Blogging 101 Why We Blog
Are you ready to start blogging? Me, too!
But first, I’d like to talk about why we blog because it has a bearing on how we blog.
For the first time in history, it is possible for writers to publish their work, for free, where the whole world can find it. Not only that, it is cataloged, also for free, by bots, which are robotic programs that crawl the Web 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and include your website or blog in the results when people search for the words you’ve written.
This is true for any website and a blog is a website, searchable, viewable, just like any other website. But a blog is the very best kind of website because it is dynamic and interactive and free.
Setting up a regular website requires a lot of expertise which, for most authors, requires either a lot of time spent learning a new and unrelated skill or a lot of money to hire someone who already has the skill and then a lot of time explaining to them what it is you want.
Regular websites are difficult to update which means that they usually remain static for long periods of time. You can usually get people to visit your website once, but, if the content doesn’t change, people won’t come back often.
A blog on the other hand, is designed to be easy to set up and update. All you need is internet access, an e-mail address, and something to say. That’s what makes it perfect for writers.
Google, the search engine, has a blog service called Blogger at www.blogger.com, which is the most popular. That’s the one we’re going to learn how to use here. Other popular blog services are: www.livejournal.com, www.typepad.com, www.wordpress.com, www.bloglines.com. MSN (Spaces) and America Online (Journals) also have blog services for their subscribers.
A regular website only offers one way communication. From you to them. Sure, they can e-mail you, but that just turns it back into a one-to-one conversation and nobody else gets to hear it. It’s not a shared experience. With a blog, people read what you’ve written, and they can post a comment immediately, right now. You’ve given them the great gift of publishing their writing on your website, letting them speak to you, letting them speak to the world, and they’ve given you the great gift of adding something to your blog.
Then when they send people to your website, your blog, they’re sending them not just to read what you’ve written but also to read what their friend has written and contribute something of their own. How much more powerful is it to say to someone, not just, hey, this is cool, but, hey this is cool and you can be a part of it.
To connect with people all over the world on a personal level, that’s one of the reasons for having a blog, Specifically for us as writers, there are other good reasons:
1. We practice the art of writing every day (or every week or whatever we choose).
2. We get our writing out on the Internet where people can find it (readers and also agents, editors, and publishers).
3. We develop a readership and a following -- we develop a platform.
4. We become part of a community of writers that we link to and who link back to us.
5. We make money from our writing both by selling books and other writing that we promote on our blogs and by getting advertising revenue from our blogs.
But first, I’d like to talk about why we blog because it has a bearing on how we blog.
For the first time in history, it is possible for writers to publish their work, for free, where the whole world can find it. Not only that, it is cataloged, also for free, by bots, which are robotic programs that crawl the Web 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and include your website or blog in the results when people search for the words you’ve written.
This is true for any website and a blog is a website, searchable, viewable, just like any other website. But a blog is the very best kind of website because it is dynamic and interactive and free.
Setting up a regular website requires a lot of expertise which, for most authors, requires either a lot of time spent learning a new and unrelated skill or a lot of money to hire someone who already has the skill and then a lot of time explaining to them what it is you want.
Regular websites are difficult to update which means that they usually remain static for long periods of time. You can usually get people to visit your website once, but, if the content doesn’t change, people won’t come back often.
A blog on the other hand, is designed to be easy to set up and update. All you need is internet access, an e-mail address, and something to say. That’s what makes it perfect for writers.
Google, the search engine, has a blog service called Blogger at www.blogger.com, which is the most popular. That’s the one we’re going to learn how to use here. Other popular blog services are: www.livejournal.com, www.typepad.com, www.wordpress.com, www.bloglines.com. MSN (Spaces) and America Online (Journals) also have blog services for their subscribers.
A regular website only offers one way communication. From you to them. Sure, they can e-mail you, but that just turns it back into a one-to-one conversation and nobody else gets to hear it. It’s not a shared experience. With a blog, people read what you’ve written, and they can post a comment immediately, right now. You’ve given them the great gift of publishing their writing on your website, letting them speak to you, letting them speak to the world, and they’ve given you the great gift of adding something to your blog.
Then when they send people to your website, your blog, they’re sending them not just to read what you’ve written but also to read what their friend has written and contribute something of their own. How much more powerful is it to say to someone, not just, hey, this is cool, but, hey this is cool and you can be a part of it.
To connect with people all over the world on a personal level, that’s one of the reasons for having a blog, Specifically for us as writers, there are other good reasons:
1. We practice the art of writing every day (or every week or whatever we choose).
2. We get our writing out on the Internet where people can find it (readers and also agents, editors, and publishers).
3. We develop a readership and a following -- we develop a platform.
4. We become part of a community of writers that we link to and who link back to us.
5. We make money from our writing both by selling books and other writing that we promote on our blogs and by getting advertising revenue from our blogs.
posted by Marianne at 5:44 PM
1 Comments:
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