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 a blog really is – a website).
Blogs are websites with a few very key differences, namely:
1. Articles are listed in 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 means online diary or journal.
Diaries save entries made by date and that is how blog posts work too.
An important point to make is that blogs today are not all diaries and are not only about the personal lives of the authors.Some blogs still are the thoughts of one author – my blog is, but I don’t talk about my dog or what I had for dinner. I stay on my chosen topics, Internet Marketing and blogging, and people who are interested in those two topics come to read my blog. Blogs today can be about any subject, written by one or many authors and certainly are not all personal diaries. Personal reflection, opinion and tone all have a place in blogs, but that doesn’t affect the breadth or scope of topics covered.
2. Normal websites 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. Blogs 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 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. Another major problem that plagues traditional 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 the backing of large organizations with technical staff and writers, or
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 inundated with content producers (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 of 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 blogs “stealing” top search 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. A significant evolution when comparing a traditional website to a blog is the
addition of the comments function. Each article published to a blog has an input
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 way
communication tools. Readers can directly communicate with the 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 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, and 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 respected experts, whether they are or not,
purely on the back of their successful blogs.
6.This final point is the most significant, yet subtle element that distinguishes
blogs from normal websites. If people trust the words 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 blogging.
Much of what I just explained won’t be new to some people.
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.
You can start with this blog, and then explore my blogroll and links to other blogs.
Now we know what makes blogs different, the next step is to understand how we
can make money from them. As I mentioned at the start of this post, it’s important to realize the strategy before implementing the tactics. Later I will review the tactics – the methods of making money from your blog that are available to you today and what I currently use – but first you need to know the strategy behind making money from
blogging.
It’s actually more important to understand the strategy behind profitable blogging
than the different ways you can get paid. Tactics and techniques for making
money are always changing and new options open up on a daily basis. However,
the fundamentals of why you make the money do not change, so make sure you
pay particular attention to this next post.
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