You’ve heard the word, what exactly is it and how can you use it?
· 6 min read
I’m a writer but that is about the extent of my creative bone. My mom, on the other hand, is a pretty amazing artist. Growing up as a young child, I remember her painting beautifully with watercolors and acrylics. Bob Ross was a frequent visitor to our home via the miracle of television.
The walls in our home were adorned with mom’s creations. A bulletin board made of punched copper, a piece of tree stump painted with a winter scene, etc. She taught me to embroider, to knit, and to quilt, although these skills didn’t stick with me long.
When I suggested to my mom a couple of weeks ago that she could sell her art and other creations online using a blog, an email list, and a website, she balked.
“I don’t even really know how to use an email list. And I don’t even really know what a blog is. Besides, I don’t want to make 100 widgets. That’s so boring.” Our conversation turned to other things.
But later as I thought about it, I decided that it was unfair that not knowing how to use software and navigate the internet was an obstacle to earning a living after retirement.
Many skilled artists might not want to do all that traveling anymore to sell their art. But if they knew more about it, they may want to start a blog and use it to sell art online.
A blog, short for weblog, is a series of blog posts, like journal entries, often a little more formal, around several related topics or a central theme. What you are reading right now is just one blog post which is part of my blog on this blogging platform.
Unlike a web page, which is static, blogs are made up of individual entries that are dated and appear in reverse chronological order typically with the most recent at the top. So a blog changes each time a new post is published.
A blog is used to display information or other content so visitors to your blog can read it. Readers can also choose to follow a blog if they like it, which means they will be notified when new posts go up. If you, as the blog owner, create a sign-up form on your blog, your visitors can also join your email list. People on your email list will get new blog posts sent to their email inbox as a reminder for them to read your blog.
There are many different reasons to have a blog. Some blogs are for personal reasons. Other blogs are business related. Individuals can have a blog. Businesses can have a blog. Corporations often have an internal (staff only) blog as well as a public blog.
Blogs can be public, for anyone who finds it to read. Blogs can also be private, which means only certain people can read them or in some cases only the blog owner can read it. Some blogs are membership-based which means that only those people who pay a membership fee can find and read the blog.
The most common reason to have a blog is that you have something to say to others about a topic, a service, or a product.
You can start your blog whenever the time feels right for you. If you feel you have something to say or if you have something to sell, or have a skill that others may want to learn, a blog is an option. Blogs can be written from a teaching point of view or a learning point of view. This means you don’t have to wait until you are an expert at something to start your blog.
It’s a good idea to do some planning before you get started so you can make informed decisions about each step as you go along. When I started my first blog, over a decade ago, I didn’t do a lot of planning first. I truly think if I’d done more planning it would have been more successful. Since then, I discovered 31 Days to Build a Better Blog by Darren Rowse. You will find some very useful planning tips by listening to the podcast and following the steps.
Your blog can live on a blogging platform, like this one, or on your website or domain.
Blogging Platforms
Blogging platforms are typically a content management system (CMS) operated by a company that has its own web server. Blogger, Wordpress.com, Medium, and Tumbler are all blogging platforms. The advantage of a blogging platform is the company often handles the behind the scenes tasks needed to keep the platform operating. In addition, many blogging platforms are free to use.
When you use a blogging platform for your blog, it will have some version of the platform’s name in the URL. When you have a blog on a platform, owned by someone else, you also need to follow their rules for what you can post and how you can advertise.
You have less to worry about behind the scenes but you may not have as much control over the visual appearance and how your blog functions.
Self-Hosted Websites
Anyone can have a self-hosted website and create a blog connected to it. You need to buy a domain name (www.yourname.com), usually a one-time annual fee. Once you have a domain name, you can get an email associated with it. Think of a website or domain like your house. You own your house, right? Sure you pay taxes on the property but you own the house. So you can decorate it or remodel it the way you want. In order to launch your website where your blog will live, you need a web-hosting service. This is a fee that you pay either monthly or annually. Think of it sort of like your property taxes.
Owning a self-hosted website with a blog gives you more freedom and control over the look and function of your blog. You can design it the way you want. You can advertise if you want to or sell a product, run a survey, or hold a giveaway. Other than some privacy rules everyone on the Internet has to follow, with a self-hosted blog you get to decide how it looks and functions.
It may help to think about your learning style and your level of comfort with technology. You can build your blog yourself, DIY style, learning each step as you go. If your budget allows, you can pay someone else to build it for you. Most people find that a combination of these two methods works best.
Regardless of whether you decide to build your blog yourself or have it built for you, it’s still very important for you to understand how all the components fit together. Just like when you own a house, the more you understand about the electrical, plumbing, and heating, the better decisions you can make, right?
Understanding what a blog is, how it works, and how it all fits together will help you make informed decisions along the way about your blog too.
Believe it or not, it is possible to earn money from a blog. You need to have an established blog and build some traffic coming to it regularly, but it’s possible. In fact, many people are using a blog to earn six-figure incomes.
There are lots of different ways to earn money from a blog, I’ll cover each of them in more detail in another post. But monetizing strategies include affiliate marketing, selling products, selling services, paid ads, sponsored content, donations, and even getting paid when people read your blog.
The important part to know is anyone can start a blog for any reason and it can be a great way for writers and other creatives to attract potential customers to their work.
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