Blogging:
What It Is And Why You Need One
By Matt Bacak
To understand
the blog, first of all a little
history is in order. The word “blog”
is short for the word “weblog”.
A weblog is a word coined early
in the internet age to designate
a journal or diary type page mainly
consisting of personal thoughts
and reflections. Most of the time
it is updated frequently and can
range in topic from the mundane
to the profound. Sound familiar?
It should. What it really is when
you get rid of the hype is the good
old fashioned diary which has been
with us almost as long as language
itself.
How long
have “blogs” been with
us? Well, one of the first instances
could easily be ascribed to a work
called “Kakheperresenb's Complaint”,
written by none other than the egyptian
scribe Kakheperresenb himself. (Please
don't try to pronounce the name.
You WILL get a headache. We will
call him “K” from this
point forward.) “K” made
one of the first recordable blog
entries in history circa 2000 BC.
Of course “K” didn't have
the resources and technology we
did today and his audience was probably
limited considering the fact that
most of the population was illiterate.
“K”
left with us the memorable phrase,
“'Would I had phrases that
are not known, utterances that are
strange, in new language that has
not been used, free from repetition,
not an utterance which men of old
have spoken.'' Obviously even then
people with a blog were STILL trying
to figure out what to write!
But no seriously,
the blog IS the way to reach fame
and fortune and make a little money
on the side. Just ask Darren Rowse
, whose most recent (August 2005)
income total from Adsense was a
little over $16,000! Yeah, that
WAS three zeroes behind that 6.
Not bad for a guy writing his own
comments and ramblings about everything
from sports shoes to bad movies.
Of course Darren went so far as
to even take a course in college
on “Entrepeunerial Blogging”.
Needless to say he must have paid
attention.
But you need
not take a course to have a good
blog that generates hits. Blogger
extroidinairre Chris Wright started
his by simply posting job openings
for engineers which he came across
during his own job search. Word
got around and before long he realized
his hit count was going up and up
and up… You get the picture.
If you write something interesting
that people need to know they WILL
come to you - invited or not. As
Chris's own story perfectly illustrates.
So run this
by me again, you say? You mean ALL
I have to do is just start writing
stuff about - NOTHING?
No, not exactly.
As always, in the internet world
and in the real world, content is
king. Your writing must be somehow
funnier, sharper, wittier, smarter,
more bizzare or just plain weird
in order for people to link to you
and as a result drive up the hits
to your blog and hence fatten your
pocketbook.
But notice
how many options you have. You don't
have to depend on your education.
Nor do you need a rich and lavish
lifestyle that you can blog about
while others read with envy. If
you can make the boring, dreary
life of the average nobody funny
and interesting people will come
regardless. As mentioned earlier
- CONTENT is king.
Good content
= more visitors = more banner hits
= more money.
So you want
to know how to get started with
this blogging thing?
It's really
pretty easy. There are a number
of places that will allow you to
host your own blog and most of them
do it for free. Blogger is probably
the most popular. But there are
others. Try some of these on for
size if you had rather go the more
individual route:
Livejournal
- This is the “kinda”
cool and hip virtual location for
the blogger crowd. You can link
to other people by topic and it
has some other cool features like
the ability to allow posts from
only certain people.
Diaryland
- Diaryland doesn't hids it's origins.
In fact it does it's best to try
and make your weblog look as close
as possible to the good old fashioned
diary/journal that we all know and
love. They have a smaller and more
intimate community than some of
the other locations.
What if you
are not sure you want to get started
but instead want to just read blogs
of others for a while until you
get a better idea of what you want
to say?
Well there
are PLENTY of sites that do nothing
but list and aggregate blogs of
other people. Here are just a few
to get you started:
Globeofblogs
- Globe of blogs has a real international
flavor. You will find blogs from
literally everywhere here.
Blogarama
- Another compendium of various
blogs on subjects ranging from weird
to wonderful.
Blogsearchengine
- This site cut's to the chase.
If you want to search for blogs
they will do it for you. Just enter
in the subject of your interest.
Top-blogs.com
- Okay so you want to know other
success stories? Check out those
near the top of the listings here.
You will then see what it takes
to reach the top.
Well, hopefully
you know enough to get started on
your own blog by now. So what are
you waiting for? Get out there and
BLOG!
Matt Bacak
became "#1 Best Selling Author"
in just a few short hours. Recent
Entrepreneur Magazine’s e-Biz
radio show host is turning Authors,
Speakers, and Experts into Overnight
Success Stories. Discover The Secrets
To Unleash The Powerful Promoter
In You! Sign up for Matt Bacak's
Promoting Tips Ezine ($100 value)
just visit his website at http://www.powerfulpromoter.com
or http://promotingtips.com.
