Everyone
has a different opinion of how to explain what a blog is. I like to explain
what a blog is by contrasting it to a ‘’normal’’ website, since essentially a
blog is a website (so there you go, that’s all really a blog is – a website) Blogs are websites with a few very key
differences, namely:
1. Articles
are listed in a chronological order with the newest article at the top: This is
a very consistent element of every blog I have ever come across. Articles are
listed with a title followed by the body content, starting at the top of the
page with the most recently published article followed by the next most recent,
and so on. This format is a legacy of the ‘’ journaling’’ aspect of blogging.
The term
blog is derived from ‘’weblog’’ which essentially mean online diary or journal.
Diaries have entries made by date and that is how blog posts work too.
An
important point to make, despite the journalistic style history, is that blog
today are not all diaries and are not all about personal lives of the authors.
Some blogs are still the thought of the authors- my blog is, but I don’t talk
about my tv or what I had for dinner. I stay on my chosen topic, internet
business and blogging, and people who are interested in those topic come to
read my blog.
Blogs today
can be about any subject, written by one or many authors and certainly are not
all diaries. Personal reflection, opinion and tone, all have a place in blogs,
but that doesn’t affect the breath or
scope of topic covered.
2. it’s
easy to add new content: Normal
website have one chronic problem that kept everyday people from creating one-
they are just too technical. Even with sophisticated content management
systems, website creation was out of the reach of your average web surfer.
Blog
changed things. They
provide a content publishing system so easy to use that the average net surfer,
with some practice, can become a blogger and publish content to the world wide
web. When content publishing became as easy as writing an email, the barriers
to entry were lowered enough for it to go mainstream and we now have a world
filled with millions of blogs.
3. Content
is updated frequently: Another major problem with websites is their static
nature. Most websites never change and you always come back to the same pages
with the same content. The reason for this is point two above- it is too hard for the average person to add
content to a website.
Sure, many
popular sites were updated frequently before blogs came along, but they have
backing of large organizations with technical staff and writers, or they are
managed by people who understand things like HTML, FTP and web servers.
Most people
do not speak this language and until blogs became available it was hard for the
average person to publish their ideas online. Blogs lower the barriers to
publishing enough so the average person can do it. As a result the web is
filled with content producer (bloggers) writing and publishing articles on a
regular basis, sometimes multiple articles per day. Websites have never been as
dynamic as today’s blogs.
A spin-off
effect has been the rise off blogs in search engines. Search engines like google
reward sites that publish valuable content on a consistent basis. Blogs, by
their nature, do this (assuming motivated bloggers are running them) and so
rise high in search engine rankings. As a result of ‘’stealing’’ top engine
rankings, they receive even more attention, capturing the focus of internet
marketers and business owners as they
look to blogs as potential marketing tools for their products and services.
4. Blogs
allow people to leave comments: A significant evolution when comparing traditional
website to a blog is the addition of comments function. Each article published
to a blog has an impute box to allow any person from the public to leave a
comment on that article.
This
enhancement turned websites from one-way broadcasting devices, to two- ways
communication tools. Readers can directly communicate with author of the
content, carry on the conversation started by the article and essentially turn
a blog into a community. This last point is more powerful than you think and
here’s why….
5. People ‘’trust’’ blogs more than the normal
websites because blogging is a conversation:
If you combine
all the elements above- the personal journal style of writing, the ease of
adding content leading to frequent updates, the ability to interact with your
readers- you have a formula for a very natural communication tool. Blogs ,by
their nature, are considered trusted sources of information. They foster a more
human relationship and, as evidenced in countless blogs today, some bloggers
are perceived as experts, whether they are not, purely on the back of their
successful blogs.
This final point is the most significant, yet subtle
element that distinguishes blogs from normal websites. If people trust the word
written on a blog, if people come to like and identify with the person writing
the blog, you have all the elements necessary to create a popular community
focused on the creative output of just one person.
This is why any person with a passion, a hobby, or a
skill, and enough motivation to produce content on a particular topic, can
build an audience, keep people coming back and ultimately, monetize that
traffic, establishing the potential for professional blogging.
Much of what I just explained won’t be new to some
people, but it lays the groundwork for the rest of this report. If the concept
of ‘’blog’’ is still a bit blurry for you, head online, find some blogs and
seek examples of the five points I listed above so you understand the
opportunity that exists.
