What the heck is a blog really?

 What A blog really is and how to get your head around this whole blogging thing...

So what the heck is a blog anyway?

If you're new to the blogging world, you may still be wondering what on earth a blog actually is.

And you may even feel a little embarrassed or even ashamed when others talk about blogs and you don't

really know what they're talking about.

Well, don't feel bad, because I'll now help you

demystify this whole blogging thing once and for

all...

The word "blog" is short for "weblog", and it's a

term that was created for a special kind of

website that essentially helps you write down a

"log" of...stuff... well, anything really!

In the "old" days (just a few short years ago now)

a lot of people used blogs as a type of online

journal where they could write down whatever

happened in their lives, and share it with their

friends and family.

And this still happens today. But, nowadays, blogs

are the most popular type of website on the

internet - for both people, as well as for search

engines - but more on this soon...

People now use blogs to publish content related to

any and every topic you could imagine, ranging

from how to raise kids to internet marketing to

personal development - in fact, almost any topic

that you can conceive of.

A blog is really just a special kind of website

that lets you easily publish content whenever you

want and allowing other people to interact with

your content in the form of writing comments in

response to whatever you published.

So, it's quite different from the stuffy old

"static" websites that do not change their content

as a general rule of thumb. Blogs are a lot more

fluid and interactive than the normal "old school"

websites... and much more effective too!

But why have blogs become so extremely popular in

the recent past?

Well, there are at least three reasons...

a. Blogs are popular with the search engines.

Because blogs get updated with new content so

often, search engines lists them very high up on

their search results.

This means that blogs are likely to get more

traffic than normal "static" websites because more

people can find them quickly and easily in search

engines like Yahoo and Google.

Now, if you were a website owner, which would you

prefer? A stuffy old static website that does not

change and does not get listed in the search

engines, or a vibrant ever changing interactive

blog that gets listed in the major search engines?

Easy decision right?

b. Another main reason is because blogs are

interactive.

Whenever you visit a blog, you can read the

original post by the author of the blog, and then

you can also submit a comment expressing your own

thoughts on what the blog post was about.

When other people join the "conversation", things

can get very interesting, and you could end up

with a very exciting collection of thoughts from

people from all over the world.

Because conversation in itself creates a bit of

"drama", people naturally get attracted to it, and

want to be a part of it. And thus, the more people

who do this, the faster this whole blogging thing

grows.

c. And of course, blogs have got to be one of the

easiest kind of websites to set up.

Believe it or not, but you don't actually need any

technical knowledge such as html programming and a

lot of money to be able to set up your own blog.

If you can click a few buttons and type letters on

your keyboard, that's all you need for setting up

your very own blog.

And in some cases, you could even set up a new

blog in a matter of minutes!

They don't cost a thing either.

But these are only three of many reasons why blogs

are so popular, and there are many other reasons

as well and I'll leave you to explore those for

yourself.

So, in summary, a blog is really just a special

kind of website that allows you to easily add

content, and get other people from all over the

world to absorb and interact with your content on

the internet.