What Is Blogging

Beginners Guide to Blogging

By: Jeremiah Patton

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.





Instead of writing texts, some bloggers choose to make their blogs more audio friendly, by using spoken word entries. This is called audio blogging.





Basically a blog contains these features:





title- which allows you to label your post

body- this is the content of your post

trackback- other sites can be linked back to your blog

permanent link- every article that you write has a URL

comments- this allow readers to post comments on your blog.





One of the advantages of blogging, is that it is made of only a few templates. Unlike, other websites that is made up of numerous individual pages. This make it easier for blog users to create new pages, because it already has a fix setting that include: slots for title, body of the post, category, etc.





This is especially useful for first time users, since they can start blogging right away. They can chose from a number of templates that blogging websites provide.





Anyone who wants to start a blog can do so by becoming a member of a blogging website of their choice. Once they've become members, they automatically become a part of that particular blogging community. They can browse through other bloggers pages, and link them back to their own blogs. They can also make comments on other members' blogs.





Blogging is not just limited to personal usage. There are a lot of blogs that follow a theme such as: sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs espouse on their specific themes. This way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and opinions about a variety of themes and topics.





Some bloggers even use their blogs as a means to advertise. Some authors advertise their books on their blogs. While other bloggers, use their blogs to shed light to currents issues, events, news and catastrophes.





Nowadays in education, blogs also play an important part. Professors use blogging to document the lessons that they have discussed and taught. This way, students who who have missed classes, can easily catch up with their assignments.





A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by promoting their businesses on their blogs, with millions and millions of people logging onto the net everyday, blogging has become a lucrative move. Some bloggers who run online businesses promote their merchandise online. While others profit through advertisement.





But by far, the most popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the kind that is usually used by first time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives, poems, rants, opinions, find that blogging offers them a medium in which to express themselves.





Bloggers usually communicate within themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts, and comments with each other.





Blogs varying in topics, themes, and set-ups, can be found in blog directories. First time users who want to get an idea of what the blogging world is all about can browse through a number of blogs using these directories. This way they'd get an idea of what these blogging communities are like.





Blogging is popular all over the world. Blog is short for the term weblog. There are no rules when it comes to blogging. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves how ever way they want, and the best thing about blogging, is that most blogging sites are free.





There are numerous blogging websites to choose from in the net. This give first time users the option of joining a blogging community that appeals to their interests.





Just search any blogging directory and you'd get a listing of a lot of blogging sites that are available on the net. It's easy to search a blogging directory, because it is organized according to category. This way you would get exactly what you are after. Blogging is really for everyone. It is fun, simple and easy.




Author Resource:-> Jeremiah Patton has been utilizing blogging to gain traffic and interest for his work at home business opportunities website at http://www.2ndincome4u.com/

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Choosing A Blog Niche

Pick The Best Niche For Your Blog

By: Patrik Gisselsson

Choosing a niche is the very first step in blogging. Before you start a blog, you need to have a niche or a topic to blog about. You might have many ideas, but you need to choose only one niche for one blog. It is best to get a topic that you love to write about. This is to avoid getting bored in long term.

You must be sure of the content you want to present to your readers and to make sure that you will not get bored with the topic you choose. If you are wondering why successful bloggers can have so many things to write about, that is because they know what they are blogging about and they have passion in the topic they blog. Remember, you are going to be writing about the topic you have chosen for a very long time. There is no return once you have chosen a niche for your blog.

Many people fail in blogging because they lose interest in the topic. I am sure you wouldn't want this to happen. Make sure you do everything you can to avoid this. There are many blogs in the blogosphere that are being abandoned because the blogger behind the blogs get bored and have no passion to continue blogging.

So, let us look at the first step in choosing a niche. Brainstorming is a great way to start. This way you can gather as many ideas as possible so that you have more choices. You can pick a few that you truly like later but the most important is to gather as many blog ideas as you can. From art to science, I am sure there is a topic that suits you the most.

When you are brainstorming, you can even ask for opinions from your friends and family. Ask about their interests and opinions on what they would love to read on a blog. Treat them as your blog audience and you will know what you need to cater to your readers. Readers are very important in order to make sure your blog stay active in the blogosphere.

Then, you need to narrow down the ideas and start researching. Researching on the topics you have narrowed down is very important because you need to get an idea of what you want to write about. Perhaps you have narrow down books to be your topics, make sure you find out what type of books, the authors and other related topics to books.

Once you have completed these steps, you should be able to choose your niche. Choose the one that you love the most. You will find the satisfaction of writing about something you know. The best part is the reward that follows. If you aim to make money from your blog, make sure your blog is popular with excellent content to attract more readers. This is also why some people prefer to choose a niche with a more targetted readers. You should give it a try.


Author Resource:-> Patrick G Moore is an avid blogger and owner of a dozens of blogs and websites. Learn about Blog Posting Softwares as well as Making Money Blogging.

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