Webupon

Let us start with the basic question of what is a blog?

Blog - A popularized term that is short for (contracted) web log. It is generally taken to mean a website or web presence that is usually maintained by an individual. The contents of which can be in practically any format text, image, photograph(s), sound files, video to name a few but the primary consistency is that of the electronic or digital form as is usually the case these days.

It also needs to be an open format readily accessible to the multitudes if one actually wants somebody else to be able to view, read, listen or watch it. Creating blogs in archaic format that nobody can view is good as a cryptic puzzle but not really suitable to the blog format. Being maintained by an individual also has its drawbacks in that the individual must give freely of their time, for routine maintenance tasks which some bloggers are not truly interested in doing anyway.

Common Formats – Posting blogs in a format such as a PDF document is a good way to ensure that the viewer will see the content as you intended it but the viewer will need software to open and view the PDF document. Fortunately Adobe™ Reader® is free and readily available so PDF documents are becoming a very common format as the blogger can package a whole months worth of material into one convenient package and have the PDF archive accessible to anyone including the merely curious.

Content Topic or Theme – The content of a blog can be as wide in topic as the human imagination may dream up. It may be about topical events such as news, politics, the events in your local community, vague impressions of something the blogger did or may do. They maybe geographically pointed, community-oriented, educational, comical, personal, current or dated or just about anything and anywhere else in between or outside.

Many blogs are more or less a public personal diary or journal if you will. An individual will make regular entries in a running informal style telling one and all what they had for breakfast or lunch or whatever they so desire to write. Love and sex are obvious common topics fro blogs and may not necessarily be restricted to the authors own personal activities.

Chronology – Generally blogs are in reverse chronology. That is the most recent entry will be at the top of the page or list. For those who came in part way through the conversation and deciding that they would like to read the story as it occurred the need to start at the bottom of the page and work your way up can be a little inconvenient. Yet another compelling reason to create an archival version in standard chronological format. PDF documents are great for this.

Monetizing Blogs – Money is also a common theme to be found throughout many blogs. I will in fact be writing more than just a little about how to make money from blogging myself over the course of these articles after all it is one of the reasons that I am writing this in the first place. So; tips on “monetizing” blogs will abound. After all making money seems to appeal to so many of us that we are prepared to try and do just about anything within reason that is legal to get at the green stuff.

It is also very popular to watch somebody else doing just about anything to get their hands on the cash. One of the very reasons that “Reality TV” shows attract an audience. “Fear Factor®” being one where we can watch those whom many would call idiots doing things that we ourselves most definitely would not do or at the very least would do everything within our power to avoid doing.

To Blog – When used as a verb blog means to create maintain or add content to a blog (web log).

Social Networking – Members of Facebook, MySpace and even Youtube have either viewed or contributed to a blog in one form or another and probably without realising it.

Reader Comments – The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format can be an important part of a blog and is very appealing to many. This can be seen from the sometimes lengthy conversation threads associated with some blogs.

Topical Commentary – Blogs may contain commentary or news about or on a subject or range of subjects.

Multimedia Formats – Because a blog can be comprised of many different media formats it can be thought of as being a social multimedia medium. It is not uncommon to find blogs comprised of text, images, and links (URL) to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to the blogs topic.

Accuracy – One issue that some do put forward with this is that just because you as the blog’s audience agree with the content of a blog does not make that content or its point of view right, factual or authoritative in any way. Always bear in mind that more often than not the validity of statements made or referred to in blogs is often not verified or validated in any way by the author. It may simply be a point-of-view.

Controversy – It is also not uncommon for the author of a blog to make controversial statements purely with the intent of attracting attention and a response (usually from the outraged or righteous).

Micro-Blogging – A form of blogging that consists of a series of very short and usually punctual statements often with no thread of coherency or relationship from one comment to the next. This can be used as a very good strategy for marketing which I will be discussing in more detail a little later.

Personal Blogs – The personal blog is an on-going diary or running commentary by an individual about themselves or things about their immediate vacinity, family, friends, boy or girl friends, love topics etc. It is the most common from of blog.

Personal bloggers tend to take great pride in their blog posts and do not generally care that their blog is never read by anyone but them. In this way a blog could be a means for an individual to express themselves or to communicate their thoughts of the moment.

Some personal bloggers do however crave an audience and some even gain wider attention or notoriety. Yet others manage to garner a following which can be quite extensive considering that the Internet is so vast. Seven billion people on the planet; makes for a vast, potential audience some of whom take some interest and others who delight in your misfortune.

Corporate Blogs – A blog may be private or it can be for business purposes. In this case there are basically two types of business blogs: Those used entirely internally within an organization to enhance channels of communication and organizational related matters such as “Don’t forget our sale commences next Monday. So be early to work. Thank you.”

The blog may also be used by an organisation as a means of promotion or fostering goodwill. The aim here is to promote brand, branding or for public relations purposes.

Artlog – A form of art sharing that is focused primarily on art work as opposed to text

Dreamlogs - Also known as blawgs. Dreamlogs are blogs which are subject content or topically focused such as blogs devoted to politics, travel, fashion, projects, education, niches, niche markets, marketing, music, film legal matters and practically any other topic you can think of.

Linklog – A blog comprised of links or URLs

Moblog – A blog written using a mobile device such as a mobile phone, PDA or other handhelds

Photoblog – A site comprised of photos

Sketchblog – A site comprised primarily of sketches

Splog - Used for the sole purpose of spamming and is not considered to be a legitimate form of blog. Most would agree that the less spam the better but spammers are persistent if nothing else.

Tumblelog – Also called a Jumblelog is comprised of short post and mixed media types

Vlog – A blog comprising videos

Blog Search Engines – There are also search engines devoted to searching blog contents. Examples include Bloglines, BlogScope and Technorati

Blogging Communities and Directories – We even have online blogging communities that connect people to blogs or other bloggers such as BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog

In Part 2 of the Killer Blogging Guide we will explore more about blogs and their authors. We will also begin to look at how to write a blog and where to house your blog. After which we will start to get down to the real business of examining how to monetize blogs and how to use blogs for marketing purposes. Till then enjoy!