Blogs: The Past, The Present and Why They’re Here to Stay

Why Blogs Are Here to Stay

Blogs began as single web pages called weblogs where people documented personal experiences and gave their perspectives on a wide range of topics.

Much like a journal or diary, blogs gave users a home for their thoughts, but they also had the added benefit of allowing them to make their entries accessible to an audience of their choosing. Stand-alone blogs could be set as completely private or published to the internet but entirely invisible to search engines. Blogs set up this way typically highlighted a personal event like a wedding, the birth of a child, or a recent trip to a travel destination and were only shared with family and friends.


Eventually, the people who wrote blog entries began writing about broader topics like politics, entertainment, self-help, and sports. They became officially known as bloggers, and they shared their content on social media and by email and built huge audiences.

The Present & The Future of Blogs


These days, blog posts still appear on single web pages in reverse chronological order, but now multiple static pages can be added to most stand-alone blogs to give them the look and feel of a website.

Today, blogs are much more than just online diaries. Marketers and business owners have discovered that blog posts provide an effective way for businesses to stay in contact with former, current and potential customers, increase brand recognition and to boost their rankings on search engine results pages.

Blogs have also become increasingly effective tools in online business. Online stores and owners of various types of internet businesses use blog posts to educate and inform their customers about products and services and to guide them through the buyer’s journey.

For example, a business that sells windows may create blog posts about the best ways to clean them to attract readers to its website. They may also create blog posts about common problems with windows to get the attention of a specific segment of readers who are looking for ways to solve a specific problem or even replace their windows altogether. They may also send their blog posts to people who subscribe to their blog by email in the form of a daily or weekly newsletter to remain visible and to encourage them to make a purchase.

From the time blogs were created to the present blogs have gone from vehicles of self-expression to a solid and reliable way to build a tribe and market a business. If the present is any indication of what’s to come it's clear that blogs will only increase in power and effectiveness.

Author: Chanel Polk

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 1 Thing You Need to Be A Good Writer

Image
What’s the one thing you need to be a good writer? The answer may surprise you. You don’t need a college degree in English, journalism, creative writing, or communications to be a great writer. You don’t need to know all of the rules of grammar and speech by heart either. Believe it or not, the one thing you absolutely must have to be a good writer is confidence. You must believe in yourself. You must also believe in your ability to learn and grow. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with studying to make yourself a better writer and earning a degree while you’re at it. But if you don’t believe in your ability to apply what you’ve learned in a real-life situation outside of the classroom you won’t make it very far. In my experience, writers are notoriously insecure about their capabilities and instead of writing something and declaring “I know this is good” they’re more likely to say “I don’t know if this is any good. Let me find out what someone else thinks.” There’s
Read More »

3 Unethical Freelance Writing Assignments to Avoid

Image
Unethical freelance writing assignments require some sort of ambiguity, deception or dishonesty on the part of the writer. These assignments conflict with your morals and demand that you put your values to the side to get the work done. Instead of employing well respected traditional methods to complete writing assignments, unethical writing gigs cross the line and ask you to pretend to be something you’re not or to fabricate information.
Read More »

5 Tips for Finding Clients in Facebook Groups

Image
Facebook groups can be a great place to find clients for your freelance writing business or any other type of business. I've come across numerous leads and have made lasting connections with several clients through Facebook groups. I definitely recommend interacting with the members of Facebook groups as a way to network, increase awareness of your brand and grow your business, but it has to be done the right way to have maximum impact. Main points of this post: 1. Be Sincere 2. Join the Discussion 3. Share What You Know 4. Look for opportunities 5. Slide in the DMs 1. Be Sincere Dropping the link to your website, asking people to follow your social media pages, or posting a random comment about an event you're having, or your business's sale or upcoming promotion can get you started off on the wrong foot in most Facebook groups. If you don't want to give the impression that you're just looking for a quick come up and that money and followers or li
Read More »