Blogging--What Have I Gotten Myself Into??

Not long ago there was a television advertisement airing here in Australia that featured an elderly couple watching television. Suddenly, in another room, their personal computer downloaded an e-mail from one of their adult children. The elderly couple turned around and was surprised to see dozens of identical grandchildren crawling towards them. I think that the point of the advertisement was to highlight how easy it is, in the brave new world of personal computers and broadband connections, to send family and friends lots of photographs of family members, events, celebrations, and such.

The Internet has completely changed the way that many of us keep in touch with each other. Instead of writing letters, we send e-mails and instead of using the telephone, we will fire up an Instant Messaging program. Instead of printing and distributing photographs in the traditional way, we upload them to a Web site. It used to be the case that virtually all ISPs would offer to host a personal Web site for their customers as a standard part of their access packages; however, over time, some very large ISPs stopped providing such space, forcing their users to "free" Web hosts that would often burden hosted sites with compulsory embedded or pop-up advertisements. We all know how popular pop-ups are.

I believe that a key component of the widespread success and popularity of any form of communication on the Web is simplicity. Much of the technology now in use on the Web has actually been around for a very long time, but did not come into its own until it was presented to the masses in such a way that they realized "Hey, I can do this". Personal Web sites never became super popular, at least not on a scale comparable to something like Instant Messaging, probably because Web sites can be difficult to build and maintain without an understanding of HTML or the assistance of specialized program such as Microsoft FrontPage.

Over the past few years, "blogs" have taken over where personal Web sites left off. Once the domain of journalists, commentators, politicians, and savvy University students, blogs are now used by people from all walks of life and of all ages. It has been said that there are now millions of blogs on the Web. Bloggings rise in popularity has been nothing short of phenomenal. Blogs are used as online diaries, soapboxes, political commentaries, to report breaking news, to share the latest family events with those we love, or just to talk to the world at large.

What is a blog? And why are they so popular?
A blog is a special type of Web page-an online journal-with unique characteristics that set it apart from regular Web pages. Blogs are made up of multiple journal entries listed in reverse chronological order that invariably include a title, a date, and time stamp. Each blog entry also will have its own Permalink (a unique Web address) and sometimes a Trackback (an automatic entry that appears in your blog to tell you that somebody has written about your entry, and linked to it), a Category, and Comments.

Comments are one of the things that make blogs unique and special. Anybody who reads a blog may, if the blog owner allows it, publish comments under a blog entry to agree, to disagree, to sympathize, or to share their own thoughts. This interaction is different than more traditional feedback utilities such as Guestbooks. Guestbooks are generic-entries are not tied to one particular page, or commentary. Blog comments, on the other hand, are tied directly to a particular entry.

Who uses blogs?
Nowadays, anybody can use a blog. Traditionally, blogs have been used by journalists, political commentators, and the like. Blogs have been used as the instrument of choice for some amazing exposés over the years, some of which are mentioned in Wikipedia's article about blogs. In recent times, blogs have been adopted by mainstream Internet users, thanks in part to Blogger.com and LiveJournal, and MSN when they introduced MSN Spaces-a very easy to use, free blogging service that is available to all users of MSN Messenger.

What's this Trackback thing again?
Trackbacks, like Comments, make a blog more interactive and 'alive' than a traditional Web page has even been able to achieve.

A Trackback is a link that appears in a blog's Comments section to tell you that somebody has not only read your entry, but has then gone on to create his or her own Blog entry talking about you and your entry. For example, we may read a Blog entry and think that it is absolutely marvelous, so we post into our own Blog to say "have a look at [Trackback link]. It's fantastic." The wonder of blogs is that your blog entry will automatically appear in the Comments section of the blog entry you have linked to. How cool is that?

How do I start a blog?
Simply choose a blog provider, create an account, and start writing. A list of the most popular free blog services can be found in the Related Links list to the right of screen.

After you have chosen a blog provider, creating a blog entry is very easy. It is not like designing a Web page where you have to find software to create your site, design a layout, create the pages and then upload them. The most popular blogging sites do not even need special software-all you need is a Web browser.

Blogs entries are created using a submission form. Decide on a title, select a category, type in your content, decide whether to allow Comments and Trackbacks, and then publish your work with the click of a button.

Blog entries are much easier to create than traditional Web pages.

What about pictures?
Most blog sites allow you to upload pictures to galleries, or embed pictures into a Blog post by using HTML. How pictures or images are added depends on the site that is being used. Blogger.com, for example, has a photo upload tool, MSN Spaces offers online photo albums complete with a slideshow, and LiveJournal has a photo hosting service called ScrapBook.

How will people find my blog?
Your blog's content, how it is written, and where the content is placed will have a direct effect on the world's ability to find your blog.

Blogs are most often discovered through standard search engines or dedicated blog search facilities. The important thing to remember is that search engines read content from the top of your page's source code downwards, therefore, the title of your blog can be very important. Search engines also depend heavily on key words; therefore, it is important that the title of your blog entry, and its early content, mention key words that are relevant to the content of your page-key words that will capture the interest of people conducting Web searches.

Many blog sites provide an RSS (syndication) facility. Make sure you turn this on. RSS is by far the largest consumers of Blog sites. More information about RSS can be found at my previously published article "RSS: An Information Revolution".

Are there any free blog sites?
The original and best blogger services are still free. One of the original blog communities is www.blogger.com. Two of the more popular blog sites would be MSN Spaces and LiveJournal.

A final word
Many have called blogs the epitome of free speech. They show us the best and worst in human nature and some would claim that blogs have affected the course of modern history. I say, don't take it too seriously and enjoy being able to quickly and easily keep family and friends informed of life events. Most importantly, enjoy the dialogue that will take place between you and those who read your blog.

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Find a decent blogging provider that appeals to you. Some may include MuseCrafters.com, Livejournal.com, JournalHome.com, Blogger,ChoseIt, WordPress.com , TheDiary.org, Mindsay.com, Blog.com, Blogagotchi.com, Diaryland.com, Blogdrive.com, weebly.com or Xanga.com. Most of these sites are pre-made with templates and push-button publishing that don't require much technical know-how.

Once you sign up, you'll have a gallery of ready-made templates to choose from. With these, you can pick a color scheme and layout for your blog.
Most sites come with a set of predefined layouts and schemes that you can choose from. Select one and personalize it. Then add your name, interests, images, etc.

If you want to, get a more unique template, there are some sites up that have many of these that might make it look better. For example, PimpMyProfile.com or Pyzam.com.

Add blogging freebies like buttons, images, blog chalks, imoods, tagboards (for example, myshoutbox.com), guest maps, guestbooks, comment boxes for readers' input, etc.

Explore other blog sites that offer more features for a small fee, such as Typepad.com and ChoseIt.
Decide on whether or not you want your blog to be private or public: do you want any Internet visitor to be able to read your blog, or do you just want your friends and family to be able to read it? Most blog sites offer the ability to password-protect your published posts so only those who you approve of can view what you've written.

After you've set up your blog, write a few posts to test it out, and make any adjustments to the layout or style that you see fit. Like if you just got a new template, you'd check your blog to see if you like it, right? At first, it will seem tough to figure out what to write, but once you get into a routine of daily blogging, you will find it addictive. Write about your day, your thoughts, events, ideas, fears, pleasures, the news, current affairs, art, or anything you are interested in!
Visit other blogs to build a blogging circle. When you leave comments, add your blogging address so they can visit you too. (Note: This will not work if your blog is private)

Publish your blog by sending the URL to your friends or publish the URL on your website. Add the URL to posts you make on other blogs.

This is a great question to ask yourself. What are you trying to accomplish with your blog? Choose a theme to focus on and write.

Blogs are supposed to have a casual feel to them as if you were talking directly to the person. More like a conversation. So don't overthink it.

I am writing to promote my business, so I usually write about topics related to the business, the shows, the developments and trips I take. So just go ahead and start.

Don't think too hard when typing your blog. You can edit it and enhance it later. Blogging is about content. Getting the message out in a casual, easy way for your target audience. Once you determine what your audience is, you can then frame your blog entries for that audience.

Blogging should be fun. It is not something that you should get stressed out about. It not like writing a research paper, or a novel. If you can't think of what to write, do something else, then come back to it!