What is a Blog?

Many novices blogs are wondering. What is a Blog?

Definition of the blog:

First must check, here are a few definitions from other much wiser people to get us started:

Source

1. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/whatMakesAWeblogAWeblog
2. http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog/
3. http://www.computersprintersrepairshouston.com/glossary_of_terms.html
4. http://www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
6. http://www.wbupdates.com/2012/04/what-is-blog.html 

The blog , called by a contraction of Web Log (web diary in English), is a personal website in which one or more authors publish over time of the items (posts also call or tickets), organized into categories and displayed in the order reverse chronological . Blog visitors can then comment on the content of articles.

The blog is essentially personal : unlike forums, where each user is on an equal footing in relation to the publication of content, the blog allows a user (the author, also called blogger or blogger) to present their ideas to the world. Sometimes, however, several authors come together to publish articles around a theme even in a common blog.

The interface of blogs

Around the concept of blog have been created or been ratachées many features to facilitate usability and user interaction, in addition to traditional features available in web pages.

The categories are generic themes in which the author frequently publishes articles. You can view all items in a given category.

The pages provide functionality to the blog closer to a website: unlike articles, they are not displayed in reverse chronological order but apart from the rest of the articles. The pages are typically used to publish static information (contact the author for example) as opposed to items with respect to time and date of publication is more pronounced.

The BlogRoll is a list of links, usually located in the menu bar of the blog, and is pointing to sites of other bloggers, to be popular reference sites of the author.

The backlinks or trackbacks are a system that allows a blog to notify another that a reference was made ​​to one of his articles in the blog. When this system is supported by the platform, it allows a reader to see the reviews from other bloggers on the same subject as initially discussed by the first author.

Blogs are a massive use of son or feeds RSS , which can generate a résumédu content to be published in aggregate energy an RSS aggregator.

Want to try? Create your blog now!

The right sidebar of the blog examples

Sidebar (Sidebar) - the most important part of the blog (after the main content). It is usually placed in the sidebar widgets RSS-subscription and social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Twitter) by which you convert casual visitors to the constants, navigation controls, a visitor found your blog on what he needs, advertising (banner and contextual) through where you earn money, links to publications and popular pages and more. In other words, on how many competent and well designed sidebar of your blog depends very much! So what's he's a good sidebar?

There are a number of criteria by which one can judge the soundness of a sidebar, here are a few:

The most important thing at the top. The higher is the widget in the sidebar, so it is more efficient.Therefore, when designing the sidebar, and prioritize them according to the position the widgets from the top down. The most important widgets should be located "above the fold", that is to be seen without the vertical scroll bar.

Sidebar is attractive but not distracting attention. Horoshy sidebar - it's kind of a compromise. It must at the same time to attract attention and do not interfere with the visitor to get acquainted with the main content. In other words, the sidebar does not have to "scream", but when someone decides to turn to him it must be noted that all made ​​with high quality and nice (as well as quickly find there what I wanted).

Horoshaya conversion = the perfect sidebar. If you are on the blog comes a lot of visitors, but no one subscribes to the RSS and does not click on ads placed in the sidebar. This sidebar, by definition, can not be perfect, because he is not doing its job. Of course conversion is curled all the way from the sidebar, horrible content is no sidebar lift it out, but if the content you have the procedure, manipulation of the side panel can give excellent results.

Well, now, let us turn to some examples:

Tumblr Staff Blog



The main objective of the blog team Tumblr - the promotion of the platform, so at the top of the sidebar widgets are «Sign Up» (meaning Plain account on Tumblr), «30 reasons you'll love tumblr» and «We heart → Tumblr Fan Art» and only at the bottom of the widgets are "tags", "Search" and «Follow this blog».

ViperChill



Sidebar ViperChill very simple, but at the same time effective. Above you will find a form to sign up, the navigation controls at the bottom. The logic of the author's blog, in this case is - if people need the headings or tags, it is their will in any case (for that he did not hesitate to use the scroll), but the new e-book (course or subscription) should be visible.

Huffington Post



Huffington Post - one of the most successful and influential blogs in the world. Prioretetom for "edition" of this online publication is communication, so in the sidebar you can find these widgets «Most Popular on Huffingpost», «Most Discussed Right Now», «Hot on Facebook», «Hot on Twitter», «Don't miss huffpost bloggers »and so on. Enough to close integration with social networks.

Mashable



Blog dedicated to Internet technologies is simply obliged to conform to your theme, so the top of the sidebar found a place of social networking and widget subscriptions (to the same content Mashable safely be called "viral", the people of his well-picks up and carries on social networks). Moreover, we should note one more thing - Mashable is traditionally up to date focuses on current trends. That is now the center of interest in social networking Google +, she was listed first. At one time, in its place was Facebook and Twitter (today these networks are the widgets below).

Smart Passive Income



Smart Passive Income by Pat builds a brand around his own person, so the first widget that you can see paying attention to the sidebar - «Hello» (or in other words, About). The correct option if you are pursuing the same goals as Pat.

Digital Photography School



Another well-known project of Darren Rose (Darren Rowse) - Digital Photography School has an information-intensive and multi-functional sidebar, where among other things, you can find a widget that tells how to write and publish guest posts and photos (as well as containing a call to action) as well as ref. links of different photo service (eg, stock).

CopyBlogger



Finally, I have in store for you an interesting example. Sometimes the most important task of the sidebar - it is his absence. Author of the blog CopyBlogger Brain Clark (Brian Clark) did so, removing the sidebar from the main page, thus significantly increased conversion on landing pages (see at the top of the widget).

Summarizing, we will express another thought, which, incidentally, confirms our examples - the perfect sidebar for all occasions does not exist, therefore, proceed from their own needs, priorities and boldly experiment, and I wish you every success in this endeavor! In general, I think the sidebar in the first place should be a useful element of a blog, provide information that helps to orient new users - information about the blog, categories, tags, social, chips, popular articles, 

b-cumulus 3.0 - Animated Tag Cloud for Blogger

Relatively recently, Google announced API gadgets for Blogger-blogs. Of course, that I wanted to try this API . In addition, the gadgets that are written by the rules of this API , easy to install, literally "two clicks" on the blog (blogspot.com) and have the same window settings as the standard gadgets Google Blogger .

For those who do not know what the b-cumulus, recall. b-cumulus - is an animated tag cloud (tags) based on flash clouds developed by Roy Tank


After some very substantial processing new gadget has the following improvements:
Quick installation into "two clicks"
Easy setup gadget in Blogger's interface directly with the ability to preview the result.
Lack of messing around with the placement of the required files to the gadget-party resources - all the necessary files are located on servers Google, recommended by Google for similar purposes.
Localization of the gadget - gadget can be localized for any language (preference pane)
Installation

Zaidi in the control panel of your blog page is "Design". Select a sidebar where you want to place a cloud of tags (tag). Click on the link "Add a gadget":



In the window "Add a gadget", click "Add your own":




Click on the "Add your own" enter the URL of the gadget and click on "Add to URL".

Gadget URL: http://b-cumulus.googlecode.com/svn/tags/3.0/b-cumulus.xml - Copy this URL and paste in the URL for the gadget:



If all goes well, the gadget is loaded and a window gadget settings:


Settings
Title - the title of the gadget.
Height - the height of the gadget.
The height of the cloud - the cloud height in pixels, not to be confused with the height of the gadget - for some of the patterns it can be different things.
The width of the cloud - the width in pixels of the cloud tags. If you do not know what is the width of your sidebar template, customize the method selection.
Minimum font size - the minimum size of the font tag, that is, font size label with a minimum weight
The maximum font size - the maximum size of the font tag, that is, font size label with a maximum weight
The color labels with minimum weight - the color of a label with the smallest "weight"
The color labels with a maximum weight - color labels with the highest "weight". For other tags will be chosen on the color of the line between these two colors.
Color of highlighted marks - color marks under the mouse cursor when the mouse cursor on the label
Rotational speed - speed cloud
Background color - the color of the background cloud tags.
Transparent background - sets a transparent background cloud tags.
Show weight markers - show "weight" label when you hover the mouse cursor on it.

23 test questions - right for you blogging

Do not mind to continue the acquaintance with the articles of professional blogging guru Darren Rose? Theme of today's article "23 questions determine whether a blog - this is your type of site."

Currently, the blog - this is the most popular form of website, but do not think that this is the only form that is suitable for you. Blog format does not always satisfy your needs.

It makes no sense to rush immediately to the head of blogging . It is necessary to first analyze your goals, needs, experience and, of course, style.

In order to make it easier to determine the procedure to answer Darren has only 23 questions. Here they are:
Do you like writing? - The blogosphere is an area which is dominated by texts written medium. So if you do not like to write thatblogging is not for you.
Do you have a purpose? - Do you really want to inform you that - anything interesting? Do you have something to say, there is a clear objective? Starting a blog just for the sake of fun you're just wasting your time.
You are sociable? - I do not think that is very sociable people must have their own blogs, but the basic communication skills will definitely be useful.
You write better than speak? - It's simple. If you say much better than writing, then you should pay attention to the Podcast .
You want to be the "first voice"? - Even if your blog is a community, it still has an author or group of authors who are "first votes" that create a topic of conversation, and the other members leave their opinion. If you prefer to speak in a ready-made theme, then you more suitable forum .
You are independent? - Blogging requires not only some of the action. Are you able to do to deal with software for blogging, or you need a sensible man in these matters?
You are disciplined? - Blogging requires constant attention for a long time. While writing a daily post is not compulsory, it is worth to strive for this level. You will be able to motivate yourself to write something new every day?
Do you have time? - Daily updated blog of course require time-consuming. In your chart there is a time for this? Time is not only to check and moderate comments, answers readers and reading posts in other people's blogs?
You are susceptible? - Starting a blog be aware that sooner or later you get picked colleagues bloggers. And well, if it's a positive review, but if it's criticism (sometimes fair, sometimes not)? Can you make it okay?
You want to be in the spotlight? - Blog is primarily a social act.Every day you put yourself under scrutiny. People who read your blog, will analyze your speech and lifestyle. Of course, bad, or even post a blog can be deleted, but remember that this is read by many visitors. So delete what it says in the on-line, it is difficult.


Do you have any technical skills? - says Darren - If it was a basic requirement, it would never have progressed so far. In the process of blogging you'll definitely have to interact with the network software. So it is worth studying, or get friends who can help you.


You take yourself too seriously? - One of the qualities which should have a blogger - a sense of humor. Even among the very serious bloggers who are most successful are those who can laugh at themselves.
You control your ego? - Along with a sense of humor blogger should be humane. Despite the fact that in the blogosphere, all the same complacency prevails, often at the top of the ratings are modest bloggers - do not forget about it. The ability to control your ego, to represent their own value as a person and respect other people's labor - can be an excellent tool for "self-promotion» (self promotion).
Do you want to learn? - Blogging is like a journey into a company where everyone knows something special, but no one knows everything at once. This applies to any topic. This is the main reason that the best bloggers share their knowledge and advance your point of view. All the study. Even experts.


Do you like reading? - Be able to write well is as important as the ability to carefully read other people's posts. According to Darren, before you write a post he reads three.


Organized Are you human? - Most bloggers disorganized and chaotic. It is a fact. But sooner or later they reach the point at which the organization is required. This occurs because of an increase in the number of feed subscribers, comments, letters from readers.
You social identity? - There are many styles of blogging, but most of them reduced to a desire to be closer to the readers. Some bloggers nprimer, keeps readers at a distance of cutting off the opportunity to comment and almost did not answer the letter.) And it really makes a loyal readership. If you do not like people, then it definitely should encourage you.


Do you like "virtual relationships"? - Network carries a very serious threat, giving people the opportunity to be in online mode is not the way they are. And you as a blogger to learn to be very comfortable in a conversation with complete strangers, and develop the skill of "virtual intuition."
Are you creative? - Network - a very cluttered place, but the ability to surprise readers and stand out is a big plus.
Do you have perseverance? - One of the main tips for novice bloggers Darren thinks long term. Most blogs are not as successful as we would like their owners, so please be prepared to spend a lot of time and effort to achieve this goal.
Are you consistent? - One of the reasons that often occur differences between bloggers and readers is that the authors change the subject or praise for blasphemy. It is worth remembering that even though people do not like boring, and blogs, they have to some extent, to know what to expect in your blog on.
Are you honest? - While in real life, you can easily and intelligently to keep secrets or be duplicitous - in the blogosphere, it is quite difficult, because you are always under the watchful gaze of other bloggers, so you should be able to take responsibility for what has been said.
Do you know how to work hard? - If you want your blog has become something more serious than just a hobby, prepare yourself for a lot of challenging work. But this applies not only to blogs ...

The list could get more impressive, but Darren admits that it only matters that came into his head. And I can not disagree with the fact that these questions / tips are aimed more at serious bloggers ...