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What is a Blog - And Why Should YOU Care?
Think, Write & Retire! www.ThinkWriteRetire.com What is a blog? The question is asked and answered hundreds of times every day. A blog (short for 'web log') is a kind of online diary where you can record events, news and happenings as often as you feel like doing. So what is a blog? Is it a website? Yes, it's a website. With one small difference. It lists posts ordered chronologically by date, in a personal journal format. Typically a blog is easier to create than a website - because powerful and intuitive to use software makes it a question of typing into a form and hitting the PUBLISH button. What can you put on a blog?Now that you know what is a blog, and realize that it's essentially an online diary, then you'll already know the answer to this second question. It's this. Anything. You can put anything on your blog that you want to. Many beginning bloggers are intimidated by 2 questions: "Do I really have anything to say?" "Why should anyone want to read what I write?" And you'd be amazed if only you realized how, in the vastness of the online universe, many people do exist who care about what you say and do. If you tailor what you blog about to match their interests, you'll soon have an eager and avid audience for your blog. Define your own objectives. Most weblog tools provide a ready-to-hand design framework. All the author has to do is add their content. This ease-of-entry ensures that just about anyone can put content on the Internet without a second thought. But when you do that without thinking about the person who will be reading it, you tend to publish trash. That's why the easiest way to set yourself apart from the millions of other bloggers is to put a little bit of planning and strategy to work in your favor before you blog. Once you know what is a blog, that tiny element of planning will be what sets you apart from the crowds. On the other hand, weblogs are not just a vehicle for navel-gazing by their authors. Even though that is permitted, it won't win you many adoring fans. Why are blogs HOT?After wondering what is a blog, the question that most often newbies to blogging ask themselves is why they are so popular. Well, weblogs do not represent something brand new in human communication. Diaries closely resemble weblogs and be traced back as far as ancient Greece. Blogs can be succintly described in 4 words... Personal Web Publishing Communities What is a blog? It's Personal - it's done by a person, not an organization. The individual's personality shines through the blog posts. Your blog is not a sanitized, corporatized, acceptable form of collective thinking and feeling -- but the unique, rough edged, even sometimes bizarre individualism of the blog owner. Where is a blog? It's on the Web - So it can be updated frequently, is not expensive to maintain, and can be accessed through a web browser by anyone you choose to grant permission. When is it a blog? Once it's Published - There are outlines or templates into which each post is 'streamed' by an automated process. The result is an electronic publication. One that can be distributed to many others, even syndicated, through technology called RSS feeds. So what is a blog? A blog is a part of a vast online Community. Each blog links you to several others, connecting people together by common interests. And as every marketer knows, building interactive online communities around an area of interest is the Holy Grail of online success. THAT'S why blogs are hot! And that's why you should know what is a blog and how to blog. The other articles in this section will explore the mechanics of powerful and effective blogging.
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