
Blogs, once a luxury for publishing your thoughts, ideas and whatnot, now an essential to any business. Having a blog on your website enables you to communicate to your customers and website visitors in a timely fashion — and whenever you like.
Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (Art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (Video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.
At a time when companies and individuals are incorporating blogs into their marketing strategies and lives, a unique blog design will set your blog apart from others. Don't settle for an "out of the box" design — or features.
A blog is the answer to this question: ever wanted to publish your own articles, observations or anything else on the Web without having to learn web design or how to manage a website? A blog may be your answer.
A blog is a type of website that allows you to publish (or "post") via a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape. The word blog is a contraction of web and log ... a journal on the Web.
You'll enjoy the ease with which you can publish articles, opinions and any other data on the Web without fooling around with writing HTML or building and uploading pages. And you can include pictures as well.
Blogs are affordable. You can set up a blog for less than a typical website. Some blog software is available for free although we prefer to use professional blog software like Moveable Type because of its flexibility and offers many great integrated blogging features.
Blog are easy to use. Blogs have an integrated content management system. Access your blog, type your post and press save. And presto - your new article is online!
Blogs can automatically announce to readers each time you add new information. Using RSS feed technology your blog can automatically announce to our readers that new information is available. Plus your blog posts can be 'pushed' to other websites, emails, and other blogs easily.
Search engines love blogs! Search engines like regularly updated content and blogs are the ideal software to use for easily and regularly adding content.
Truth be told, there already exists a wide blog-reading audience for blogs, and "bloggers" tend to talk and share. And, because blogs can have a "syndication" feature, they can be picked up by news aggregator services -- that is, your audience may find your blog through Yahoo, bloglines.com and other highly trafficked websites. In fact, your audience may read your blog daily without ever visiting it in person!
About those search engines ... search engines tend to visit blogs much faster, and with more frequency, than regular websites. We've observed Google -- and blog news aggregators -- visiting blogs within hours of installing the software. This means that your "posts" will be included in news sites that feature blog output as well as in the major search engines.
While blogs can be used for any topic, businesses are utilizing blogs with increasing frequency as a method of publishing an ongoing series of articles, industry observations, tips and news on their own, as and when they will. Some are quite popular and enjoy large followings. Blogs can also be set up to allow others to post and to comment about posts, thereby gaining valuable interactivity and user input.
One of the appealing features of blog is their structure — where the latest posts are featured on the home page, and are moved off after a period of time that you specify. The basic structure of a well-structured blog is:
Home page - current posts (articles) which rotate off the home page as new posts are published
Permanent page for each individual post, plus visitor comments. The permanent page is created when you publish the post, even while the post is displayed on the home page.
Category page - index of posts in that category
Monthly page - index of posts for that month
Search Feature - for searching the blog
We emphasize "well structured" because many blogs lack basic features that would make them more usable — and some which cause problems with search engines. We customize our clients' blogs to make them both more usable and to ensure they don't incur these search engine problems.
Like any website we design, your blog package will include a unique logo and page design that will accomplish the following for you:
While different types of blog software are available, some with their own web hosting and monthly fees, we prefer to recommend a stand-alone blog program that we install on your own web hosting space. This ensures that, if the blog-hosting company changes something, goes out of business, or raises its prices, your blog won't be affected.
There are several different types of blogs, differing not only in the type of content, but also in the way that content is delivered or written.
The personal blog, an ongoing personal diary or commentary by an individual, is the conventional, most common blog. Personal bloggers usually take pride in their blog posts, even if their blog is never read. Blogs often become more than a way to just communicate; they become a way to reflect on life, or works of art. Blogging can have a sentimental quality. Few personal blogs rise to renown and the mainstream, but some personal blogs quickly gather an extensive following. One type of personal blog, referred to as a microblog, is very detailed and seeks to capture a moment in time. Some websites, such as Twitter, allow bloggers to share opinion and feelings instantaneously with family and friends, and are faster than emailing or writing.
A blog can be private, as in most cases, or it can be for business purposes. Blogs used internally to develop the communication and traditions in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs. Similar blogs for clubs and societies are called club blogs, group blogs, or by similar names; typical use is to inform members and other interested parties of club and member activities.
Some blogs focus on a particular topic, such as political blogs, travel blogs ,house blogs, fashion blogs, project blogs, education blogs, niche blogs, classical music blogs, quizzing blogs and legal blogs (often referred to as a blawgs) or dreamlogs. Two common types of genre blogs are art blogs and music blogs. A blog featuring discussions especially about home and family is not unusually called a mom blog. While not a legitimate type of blog, one used for the sole purpose of spamming is known as a Splog
A blog containing videos is called a vlog, one containing links is called a linklog, a site comprising a portfolio of sketches is called a sketchblog or one comprising photos is called a photoblog. Blogs with shorter posts and mixed media types are called tumblelogs. Blogs that are written on typewriters and then scanned are called typecast or typecast blogs; see typecasting (blogging).A rare type of blog hosted on the Gopher Protocol is known as a Phlog.
Blogs can also be defined by which type of device is used to compose it. A blog written by a mobile device like a mobile phone or PDA could be called a moblog. One early blog was Wearable Wireless Webcam, an online shared diary of a person's personal life combining text, video, and pictures transmitted live from a wearable computer and EyeTap device to a web site. This practice of semi-automated blogging with live video together with text was referred to as sousveillance. Such journals have been used as evidence in legal matters.
The blog software we recommend is Open Source (that is, it's free, though donations to the developers are appreciated) as well as stable, reliable and easy to use. Most blog software has a very generic "look" when installed, and differentiation of your blog will require design and implementation. However, since the design of your blog may not involve the kind of in-depth marketing research and development required for a regular commercial website, we've allowed our fees to reflect that fact.
Interested in having your own blog? Contact us today.
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