If you can write an e-mail, you can write a blog. Everyone is blogging about various issues: Food, politics, news, fashion, photography, design, travel, etc… Unlike websites, blogs are interactive.
The following presentation prepared by Think Media Labs will help you get in the loop of blogging and of how to start and improve a successful blog.
2. What is a blog?
• A blog is a website with descriptive entries,
commentary, pictures, and video.
• Topics: display of your creative work,
events you participated in, something you
saw, exploring a passion, documenting
your life, sharing information, news,...
• Prerequisites: If you can write an e-mail,
you can write a blog. No software
necessary.
4. What is a blog?
• A blog = a web + a log
• A blog is a website that is frequently
updated, with the most recent entry on top
• Blogging is now the most popular online
personal publishing platform
• Blog authors, known as bloggers, can write
about anything
• According to Wikipedia, as of 16 February
2011, there were over 156m public blogs
5. • Blogs are interactive to distinguish them
from websites
• Visitors can leave comments
• Blogs appear in different forms and are
based on a template
• Basic templates are free. More refined
ones are bought for an annual fee
• The most popular blog hosts are
WordPress and Blogger
6. • Layout can be as simple or
sophisticated as the author chooses
• Typical design: title banner at the top, a
side bar and the content taking up the
remainder of the space
• Sidebar includes an “About me,” an
archive of past posts in date order, and
anything the author wants to add
• Blogs can display text, images, audio
and video
7.
8. Types of blogs:
• News
• Personal diary
• Specialized subject
• Aggregator
• Fashion
• Food
• Sports
• Photography…
Blogs can be linked to each other and to Web
pages
10. A website and a blog are not the same:
Blog
• Content is regularly updated
• Not formal
• Interactive
• Informative and educational
• Interactivity about industry/customer
issues
• Some people have a blog
11. Website
• Content is static
• Formal/professional
• Interactivity does not exist. There is only
one-way communication
• Transactional
• Communication about products and/or
services
• Almost everyone has a website. In fact, it
is almost a requirement in business today
13. • The impact of blogs has been growing
• It is affecting the mainstream media
and is widely acknowledged by
governments
• Newspapers, magazines and television
-- labeled “old media” -- have been
suffering as a result of the growing
number of blogs
• Bloggers sharing and connecting
information in real time and are quicker
14. Political blogs
• Since 2002, and with the invasion and
war on Iraq in 2003, blogs gained in
political momentum as a way of
covering the news in a non-
conventional way
• One of the first political blogs in the
region to address a wide international
audience and make a big impact was
“Where is Raed” by Iraqi Salam Pax
22. • A four-hour training will never be enough
to go through 156 million + blogs
• The idea, however, is to look at the
development and impact blogs are having
on traditional media, marketing and PR
• There is a blog for practically every
subject, from personal, corporate, genre…
• The community of all blogs is the
blogosphere
23. Blogging and advertising
• Blogs can be monetized (?)
• Some feature advertisements for
financial gain or to promote a cause
• Some companies create a fake blog
to promote a product
25. Blogging code of conduct
• Take responsibility for what you write
• Don’t say something online that you
wouldn’t offline
• Do not use abusive language
• Eliminate anonymous comments