A blog is an online diary, personal log or journal that exists in what has become known as the blogosphere. It’s an excellent way to quickly create an online presence when a full blown website is either not ready or not desired. Its cost is minimal, actually free unless you want a personal domain name or certain enhanced features. The most popular blogs are updated daily at a minimum. In order to encourage the regular return of readers to your blog, you should make some type of comment on it at least two or three times a week.
The word blog is an abbreviation for weblog. Dave Winer is credited with popularizing blogs when he launched the Scripting News website in April, 1997. This was followed a few months later by the launch of Slashdot, still a popular site for techies and nerds. Jorn Barger coined the term weblog in December, 1997. The rest, as they (whoever they are), say is history.
Types of Blogs
There are probably as many different types of blogs as there are people’s interests so I’ll only discuss a few very general things that I feel are essential to your decision making process. The two major categories are text-based and media-based. Text-based blogs can be simple and short, like Twitter, or more involved like many that can be found on WordPress. Media-based blogs might house music like the very popular YouTube or photographs like Flickr. There are also blogs, like Tumblr, that host mixed media.
Things to Consider When Planning Your Blog
As with all successful ventures, you should plan your blog before you sign up for a service. The first thing you should determine is why you’re creating a blog in the first place. A blog usually focuses on a specific topic or area of interest. If you choose a topic that is too narrow, your audience will be very limited; on the other hand if the topic is too broad, it might be difficult to bring enough focus to a relevant area, thereby also resulting in a limited audience.
The first thing to decide is whether you’re blogging principally for personal or professional purposes. There is no such thing as “strictly personal.” Anything you post on the World Wide Web is there forever for anyone to see. So, if your blog is personal, remember it can still affect you professionally. Be careful what you post.
Next decide on a topic and select a title. The title should be intuitive. Cute has its place but if you want to attract people who are interested in what you are discussing, your blog’s title should reflect its topic. If you are going to purchase a domain name (see the chapter on Basic Websites) it should be the same as the name of the blog. Invest some time in finding an available domain name that accurately represents your topic and does not require the prospective reader to try and figure out what you mean. The old KISS principle applies. You’ll also want to determine your audience at this stage. “Blogging Made Simple” doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing to a person whose online experience has been confined to checking email with Outlook Express as it does to someone with 10 years of extensive Information Technology experience who has never blogged.
Finally, you should get clear on what you want to accomplish with your blog. Are you simply ranting to get some things off your chest? Do you want to share or obtain information? Do you want to drive traffic to your website and/or create business opportunities? The answers to these questions will determine if and how you measure your blog’s success.
Choosing a Site/Software for Your Blog
Decisions, decisions! Will they ever end? Once you’ve decided on a personal or professional blog and a topic, etc. it’s time to find a host, a place on the web for your blog to live. The choices are almost endless and growing daily. Mashable, a social media guide website, lists 40 blog hosts with a brief overview of each. The three most popular at the time of this writing are WordPress, Typepad and Blogger. Because they are so popular, it’s easy to find plug-ins for them; to promote them on search engines and social networks; and to connect them to a website that is hosted elsewhere.
Creating Your Blog
Finally, you’re ready to get started! One of the first things you’ll do after setting your account up for your blog is choose a theme. This step is more important than you might think initially. Most blog hosts have free templates available in a variety of styles and colors. As with most free things, however, there’s usually a built in cost. The template will generally include a link to the site of the designer. If the designer includes too many links it could affect how your blog is indexed by search engines so be careful. Try to select a design that will allow you to feel good about giving the designer credit for the work put into the design; after all that’s only fair, right?
Do the very best you can to ensure your blog contains quality content. Quality content refers to the quality of the posts at least as much as it refers to the content of the posts. Many readers will be turned off quickly if there is an abundance of typographical errors and poor grammar. Even though most blogging hosts provide a WYSIWYG editor that allows you to run a spell check, I recommend that you type your post in a word processor that tracks spelling and grammar errors as you type. When you’ve finished typing your post, have someone else - preferably someone with writing skills superior to yours - proofread it. If that’s not feasible and you have to do your own proofreading, read it ALOUD. This method increases the probability that you will detect errors in your own writing.
Remember that blogs began as personal online journals. Therefore you want to share stuff in a personal manner. Write in the 1st person so your readers will feel they are getting to know you. Use “I” and “we” regularly - you’re creating an online personality. Just as in real life, your “friends” will stop coming to visit if they don’t feel welcome or if they feel you’re distant and aloof.
Make sure you remain true to who you are. If you post something you don’t believe in, it could come back to bite you if in a later post you write your true view which is different. Your readers will notice the discrepancy, search your archives until they find the older post and call you on it. You don’t have to try to remember the truth because it doesn’t change. Whenever possible, validate your content and post links to information that supports your position.
Don’t write posts when you’re angry. If something has upset you, allow yourself a “cooling off” period before you post about it. Go ahead and write it if you must, but wait 12 to 24 hours then read it aloud before you post it. Keep in mind that once it’s posted, it can take on a life of its own and you can’t take it back. The jury cannot disregard what it has heard no matter how much it might want to.
Increasing Traffic to Your Blog
You’ve created a beautiful blog with lots of quality content and no one sees it except you and a few of your friends who aren’t really interested in this topic, but they post to your blog because they really are good friends. Take them out for coffee then let them off the hook. It’s time consuming and will require patience and persistence but there are things you can do to get people to read and comment on your blog. Here are a few things to try.
1. Promote your blog by placing a link to it in your email signature, on your website (if you have one) and on all of your social network profiles.
2. Subscribe to and comment on blogs with similar topics. Make sure you include a link to your blog in your signature.
As a blogger you are now a part of the greater social networking community. Add links to other’s blogs from your blog and other bloggers will reciprocate and do the same.
3. Ask open ended questions. People love to help, express their opinions and show off their knowledge.
4. Ask your readers for help on something specific, giving them the opportunity to share resources they know about and to possibly self promote.
5. Encourage everyone in all of your networks to visit your blog and let you know what they think.
6. Use forms to make it easy for people to comment on your blog.
7. Have contests. The contests need not be complex. You can see who comes up with the most unusual way to do something. Involve them even more by allowing the readers to choose the winner. The prize can be as simple as posting the winner’s picture and/or screen name in a prominent place on the front page of your blog for a specified period of time.
8. There is still no more valuable resource than word-of-mouth. Ask your readers to tell others about your blog.
Blog Etiquette
There are no hard and fast rules but in order for your blog to strive, you’ll want to observe some unwritten rules of blogging etiquette. Well, they are written but they’re not really rules - more like tips. I linked to them to both save space and observe the rule/tip about not stealing other people’s content. That’s called plagiarism and is universally frowned upon.
RSS Feeds and Feed Readers
RSS (an abbreviation for Really Simple Syndication) is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format People who subscribe to a site’s RSS feed are able to retrieve new content from the site without visiting the site or subscribing to the site’s newsletter. Feed readers are software applications that allow you to get the RSS feeds from the sites to which you subscribe. The feed reader checks the site for updates and signals you when an update is available.
Enhancing Your Blog
Once you’ve become comfortable with blogging you might want to try a few things that are off the beaten path, so to speak. Be sure to keep the basic function of a blog in mind, however, to make sure you’re not trying to use your blog as a higher level website. Here are some things that might interest you if you want to spruce up or add functionality blog.
≈ Search Engine Optimization
≈ Add a blog to your website
≈ Make money with your blog
≈ Get help from the PMB forum
≈ Blog from your phone
≈ Add gadgets to your blog
If you’re really serious you might want to attend a blogger’s conference.
Blogging While Brown
Blog World Expo
SMUG - Social Media University, Global
SMUG is a private college in the sense that it receives no government funding, but is a public university in that it is open to all. There is some great Pre-Admission Coursework that is free: All prospective students should at least read Social Media 101 (formerly known as the 12-Step Social Media Program for PR Pros), Social Media 102 (Intro to RSS) and Facebook 101. With completion of these prerequisites, as well as Facebook 102 (10 Steps with Facebook), you will be adequately prepare to complete the SMUG.
Conclusion
Blogging has come a long way since 1997 and continues to evolve. It began as a way for people to express their opinions on various topics. Many still employ it primarily for this purpose. However, blogging is increasingly being used to promote businesses and generate revenue. Regardless of your purpose for blogging, remember to post accurate information, proofread it, think it through before you post it, and follow the unwritten rules of etiquette. I’ll see you in the blogosphere.
Nancy Ford, Technology Made Plain
www.TechnologyMadePlain.com
http://twitter.com/Nancy_Ford
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyhford
http://www.facebook.com/people/Nancy-Ford/1124833184
http://www.brightfuse.com/nancy-ford
http://nancyford1.wordpress.com/
http://nancystransformingthoughts.blogspot.com/