Tumblr is a place that is both creative and stimulating. It’s refreshing to see kids my age using their own creative writing to tell the world about their lives as opposed to a 140-character post on a social networking site.

Inspired yet? Here’s a quick intro on how to start a blog on Tumblr:

1. Create an account. Go to www.tumblr.com. Once you’re there, click the ‘Sign Up’ tab in the top right corner. This will allow you to create your own Tumblog.

2. Enter your email address, a password and a URL. The URL can be whatever you want it to be. Your Tumblr is yours, don’t feel like you have to stick to a theme to keep followers, or even really concern yourself with followers, unless you’re going for the more-is-better mindset. It can be as anonymous and personal as you want it to be.

3. Spice up your blog. Use one of the wide variety of themes made by other Tumblr users. Or, if you’re feeling ambitious, create your own. From the Dashboard, click on the ‘Customize’ tab in the top right corner. A toolbar will appear at the top of the page. Browse through the different tabs to customize your blog. Add a little blurb about yourself, upload a picture, and browse themes at the Theme Garden by clicking ‘Browse More Themes’ at the bottom of the Theme drop-down tab. Be wary of using Premium Themes, which can cost anywhere from $10 to $50.

4. Start blogging. Once you’re happy with how your new Tumblr looks and feels, add an introduction. Use the ‘Text’ option next to your picture on the Dashboard to tell new followers about yourself.

5. Explore. Using Tumblr is a figure-it-out-as-you-go process. By clicking the ‘Explore’ tab at the top of the page, it’s easy to find blogs filled with pictures and posts that interest you. You can use these blogs to lead you to other similar blogs by following the blogs you find and reblogging posts and pictures they’ve posted. To reblog something, click the ‘Reblog’ tab at the top right of the post. This is Tumbr’s take on Twitter’s “Retweet.” It allows the person the picture or post belongs to receive credit for the post, while letting you to add some color or fresh ideas to your own blog.

Though I am by no means a Tumblr expert, feel free to leave me a question about it in the ‘Ask Box’ on my Tumblr page at anieldaniel.tumblr.com.

Happy Tumbling!