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What
is a blog ?
Blog is short for
weblog. A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and
intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the
personality of the author or the Web site. by wikipedia.
Definition
as per Google Blogger : A
blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political
soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private
thoughts. Memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There
are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules. In
simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis.
New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they
comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.
Whichever blog software package you
chose, there are a few technical options you may want to look for. Here's a
short glossary of blog technology:
Post:
Every time you put an update on your blog, you create a post. In typical
computer jargon fashion, this noun can also be used as a verb: You can post to
your blog. Posts are also sometimes called entries.
Comments:
Blogs are often referred to as conversations, and it's the ability of your
readers to leave comments on each post you make to your blog that creates the
feel of a conversation. Comments are usually time-stamped and identified by
the author’s name and perhaps a link to their Web site or blog. On some
blogs, comments are threaded so that readers can comment on other comments,
but on most blogs comments are simply displayed chronologically.
Comment
spam:
Sad to say, spam is a problem on blogs just as it is in email. Comment spam,
as you would expect, is left in the comments of a blog. It usually includes a
few words and a link to a Web site. The point for the spammer is to get as
many links as possible to the Web site, giving it higher search engine
rankings.
Categories:
Categories permit a blogger to subdivide content, putting posts about politics
into one basket and posts about celebrities in another. Categorization helps
readers read only what they are most interested in and is a good tool for
those scanning a blog's archives.
Trackbacks:
Trackback technology helps bloggers link back to other posts on related
subjects. Functionally it's a little complicated: If you're posting about
something you've seen on another blog, look for the Trackback URL. Paste that
URL into the allotted spot in your own blogging software, and the two pieces
of blog software will communicate, building a link from the original post to
yours (without the other blogger having to life a finger).
Trackback spam:
Like comment spam, but done via Trackback.
Pings:
There are several blogging tracking Web sites where you can search for other
blogs and look for recent posts. If your blog software allows you to ping
those sites when you post, that post gets included in the ping site's index,
potentially increasing your traffic.
RSS/Atom feeds:
In the blogosphere, syndication is a big deal. With millions of blogs to read,
many consumers use news aggregators, or readers, to pull in posts and read
them, rather than visiting 150 blogs every day. RSS and Atom are two flavors
of blog syndication.
Blogroll/lists:
Ever noticed those long lists of other blogs alongside the posts in a blog?
That's a blogroll, a list of the blogs read by the blogger whose site you are
on. Sometimes lists are also kept to recommend books and other media, as well.
News
aggregation:
Many blog software packages allow you to pull in and display the RSS or Atom
feed of another blog. This is useful if you want to create a site with
constantly updated content fed by blogs. For example, a blogger who posts
about politics could pull in the feeds of other political blogs.
Moblogging:
Moblogging is the short form of "mobile blogging." Lots of blog
software lets you post by e-mail from your phone, PDA, or anything else that
allows you to send e-mails.
Blacklist:
Blacklists are usually lists of URLs that have been identified as spam URLs,
and that are therefore eliminated from comments and Trackbacks on your blog.
With most blog software, the software company builds and maintains a common
blacklist for all users to which individuals can contribute.
Captchas:
Captchas are an additional security feature for commenting and user
registration. By providing an image that includes letters and numbers, and by
requiring the user to type in those letters and numbers, blog software can
eliminate some of the comment and Trackback spam produced by robot programs.
URL Redirection:
In an effort to render comment and Trackback spam ineffective, links included
in comments and Trackbacks are tagged with the NOFOLLOW tag, which indicates
to search engines that it shouldn't be counted when tallying search engine
rankings for a Web site.
Skins:
Most blog software includes a set of pre-designed templates that give the blog
a certain look and feel. These are called skins.
Post scheduling:
Some blog software allows you to write posts and schedule them to be published
at some point in the future. This is handy for vacations and holidays.
Bookmarklets:
A bookmarklet is a link directly to the new post page of your blog software.
If you add this small Javascript to your browser toolbar, it's a shortcut to
posting quickly.
Here is a
good list of A to Z of Professional blogging including blogging
tools, platforms, services and ways of making money from blogging by Darren
Rowse of ProBlogger.net
