What is a blog?

Blogs are usually (but not always) written by one person and are updated pretty regularly. Blogs are often (but not always) written on a particular topic – there are blogs on virtually any topic you can think of. From photography, to spirituality, to recipes, to personal diaries to hobbies – blogging has as many applications and varieties as you can imagine.

Whole blog communities have sprung up around some of these topics putting people into contact with each other in relationships where they can learn, share ideas, make friends with and even do business with people with similar interests from around the world.

Blogs usually have a few features that are useful to know about if you want to get the most out of them as a reader. Lets examine a couple briefly.

Archives – You might look at the front page of a blog and think that there is not much to them. A few recent entries, some links to other sites and not much else. However its worth knowing that there is a lot more going on under the surface that might not initially meet the eye.

When you write a post it goes to the top of the front page. As it gets older and as you add more current posts it begins its journey down the page until it disappears from it. This is not the end of its life however, because it goes into the ‘Archives’ of your blog. It sounds like a dusty dark place but its really just like a filing cabinet that is easily accessible in a number of ways.

Comments – Not all blogs use comments – but most do. This blog is not a monologue but a conversation. Your site visitors can give me feedback on almost everything you write simply by clicking the ‘comments’ link at the bottom of each one of the posts.

A great way to learn about blogs is to read a few. Leave some comments, ask questions and bookmark your favourites. An even better way to learn about blogs is to start your own. It's not as hard as you might think

What about commercial application?

Blogs can have a commercial application too. They are a great way to get clients involved in product or service developments. I personally use my blog on this site to keep visitors up to date with things to do with the efficiency of their website. See the blog posts on Domain Theft, Whats next after Twitter, Mistakes that Speakers Make with Bureaus and more by clicking here.

As well as that, you can use a blog to generate more back links to your site. Google likes to see other sites referring to yours and that is what your blog can do. That is why I usually always have a link from my blog back to my site.

Also Google likes to see site content changing on a regular basis. Blogs are very easy to update (so it a Let's Do It! site by the way) and that means if you change or update your content on a regular basis you will get more of googles attention.

Always direct people to your website. What I do is write a Blog post with a value content and from there point people to my website which contains more substance. To get people to go to the blog I send out a tweet.

How do I set one up?

You can use any blog software (most of which is free) but we recommend the Wordpress blog system. It is free and by far the most popular system out there.

There is a bit of fiddling around setting up the database and the connection strings but outside of that it is easy. All instructions are available on the WordPress site.

How much does it cost?

Well, nothing if you do it yourself. That means going to the Wordpress site, downloading the software (for free) and then setting it up on a server. For some people that could be a little hard to do. When used in conjunction with a Let's Do It! site we set up your blog page for $250.00 plus GST.

Samples

Here are a few to have a look at

If you would like to know more please drop us a line.