Howdy Friends,
Do you know
What a blog is?
Who is a blogger?
What is the difference between a Blog & a Website?
If you do not know then you are at the right place to read about all of these.
Table of Contents
What is a Blog?
As per Wikipedia,
A blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order, so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page.
I would say a blog is a place where someone with expertise in a particular field can write about their experiences and let other people also learn from his/her experiences.
This is the best way someone can learn. You always need not make mistakes and learn things the hard way, you can learn from the mistakes of others and make sure you don’t repeat those.
Blogs can be created without much coding knowledge. Google provides its very good platform called Blogger, using this you can create an amazing blog.
There are few other platforms as well where you can create blogs for free. But if you are planning on creating a serious blog then you will need to create a blog on WordPress.
You will have to buy a hosting solution where you can host your blog and all the associated files.
I have written an article about hosting and domain name servers, you can read it here:
Until the year 2009, blogs were mostly managed by a single person and that person used to put content on the blog on a timely basis.
But after 2010 the multi-author blogs started to get traction. These are usually called MBA blogs. In these types of blogs, multiple authors can write about their expert domain and this expands the reach of a blog and user experience will also be better as there will be more knowledge available at a single location.
Fun fact: Today, there are more than 570 million blogs on the web. The number of bloggers in the USA alone is set to reach 31.7 million users by 2020.
What is the use of a Blog?
The main purpose of a blog is to create content around your area of expertise. This content will be consumed by many people all over the world and this will create a lot of opportunities for you and your business.
Many people write a blog as a hobby and they want to maintain a personal diary on the web.
Many businesses write about their products on the blog, they talk about the features, competitive advantage of their product and share it with their audiences. This type of content creation helps businesses get attention from people and increase brand awareness.
Blogs act as the best content marketing channel for many businesses.
The main use of the blog is to create useful content.
The more content you produce, the higher is the chance that your website gets discovered by your targeted audience.
Who is a Blogger?
A blogger is a person who writes and maintains a blog. A blogger needs to have expertise in the topic of what he or she is writing on the blog. Blogger shares his or her opinion & knowledge about the area of their interests.
Blogging has become an alternative career option these days. With your expertise, you can help other businesses or people in setting up their blogs and help them create content as per their requirements. Blogging can be a freelancing business and there is huge potential for it in this digital area.
To find out your area of interest and niche I have written an in-depth article, you can read it here: 5 Secrets About Identifying Your Niche
What is the general Blog Structure?
The look and appearance of blogs are changing over time. Nowadays there are many widgets available to be used. But still many blogs contain standard features and structures.
Below is the common blog structure:
- A header with menus to navigate through the blog
- Main content: here you will see the latest blog posts and highlighted content
- Sidebar: here you will see the social profile of the blogger, call to action, or recent posts
- Footer: Here you will see privacy policies, contact pages, disclaimers if any
I have tried to create an illustrative image where you can understand the blog structure.
It is not necessary to follow this type of structure. It can be different depending on the application and the person’s interest. But in general, the blog looks something like the above.
Blog Vs. Website
Do many people wonder what might be the difference between a website and a blog? There is a difference between these two.
But it has become very difficult to differentiate between these two by just looking at it. A website can contain a blog as a separate menu option.
Blogs are updated regularly by blog owners with blog posts. However, websites are generally not updated regularly. Websites are more of a static blog.
Major elements that help us to identify a blog post from a static website page are publishing date, author reference, categories, and tags within a byline.
For a user, the content from the static website doesn’t change from the first visit to the site to the next visit. But for the blog, the content will change and it depends on the frequency with which the blogger posts content on his or her blog.
Why Blogging is Important for any business?
Blogging has become an important aspect of any business in this digital era. A business needs to understand well about their product and create a blog around their product.
This is a kind of new marketing strategy businesses have to adopt. Businesses that will adopt will see rapid growth in their business. You can read more about modern marketing techniques.
For example, you are a company that sells shoes online. Then you can have a blog on your website where you are writing blog posts or articles about shoes. These articles can be about; “what type of shoes are comfortable for people who drive a lot” or you can write about “most loved shoes for the winter season for women” or you can write about “creating a fashion statements with the help of shoes”
This way you can write blogs around your business or product and send people to your online store from your blog posts.
This type of marketing is also known as “Content Marketing” for your business. You hire a writer and create blog posts around your product and spread awareness among your target audiences.
This is a very powerful method to attract new customers by spending very little on marketing. I hope it is clear to you.
Conclusion
Nowadays blogging has become a fundamental part of any business. I hope you are convinced till now.
If you want to learn more about how to do blogging for a beginner join me and I will send you a book that will help you create a blog and start your blogging journey.
Let me know in the comment section below if you are going to start a blog or not? Also, share this article with your friends.
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