The Various Types And Benefits Of Blogs

A weblog (or simply blog) is a website that 'publishes' or features articles (which are called 'blog posts', 'posts', or 'entries'), written by an individual or a group that make use of any or a combination of the following:
·    Straight texts
·    Photographs or images (photoblog)
·    Video (videoblog)
·    Audio files (audioblog)
·    Hyperlinks

Usually presented and arranged in reverse chronological order, blogs are essentially used for the following purposes:

·    Online journal or a web diary
·    Content management system
·    Online publishing platform

A typical blog has the following components:
·    Post date -the date and time of the blog entry
·    Category - the category that the blog belongs to
·    Title - the title of the blog
·    Main body - the main content of the blog
·    RSS and trackback - links the blog back from other sites
·    Comments - commentaries that are added by readers
·    Permalinks - the URL of the full article
·    Other optional items - calendar, archives, blogrolls, and add-ons or plug-ins
A blog can also have a footer, usually found at the bottom of the blog, that shows the post date, the author, the category, and the 'stats' (the number of comments or trackbacks).

There are numerous types of blogs. Some of them are the following:
1. Political blog - on news, politics, activism, and other issue based blogs (such as campaigning).

2. Personal blog - also known as online diary that may include an individual's day-to-day experience, complaints, poems, and illicit thoughts, and communications between friends.

3. Topical blog - with focus either on a particular niche (function or position) that is usually technical in nature or a local information.

4. Health blog - on specific health issues. Medical blog is a major category of health blog that features medical news from health care professionals and/or actual patient cases.

5. Literary blog - also known as litblog.

6. Travel blog - with focus on a traveler's stories on a particular journey.

7. Research blog - on academic issues such as research notes.

8. Legal blog - on law (technical areas) and legal affairs; also known as 'blawgs'.

9. Media blog - focus on falsehoods or inconsistencies in mass media; usually exclusive for a newspaper or a television network.

10. Religious blog - on religious topics

11. Educational blog - on educational applications, usually written by students and teachers.

12. Collaborative or collective blog - a specific topic written by a group of people.

13. Directory blog - contains a collection of numerous web sites.

14. Business blog - used by entrepreneurs and corporate employees to promote their businesses or talk about their work.

15. Personification blog - focus on non-human being or objects (such as dogs).

16. Spam blogs - used for promoting affiliated websites; also known as 'splogs'.

Blogging is typically done on a regular (almost daily) basis. The term "blogging" refers to the act of authoring, maintaining, or adding an article to an existing blog, while the term "blogger" refers to a person or a group who keeps a blog.

 
Today, more than 5 million blogs can be found on the Internet.

This figure is continuously growing, as the availability of various blog software, tools, and other applications make it easier for just about anyone to update or maintain the blog (even those with little or no technical background).

Because of this trend, bloggers can now be categorized into 4 main types:
·    Personal bloggers - people who focus on a diary or on any topic that an individual feels strongly about.
·    Business bloggers - people who focus on promoting products and services.
·    Organizational bloggers - people who focus on internal or external communication in an organization or a community.
·    Professional bloggers - people who are hired or paid to do blogging.
Enjoy, Have a nice day.

5 Reasons Why Blogging Is An Effective Internet Marketing Tool

Blogging is a concept that started in late 90s. It used to be a way to comment an existing web page, an opportunity for visitors and readers to react or voice out one’s opinion on the said page.
What started as a single-sentence commentary has evolved into pages of personal take on just about anything and everything under the sun. As it continues to move forward, online advertising has tapped into the blog’s potential.
Here are 5 reasons why you should use blogging as an Internet marketing tool. 
1.Blogging is simple.  The simplest way to get your piece on the net is through blogging.  No skills are necessary… an average adult can read and type, or at least click a mouse.
It’s like having a virtual piece of paper and you just write your ideas, experiences, new products, and hope that the truth behind your articles comes out and entice your reader to also try your product.
 If you have a PC and an Internet connection (who doesn’t?) then you can blog and advertise.
2. Blogging is authentic.  In this day and age where advertising saturate our lives, we question the credibility of promoters’ claims.  However, in blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid advertising. Reading blogs about first-hand product use is like talking to people about their first-hand experience.  You definitely want to buy a tried and tested product.
3. Blogging is free.  Because blogging is yet to be proven as a mainstream online advertising media, most sites see it as something to augment current marketing tools and thus offer it for free.
Any opportunity for free web time is definitely a bonus especially to businesses that are starting up.
  Needless to say, paid blog pages can generate more income for your seriously growing business.
4. Blogging builds credibility.  As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own information needs. As such, you become an expert on it; as a consequence, more readers visit your site and more bloggers link to your blogs. As companies and professional organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon get in touch with you for advertising on your blog page, or make you an affiliate, which pays for every referral generated from your blog site.
5. Blogging builds your market.  Unless you are a Hollywood star, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts. Mom has a lot of friends, so she lets her friends know how interesting your blog site is.
But you need not depend on Mom to increase your readership base. Look into the following ways to build your market through blogging:
-By using your e-mail.  Today, blogging is overcoming the e-mail’s popularity in quickly and effectively reaching and expanding a market.
 In this age of speed and quick access, logging in and downloading e-mail is simply taking longer than clicking into a blog site.
 Let them explore your site by using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog site. If your e-mail is on an entirely different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site.
-By using subscription.  An easy way to get your readers e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blog site.
Keep some exclusive information for your subscribers to entice readers to subscribe and give their e-mail address. Just be responsible in using their e-mail address, as the last thing you want is a comment on your blog that you are a spammer.
-By understanding your readers.  Conduct a simple survey for your readers to understand their profile and advertising preferences. Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a trial that you shared. In this way, it is like interviewing your readers without the commitment and intrusion of a face-to-face interview.
-By joining a blog network –A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc.
 Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one link to several real bloggers about a single subject.  Clearly, more bloggers are better than one.
-By using RSS. RSS is the fastest growing technology on the Internet today.
As such, having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readership base. Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site. Give your business a boost by effectively using blogging as an Internet marketing tool. All the best.