What is a Blog? Why Have One?

In the beginning, it was just students and pre-teens that got "bitten" by the blogging craze. Now, almost everyone of any age or status can participate in the blogosphere -- a community of bloggers.

Before anyone else decides to jump onto the bandwagon of blogging, it is important to define your target audience. Take a look at the variety of functions a blog can serve below.

Political Blogging

This is a political year, ironically. Discussions are rampant on the internet regarding presidential candidates and other "hot" political issues. You can use this type of blog to keep the public informed of the issues, candidates' platforms and biographical information on candidates, etc. It is an added benefit to allow blog readers to comment on the blog postings to get interaction from internet users. This information could prove to be useful for any successful candidate.

Opinionated Blogging

Just like political blogging, this type of blog may address "hot topics" of the day, i.e., home foreclosures, mortgage banking, war issues, gas prices at the pump, etc. This is another excellent type of blog you would like to get "feedback" from blog readers by allowing them to comment on postings. Sometimes these comments can included references to other links for articles, websites or blogs. Opinionated blogging can become an outlet for personal frustrations or just simply venting. It can, also, talk about products/services that one finds either good or bad. Lastly, an opinionated blog can be just a generic blog that details one's daily life.

Niche Blogging

These blogs reflect a personal interest or a group of blogs that target a certain market, i.e., crafts, sports, sewing, cooking, etc. Niche blogs will be composed of posts that are related to a particular topic. They become a feasible source of income due to the well-targeted readers that often subscribe to them.

Splogs or spam blogs are the frowned upon version of niche blogs. A splog or spam blogs is when large amounts of uninformative and keyword-stuffed entries aim to just trick search engines to throw traffic their way. This traffic is then "tricked" to click on advertisements or buy products from other sites that the blog owners is affiliated with.

Educational Blogging

Educational blogging has gained popularity over the past few years. Instructors offline and online have become aware of the benefits blogging in relationship to their careers and teaching tools. Blogs can be used to teach parts of a lesson, or provide students vital information, i.e., schedule quizzes, and other school-related activities.

Blogging for Online Business Promotion

The corporate and small business world are starting to see the importance of blogging for their businesses. The benefits are numerous, updating partners; ability to communicate with employees, customers/clients; announcing new products; or information regarding the companies as a whole, etc. Lastly, it helps promote a business.

Blog readers may take a sincere interest in what is being posted regarding business annoucements, changes, or updates. The coveted informal dialog that blogging generates is what makes corporate/small business blogging an ideal tool for grassroots online marketing.

Whether you want a blog to simply talk about your day or to endorse a business, service or product, remember to always offer useful or enlightening content. Keeping your blog readers interested is the key to any blog being successful. Happy blogging!