What are Blogs?
Blogs are a dynamic type of websites, where the webmaster (blogger) periodically adds new content in the form of a post. Posts usually appear on the home page in chronological order and can include text, images or other embedded media. Users can interact by commenting the posts (unless the blogger chooses to turn off this option). Users can also subscribe to a blog by RSS feeds or services such as Bloglovin.
The homepage of a blog is dynamic, and changes every time a new post is added. However, a blog can also include static pages, such as "About," "Contact" or "FAQ."
Blogs are normally used as a journal or personal diary. In the past, they were used mostly by individuals for documenting their personal lives, experiences and interests. Nowadays, company blogs are a growing trend, as they bring great SEO benefits and content marketing opportunities.
Examples of individual blogs include:
- Travellers documenting long journeys
- Cooking hobbyists sharing recipes
- Fashion enthusiasts sharing their personal style
- Artists posting sketches, works in progress and completed pieces
- Tech bloggers, discussing new technology and trends
- Reviewers, testing products or services and giving their opinions (ex. movies, games, music albums, cosmetic products)
- General personal blog, where the blogger discusses topics from everyday life (relationships, politics, etc.)
Examples of how companies use blogs include:
- Sharing news and trends in the industry
- Making predictions about future trends
- Presenting new products and services that are about to be launched
- Giving users a peek inside the company (sharing office photos, interviewing employees, showing how products are made)
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| Example of a personal travel blog. |
Most individuals bloggers start off their blogs as a hobby, without intending to profit. If traffic grows, however, bloggers start getting requests for PR articles and paid links. Realizing that a high-traffic blog can be monetized, many of them start looking into other methods, such as Pay-Per-Click or affiliate programmes. As this trend keeps growing, users are beginning to set up blogs with the intent of monetization and profiting; some even manage to turn this into a business.
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| Example of a company blog. |
Companies, on the other hand, use blogs as a marketing device, and plan ahead before setting one up. Usually, the research and decisions are performed by the marketing team, and a design team is employed to create and set up the blog. A blogger or a team of blogger is then contracted to manage and update the blog regularly. In smaller companies, these roles can be performed by the same person.
Blogs give companies the ability to connect with their users on a regular basis, and build strong loyalties. A user might never return after visiting the company's static website. A blog, however, keeps providing new content, and if this content is valuable to users, they will keep visiting the blog. From here, the opportunities for the company are endless - they can promote new products, offer discounts, run contests, offer referral programmes, humanize the brand by letting users get to know their employees and offices, run surveys, start discussions with users, or simply keep providing valuable content to keep users engaged.
Apart from general marketing benefits and opportunities, blogs also bring in SEO benefits and can highly improve page rankings quickly. Providing constant fresh new links in posts and interlinking are just the first steps. Engaging and valuable content causes users to share it, building organic links and social signals. There is also always a possibility for content to go viral and drastically improve traffic and popularity. Guest blogging is another possibility to get quality links.
Unlike individual bloggers, companies are usually not interested in monetizing their blogs, as ads or outgoing links will cause them to lose viewers. Companies rather drive the traffic to their purchase pages and increase sales. An exception might be start-ups in beta that are still trying to raise funds.
In any case, being able to set up and optimize a blog is a valuable skill for marketing employees and individual entrepreneurs alike. Such a study could be useful to freelancers looking to promote themselves, online marketers, social media marketers, content writers, or anyone looking to profit from a personal hobby or interest.