Blog: All That You Need To Know
A blog is a website or a web page that is regularly updated with new content. Content is displayed as blog articles or posts, which are usually shown in reverse chronological order, so the newest are visible first When blogging was still new in the online community, blogs were usually run by individuals or a small group.
Apart from blogs run by individuals, today we also have joint blogging projects which gather multiple authors.
Companies have recognized the importance of blogging as well, so many of them have been implementing blogging as a part of their website. Often companies either have employed a full-time blogger or a team of bloggers that are in charge of content creation and blog promotion.
Most blogs allow visitors to leave their comments and to share blog posts on social media. This is what mainly differentiates blog posts from static website pages.
It is also one of the reasons why blogging is considered a type of social networking platform. It enables connection with the author and his or her audience.
Blog posts provide that social aspect, which is also why they are such an important asset in engaging online visitors.
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is the term coined to include all blogs and the way these blogs are interconnected.
As blogging started to be adopted by the masses and the number of bloggers has gradually been increasing, bloggers began to see themselves as a part of a large community, which is how the term blogosphere was introduced in 2002. It is used to imply that all blogs are connected and comprise a community.
This understanding of blogging being part of the blogosphere is another reason why blogging is considered a type of social network.
Unlike website owners, who are usually focused on the interaction between the owner and visitors, and only during the last couple of years have been thinking in terms of social media, blogging has had a social aspect from the beginning.
Bloggers interact with each other, they share each other’s content, they comment, and they even have blogrolls (the list of blogs they read and recommend). In general, blogging is more focused on the individual level and on these individuals becoming members of the blogosphere.
Blog vs. website
It is essential to differentiate between a blog and a website, as this is something most people find difficult to do.
Perhaps the most confusing part is the fact that both are used for publishing content. However, how this content is presented and the purpose it serves is what makes a distinction between the two.
#1 Frequency of updates
The first significant distinction between a blog and a website is the frequency of updates. Blog content is regularly updated, which means that the pages (also called “blog posts”) are more dynamic than website pages.
Blog updates can be published at shorter or longer intervals. For example, new blog posts can be published once or twice a week, or even a couple of times during the day. This depends on the type of blog and the author(s).
On the other hand, a website features static pages with content that can occasionally be altered, but it usually stays the same over an extended period.
#2 Engagement level
When it comes to engagement level, website pages hardly generate any engagement. Their main purpose is to provide information, to present a particular concept, etc.
This communication is considered a one-to-many type of communication, which means that a page is designed to show the same content to all of the visitors.
Blogs enable a better connection between an author and the visitors. It does not matter if the interaction is done through subscribing to RSS, commenting on a blog post, or participating in a poll; the important thing is that blogs encourage this interaction and thus increase the engagement level.
The benefits of engagement are numerous, starting from generating interest in your brand to improving credibility and online influence.
#3 Search engine friendliness
Blogs are considered to be more search engine-friendly due to several reasons.
• Updates
Search engines love new content, and they keep returning new pages to index when they notice that there is a pattern of frequent updates.
Google confirms that 15% of searches have never been searched before, which means that new content updates are always welcome. Updated content enables search engines to extend their database and find genuinely relevant content to show in the search engine result pages.
New content is most often provided to the search engines through the use of blogging.
Traffic
Blog topics are much more diverse and provide a range of topics that can be presented as organic traffic results. For example, when there is a search query “how to optimize a blog post,” it is more likely that there will be a blog post relevant to this query than a website.
The concept of blogging also provides an opportunity to publish content which includes related phrases, synonyms, or to coin different phrases related to that topic.
In all, this offers tremendous potential to grow the amount of organic traffic your blog receives on topics that leverage the use of keywords and relevant phrases, which would attract the audience interested in your brand.
Links
Another reason for blogs being considered search engine-friendly is the link-building potential of their content. Content of high quality in a blog post is more likely to generate interest and links from other websites or blogs (also called “backlinks”) than static web pages.
Additionally, blog content usually contains a significant number of links, both internal and external, which makes discovering and indexing new content by search engines through this page much easier.
Action Point
PS: I know you might agree with some of the points raised in this article or disagree with some of the issues raised.
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