Maybe around the internet you will already have heard the phrase “if you want to succeed on the web you must have a blog.”
It is true that a blog is a very powerful tool at your disposal, especially if you want to advertise to your personal and professional activities.
But first of all, you must understand what a blog is and why you may want.
In this article, you can find a brief explanation, and a few tips to start with a blog of your own.
The world’s first blog
To understand what a blog we have to take a step back in the late 90’s.
At that time internet it was still not widespread, they used to do online research engines like Altavista, Virgilio Arianna and Mark Zuckerberg was a young middle school student with a passion for programming …
Yes, even though today it may seem strange there was a time when the internet was just an information tool and not a place to spend the time to insult and share photos of kittens.
In the early life of the World Wide Web, the sites were very simple and allowed only a one-sided conversation, that someone wrote and all the others were reading.
Operating a website was quite complex and who did it, had generally excellent computer skills and programming.
The development of blogs coincided with the advent of Web publishing tools suitable even those who did not have that ability, allowing the publication of content by non-technical users.
Literally, what is a blog?
The word blog is a contraction of Web log, or an online diary where you can write all that one wants, without censorship.
In technical terms, it is nothing more than a particular web site consists of articles (commonly called posts) that generally appear in reverse chronological order.
The most recent items are on the main page or home page, while the older ones in the bottom of the page or in the subsequent ones.
A main feature of a blog is the opportunity it offers to users who read the content to interact with the author – or authors – of the same.
Thanks to a system of comments, the buttons for sharing on social networks and the inclusion of any link, around the post will create real discussions.
All this is possible due to the specific publishing software created ad-hoc for this purpose, which give the opportunity to those without any programming knowledge; you can publish your own articles.
The main engines to create a blog are: WordPress, Joomla, Blogger and Blogspot.
Words related and closely linked to the world of blogs:
Blogging – The act of writing a post to a blog
Blogger – A person who writes the content for a blog
Blogosphere – The online community of blogs and bloggers
What is a blog?
Now that you understand what a blog is, we now come to the crux of this article: what good is having a blog?
A blog is primarily for four reasons:
- Do personal branding
- Give vent to the passions
- Promoting company
- Create a passive income
Let’s see in detail one by one.
You may also like to read another article on Web-Build: Five tips that I would have liked to start my blog receive
Do personal branding
Personal branding is nothing more than the “promotion” of yourself and of your professional activity.
Nowadays the online life is closely related to that offline.
In fact all happened at least once to have made searching on Google or Facebook to find information about a person.
Do personal branding means looking appear in these searches, and above all, try to create a reputation online.
On the web, as in real life, the first impression is the one that counts and there is no second chance to make a good first impression.
So it is important to take care of your online image and having a blog can help you.
Also remember that not having online activities (not just a blog, but also a social profile) is a very clear choice.
Give vent to the passions
As I wrote at the beginning of this article, blogs are born with the aim of telling the life of people online, and among the main topics of online diaries are his passions.
Having a blog and write about their passions (such as cooking, gardening, do-it-yourself …) is a way to give something back to people who surf in search of information.
Not only write a blog on your passions identifies you as an expert in that specific sector and opens great opportunities to turn your passion into a real job.
Promoting company
Likewise the personal branding, writing a blog helps greatly to promote a company on the web.
Using the techniques of inbound marketing can generate leads and contacts interested in the products and services of a company that occur on the company blog looking for specific information.
On the other hand, a company that provides its know-how to solve the small problems of everyday users.
I’ll give you a concrete example to better understand this concept.
Create a passive income
In the jargon it says monetize a blog, or to ensure that this can generate a passive income. This usually should at least cover living expenses such as the annual renewal of the domain, the cost of developing the site and to themes and plugins.
However, they are not rare cases where a blog has created considerable revenue.
There are indeed many examples of blogs that, born of passions, have been so successful that allow owners to abandon their previous work to devote himself exclusively to them.
There are many ways to monetize a blog: insert banner ads, create a network of affiliations to pay sites or services, write or eBook guides on specific topics for sale inside the blog.
Your blog in four phases
At this point, after what is seen and what is a blog, it is important to understand what are the necessary steps to take before you start a blog.
To create a blog successful, long-lasting and that gives you satisfaction you must:
- Decide the purpose of your blog between those seen previously
- Write your unique value proposition and have it very clear right from the start
- Create your audience of readers defined, your buyer personas
- Write at least five or six articles before publishing the blog
That’s it, if you let me know in the comments how it’s going to create the blog.
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