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What is Blogging: The New Form of Journalism
Ever wonder why most all of the teens today are addicted to
the internet? Well it has everything a young exploring mind needs. From
browsing the net for document researches, shopping, cooking, gaming, chat, and
a whole bunch of stuff going inside a website’s offer.
Yep, all of these including one secluded part of a teen’s
life which is their journal. Don’t believe me? Then try hooking up on the
internet now and see how much there is that is available today.
Aside from being a window for the readers to see what’s on
the author’s mind, a blog lets him elaborate on facts or scribble out whatever
idea that pops out his head. A blog is a simplified term for “web blog”-a new
generation medium for writing articles, essays, statements and the like.
It’s usually composed of texts or sometimes pictures and
multimedia topics. If you’re tired of jotting down every single detail of your
life’s worth on paper, why not try the new fad of journalism which is blogging.
Blogging literally means sharing a comment of life through the internet.
It is an up-to-date source. A sequence of events. A timeless
exhibit of creativity and style. An outlet for one’s self.
The popularity of blog comes in different areas. Anyone can
write anything that comes out of his head. Whether a walk on a sunny day or a
dip into California ’s wild waters, it serves as a diary and is readily
updated. What’s good about blogging is that it is not bounded by editing and is
cheap.
The commercial velocity of a blog depends on a writer’s
instinct to create a worthy article. Either formative or informative, rational
or irrational, for as long as the readers can visualize what the author has
posted your blog’s a hit.
Technical specialties and skills, not necessary. Publishing
freedom, an advantage. All that is needed is for you to have a witty mind, a
desire to share ideas and part of your story, and a bit of knowledge to toggle
into the internet. Grammatical errors are welcome. No editors and publishing
companies to please. Journalism without rules or guidelines to follow and
what’s best is that readers could post a comment or be inspired to write one
too.
Blogging wouldn’t be difficult if you have the right
recipes. Not just a simple-text article, a blog may be enhanced or converted
into other types like an audio blog or a video blog. Nowadays, blogs are more
sophisticated and advanced. Element of a blog starts from a good and
captivating headline down to the author’s personal profile. Included herewith
are the blog post, permalink (combined term for “permanent link”), and the
reader’s comments.
A friend of mine is a blogger. She would entertain herself
by posting blogs on her web page. She told me that blogging is an advantage for
her to speak up to the world of the things that’s keeping her shut. And I
quote, “I am an internet junkie. I am not a big fan of journalism or any kind
of writing.
But it all changed when the blogging fever entered internet
society. I appreciated it more when I felt everything that’s written are real
and not just a compulsory decoy to deliver information. Right then, I became a
part of a bigger picture.”
Trapped in a world of unwanted opinions, blogging is a
benefit. But everything has its own consequences. Blogs are much harder to
manage than that of the broadcast media. In politically sensitive issues, blogs
can be considered as a political misfit. Results are triggered through
suppression of bloggers and punishments were made. Another grave case is the
issue of defamation and liability.
Nevertheless, blogging is still out there. So if you’re the
type who has the snap for writing, give blogging a shot. You never know how
much it would contribute to the society and to your pockets.
Why Blog?
There are hundreds of thousands of blogs posted on the Internet
daily. With these numbers, one question will just pop-up in your mind: Why do
people blog?
The reason behind is through blogs, people can express
themselves freely. Yes, there are other mediums you can use to show to the
world what you have got. You can write articles and columns on a local
newspaper. But the question is, are you sure all what you have written can be
printed? Writing blogs gives you the power to get what you have written printed
immediately. No questions asked, nothing more to be asked.
Another reason why many people are blogging is the freedom
of design, layout, and its structure. You do not need to have navigation
architecture designs of a website nor a structured menu. You can write anything
about what you want regardless of what it looks like. Your point is to attract
readers in the way that you think is the best. That is the power of
blogging—giving you the freedom of what you want your blog to look like.
Before you start your blogging hobby, you need to know first
the blogging tools. These tools enable you to post your blogs either on your
own website or to a certain blogging community. One popular blogging tool is
Blogger software, a web-based tool that does not require you to install
software to your personal computer or on your server in case you have your own
website. You can access the tool through the Blogger website and your blog
pages can be posted to your own site or to a community blog server.
These are just some of the basic things you need to know
about blogging. Remember that blogs give you the power to publish anything you
want. However, you need to keep in mind that it can be successful if you will
be discussing interesting things on it. And do not forget to place a link
directing to your own website. It can help you generate the traffic you needed.
With the advent of internet marketing, Web publishing is
continually gaining ground and popularity. Nowadays, technologically savvy
corporate businessmen, or even business employees, use blogs to build and manage
relationships with their consumers. They share their company’s expertise,
culture and other information, which can help develop the customer’s interest
in their products and services.
On the other hand, not only do businessmen venture in the
world of blogging but regular computer users too. Not only can they voice out
their opinions and thoughts to others but also earn money in more ways than
one; from selling ad space to offering expert services, which in turn builds
their reputation as a professional.
If you are thinking of entering the blogsphere, you must be
ready of the problems you might encounter in several areas of blogging, such
as: choosing, installing and configuring your blog software tools. Although the
collection and assortment of configurations vary widely, a neophyte blogger can
still get confused. The tools are not the only obstacles you must overcome but
also the terminologies used for blogging.
What is Blog?
Before anything else, what is a blog? Generally, it is a web
page that has brief and distinct information also known as posts. These posts
are arranged in reverse chronological order (that is, the latest comes first)
and each post entry is identified by an anchor tag which is marked by a
permanent link that can be referred to by others who wish to link to it.
Blogs are considered to be a means of communication and
there are numerous types of messages carried by blogs. Some you will find are
just vacuums that points to other websites, others displays their greatest
essay, some are personal diaries, and others promote newest technology. In
other words, bloggers can write anything they want.
Tools for Blogging
Basically, the software tools for your blog greatly depend
on your provider. For instance, the RSS functionality can be absent from one
provider but present in another. Additionally, some blog software tool
providers can cost as low as $4 each month depending on the extent of service
you choose, while others can be used for free but with limited services. Choosing
the right software tool depends on you. If you have enough cash to spare for a
blog or if you want to really get serious with a blog and hope to earn cash in
the future, which is always a possibility, you have the option of choosing
priced blog software tools. However, if you are a newbie blogger, it might be
advisable to start with free blog software tool providers.
Fortunately, some providers that charge for their services
also offer free trial periods, which range from 10 to 30 days. This is an
excellent opportunity to try and test out the services they offer without paying
any fee. Luckily, if you find a provider that you are comfortable with and
offer the services you need, you can always use their free trial periods to the
full extent before subscribing.
Blogging Terminologies
Blogging is like a secret society and like most secret societies;
it has its own language that you must learn. Although, technologically savvy
individuals an easily familiarize themselves with these terms, it might be hard
for those who have limited or no background with Web publishing whatsoever.
Firstly, the most important term in blogging is Post. A post
happens every time you place or publish an update to your blog; you also create
a post this way. Secondly, since blogs are a means of communication, comments
are also possible. If your audience leaves a message regarding your published
content, this message is referred to as a comment. Normally, the comments are
labeled and time-stamped to allow you and other readers to see who posted the
comment and when it was posted. Comment spams, is also a term that happen when
a single reader continuously repeats the same comment over and over again. This
can be a headache for the blogger as the blog can be used by the reader to promote
other blogs or Web site.
These are just some of the few terms that you can encounter
in blogging. Only exploration and experience can help you understand the other
terminologies involved in blogging.
The Power Of Blogging
Blogs are becoming more popular nowadays. You will notice
that the numbers of blogging sites are increasing. In addition, there are
innovations already making its way into blogging.
For instance, instead of pure text content, there is now
photo blogging where you can now share your pictures with other bloggers. Aside
from the usual call and text features of cellular phones, now you can use it if
you want to post your blog. It just manifests that blogging is really becoming
popular to people.
If you are not reached yet by the popularity of blogs,
continue reading and see for yourself why blogging is just popular to almost
every Internet users.
The Benefits of the Blog Types
In blogging, you are not limited into one type of blogging
type. In fact, there are several types of blogs. No matter what type bloggers
use, they publish content around topics and issues that they feel passionate
about. For instance, several bloggers write about politics, others for pet care
and some for personal computers. However, blogs that are business oriented are
often focused into a single topic for the fact that they need to emphasize
their services or products.
Blogs can cover a wide range of topics. Because of this
versatility, several people are starting to blog. Not only can they express
what they feel or advertise their products or services, they can also earn
cash. Blogs are new methods of earning income at the comfort of your own home.
However, that is just the icing on the cake since blogging can bring lots of
joy to several bloggers for that fact that they can share their opinions and
thoughts to others and receive advise from them or vice versa.
Blogging for Business
Several businesses
are exploring the world of blogging. This is an excellent opportunity for them since
blogging is a great medium of communication. Additionally, business oriented
blogs can benefit from the search engine optimization advantage, which is the biggest
leverage of blogging.
If the business has a Web site that promotes a product or
service, any type of content that the business use as the vehicle to drive the
business or commerce to another level require a blog. Blogs are very useful because
they are text-based and light weight, with regards to the code used, compared
to traditional Web site content. This only means that blogs minimize the crawl
time of search engine spiders and allow them to retrieve more information about
the page to the search directories a lot faster.
More so, blogs are dynamic because they can be updated frequently.
By frequently publishing contents for the blog, the search engine spiders visit
more often. The result is that the blog can have more pages being sent over the
search engines compared to the business’s opponents. This is very good indeed
if the competitor is the one who has a static Web site. This also provides the
blogging business an opportunity to reach out to more potential customers, thus
possibly increasing their revenue.
Blogging for Personal Use
Normally, personal blogs have the characteristics of being
exciting, interesting and enjoyable. Bloggers blogging for personal reasons
have the purpose of keeping their friends and family updated about their lives
and activities. Many bloggers find comfort in blogging personal contents.
Additionally, if you create a personal blog, you are open to the idea of sharing
your interest with other people who might visit your blog.
Like any other blogs, personal blogs can be incorporated
with photos, videos and other multimedia elements. You can create a personal
blog about anything that you feel passionate about. There are even personal
blogs with contents regarding products that the blogger is really interested
in. This provides the businesses ideas about the preferences of their
customers. This only proves that blogs also work in synergy.
Blogs are very easy
to use content management systems, which allow you to publish articles right
away and in real-time. These platforms for communication unravel new
opportunities to connect with others both in a personal or professional manner.
Useful Tips for Blogging Beginners
Can’t get the hang of the numerous blogs you have found?
Having a hard time doing your own? This is natural for numerous people. Here
you will find some helpful tips on effective blogging.
Tip # 1: Put a headline
See to it readers have an idea of what they are reading.
Don’t put a write-up or a video blog with no sense at all. Make it a point that
they participate by giving out opinions and comments. Think of what’s
interesting to read. Let the readers be captivated, to do so, begin with your
title. Make it a head turner. Motivate by grabbing their attention.
Tip # 2: Build paragraphs
Every blog consists of one thought. That doesn’t necessarily
mean you must imitate that thought by maintaining one whole paragraph per se.
Split your ideas. Cut them down into bits. Compose sub ideas that’ll support
the whole picture. Don’t give your viewers a hard time reading a big rock.
Break them into marbles.
Tip # 3: Characterize
Put some attitude in your writing. Don’t be so serious about
your blog. Ensure the quality must go hand in hand with lightness. Act as if
you’re speaking up to the whole world. Spice your blog up a bit. Argue. Make
them react. Make them feel. Add emotions and not just plain writing.
Tip # 4: Time-bound
Old news could be pretty boring. Blend it with the new.
Update it. Or better yet, revise it. It’s in the nature of humanity to search
for something relevant, acceptable, contributing and most of all. Current
issues are always an eye-catcher. So brush up those research skills.
Tip # 5: Install
Yes you are a blogger. But that doesn’t mean you are good at
it. So even before your readers would boast how incapable your writing talents
are, block it. Install an anti-spam software and tools to filter those comments
and keep them moderate. Comments may either be positive or negative. So make
sure you accept the good ones and trash away the bad.
Tip # 6: Stay Real
Don’t go astray with your posts. A fundamental aspect of
blogging is the contribution it would make for the media. Personal relations
must be established. Maintain a constant conversation. A way to do this is by
staying true to your every word. Pinky-swear on it. Nobody would believe a
fraud. Create significant value that would result for your readers to keep
coming back for more.
Tip # 7: Respond
Respond to your comments. Don’t let it go unnoticed. If your
reader asks you a question, be ready to answer. Silence is not a benefit with
this kind of industry. Be aware of what people think and note their reactions.
If they do react, provide a satisfying answer. If criticisms arise, take it
smoothly.
Tip # 8: Advertise
If your blog goes unnoticed, it doesn’t mean that it’s
useless. At least you get to satisfy your writing abilities. But if you still
lack a reader’s attention, why not advertise your blog? All you need to do is
go to other sites and post out a comment on their blogs and at the same time,
invite them to visit yours. It’s a give and take process.
Blogs are newfound journalistic mediums of an author’s
freewill to publish. It’s not just another brick on the wall. Definitely, it
means something.
Tips for Keeping Your Blog Up to Date
Keeping a blog up to date is one of the most important
aspects of blogging. This is so important because regular blog visitors expect
new postings on a regular basis. Not all visitors expect to see a new post as
often as once a day but most blog readers expect the content on the blog to be
updated on a regular basis. In most cases visitors expect new content on at
least a weekly basis. However, depending on the subject matter the visitors may
expect updates on a basis which is either more frequent. Similarly visitors may
not be interested in receiving this type of information more than a few times a
year. Blog owners should be aware of the frequency of which readers expect new
posts and should make an effort to oblige the readers with updates this often.
This article will discuss methods for keeping a blog up to date including
scheduling a regular time to post blogs, using publishing tools wisely and
hiring guest bloggers when necessary.
Finding Time to Post Daily
One way to help to ensure a blog remains up to date is to
schedule time to post blogs on a daily basis. This is especially important when
blog readers expect new posts on a daily basis or at least several times per
week. Bloggers who allot a specific block of time each day to researching,
writing and publishing blogs are more likely to have a blog which is up to date
than bloggers who plan on accomplishing tasks when they find time to do so.
There may still be days in which the blogger is unable to publish a new post on
the blog but these days will be less frequent than if the blogger does not have
a block of time strictly dedicated to keeping the blog up to date.
On days in which the blog is unable to devote time to
blogging, the blogger may wish to at least publish a short message explaining
why it was not possible to post a new blog entry. This will let readers know
you are aware of their desire to read more information but are simply unable to
publish a new blog post. As long as this does not become a regular occurrence,
blog visitors are not likely to stop viewing a blog simply because the blogger
skips a day or two.
Taking Advantage of Publishing Tools
Some blog publishing tools enable bloggers to write blog
posts ahead of time and specify when each post should be published. This is an
excellent feature for bloggers who want to publish new posts daily but are
unable to dedicate time each day to writing blog posts. This way the blogger
can dedicate a block of time each week to write blog posts and have the posts
published throughout the week. This is often an easier method for many bloggers
because they are able to be more efficient this way.
Hiring Guest Bloggers
Bloggers may also want to consider hiring guest bloggers to
assist them in keeping a blog up to date. This can be a worthwhile method for
bloggers who are not only having difficulty keeping their blog up to date but
are also interested in providing readers with a little variety. However, blog
owners who opt for this message of keeping their blog up to date should
carefully consider how the dedicated blog readers will react to this change.
This is important because some readers may not be interested in reading blogs
written by a guest blogger. Therefore the use of a guest blogger can actually
be more detrimental to the blog than not updating the blog regularly. Bloggers
can gauge reader reaction to the use of guest bloggers in a couple of different
ways. The simplest and most straight forward method is to poll the readers
about the use of guest bloggers. This can be done by asking readers to comment
on the issue and tabulating the comments received. Another method to gauge
reader reaction is to introduce a guest blogger and compare the traffic the
guest blogger receives to the traffic the blog owner receives.
Writing and Publishing Your First Blog Entry
The content of your blog is an important factor in gaining
traffic and acquiring a target audience. Publishing your first article or item
is a great milestone in your blogging career. Fortunately, there are several
basic guidelines, which can make your content more effective to your audience,
adored by the search engines and respected by the world of blogging.
Publishing an Effective Content
Before you begin to write anything on your blog, you should
know who your target audience is and what they want. If you see these factors
as irrelevant for your blog because your blog is not business oriented in any way,
you must remember that if you want readers then these factors are really
relevant.
Always remember that where there are readers there is something
interesting to read. The only reason why people read is because they want
something. If you really want to achieve some kind of massive readership, you
must strive to make your content interesting and actually what readers want.
First of all, keep in mind that communication is the key.
More so, your communication must be authentic. The time when you publish your
content is also the time when you let your true self surface. Blogs are personal
in nature and communication is the key to being personal. The fact that each
blog is unique because each writer is unique is enough for you to not to worry
about future similarities with other blog entries. Keep in mind that whatever
topic you are blogging about you must incorporate your personality with your
writing.
In order to create a loyal target audience, it is important
for the visitors to trust you and relate to you. It does not necessarily entail
that they know about your personal details but you must connect with your
audience in an authentic manner. After establishing your communication with
your audience, the content must also be credible. The blog must have
authenticity even though credibility takes a lot of time to build.
The moment you begin publishing your content, which is of
high value and useful to the readers, you also start establishing your
authority. There will come a time when your readers ask you for advice or seek
for your opinion; this is the time when you have achieved some kind of credibility
and you must use this to build your reputation as a blogger.
The Blogger’s Block
Blogging is writing but uses a different medium. There are
several methods to fight blogger’s block. Always remember that your blog software
exists to serve you and not to frighten you. You do not have to try blogging
carrying the idea that you have prolific writing skills, or a journalism
degree. The fact is that you have something to say and you want others to hear
it. However, if you are feeling stuck on an idea, there are several suggestions
that you can apply when creating the content for your blog.
Firstly, you can try visiting other blogs. Visit those blogs
that interest you and pick ideas and topics from those blogs that might be worth
blogging about but keep in mind the relevance of the topic and your readership.
You can also syndicate your news updates. You can do this by subscribing to
news services online because they allow you to save time on searching using keywords.
This is most useful for bloggers.
Free Blogging Software
With the widespread use of the web service, many web hosting
providers have created an alternative of free blogging which has an open source
of blogging software packages. There have been popular blogging tools such as
the WordPress, B2evolution and Nucleus.
These programs offer basic features that are similar and a
lot of people are confused as to which program is easiest to use and which is
appropriate for the requirements of a particular website.
In getting the free blogging software, you should first know
the purpose of your blog website. There are different tools for different
goals. Some people use blogs as a way to share opinions and ideas to the public
while some use it as a means to advertise and create a commercial sales effort.
Free blogging software for search engine promotion has
different requirements. The uses of this free software have viable reasons on
how to create a blog but each of them requires different features to make it
successful. You will read in this article the different requirements and
comparison of the free software that you can have.
The WordPress is known to be the most popular free blogging
software. Other software finds WordPress hard to beat because this is used for
general personal blogging. If you wish to create your own blog and update it
regularly, there are available intuitive graphical surface that you can use.
You do not have to compile your work with WordPress. You can
just simply write your column on you own easily. You just need to select that
features that you want and your blog will instantly be created and published to
your website.
Now if you are on vacation, you can make a schedule for your
uploads in some other days in the future. You can also e-mail your column to
the server. This will allow the multiple users who have multiple blogs to have
it divided into categories and sub-categories to make it more specified.
This also allows multiple family members and friends to make
their own blogs along with yours. Blogs will allow you to keep in touch with
them.
There are easy pug-ins that you can use in order to provide
functionality and easy customization in your web site. This free blogging
software is a very good choice for people who want to have their own website.
The B2evolution is also a good and advanced free blogging
tool that can feature an integrated XHTML validator. This enables the user to
support recursive subcategories and cross posting which has a cool incorporated
skinning system.
The skinning system will allow the users to create the
multiple blogs into separate categories with can have different appearances for
each of the blogs that you make. Changing the skins will give your blogs a
different view and look.
The Nucleus is and extreme and robust free blogging tool
which has its own right. This tool also contains some of the powerful features
which can provide the users with benefits in the promotion of your blog. This
Nucleus gives the user the ability to optimize the URLD and create simple page
addresses. This makes the pages more user-friendly and easy to navigate.
The free blogging software packages mentioned above offer
the basic tools that you can use in order to create a successful blog.
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