What is Blogging?

What is blogging? The What, Why and How of Blogs and Blogging

The blog is a short version of a weblog. Blogs gained popularity in 1999. Blogs were initially small websites that linked to other information. They also hosted personal thoughts, essays, and commentary.

The noun  blog  became the verb  to blog . Blogger is a verb that usually takes a subject. Bloggers are a large group of people who write blogs about anything from politics to travel diaries.

Why blog ?

A blog can be a “bulletin board of the mind,” a compendium of deeply held beliefs or the digital version of the old “Dear Diary.” Bloggers blog because they are writers. And writers write because writing is what they do, and they have something to say. For example:

• A blog is a public forum to get off the chest of what is on the mind.
• Some bloggers want to help others get through difficult situations. A similar experience of the blogger often inspires the blog.
• A blogger who is an expert in some field or topic can build a reputation for expertise and skill. Job seekers often use blogs as part of their qualifications portfolio.
• Blogs help build communities of like-minded people for sharing opinions and validating beliefs.
• Family-related blogs maintain those unique personal connections. Most blog hosting services accommodate multimedia — photos, videos and connections to other social media platforms.
• Blogs provide an outlet for creativity and fun. Sports fans, hobbyists or pop-star groupies blog for the sheer joy of writing about what they love.
• Bloggers, by necessity, stay up to date in their field because they must frequently blog to be successful.
• The blog is an ideal self-promotion tool for a business, product or service.
• There is  money to be made  in blogging.

How to start blogging

There are many free blog-hosting sites on the Internet, and they make their money through web advertising. Some have free and paid premium services — i.e., no ads on your blog or your Internet domain. For a listing of over 40 blog hosting services, check out the  Mashable.com  web page.

Preliminary suggestions for good blogs

Informal blogging doesn’t have to adhere to high academic standards. But bloggers should always keep the reader in mind. Here are some pointers:

• Be on point. There’s so much information out there. Bloggers only have a few seconds to keep the reader’s attention.
• Leave the pontificating and the polemics to the preachers and politicians. If advocacy is the purpose of the blog, let reason reign; do not rant.
• The blog should state upfront and immediately its purpose and main idea. Everything that follows should support and expand on that basic idea.

Blogging for money

Freelance bloggers can earn money as ghostwriters. They write for clients who need to keep their website blogs current, exciting and informative. Among other things, blogs serve three practical purposes on commercial websites:

1. They attract visitors who are searching for goods and services on the Web.
2. They keep the visitors engaged and interested in the subject matter, which is always directly related to the site’s purpose and product.
3. They promote loyalty to the product because the blog content has quality and relevance to the visitor’s interests and lifestyle.

Freelancing

Bloggers can freelance and look around on the Web for customers needing blog content. They can charge whatever the client is willing to pay. Most clients, however, will not want to pay top dollar for a blog piece. The best approach is for the blogger to offer competitive rates based on what content writing services charge.

Blogging for content services

Bloggers can do contract work for blog-writing services. They are sometimes referred to as  content mills; services  like Writer Access pay freelance bloggers to write web content for client subscribers. Content services provide the platform, do the marketing and pay the writers when the client accepts the blog.

Blogging for the web crawler

As previously mentioned, clients need well-written blogs to attract visitors searching on the Web for something. They search using popular web search engines — Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. To end up on page 1 of the Google search results, the website must conform to Google’s standards of relevancy and quality, which are best met through search engine optimization or SEO.

How blogging contributes to SEO

In the days before search engines became more sophisticated, it was easy to get to the top of the search heap simply by stuffing the website with keywords. Nowadays, however, websites are judged by the quality of their design and content.

As the web crawler returns for repeated searches, it rates the website on how current that content is. Periodic blogs are ideal for making the website a top candidate for page 1 of the Google hit parade.

How to break into the blogging-for-pay realm

Transitioning from informal blogging to freelancing for pay takes time and experience. Commercial blogging is, as previously mentioned, ghostwriting. As such, the blogger must get into the client’s head and write what the client is after. That includes paying attention to the client’s customer base, tone and values.

So the bloggers who get paid consistently do their homework. They read the clients previously published blogs and browse through the client’s website. They research the client’s product and read what others have written about the industry — white papers, frequently asked questions, etc.

Finally, the best-paid bloggers learn to “obey the SEO gods.” If the web crawler finds the blog, the blogger must  learn how SEO works .

How to write a moneymaking blog

Writing for the Web

Blogging requires a more direct approach to writing. Here are some suggestions summarized from New York University’s web page  Writing for the Web:

• Keep the writing clear, simple and conversational.
• Place the most important content in the first paragraph.
• Cover only one topic per paragraph.
• Go for short paragraphs and leave out unnecessary words.
• Favour the active — “He hit the ball” — over the passive — “The ball was hit by him.”
• Favour lists rather than dense paragraphs. Readers tend to scan content.

Blogging outside the comfort zone

While it is far easier for bloggers to write about what they know best, paying customers often have a business speciality well outside the blogger’s personal experience. How is it possible to write and sell a blog to a customer who manufactures building cranes, for example? Here are some possible approaches:

• Look for some industry-relevant news item on the Web to write about. The blog will demonstrate that the client wants to stand out as a thought leader.
• Do the research necessary to understand the relevant business jargon, marketing approaches, and the needs the client’s business fulfils.
• Remember that a blog should always contain subtle product promotion.
• The blog should always conclude that the client’s product answers any question, problem or challenge discussed in the blog.

The real payoff of blogging

Whether blogging for self-expression, satisfaction, advocacy or as a part-time source of income, the real value of blogging is how it develops and changes a writer in several fundamental ways:

• The more blogging the writer does, the better the writer becomes. It happens as a process and a result of continual practice.
• The blogger becomes a better thinker because all that writing gets the thoughts recorded.
• Blogs are like diaries and can help the blogger document thoughts, opinions and ideas over a timeline. Personal growth occurs as an individual looks back and reflects on how ideas and opinions evolve. It is all about learning from the past.
• Blogging is the new résumé. A well-designed personal blog says volumes about the blogger, and recruiters read applicants’ blogs.
• A blog is a personal PR platform. The blog is the first place to talk about an important project, goal or soapbox issue.
• Blogging for money is the ideal hobby for everyone, from starving students to stay-at-home spouses — including retired seasoned citizens, who still have much to contribute.

The bottom line

The world wide web is a voracious consumer of content. Personal blogs can showcase a writer’s skills, deep thinking and value as a productive human being. Commercial blogs feed websites that vie for attention in the highly competitive world of e-commerce. A well-written blog can often be the tiebreaker that puts the website on page 1 of the Google search results page. Bloggers are the new scribes, and cyberspace is their new frontier.