Web for Small Business

Introduction to blogging

Posted on 02. Oct, 2009 by Cat in Blogging, How To

I’ve had quite a few of my friends ask me what a blog is, so I thought I’d put together this article explaining exactly what one is.

What is a blog?

Originally, “blog” was a shortening of “web log” – or a web journal. What differentiates a blog from a traditional website is that blogs facilitate the publishing of “posts” or stories in reverse chronological order. So you will see the most recent blog post first. Like a news feed, blogs meant that a reader could quickly see which entries were the most recent.  Also like news feeds and also like a journal, it is expected that blogs are regularly updated. While if a traditional website hasn’t been touched in a number of months, most people wouldn’t notice – if a blog has had no updates for the same time, it’s considered at the very best “dormant”, but most usually, it would be seen as “dead”.

Blogs are now an important component of online publishing. Major newspapers and many magazines have incorporated blogs into their websites. There are influential publishing companies like b5media and Weblogs Inc that are based solely around networks of blogs. 

That’s not to say that big companies have an advantage when it comes to blogging, they don’t, and in fact, the big media companies have been relatively late to jump on the blogging train. A big part of the popularity of blogs is linked to availability of blogging software which allowed blog authors (bloggers) to post entries to their blog with very little or no coding ability. The main thing that separates blogs is the quality of the writing, the dedication, the personality and the insight of the writer/s – not technical resources. This has meant that blogging has really levelled the playing field and it has provided, and continues to provide, countless opportunities for individuals.

Blogs have really opened up the world of independent publishing – now anyone from kids to grandparents can easily become web publishers.

Why Blog?

The best benefit a blog can bring is influence. The most popular blogs have audiences that number in the millions. A regular established blog can have thousands of visitors each month.

But it’s not just audience numbers, it’s the quality of the relationship that’s created. By making regular posts, you are in consistent contact with your readers and because blogs can allow readers to comment back on blog posts, a conversation is created. Just as you are more likely to put more value in the advice given to you by a friend than a salesman, people are more likely to trust blogs they read regularly than a website that they find just through a Google search.

From influence flows other benefits – authority and reputation, customers, market research, networking opportunities, staff attraction.

Blogs also can provide more value for readers and thus be more likely to attract more visitors on a more frequent basis. Think of it too from a reader’s point of view – what would you rather read and keep reading: a static faceless website that may change once a month or a blog that every day has some new bit of new interesting information where you feel you know the author? It’s pretty obvious why blogs have such an advantage in attracting audiences.

Blogs can also help your ranking in Google (thus be higher on the list when potential customers/clients do an internet search for your product/service). Search engines love regularly updated and commented upon blogs.

Examples of Blogs

There are some good blog directories and listings worth checking out:

• Technorati
• 9rules
• Delightful Blogs
• Blog Catalog

Also try typing “(your interest area) + blog” into Google search to find new blogs relevant to you.

Blogging Software – What is it?

Blogging software is a type of content management system (usually called a CMS). Content management systems make it possible for someone to create and update their website with little or no need to use code. There are plenty of blogging solutions that make it as easy to create a blog post as it is to create and send an email. 

Of course, some systems are easier than others for beginners. 

Hosted Blogging Solutions

A growing number of services like Blogger and Typepad handle all your blog’s hosting and software maintenance so that all you have to do is log in, choose your settings, type up your post and hit a button to publish. It’s about as easy as you can get. The trade off is that you don’t own your blog – it is hosted with someone else and so it dependent on their rules. You also don’t have as many customisation options for design and functionality.

Pros

• Easy to use
• No worries about programming
• No worries about maintaining and upgrading blog software

Cons

• Lack of control and ability to customise features
• May not be able to use your own domain name (though some let you have your own domain, usually for a fee)
• Often hosted services can have strict rules and you may lose your blog without warning if you break the rules inadvertently
• Some hosted services forbid commercial purposes

Examples
Blogger: Blogger is owned by Google and is free. It is very simple to use and has a huge user base. However, if something goes wrong you’re often on your own.  

Typepad: Typepad is owned by Six Apart (who also make LiveJournal, Vox and Movable Type). Plans start from $4.95/month. It’s very popular and said to be very robust. However, it does have limitations and has been surpassed by Wordpress.

Wordpress.com: Wordpress is an open source free software that you can download (see more in “Blog Software You Host Yourself”) but the same organisation also has a commercial option that does all the hosting and managing for you. It’s free to set up (with the option to pay for more customisation features). It does have rules barring commercial blogs on their free plans, however this doesn’t seem to be frequently enforced.

LiveJournal: LiveJournal is owned by Six Apart and while in the US, it is seen as an online diary service for teenagers, in Russia, it is apparently the most popular blog platform. It’s free.

Vox: Vox is also owned by Six Apart. It is a free, and very, very, very simple to use. Six Apart sells it as a blogging system even grandparents can use. It is designed to be for personal use.

Squarespace: Squarespace is a content management system that lets people with no coding ability build websites and blogs. Plans start from from $8/month.

Vox: A very simple way to blog and great if your blog consists of lots of links to other people’s content.

Blog Software You Host Yourself

Pros

• Able to be customised to your needs
• Often more commercialisation options
• Depending on the system you choose, you may have access to more powerful functionality through plugins
• You have full ownership over your website and its content

Cons

• Pay for your own hosting
• You may need to install it yourself
• Harder, may need a little bit of coding skills
• Must manage your upgrades and site maintenance

WordPress (Wordpress.org): The most popular with a huge community that provides support and free plugins (software extensions that make your blog do more). Makes for a very professional blog.

Movable Type: Movable Type is supposed to be more robust than Wordpress for large, popular sites (but there are ways to increase Wordpress’s robustness), however, its community support is not as large and it can be more expensive. While it’s now free for individual bloggers, for companies it starts at $395 for 5 bloggers.

Habari: Habari is relatively new so it says it is better able to handle things like comment spam and Digg overloads (if your site gets to the front page of Digg, the ensuing traffic could kill your web page’s server).

Drupal: Drupal is a free open source content management that does much more than a blog – it can create quite complex websites. It’s not for beginners though.

Tags: Blogging, How To