Blogs

In this article we will discuss the intertnet tool – the Blog.

Blog (also known as Weblog) is traditionally a webpage where

pre-surfer or a blogger “logs” all pages he/she finds

interesting. In other words, it is a Web page that contains

brief, chronologically arranged items of information.

Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality

of the author.

Weblogs provide a series of annotated links to items such as

news stories, and often include personal rants. They are

maintained by one person, most commonly someone who is

involved in Web design or some other tech-related field.

A blog is often a mixture of what is happening on a

particular website and what is happening on the Web, a kind

of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many

unique types of blogs as there are people. Blogs can be used

to introduce products to potential customers.

People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but

the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated

published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com.

Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify

and accelerate the publishing process.

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Blog as a marketing tool

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Blogs offer huge marketing potential. They are highly

strategic tools that can strengthen relationships, share

knowledge, increase collaboration, and improve branding.

Besides, blogs can represent the real voice of the website.

A weblog can take the form of a diary, a news service (or

summaries of and links to current news items on a topic), a

collection of links to other Web sites, a series of book

reviews or products, reports of activity on a project, the

journal of an expedition, and much more. Businesses can use

this tool to effectively advertise their products or

services.

One of the most interesting ways to use a weblog is by

allowing it to function as a discussion forum for customers

of your products or services. In this case, the webmaster

can give posting rights to other people – visitors and

customers, and their posts may or may not be reviewed before

they are published to the Web page. Customers, in such a way

can post favorable comments about the websites offerings.

Some weblogs are set up in such a way that only the owner or

the owner and certain other people have posting rights, but

anyone else can add comments to the posts.

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Weblogs when used with newsletters present immense marketing

opportunities:

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* Articles within newsletters can be linked to a blog,

extending life and creating a massive conversation.

* You can offer a bidirectional forum to customers to get

true, personal opinions on your products and services.

* Company experts can start a blog and become industry

experts, helping your company edge out competition and,

through this interactive forum,draw customers into another

exchange of information and thoughts.

* The beauty of this interplay is you can layer your blog

with editorial controls.

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How to create a Weblog?

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The majority of weblogs are now created using software or

services designed specifically for this purpose. Some of the

software is free - and some of the organizations that

provide weblog software will also provide free server space

to house a weblog so that it is publicly accessible on the

Internet. There are also commercial versions of some of the

free software; these commercial versions often provide more

features. Some weblog software is available only as

commercial software. Alternatively, bloggers can create and

maintain their weblog using free software or a free weblog

service, but use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to load the

resulting weblog to their own Website.

There are many blogging softwares available easily on the

Internet. One of the most popular weblogger is “Blogger”

which can be downloaded for free at http://www.blogger.com.

Most webloggers simplify the process of Website creation.

However, they do require basic knowledge of FTP, Website

structures and a few technical terms. Besides, creating an

advanced weblog requires knowledge of HTML.

So get out there and start your own Blog…it’s free,easy and

can work seamlessly with the rest of your website or

newsletter. Until next time…

Warmly,

James

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