Blogging Basics

BASICS

Blogs

Web log

A website where entries are written & displayed in reverse chronological order.

Commentary or news

Covers specific subject

Online personal diary

Blog vs Website

BLOG

To start a conversation

Word of mouth

WEBSITE

Source of information

Point of reference

A blog consists of:

Text,

Images

Links to other blogs, web pages, and other media

Comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.

Search function

RSS Feed

Different Types

Text

Artlog (art)

Sketchblog (photography)

Vlog (video blog)

Music

Podcasting

Micro-blogging (short pieces)

CREATING A BLOG

Getting started

Choose a blogging platform

Choose blogging topic

Choose appropriate name for your blog

A relevant theme!

Choose a catchy tagline for your blog

The author page –who, what and why?

Contact details [if not anonymous]

First post

Sign up to social media sites

Visit blogs with similar interest

Respond to comments on your blog

Blogging schedule – consistency!

Blogger

iblog

Amagama

Wordpress

Self-Hosted

Platforms

Wordpress

Typepad

Joomla

Drupal

Hosted at your ISP, eg.

Office Reliance

Mweb

Web Africa

WRITING

Content is King

Believe in what you write.

Write about something you know

Write something of value

Passion and authority

Correct punctuation and good grammer

Headings are important

Be ethical in your writing and the way you represent yourself.

Don’t waffle.

Don't be afraid of your sense of humor.

Controversy attracts traffic

Commenting is Art

Don’t take bad comments personally

Use other comments to validate your viewpoints

When you make a mistake, admit it quickly take some corrective action.

LOCAL BLOG EXAMPLES

Great Blogs: Thought Leader www.thoughtleader.co.za

Great Blogs: Tresblue http://tresblue.za.net

Great Blogs: FeistyFemale www.feistyfemale.com

Great Blogs: Imel’s Web www.imel.co.za

Great Blogs: Stii Http://stii.za.net

Great Blogs: Belinda Http://belinda.za.net

READING BLOGS

Basic Blog Promotion

Link !

Read other blogs

Comment on other blogs

Social Bookmarking

Users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share.

RSS Feeds

Really Simple Syndication)

Used to publish frequently updated content

Contains a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text.

Automated process of keeping up to date with large volumes of new content.

RSS Reader

RSS content is read using an "RSS reader," "feed reader" or an "aggregator."

Users subscribe to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process.

The reader checks feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates automatically.

SEARCHING FOR BLOGS

Mybloglog www.mybloglog.com

MUTI www.muti.co.za

Amatomu www.amatomu.com

Afrigator www.afrigator.co.za

Technorati www.technorati.com

THE DECISION

Should I start a blog?

The drop out rate is high

You have to market your blog

Generating traffic is difficult

Dedication, passion and time.

Cartoon from Gaping Void www.gapingvoid.com

STATS

Number of blogs at end of August: 25 037 Number of active blogs (updated in last two weeks): 2 953 Percent of active blogs: 11% Number of posts in August: 39 938 Page views in August: 5 198 693 Unique visitors in August: 621 204 Source: World Wide Worx

Why blog?