What Is A Blog? 7 Key Things You Must Know When Setting Up A Blog

It's an interesting question isn't it? What is a blog? The answer? Quite simply a blog can be many things! It can be:-

1. An Internet based diary or journal (personal or business) which others can read and comment on.
   
2. A tool that helps you achieve your goals.
3. A great way for you to connect and communicate with people who have similar interests.
   
4. A way for you to “spread the word” about your business or hobby.
   
5. An easy way for you to keep in touch with customers and…find new ones.
   

So, what is a blogs advantage over a normal website? I suppose it’s that blogs are considered more “people friendly”. It’s less formal and there is the opportunity for “interaction” with your readers.

And, this is the absolutely the best time to get started blogging!

Recent improvements in blogging programs and services, coupled with lower costs for software, hosting and general Internet services make it so easy and cost effective to get started.

You don’t need any real degree of technical knowledge apart from some basics, and you certainly don’t need to be a formally qualified writer…as long as your content is interesting. Indeed one of the perceived advantages of blogging is that it’s “real” people and they write as they talk! So people relate well to blogs.

The two mainstream blogging platforms are Blogger and Wordpress.

1) Blogger.com is a web site that allows you to create a blog with very few technical skills. Blogger will host the blog, provide great looking designs and allow you to add text, pictures and video - all at no cost to you.

2)WordPress.org is a little different in that it provides a free program for bloggers. It’s called WordPress and is available for both Windows and the Mac.

There is also an associated site, WordPress.com, which provides free hosting and other services. You will need to either possess some technical knowledge or be prepared to read the manual in some detail with Wordpress.

That is the downside, the upside is that it does provide far more functionality than Blogger. It depends on your needs as to which you choose. I use both depending on what I need the blog to do!

So, what is a blog and what does one look like? These are blogs!

www.write-for-riches.co.uk is Wordpress, and...

The APD Internet Marketing Product Review Blog is using Blogger

What Is a Blog And Why Do You Want One?

There are many reasons that you might want to start a blog.

Here are some examples…

1. Discuss your hobby
2. Make a connection with other people who enjoy the same interest as you.
3. Share your ideas
4. Share information that you have found useful
5. Show examples of your products
6. Share your beliefs or views with others.
7. Promote your business or services; you can add pictures of you products and links to your main website
   

Why not start a blog to share with distant friends and family members? You can post your latest news, add pictures and even video. Why bother with letters when you can blog! Plus your friends and relatives get to hear your news much faster!

Blog to promote a cause, a fan blog… in fact, just about anything you choose

Another great advantage of blogging is that you have a global (that’s right) platform! You can draw the interest of people and organizations around the world. Sharing ideas will take on a whole new meaning!

Do you start to see the possibilities?

And, the best thing is that the cost of blogging in negligible!

In todays break neck world we all understand that time is a factor. But another huge advantage of blogging is that it takes very little time to set up and even less to add a new post every few days.

I do recommend that you do add content regularly. At least once a week. New fresh and unique content will keep your readers coming back, grow your blog community and keep the search engine spiders interested.

If the SE spiders keep seeing the same old content they will soon lose interest and your traffic will dwindle!

What is a Blog - Blogging Tips

Here’s some easy to implement tips to help you join and enjoy the world of blogging. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it will help you get off on the right foot and get some traffic.

Visit Other Blogs: I always look for other blogs that focus on my areas of interest. When you find something of interest add a comment and make sure that you put in a link back to your blog.

Limit “Research” Time: I know to my cost that is far too easy to spend too much time on “research” which often ends up as aimless surfing. Remember your goal is to get people to your own blog, so stay focused on the goal!

Only State Facts: Some people like to spreadrumor, gossip and negative comment about anyone and anything! The obvious reason not to do this is that you risk prosecution, but it’s common sense to be honest!

I don’t like reading lies and gossip and I’m sure you are the same, and you reap what you sew! If you engage in such practises, you will be the brunt of other peoples vitriole!

Of course, you are free to state your opinion, but remember you are solely liable for any consequences.

Also be aware that it pretty much impossible to erase anything that is made public anywhere on the Internet – you just need to do a Google search to realize this. I still come up in search results for a company I left in 1999 – ten years ago!

Support Those Who Supply Free Products: Many of the free themes and plugins and other aids to good blogging take a lot of time to develop. Without these tools blogging would be much more difficult if not impossible.

So, please support these producers from time to time and let people know you have found a tool or plugin helpful. It helps the blogging world go round!

Always Be Respectful: If there is one thing which turns people off it is bloggers, with over inflated, self-opinionated intolerance of pretty much everything else! Treat people with respect, particularly if they have taken the time and trouble to add value to your blog by commenting!

The rule is treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself. If you need to take a counter view, do it with respect and back up your comments with examples and facts.

Enjoy Your Blogging: This is Rule No1. Don’t let any technical (or other) problems with your blog or your PC/Mac ruin your day. These things happen! Windows crashes with monotonous regularity! – Accept it as part of the territory that comes with blogging - it’s only a small part of your life and it’s not life threatening!

(Always a good maxim to apply when you’re thinking of getting upset, is this situation life threatening?)

Don’t let yourself be provoked into an argument on the Internet. There are people (known as Trolls or Flamers) who roam the forums, discussion boards and other sites and looking for a fight! They do this making outrageous claims, posting rubbish or insulting other people who are visiting the site.

They may even post comments on your blog.

If this happens, you moderate your blog, simply delete any such posts and if possible, ban that person from making further comments. Easy!

On other sites, turn the other cheek, walk away. Your time is valuable don’t waste it feeding some troll’s ego.

If you have a computer problem that you can’t fix, get help!

You’ll probably have knowledgeable friends or friends of friends (I always like a personal referral) or hire a professional.

O.K, that concludes this look at “what is a blog?”. I hope you have found it useful and if you want more in depth information including the details of how to set up both Blogger and Wordpress blogs, follow the link below.

What is a Blog - Quick and Easy Blogging

Please feel free to comment on this hub. I welcome any added value or input you might wish to make!