What is a Blog?

Below, you should find answers to questions such as What is a Blog? and What is Blogging? together with other frequently asked questions I receive.

If you are looking for more information then you can find it in the Blogging Articles section on the right or you can receive the Free Business Blogging eCourse which is available on our sister site, Better Business Blogging.

______________________________________

Free download of
What is a Blog? An Introduction
(Download now - just right-click on the link and then “save target as”)
______________________________________

1. What is a Blog?
2. What are the special characteristics of a Blog?
3. How to start a Personal Blog?
4. What are Business Blogs?
5. Why have a Blog?
6. Benefits of Blogging?
7. Are there courses on Business Blogging?

1. What is a Blog?

There are lots of different opinions and descriptions of what a blog is, so it would seem sensible to start with a brief overview.

The name comes from a contraction of “web log” and it started life as a personal online publishing system. The blog would be a place on the internet where the author (normally an individual) could publish their thoughts and opinions on whatever subject they liked. These would then appear in chronological order.

A good place to start for some background on blogs is Wikipedia. They describe a blog as:

“The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called “blogging”. Individual articles on a blog are called “blog posts,” “posts” or “entries”. A person who posts these entries is called a “blogger”.

These are all true and yet only provide half the story. A blog is effectively a special type of website which has allowed people who previously had no real access to publishing on the web to write and express their own opinions. There are also now very important marketing tools for businesses (see below).
[back to top]

2. Special Characteristics of Blogs

So what are the special characteristics that blogs have which make them so great both for personal use and for business use. Well, the main ones are:

• No technical knowledge required: you don’t need technical expertise to write a blog. You add pages or articles through a “Windows” type of interface so there is no need to rely on a web designer to update it for you.
• Readers can leave comments: your readers can respond to your posts so that you can start see who’s interested in the same areas as you or as a business open a conversation with potential clients, suppliers or partners. The perfect opener to developing a relationship and a network!
• Automatically organised: ‘categories’ and ‘archives’ are integral parts of a blog and each post will automatically be placed correctly according to the selection you make. This gives great organisation and structure to a blog which is perfect for visitors and Search Engines alike and allow you to concentrate on the content
• Search Engine magnets: with regular posts, categorised content and search engine friendly links and addresses, business blogs become ideal places for Search Engines to find the type of content they love … and you can rank very highly!
• Multiple Authors: not only can one person add content but you can allow access to any number of people so that you have several authors contributing to a topic or a series of topics. It also opens up the possibilities for blogs as tools ideally suited to internal communications within a company.
• Internal and External Links: blogs thrive by links and referring to other articles so that conversations and ideas can be taken up and developed. At its best, this allows a viral effect in terms of promotion and helps develop both relationships and networks.
• Permalinks: every post and every category has its own individual address, forever! This means that you can refer to them in articles, emails, newsletters etc safe in the knowledge that they will always be found. Another great feature for the Search Engines.

[back to top]

3. What are Personal Blogs?

A personal blog is generally set up to allow the author to discuss their views on anything and everything, so the topics change with each post according to mood or inclination. This is where blogs started and it is essentially a personal diary or scrapbook, which can be great fun to both read and write.

There are now tools which are freely available to allow anyone to set up a personal blog quickly and simply - for a Business Blog, it is better to use a blog platform over which you have greater control. The most well know is Blogger, owner by Google, though there are others which are as good if not as well known. Contact me if you would like a list of free personal blogging services available.
[back to top]

4. What are Business Blogs?

However, over the past 12 - 18 months, this technology has been adopted to a much larger extent by businesses. Blogs are being used as a powerful marketing tool which have allowed businesses to communicate more effectively with their customers, demonstrate expertise and develop trust as well as help to create relationships and networks online. As a result, companies are successfully using them to help to market themselves more effectively to customers and prospects alike with a view to dominating their market niche.

To learn more about Business Blogs and how to use them, you may find our own Business Blogging email course to be useful. It’s free but very good!
[back to top]

5. Why have a Blog?

Business Blogs and using them to market your bsuiness will benefit you, if you are looking for a tool which is cost effective and yet gives great results for:

Competitive Differentiation

Lead Generation

Media and Public Relations

Effective Search Engine marketing

Exploiting Market Niches

Improved Communications

Brand Building

Positioning Yourself as the Expert

Internal Communications / Project Management

You will find that Business Blogs are very effective. Blogs put a human face on your company and the products and services that you offer, which increases the value of your organisation in the eyes of your customers. This in turn will build much higher levels of trust so that, in fact, the readers of your Blog often become your most passionate word-of-mouth ambassadors.

In addition, you find that Search Engines such as Google will actually work for you in your online marketing. Because of the way in which blogs are structured, they are very search engine friendly. The way that they are written and organised, as well as inbuilt elements like RSS, all have great appeal to search engines - essentially, they love them! You will also find that more and more media organisations of all sizes are monitoring what is being said on blogs, which results in additional (and free) publicity for companies blogging.

The issue is often discovering what a Blog really can do for you. However, I find that once a business has the chance to have their questions answered about blogs and understand what they can offer, the question tends to change from “Why have a blog?” to “Why haven’t we got a blog?”
[back to top]

6. Benefits of Blogging?

A Business Blog allows a company to reach new audiences, improve visibility on the web and their interactions with customers, as well as actually increase sales. It is now an important part of the online marketing for your business!

A Business Blog gives you, your company and those who work for it, a place to collect and share ideas and relevant information with your customers and prospects. This in turn generates mutual trust and builds to a relationship which is more like a partnership than the typical supplier-customer sales relationship.

The benefits that you can enjoy are:

• Show yourself to be an expert - Demonstrate your knowledge, expertise and experience on matters relating to your industry
• Make your business stand out - Using a blog, you can start to differentiate your business and services from those of your competition
• Excellent Search Engine Positioning - Increased visibility on the main Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN which in turn leads to higher readership of your blog and more potential customer relationships
• Strong Communications Channel - You can create a direct and open dialogue with your customers, prospects, partners and suppliers
• Public Relations - PR 2.0 including Press Releases and other online PR activities are greatly enhanced by getting your company blog involved. It may be everywhere but centre it on your blog
• Brand Awareness - An ideal channel through which to put your brand in front of the customer and communicate what it stands for
• Educational Marketing - Show how your products and services can solve your customers problems rather than rely on interruption marketing and “in your face” selling
• Internal Communications & Project Management - with a Blog, you can share information easily within your company and hugely improve the internal communications

A Blog is also very easy to use because you can write using a “Word” type of interface which means that you do not need a web designer to put information on the web for you any more - anyone in your organisation with access to the internet can update and add information as required!
[back to top]

7. Are there any courses on Blogging in the UK?
To be honest not many. However, we do run a range of courses for companies and individuals who wish to learn more about Blogging and, in particular, how to use it to achieve the benefits that we mentioned above. However, you may find that the best way to start is to read the Free eCourse on Business Blogging that we provide and use the email support to ask any questions that you have during the course. We can go into more depth after that as required.
[back to top]