Blogging is now massively popular, and a “must do” part of internet marketing, but to anyone new to the internet marketing world, even the term blog may be a bit of an unknown quantity. So, for those who would like a simple explanation of blogs and blogging, here’s an easy to understand guide to blogging for beginners and a simple explanation of the 10 most common blog terms.
1: Blog
First up is the term blog itself. The name blog comes from a description of its initial purpose i.e. a web log, or online journal. Blogs started out of as a simple way of people sharing their day to day experiences or interests and they continue to be ever popular for this purpose.
However, they were quickly recognised by the internet marketing community, as a great way to form a relationship with potential customers, by being an excellent medium for offering free advice, useful ideas and other interesting information relating to their products and services.
Effectively, blogs are used in this way as a form of indirect free marketing and can be a very productive marketing tool.
2: Blog host
A blog is just another form of website, so, in order to publish a blog you need to have a blog host. For a personal blog, people often use one of the many sites like WordPress.com or blogger.com. These sites give you all you need to create your blog, and then host it on their site for free.
However, if you’re using the blog for your internet marketing business, it’s more usual to buy hosting, so that you can keep full control of it. Your blog can be a stand alone website, or you can make it part of your main business website. To host a blog, you’ll need to get your own blog software. Often this comes with the hosting facility, or use the most popular free format from WordPress.org.
3: Niche
When you’re using a blog for your business, your niche, or niche market, is the area of interest relative to your products or services. Your blog should always be focused on your niche, because the people you want to attract are those who are interested in your product area, because they will become your customers.
Generally, the more specialised your niche is, the less competition there will be within it, but there’s a trade-off here, because there will also be fewer potential customers.
4: Templates
Blogs are simple to create, because they’re based on site templates. So, all you have to do is fill in the content. There are thousands of free templates available, so you’ll always be able to find one to suit your needs.
5: Plugins
Plugins are prewritten programmes to load up to your blog, which perform various functions like search engine optimisation or, visitor tracking etc. They’re like phone apps and most are free. They’re easy to load up and use and you can add them at any time to enhance your blog’s performance.
6: Posts
Each item you add to your blog, is called a post. Posting is exceptionally easy, you just create your post content and then copy and paste into your blog site editor. Simple. You can add images, links and keyword information etc., as you need.
7: Pinging
Pinging is one of the most useful plugins for an internet marketing blog. When you enable pinging, it will notify search engines that you’ve updated your blog. This is will get your blog noticed and help your blog move up the search engine rankings and become more popular.
8: Linking
Blogs usually provide links within their content to other blog posts or web sites with more information on a topic. Used properly, these links will also help your blog move up the search engine rankings.
9: Trackback links
Trackback links notify other bloggers anytime you reference their blog. Trackback links also include a link back to your blog from theirs. This is a great way to increase your blog’s visibility, as well as building business connections.
10: RSS feed
If you enable the RSS feature, people who subscribe to it, will automatically be notified, each time your blog is updated. So, the RSS feed increases your readership, by actively prompting people to visit your blog, rather than them having to remember to do so.
As you continue to learn about blogging, I’m sure you’ll come across many more complex terms. But, as you begin, these 10 most common blog terms will help you get started right now.
