The Basics of Blogging

The most basic definition of a blog, or weblog, is a website with journal entries in reverse chronological order (most recent entries at the top of the page).

Common blog types include:

• Online diaries by individuals
• Personal blogs on a specific subject
• Organizational blogs used to inform customers about new products, services, etc.
• Course-related blogs used by teaching faculty as a place for their class to share information

• text
• comments - response on a blog post left by blog readers
• blogrolls (list of blogs subscribed to by the blog owner, very useful for finding similar blogs)
• photographs
• audio files (podcasting)
• video files
• pretty much any type of content that can be included on a website

It's very easy to set up a blog. The easiest way is the set up an account with an online blog hosting site.Most hosts offer free accounts. Some offer paid accounts that don't include adds and provide extra features.

• Blogger
• LiveJournal
• TypePad
• WordPress.com
• Xanga

You can also install blog hosting software to run your blog. These type of blogs are called server-side or self-hosted blogs. It take extra efforts to install these systems.

• Movable Type
• Wordpress.org
• Greymatter (free and open source)

Blogger is a web-based blog hosting program. You can set up a free account and start blogging today!

We will set up an account in this session.

1. Go to Blogger.com
2. Register for a free account
3. Name your blog
4. Choose a template (control the "look" of the blog)

During the session, I brought the library's Bloglines account and demonstrated how to add feeds. The class worked on adding feeds to their Bloglines accounts.

There are millions of blogs on the Internet all competing for attention. Here are some tips to follow to attract readers to your blog:

• Say something interesting or unique
• Pick a theme
• Post frequently
• Link to other interesting blogs
• Syndicate your blog - offer an RSS feed

During the session, I brought the library's Bloglines account and demonstrated how to add feeds. The class worked on adding feeds to their Bloglines accounts.

There are several search engines that you can use to find information published in blogs. Here are a few:

• Technorati
• Feedster
• Google Blog Search

Blog awards

• Bloggies - blog award presented annually at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, TX
• Webby Awards - international focus, awards for all types of websites including blogs

There are also lists of "popular" blogs.

• Technorati's "Most Favorited" blogs - blogs that show up most frequently in "favorites" lists
• Bloglines "Most Popular feeds" - blogs that have high RSS subscription rates in Bloglines (RSS aggregator)

Workshop presentation for St. Mary's University faculty and staff.

Developed by Necia Wolff, Business/Distance Learning Librarian, Louis J. Blume Library, St. Mary's University.

Contact info:

phone: 210-431-2299 x1452
email: nwolff@stmarytx.edu

Related Workshop: Keeping Current with RSS

Created: 10/05/2006 | Last updated: 10/17/2006

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