If you have something to say about anything at all, blogging is one of the best ways to get people listening to you. Whether you are just looking to engage with different blogs, or even if you are interested in starting your own, this article will help you get to grips with what a blog entails.
There are plenty of words flying around the internet and it can be hard to understand them all. Chances are you already know what a blog is – after all, you are currently reading a blog post – but for the sake of this article we will pretend you don’t. So here we go…
What is a blog?
Wikipedia gives a great definition:
A blog (a portmanteau of the term web log)[1] is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries (“posts”) typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often were themed on a single subject. More recently “multi-author blogs” (MABs) have developed, with posts written by large numbers of authors and professionally edited.
So basically a blog is a website where articles or posts relating to a certain theme or opinion a published for consumption by web users. Blogs are a great way to quickly publish and promote your articles and encourage engagement by readers in the form of comments. For business websites, they are also a great way to optimise your site for search engine results.
What can you do with a blog?
A blog can have many uses. If you are creating one for personal use then the sky really is the limit. Originally when blogs first started becoming popular, many young people would use it purely as an online diary which they just shared with the world. However personal blogs have evolved greatly since then and these days some people actually use them to earn a living. If you have a passion, then you can write a blog about it. Love reading? Write a book review blog. Love making cupcakes? Why not write a blog with all your cupcake recipes with pictures?
Alternatively, you could also run a more professional blog for your company. These usually consist of posts of company announcements or news. But also, they are a great opportunity to answer common questions about your industry and write interesting and informative posts. This way it will help you do three amazing things: position your company as an expert within your industry, drive more traffic to your site and most importantly it will help you visitors understand your industry better.
How do you make and run a blog?
There are two main providers when it comes to easy and professional looking blog creation. You have Google’s offering: Blogger and you have WordPress. Blogger is arguably the simpler of the two options, they make it extremely easy to create your blog in less than an hour. It is then simple to create new posts. WordPress is a bit trickier to use, but still relatively easy – and the plus with WordPress is that it looks amazing, and you really can make it look however you want!
If you are a business interested in using you blog to enhance your web content then Giraffe can help you achieve fantastic results – get in touch today to see what we can do for you.
