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Web Blogs Defined, Explained and Understood
by Sharon Housley ©Copyright 2004

What are Blogs?
Having heard the term previously but not having paid much
attention most are just to afraid to show their ignorance 
and ask the question, what is a blog? Lets face it; the term 
blog does not conjure pleasant images. Blogs are web logs 
that are updated regularly, usually on a daily basis. They 
contain information related to a specific topic. In some 
cases blogs are used as daily diaries about people's 
personal lives, political views, or even as social 
commentaries. The truth of the matter is that blogs can be 
shaped into whatever you, the author, want them to be.  

Where Did Blogs Come From? 
The roots of blogging can be traced back to the mid 1990's. Who 
the very first blogger actually was is unclear, as the art of 
blogging did not really take hold until 1999. The original 
"weblogs" were link-driven sites with personal commentaries. 
The very first blogs were human guided Internet web tours. While 
initially thought of as diaries or online journals, blogs have 
evolved into the latest fresh web content.  

The Future of Blogs 
A buzz word in techie circles, "blogging" is the wave of the 
future. Whether it's a fad, or proves to be a new way to 
communicate with existing and potential customers it deserves 
at the very least a cursory look.  

Why is Blogging Helpful to Businesses or Individuals? 
Just as animated .gifs were once cool, blogging is the trendy 
thing to do. That does not mean that it is not beneficial to 
businesses. Webmasters struggling to keep fresh, attractive 
content on their websites to lure visitors back, have found 
blogs to be the answer. Content is a necessity for online 
businesses, both for purposes of being found by search engines, 
but also because it gives visitors a reason to come back.  

Now that we have established that blogs are not only trendy but 
also beneficial to businesses, it's important to understand how 
they can be used to your advantage. We currently manage and 
update two blogs on a daily basis. The first is our new business 
blog at: 

http://www.notepage.net/blog.htm 

This professional business blog allows us the opportunity to 
tell potential, or existing customers industry news, updates, 
or generally how mobile or paging software can be used in 
specific situations to alleviate problems. The bottom line is 
we control the content. It's updated daily, which increases the 
chances that search engines will spider on a regular basis and 
it helps with page rank because it's been submitted to all the 
blogging directories. Initially started on a whim, we've found 
it beneficial to report tips, tricks or make visitors aware of 
new regulations related to the mobile or paging industry.  

The second blog we manage is at:

http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog.html

This blog is less formal and contains marketing tips, or 
promotional advice for software developers or online 
marketers. We found that we had overflow from our monthly 
newsletter. Generating a daily blog required very little 
effort and assisted us in creating fresh content which our 
readers told us was of significant interest. 

Blogs & Your Business 
The bottom line is you need to determine how a blog will benefit 
your business, determine a schedule and adhere to it. Let your 
readers know what to expect and when to expect it. Blogs provide 
great supplemental content and direct attention to areas of your 
business that you want to showcase; you direct the content but 
let your readers guide you. 

Creating a Blog 
There are numerous online tools that can be used to create a 
blog. We found that because of security concerns, it would just 
be best to use a standard html program. In our case, we use 
Dreamweaver and create daily posts. It's really not much more 
complicated than typing an email. The content is then sent via 
FTP to a web server. If you want to test the waters there are 
online web-based tools that help you publish to the web 
instantly. The most popular web based tool is likely Blogger
(http://www.blogger.com).  

Other Advantages to Blogs 
While you may initially create a blog for your existing 
customers, you may find that you can attract new customers by 
illustrating your expertise in a specific field. There are 
numerous websites that act as "blog search engines". Be sure 
to submit your sites to these websites to increase your 
exposure. This will also help with your page rank and increase 
the likelihood you will receive decent ranking with Google. 
You can also create an RSS feed in order to syndicate blog 
content and gain additional exposure.  

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Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. 
http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric 
paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other 
sites by Sharon can be found at
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com, 
and http://www.monitoring- software.net  
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