1. I'm always slightly surprised when someone asks me 'what is a blog?'. Surely everyone is aware that
celebrities, sportsmen, journalists, politicians, businessmen and so on and so on have a blog.
Usually when I dig deeper I discover that what they actually mean is what is the difference between
a blog and a conventional website.
Technically there is no difference. A blog, like any other website, needs a name and hosting. A
name, www.etc., can be registered for a few dollars and hosting, a means of putting your creation on
the web and keeping it there, is also fairly cheap. The real difference is, I would suggest, in the look
and purpose of a blog.
The look
Most conventional websites are set up as online stores. Whether it is a global brand like Amazon or
eBay, your local store or some other specialist site their function is to let you know what they have
to offer, information about the product or service, it's availability and the price. Apart from
testimonials there is usually little interaction. The majority of visitors to these sort of sites already
know of their existence and go to them with a very good idea of what they are looking for. Indeed it
is often a case of knowing, in advance, absolutely every last detail of the item involved leaving only
a price comparison exercise.
A blog, on the other hand, could be viewed as an online journal or diary. The layout is probably it's
most distinctive feature, usually consisting of a series of articles or 'posts' in date order, in truncated
form, needing the reader to click to see the full version of the article. An archive of earlier posts is
often listed in a sidebar. A blog can, therefore, contain a huge amount of original content generated
by the owner leading to many of them being regarded as important reference works or, in the
language of the web, an authority site.
The purpose
The main purpose of a conventional site is to sell something. Yes it may also provide visitors with
useful information and help in many areas but it is designed to go for the immediate sale.
A blog, on the other hand, may not be monetized at all. It's purpose may be to provide information
only or, more likely, to promote a point of view, a philosophy or a cause. It can be a very powerful
platform that is able to promote itself across the planet, sometimes attracting a larger audience than
many newspapers.
Monetizing a blog
As I mentioned earlier a blog will often consist of a great deal of original content and this is
important for seo, search engine optimization, purposes. The search engines will usually rank a site
of this nature highly which in turn means, of course, more traffic and, if the blog is monetized, more
sales. Internet marketers are very aware of the power of a blog.
What is a blog? It can be many things to many people but whether it is used only as a means of
mass communication or as a marketing tool it is going to be a considerable force online for some
time to come.
See you in cyberspace.
Lawrence