How to Blog: Summary of Blogging Basics

The phenomenon of blogging has been around for more than a decade now. A decade in the web world is equivalent to three decades in the real world (considering the pace at which the web is evolving).

That would render our topic -'How to Blog' entirely obsolete. And it is up to some extent. But I came across so many misconceptions about blogging Still floating around the web, that I couldn't help but make this into a post.

Besides, new people still continue to enter the blogosphere (according to a survey, about 1.6 blogs are created every second) and they need to know the basics.

Also, some of my friends took up blogging recently (better late than never) and they've been bombarding me with queries like what the hell is RSS? or What is a Blogroll?

So I thought of summarizing all the basics of blogging and its terminologies into one article. This is supposed to be a short summary so lets get started with the blogging basics that every blogger should be familiar with, before he/she write their first blog post.

What Is A Blog? and How to Blog?

Here are some popular definitions of a blog -

'Short for “Web log”, a blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger.”'

' a blog is a type of website that is usually arranged in chronological order from the most recent ‘post’ (or entry or article) at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom.'

'A Web log is a shared on-line journal where people can post diary entries about their personal experiences and hobbies; "postings on a blog are usually in chronological order'

To Sum it Up -

• A blog is a type of website
• Blog is short for 'Web log' (a digital log)
• It can also be defined as an online journal
• You can 'post' or enter text and other multimedia in this journal
• Whatever you post will be arranged in chronological order (recent at top)

A Blog is just a medium and does not necessarily imply a log of the daily ongoings in your life like a diary. It is upto you what you make of it.

Through a blog you can share your travelling experiences (travelog), provide tutorials on a particular topic, share interesting stuff you discovered or write random thoughts... the possibilities are infinite.

You can start a blog for free using services like blogger.com, wordpress.com etc. They take care of all the technical stuff for you. Although, you need a basic understanding of blogging, which I hope you have acquired by now, and some knowledge of the terms used in relation to blogging. I have listed them below.

Glossary of Blogging Terminology

Blog :

Short for web log.

Blogosphere :

The universe encompassing all the bloggers, their blogs and the technologies that make it all possible.

Photoblogging :

a blog predominantly using and focusing on photographs and images. Photoblogs are created by photobloggers

A Blog Post, Entry :

A blog post or blog entry implies an Individual article that makes up a blog.

Categories :

The main topics your posts talk about

Tags/Labels :

Labeling/tagging/attaching keywords to blog posts. Example - This post you are reading about how to blog can be tagged or labeled as blogging, blogging basics, introduction to blogging, getting started with blogging, build a blog etc.

Permalink :

A unique permanent link to an article/blog post.

Blogroll :

List of links to other blogs that you like and read often.

Template/theme :

A template is the component that creates the visual interface of the blog. You don't have to worry about the technicalities of how this works as there are a lot of free templates available for different blogging engines (blogger, wordpress). You just need to download a theme you like and apply it to your blog.

Archives :

A collection of all your posts on one page categorized by month etc.

RSS :

This article on problogger explaines the concept of RSS very nicely and precisely - http://www.problogger.net/what-is-rss/

This is pretty much all that you need to know to get started with blogging. If you think something is missing or if you want to add something or if you have any queries related to the building a blog or how to start a blog for free, please feel free to drop a comment.