Written by Are you new to blogging? Are you so new you’re not even sure what a blog is? Well, first of all, “blog” is short for “web log.” It’s a type of website, or part of a website, where the author writes an ongoing log or journal about a particular subject, whether it be about him- 
or herself, travel, gardening, health and fitness, wine, real estate, internet marketing and social media, etc. Blogs can be personal or business in nature.
Blog entries or “posts” may include news and events, commentary, descriptions, instructions, reviews, opinions, or promotions. Often they are enhanced by photos, videos, and links to other internet resources.
A blog is a great vehicle for the author to demonstrate his or her personality, opinions, feelings, interests, and beliefs. In other words, a way for potential friends and customers to get to know the blogger. From the business perspective, it’s also an effective vehicle for demonstrating knowledg, and expertise or to promote a service or product.
Characteristic of a blog is its ever-changing content and interaction with the reader or audience who can post comments, questions, or answers in reply to a blog post, to be shared publicly. This distinguishes a blog from a traditional website which is generally more static (stays the same) with little or no interaction with the consumer. In other words, a website is really not very social, which is the whole object of social media.
Blogs are generally much better than a website in improving SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This is because search engines like new and changing content, which is created by a new blog post or new interaction, e.g., new comments, or mention in someone else’s blog (a link-back). This increases the chances that a blog will show up at the top of the first page in a search result.
Websites and blogs can have a unique purpose and are not mutually exclusive. Consider a website more like a billboard in cyberspace, an ad, or a resume, i.e., a way to introduce and describe your business, service or product to the world. Like a resume, it can describe what you do or make or sale and tout your area of expertise, your credentials, and your happy customers through testimonials or recommendations. It can also be the springboard to direct consumers and prospective customers to other pages in your website or your other sites and web resources, such as your blog and social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Youtube).
One common solution to maintaining a separate website and blog is to incorporate a blog into your website, as a separate page, for example. Another solution is just to use your blog like a website. A blog can have multiple pages, the home or landing page of which does not necessarily have to be the journal page where you are posting ongoing entries of new and different content.
A popular and well-known tool and publishing platform for creating a blog site is WorPress. The free version is found at WordPress.com, which will publish and host your blog at no cost. One of the drawbacks of the free WordPress is that you do not own your blog, and the website address or URL wi
ll be a subdomain of WordPress, e.g., “YourBlogName.WordPress.com.” The self-hosted version of WordPress is found at WordPress.org. It’s free to download and install the various themes and plug-ins, but you’ll need to pay to host it somewhere. Read Don Campbell’s blog post for a good overview of the pros and cons of WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org. Some technicological know-how is needed to develop a WordPress.org blog. However, there are several hosting providers now that will create a blog and handle all the techniclogical stuff for you, such as FreeBlogFactory.com or HostGator.com.
Of course, once the blog is created for you, it’s up to you to add content, including additional pages, links, widgets or other plug-ins, ads, or whatever is appropriate and useful for your needs. To do so, you need to become familiar and knowledgable about the WordPress administrative dashboard or backend, which is not all that intuitive. If you are just beginning to use or research WorPress to see if it’s a good solution for you, a great place to get started is the WordPress Getting Started Guide on the WordPress.org site.
Blogging is fun and a very effective means of marketing online. So don’t wait to get started. Blog on now!
