How to Make a Free Blog on Tumblr

Follow these steps to make a blog using Tumblr

Tumblr is growing quickly as more and more people realize it's ease-of-use and features are hard to resist. You can make a free blog with Tumblr in just a few minutes by visiting the Tumblr home page and following the steps provided. This is your primary Tumblr blog, so the name, link, and avatar that you use to create your first blog during the account setup process is very important. They follow you everywhere as you interact with other Tumblr users and share content. You cannot delete your primary blog. Instead, you'd have to close your entire Tumblr account, so plan accordingly from the start.

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Privacy Settings

Tumblr logo

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When you make a free blog on Tumblr, it is automatically public. You cannot turn your primary Tumblr blog setting from public to private. However, you can set specific posts published on your primary blog in the future to be private. Just set the publish now setting to private when you're creating your private post. If you want to create a completely private Tumblr blog, you need to make a second blog separate from your primary Tumblr blog and choose the option to password-protect it. You'll be prompted to enter a password that visitors will have to know and input in order to view your private blog.

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Design and Appearance

There are a variety of Tumblr theme designs available to you when you make your free Tumblr blog, which you can access without leaving your Tumblr account. Just click the Customize link followed by the Appearance link in your Tumblr dashboard to view your Tumblr blog's appearance settings. You can change your Tumblr blog's colors, images, fonts, and widgets as well as add comments and performance tracking code (both of which are discussed later in this article).

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Pages

You can add pages to your Tumblr blog to make it look more like a traditional website. For example, you might want to publish an About Me page or a contact page. If you use a theme from the Tumblr themes library, that theme will be set up so you can immediately add pages to your Tumblr blog.

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Comments

If you want to display comments that visitors leave on your Tumblr blog posts, then you need to configure your blog to accept and display them. Fortunately, it's easy to do. Just click the Appearance link in your Tumblr dashboard to add the Disqus comments platform to your Tumblr blog.

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Timezone

To ensure your Tumblr blog posts and comments are time-stamped to match the time zone you're in, click Settings from the top navigation bar of your Tumblr dashboard and choose your timezone.

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Custom Domain

If you want to use a custom domain for your Tumblr blog, you have to purchase that domain from a domain registrar first. Once you secure your domain, you must change your domain's to point to 72.32.231.8. If you have problems with this step, you can get detailed instructions from your domain registrar. Once you've done that, you need to click the Settings link from the top navigation bar of your Tumblr dashboard and check the box for Use a Custom Domain. Enter your new domain, and click Save Changes. Keep in mind, it can take up to 72 hours for your domain registrar to redirect your domain's A-record per your request. Before you change any settings in your Tumblr dashboard, make sure your domain A-record change has taken effect.

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Tracking Performance Statistics

To add your tracking code from Google Analytics to your Tumblr blog, click the Appearance link from your Tumblr dashboard's top navigation bar. However, if your Tumblr theme doesn't support Google Analytics through the Appearance section of your dashboard, then you must add it manually. Create a Google Analytics account, and add a website profile for your Tumblr domain. Copy and paste the custom code provided into your Tumblr blog by clicking the Customize link from the top navigation bar of your Tumblr dashboard. Then click the Info tab. Paste the code provided by Google Analytics into the Description field, and click Save. Return to your Google Analytics account and click Finish. Your statistics should start appearing within a day or two.

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Your Citation
Gunelius, Susan. "How to Make a Free Blog on Tumblr." ThoughtCo, Nov. 18, 2021, thoughtco.com/how-to-make-free-blog-on-tumblr-3476398. Gunelius, Susan. (2021, November 18). How to Make a Free Blog on Tumblr. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-make-free-blog-on-tumblr-3476398 Gunelius, Susan. "How to Make a Free Blog on Tumblr." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-make-free-blog-on-tumblr-3476398 (accessed March 19, 2024).