Thursday 27 September 2012

Introduction to Blogging

Introduction to Blogging

Blog

As Wikipedia would define it –

A blog is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often were themed on a single subject. More recently "multi-author blogs" (MABs) have developed, with posts written by large numbers of authors and professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, interest groups and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other "microblogging" systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into societal newstreams.

In this section, we will learn some things you may need to get started blogging.



Blogging - meaning

The world is getting computerized these days, as a result of that, a lot of businesses (small and large) have thought it wise to create an online channel either to market their goods online or to advertise it there and market offline. There are lots more reasons why people create and manage blogs. A blog to most people mean a space on the internet where you can do whatever you feel like (e.g write articles, market goods, provide information) and actually have a chance of people all over the world viewing it and loving it.

There are a good number of bloging platforms you can choose to create a blog which includes WordPress, Blogger, Posterous, Tumblr, Movable Type, and TypePad. I provide you with a quick preview of some of the popular ones so you can make your choice on which one to go with.

The Benefits of Blogging:

There are why you should blog for your company oor business and some of these reasons are:

TO SHOW SUPERIORITY: By writing and sharing nice articles about your business on your blog. Giving yur customers or readers insights about your company and other related topics they need to know will stand you out as a leader in your profession.

TO ADVERTISE YOUR GOODS:  When you create and manage a blo fill with quality contents about your business, and when you write articles frequently, you'll get higher rankings on Google and other search engines which in turn increases your sales.

BAND AWARENESS:  If you are blogging regularly about your business and there are people around the world searching it, they are more likely to find you and get to know your brand than if you are not blogging about it.

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS: This is probably one of the best reasons to have a blog for your business. Most blogs you find here and there nowadays are very interactive. It give your customers a room for discussions, where they can ask there questions and be answered probably by another customer who might have used your product which increases trust level because customers prefer to hear from fellow customers precisely the ones who have used a product that they are new to.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT: Blogging provides a unique and easier way for you to resolve customer issues without actually having them come over to your headquarters. You can provide them with solutions right on your blog and a lot of them are going to feel happier considering the stress it save them.

SHARE THE LATEST INFORMATION: Share the latest news and updates and keep both your customers and non customers informed about latest development in your business.

According to a study by Hubspot of their customer base, the average company that blogs has 55% more website visitors, 97% more inbound links, and 434% more indexed pages than those that don't.

Here are some hints on some of the most popular blog hosts.

Blogger

Blogger is one of the oldest and best performing blogging platform in the world. It’s quick and easy for beginners to setup and get started. Blogger is owned by Google, so your content will live on their servers. Expect the blog to run near 100% of the time, and lots of integration with other Google applications. But; Blogger only offers a hosted solution, which means that it will be harder for you to make customized changes. If you’re serious about blogging, we recommend WordPress.

Tumblr

Tumblr & Posterous are both a cross between a micro-blog (like Twitter) and a full-fledged blogging platform (like WordPress). Tumblr & Posterous break posts up into content-specific categories like photos, quotes, music, etc. Part bookmark, part blog, they are both awesome ways to keep a live stream. Posterous is famous for their post by email feature, while Tumblr is a great service to build community around finding and sharing new ideas. But; Both sites aren’t the easiest to fully customize, and they can be confusing for beginners.

WordPress

WordPress is one of the most popular blog platforms available today. WordPress comes in two flavors, WordPress.com the hosted version, and WordPress.org the source code. This means that you can get started right away, and as your technical expertise grows, your blog can grow with it.

It’s free, easy to customize, and supported by an incredible community of volunteers who work hard to improve the platform every day.

Note: To fully customize the hosted version at WordPress.com, you might need to upgrade your account.

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