The pros concur that novices should start digital scrapbooking the easy way: Make a photo book first.

Most online photo sharing and printing companies offer this simple option, which involves uploading your pictures to a Web site, then dropping them into pre-formatted pages. Most services will allow you to print individual pages, too, for just a few dollars each.

Once you can handle that, it’s time to move on to open-format scrapbooking, in which you start with an empty page. Again, the various online companies, such as Snapfish, Shutterfly, Creative Memories and Smilebox, can help. They offer formats and embellishments, some for free.

Because it’s the Internet, there are thousands of digital-scrapbook suppliers out there. Savannah Brentnall, a professional digital scrapper in Los Angeles, recommends the tutorials at DesignerDigitals.com for getting started.

She also suggests joining a digital scrapbooking forum, such as DigiShopTalk.com or Scrapbook-Bytes.com for support and inspiration.

Find digital scrapping Web sites that you like, and watch them for sales and coupons. Katie Pertiet, the owner and lead designer at DesignerDigitals.com, recommends downloading free items from her site’s “freebie gallery” to try them. The site offers sales every Thursday and posts two 25-cent items on Sundays.

Pertiet recommends JessicaSprague.com and her accompanying blog (http://spraguelab.

squarespace.com) for a beginner’s guide, online classes and inspiration.

Digi-scrapper Erin Clayton, of Lake Winnipesaukee, N.H., has these suggestions: CatScrap.com, ScrapArtist.com and Oscraps.com. Then there’s Gallery Standouts (http://gallerystandouts.com), which showcases scrapbooking as an art form.

If frustration sets in, the major players have got your back: Free online help.