What is a blog?

What is a Blog?

Many people want to know ‘what is a blog?’ A blog is a discussion or informative site published on the internet that is made up of a series of posts (blog entries).  Usually, blogs are displayed in reverse chronological order, displaying the most recent first. Therefore, blogs work like a series of diary entries.

What can I Blog about?

There are hundreds, thousands, even million of blogs on the internet today - food blogs, travel blogs, even dog blogs! A blog can be a diary, a cookbook, a photo album… the list goes on.  Blogs generally (but not always) have a theme or topic. For example, an International Development Blog or Philosophy Blog.  A blog can be whatever you want to make it!

What Blogging Platforms are available?

There are so many blogging tools or platforms available for writing a blog. The internet has a series of brilliant blogging platforms that you can use for free, such as Blogger and Wordpress. Blogger is probably the easiest to use if you are new to blogging, and is the platform that this blog uses.

There are also micro-blogging platforms such as Tumblr, which is like a combination of a full blog and Twitter!

Other people can follow your blog and read everything you post. You can follow other blogs and pick up ideas, and comment on blogs. The best part of the blog is seeing your statistics increase the more that you blog and share. It is a great feeling to see how many people are reading your blog.

Can you Blog for Business?

Blogs are becoming more and more popular with businesses. They are a great way to connect with customers and new or existing clients. Business blogs allow you to show what you can do and share your knowledge about your area.  A good example of this is Trumpeter Media's Social Media Consultancy Blog.

If you are looking for a job, you can blog about your marketing skills or your photography skills, or whichever career you are looking to go into. It's a great way to get noticed in the professional world.

Accepting Guest Bloggers

Accepting guest bloggers is one way to get more content for your blog, as well as raise awareness about your blog amongst other bloggers. You can add a section on your website asking for guest bloggers and specify the requirements of each article e.g. a minimum of 750 words and 5 original pictures perhaps. Also specify the quality of blogger that you want such as someone who has been blogging for at least a year and has a .com domain. Make sure that you specify that businesses are not eligible, as they should be paying you for sponsored posts.

A good example of a guest post is this article on Viscri Fortified Church that I received for my Temple Seeker travel blog.

You can also earn money from blogging through Affiliate Marketing and Adsense.