What is a blog?
You might find yourself coming across this phrase often on the world wide web, you also may find yourself thinking what is a blog? What do they do? Do I need one? If these are your questions, then you've landed on the right page. Below Business Search Local will explain everything to do with blogging and how you can get started on setting up a blog of your own.
A blog can be compared to a journal/diary which is to be published on the internet or you can have it available to only a select few for a more personal blog. Blogs are usually maintained by one individual who makes regular entries (posts) usually in the form of text, video, graphics and/or any other medium about the individuals hobbies or current affairs/events.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (Art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (Video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.
As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112,000,000 blogs.
-- Wikipedia
Where can I get a blog?
There are many different blogging platforms available, some better than others, some are free and open source while others are proprietary which come at a cost.
Here at Business Search Local we recommend using an Open Source blogging platform as they are generally more secure, free of charge and have very helpful support communities gathered around the project. For your convenience we have listed a few of our favorite blogging platforms below, all are free of charge and are open source. The majority of these platforms allow you to set up a developer-hosted blog, which allows you to set up your very own blog with in minutes and in a couple of clicks so you can start 'blogging' right away!
The short comings of having a developer hosted blog are that some of the more advanced features and customisation options will be disabled. See Installing a blog? on how to set up a custom version blog on your own server.
Wordpress - WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.
Joomla - Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications.
Drupal - Drupal is a free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website.
Live Journal - LiveJournal is an online community, a social network, and a place for self-expression. We strive to create an environment where you can connect with others, share your thoughts, and be yourself.
Movable Type - It's easier than ever to publish and share information with Movable Type. Movable Type makes it simple to manage entire websites, start new blogs, and build an engaged community of readers and customers.
Tumblr - Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos, from your browser, phone, desktop, email, or wherever you happen to be. You can customize everything, from colors, to your theme's HTML.
Blogger - Creating your blog with Blogger takes just a few easy steps. In a matter of minutes you can start posting text, photos, videos and more to your blog.
Installing a blog?
If you're planning on installing a blogging platform yourself, then you'll need to know technical information about your server, such as; Is PHP installed? Do you have access to a database? If PHP and Databases mean nothing to you then you should ring up your server adminstrator and ask about blogging.
Alternatively why not contact us about setting up a blog and we'll advise on the best possible action you can take.
