What is a Blog? This question arises in the mind of many internet users & wannabe bloggers. Let’s settle these questions right here.
First, let’s see the popular definitions of “What is a Blog?” found on the internet :
As per Wikipedia, A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.
As per Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a blog is a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also: the contents of such a site
As per Webopedia, a blog is a short form for Weblog, it is a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
As per Columbia University, A blog (short for “weblog”) can be many things: an online diary, a site for news or entertainment, an innovative way to gain feedback from potential consumers or clients; in short, it can be anything the individual blogger wishes to communicate to a larger audience. But, what makes a blog different from a traditional website? While a traditional website seeks to provide the reader with information, a blog is essentially an online conversation about that information. In the age of texts, tweets, and Facebook, people don’t want to simply consume the information they want to talk about it.
These are really contradicting definitions of blog & the common point to be observed in all these definitions is that Blog is an Online Conversation.
Let’s work out a broad meaning of Blog based on the definitions floating around the internet.
What is a Blog?
A Blog is a website created & used by individuals, businesses & organizations to share their views, keep an online diary, promote their products or services, connect & interact with the users, followers, customers, etc. in the form of “posts”. A blog is supposed to be updated regularly with posts that can be posted under various categories. The most recent posts will be visible on the front page of your website & older posts will be available in the order of the dates posted for viewing in the Archives Section of the Blog.
What would be Common in Every Blog?
There are a few things that are a part of the blog & you will find it in every blog you visit. Let’s look at it one by one.
Posts: Whatever you write in a Blog will be displayed in the form of Posts. Each Post is unique. Each Post is ordered chronologically and the most recent post is always displayed at the top of the blog site.
Categories: You can categorize the posts according to the type of posts. If you are writing about SEO, you can categorize it into several parts which will include SEO, Link Building, Keyword Research, etc. Ideally, all the posts will be posted in the relevant category for easy reference.
Archives: When you keep on writing your posts for months, you will end up writing a number of posts that will not be possible to display on a single page. All the posts which you have written and cannot be displayed on the front page of the blog are stored in the archives section of the blog. The majority of all the blogs will have a link to Archives Section where you can find any old post which you wish to read.
Comments: Whatever you write in a post will be published online & can be accessed by internet users. They can interact with you & start a conversation by commenting on your blog.
These are a few points to be understood when looking for a meaning of the blog & I wish you elaborate on this by commenting on this blog post.