If you are a new or expecting parent, the Internet and email can be invaluable tools for sharing digital baby photos and a baby journal or blog. However making sure you have everyone's correct email address, knowing whether or not they can receive photo attachments, and spam blocking software can make email a less than ideal way to share information about your baby. So the Internet, and your baby's own website or blog, becomes the next best solution. In this first of a two part article, we will explore your options for creating your own baby web site. Generally speaking, if you want a website or a blog dedicated to your baby, where you can share news and photos, your options are: - Buy a domain name (www.your-babys-name.com) and web site hosting, and build a web site yourself
- Use a combination of free blogging web sites and online photo stores to share news and photos separately
- Use an online service which enables you to build a custom baby web site, using nothing more that your PC and a web browser
The third option above offers the most value, control, and ease of use for parents and the visitor's to their baby's website. However, a detailed explanation of each follows. Build It Yourself It is possible to buy a domain name (www.your-babys-name.com) and web hosting, and build a web site for your baby on your own. Here are the major issues with this route: Domain Name - Your baby's name may not be available, especially for names like Smith and Jones. Further, there is a annual or semi-annual fee($5 - $15 a year) associated with owning the name. Failing to keep it current will result in losing the name. Domain Hosting - This is a monthly fee paid to a hosting company ($4 - $29 a month, depending on features). They put your web site onto their servers, and make it available to the Internet. Still No Website - Even after purchasing a domain name and setting up hosting, you still do not have a web site. You will need to learn web coding and build it yourself, hire a web designer to create and update your site, or use a web editor provided by your hosting company to build the site. Limited Features - Unless you get really, really good at web coding and programming, or hire a really good (expensive) web designer, you are going to have a very limited baby web site, in terms of features. It is very unlikely that you will have online photo albums, chronological journal (blog), or email notifications for your visitors, as examples. Using Blogging Sites & Online Photo Stores A better option would be to use an online blogging site, like Blogger.com, and create a blog (online journal) for your baby. This is a free service, and is owned by Google, so you know it is reliable. Since Blogger does not have Photo Albums, you'd need to share the photos with an online service like Ofoto.com (Kodak). While this approach is free, it comes with some serious limitations: Two Sites - Using this approach, you need to maintain a blog in one place, and share the photo albums elsewhere. Which also means your users are going to have to do the same. Access - Blogger sites have names like http://yourbabysblog.blogspot.com, which would be difficult for your guests to remember. Ofoto photo albums are initiated by the user sending the guests invites via email. A better solution by far than the blog portion of this approach. Security - Blogger sites are open to the public, and anyone can view them, including search engines. This is fine for many types of journals, but seem inappropriate where babies are concerned. Photo stores typically do offer this security feature, but unfortunately don't offer a journaling or other features. Not Babycentric - This approach's biggest limitation is that neither blogger sites nor online photo stores are designed specifically to be used by parents wanting to create a website for their baby. As a result, you and your guests will find it difficult to enjoy the content spread across two sites, and the security and features of a full blown baby web site will be absent. Use an Online Service to You Build Your Baby Website This is by far your best option in terms of features, ease of use, security and value. There are many such services available online. For the purposes of this comparison, www.babyblogger.com will be used, since it exemplifies all of the features you would want in your baby's web site. A Complete Baby Website - complete, full-feature web site for your baby, including a home page, a journal (blog), unlimited photo albums, guestbook, contact page and more. Secure - these baby websites are password protected. The parent invites guests using their email address and a password of their choosing. No one else can get into the baby web site, not even search engines. Easy to Use - Unlike building a web site yourself, this solution uses professionally designed templates or themes, to which you add your own text and images. It's as easy as typing an email and attaching a photo. Best of all, there are dozens of themes available, and you can change as often as you like. Custom Features - In addition to unlimited baby photo albums, password protection, baby journal (blog) guestbook and contact page, these baby sites come with Email Alerts. Your guests sign up to be notified when you add new photos or journal entries. They get an email with a link to take them to see the updates! Advertising Free - they never run advertisements on your baby web site. Most free baby blog sites do, or charge a premium to remove the ads. As you can see, using an online source to help you create a full featured baby website gives the best of both worlds. You get a professional looking baby website, instead of a piecemeal solution, without having to learn anything about building web sites, nor having to hire an expensive web designer. In the second part of this article, we will look a little more closely at the options available to you in terms of choosing an online solution for building your baby's web site. |
