A blogging offer you can't refuse

If you want to start a blog and you are connected with a voluntary waterways organisation, I've got a special offer for you, so read on. 

The ancient joke is that if you get an infinite number of monkeys to type at random, you'll soon come up with Shakespeare.  And if you pay peanuts, you'll get Hamlet in a trice.  With the blogosphere expanding so fast, we'll soon know if that's true.

The real problem is in knowing if we'll have to pay for it.  Running a blog can be free, and a number of systems offer this.  Blogger (from Google) is the best-known, and LiveJournal (where it's said most of the young, nubile ladies seem to blog) is one of the most popular.  There's a good selection of free blog services here.

Granny Buttons runs on TypePad Pro, which fits me fine.  It's pretty flexible and sophisticated, and costs me $15/month (the price of a packet of peanuts a day).  Considering how important it is in my life (and yours, if you read regularly), that feels well worth it.  And most importantly, I think it's the most powerful system for beginners, with an excellent help system from the company.   

(And I think it's got the prettiest company president I've yet seen, but don't tell her husband).

Six Apart (the company that runs TypePad) is trying to get monthly-payers like me to sign up annually, so they are offering me an extra free year's gift subscription for someone else if I do it.   

Here's the deal:  I'll sign up for a year ($149) and give the gift subscription to you, provided you are associated with a canal society or organisation, and provided you really, really, REALLY, agree to start blogging, to do a post at least once a week, and NOT STOP for the year of the subscription.   

I recommend the Pro level for societies for a bunch of reasons, but especially because it allows more than one user to post to the blog.   For example, a chairman, a secretary, a social secretary and others could each post their own different sort of news.

At the end of the year you'll either

1. Lose everything you posted;
2. Export your blog to another system  (e.g. Blogger) or:
3. Continue subscribing to Typepad (with the Basic, Plus or Pro options).

You'll also get me as free backup support, advice and mentoring.  I've got a month to decide.

Comments

[Halfie]

Did anyone take up your offer, Andrew?