What Are Blogs?

Wikipedia defines a blog as “A blog (a contraction of the term ‘web log’) is a type of Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. ‘Blog’ can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.”

Sometimes blogs look like an ongoing diary or a journal on a site. Sometimes they look just like a traditional Web site. Traditional blogs have one author and are usually written in more conversational or informal style than most business materials and can include text, images, and links to other content such as podcasts, video files, or even Web sites. Web sites that are built on a blog engine have the look and feel of a traditional Web site, as well as the typical text, photos, and videos that you would find there.

Writing the actual content for your blog is referred to as blogging. Each article that you add to your blog is called a blog post, a post, or an entry in your blog. You are a blogger if you write and add entries or posts to your blog.

Blogs usually focus on one topic or area of interest, or at least they should focus on one type or area of interest. For example:

• A person might have a personal blog about his or her trip through South Africa.
• A market analyst might have a blog on his or her findings in the finance and investment industry—what’s happening in the industry, or news or articles on his or her latest research.

When setting up your blog, you have several options:

1. There are a number of free blogging platforms. WordPress (http://wordpress.org) and Blogger.com (Figure 18.1) are the most popular. Both are very easy to use and have wizards to get your blog up and running in short order.
2. You can also create your own blog using HTML.