Blogging For Beginners: Why Start A Blog?

Blogs are used for many reasons these days (whether it is called a blog or not). Much of the time it is used for marketing. Other times it is used to distribute information much like a press release would. This article, however, will go back to the roots of what a blog is: an online journal.

At its core, a blog is basically an online journal wherein you can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything that you want people to read. Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending on the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer built in features such as hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging sites, even allow you to put video and mp3′s on your blogs.

What is a blog? A blog contains many blog posts. From there, a blog post contains these features:

title: this is the title of your blog entry (or journal entry)

body: this is the content of your blog post

trackback: this is when other sites link back to your blog entry

permanent link: this is the link directly to that specific blog entry

comments: this is where other internet-izens can comment on your blog entry

Today’s blogging software makes it very easy for bloggers to start blogging right away. I highly recommend the Blogger interface or WordPress interface. Those are the easiest and also are web based so you can blog from anywhere. There are further customizations available for being able to blog through email and other applications as well. Another great feature of blogging software is the availability of templates or themes. This allows you to change the look and feel and design of your website blog at the push of a button.

I have been focusing on online journaling for your blog, but as you learn more about blogging keep your mind open as well because there are many uses for blogs. At its base it is a way to distribute information so blogs can be very useful for just about anybody who needs to get information out to others. So once you get used to how a blog works, don’t be surprised if you want to start more than one for all your information distribution needs!

So just how do you start a blog? Come to Emil Yau’s site and let his free video walk you through step-by-step how to start a blog today!