What is a Blog? – Definition of Terms Blog, Blogging, and Blogger

Artem Minaev
Updated: October 4th, 2023
6 min read
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What is a Blog? – Definition of Terms Blog, Blogging, and Blogger

Do you know what a blog is?

If you don’t, then you’ve come to the right place. In 1994, when blogs began, a blog was more of a personal diary that people shared online. In this online journal, you could talk about your daily life or share about things that you were doing. Then, people saw an opportunity to communicate information in a new way online. Thus began the beautiful world of blogging.

What is a Blog?

Definition | Meaning of blog:

A blog (a shortened version of “weblog”) is an online journal or informational website displaying information in reverse chronological order, with the latest posts appearing first, at the top. It is a platform where a writer or a group of writers share their views on an individual subject.

Today, there are more than 570 million blogs on the web. The number of bloggers in the USA alone is set to reach 31.7 million users by 2020.

number of bloggers in USA

What is the purpose of a blog?

There are many reasons to start a blog for personal use and only a handful of strong ones for business blogging. Blogging for business, projects, or anything else that might bring you money has a very straightforward purpose – to rank your website higher in Google SERPs, a.k.a. increase your visibility.

As a business, you rely on consumers to keep buying your products and services. As a new business, you rely on blogging to help you get to potential consumers and grab their attention. Without blogging, your website would remain invisible, whereas running a blog makes you searchable and competitive.

So, the main purpose of a blog is to connect you to the relevant audience. Another one is to boost your traffic and send quality leads to your website.

The more frequent and better your blog posts are, the higher the chances for your website to get discovered and visited by your target audience. This means that a blog is an effective lead generation tool. Add a great call to action (CTA) to your content, and it will convert your website traffic into high-quality leads. A blog also allows you to showcase your niche authority and build a brand.

When you use your niche knowledge for creating informative and engaging posts, it builds trust with your audience. Great blogging makes your business look more credible, which is especially important if your brand is still young and fairly unknown. It ensures presence online and niche authority at the same time.

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Blog structure

The appearance of blogs has changed over time, and these days blogs include a wide variety of items and widgets. However, most blogs still include some standard features and structures.

Here are common features that a typical blog will include:

  • Header with the menu or navigation bar.
  • Main content area with highlighted or latest blog posts.
  • Sidebar with social profiles, favorite content, or call-to-action.
  • Footer with relevant links like a disclaimer, privacy policy, contact page, etc.
Basic blog structure

The above example is the basic structure of the average blog. Each item has its own importance and helps visitors to navigate through your blog.

Blogs and websites

Many people still wonder if there is any difference between a blog and a website. What is a blog and what is a website? It’s even more challenging to differentiate between the two today. Many companies are integrating blogs into their websites as well, which further confuses the two.

What differentiates blogs from websites?

Blogs need frequent updates. Good examples of this include a food blog sharing meal recipes or a company writing about their industry news.

Blogs also promote reader engagement. Readers have a chance to comment and voice their different concerns and thoughts to the community. Blog owners update their site with new blog posts on a regular basis.

On the other hand, websites consist of the content presented on static pages. Static website owners rarely update their pages.

Key elements that identify a blog post from a static website page include a publishing date, author reference, categories, and tags within a byline. While not all blog posts have all of those byline elements, static website pages do not have any of these items.

From a visitor’s perspective, the content on a static site will not change from one visit to the next. However, depending on the blog owner’s publishing schedule, the content on a blog will offer something new each day, week, or month.

What is blogging?

In the early 2000s, blogging emerged in a variety of forms when several political blogs were born. Blogs with how-to manuals also began to appear. Established institutions began to note the difference between journalism and blogging.

Definition of blogging

Blogging is a collection of skills that one needs to run and supervise a blog. This entails equipping a web page with tools to make the process of writing, posting, linking, and sharing content easier on the internet.

Why is blogging so popular?

It’s important to mention that the popularity of blogging grows with each passing day!
To answer the question ‘what is blogging’, we need to look at the factors behind its rise.

In the early stages, blogs became mainstream, as news services began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming. They became a new source of information.

Why is blogging so popular

Through blogging, businesses saw a positive way to improve their customer’s level of satisfaction. Blogs assist companies in keeping clients and customers up to date. Also, the more people that visit your blog, the more exposure and trust your brand gets.

Personal and niche bloggers saw the potential to reach more people interested in specific topics. Through a blog, visitors can comment and interact with you or your brand which helps you to create a network of loyal followers.

Did you know that you could earn money through blogging? Once your blog receives enough attention and fans, you can investigate ways of monetizing your blog. Through the blog, you can offer your services and sell products.

Who is a blogger?

In recent times, bloggers have become famous for various reasons. Blogging has become an alternative career or side gig for many. Seeing this, even more, people are choosing to join the blogging ranks.

So who are bloggers? Bloggers are individuals who love sharing parts of their lives with you. They post on various topics from arts, home designs, carpentry, and finance articles. Bloggers are mobile and don’t need to be in one place. They live on the internet!

Definition of a blogger

A blogger is someone who runs and controls a blog. He or she shares his or her opinion and knowledge on different topics for a target audience.

Why are many people blogging today?

Would you want to have a blog of your own? Yes!

Most people today are creating blogs for a variety of reasons. Every human being has their own story to tell. Through the internet, bloggers can communicate with a massive number of people.

Why is blogging so popular?

Blogs allow you to talk about any topic you are interested in and express your opinion. You’ll find some bloggers writing on every activity that took place during their day. These activities may range from small things like waking up to major issues like human rights and climate change!

Remember that as a blogger running your own blog, you need to focus on the topics that you are passionate about, and through that focus strive to become one of the best blogs on the web.

Are bloggers getting paid?

Our blogging industry survey proves that bloggers do earn money, but this is not a get-rich-quick kind of profession. Before you can start monetizing your blog, you need to build both your Google SERPs ranking and your niche influence. Those tasks take a lot of time and quality content.

Money-making opportunities won’t present themselves until you’ve gained some credibility in the field. So, get down to business.

Here’s how you can make good money as a top-ranked niche blogger:

  • Selling ad space on your blog privately or via Google AdSense.
  • Becoming an affiliate partner privately or through ads networks.
  • Selling your own digital products such as eBooks and tutorials.
  • Selling memberships for access to exclusive content or advice.
  • Using your blog as a content marketing tool for your business.

If you’re starting a blog as a way to market and boost your existing business, you probably won’t be selling ad space or memberships. However, you can create and start offering exclusive digital products such as eBooks, guides, or online courses as a lead capturing tool in exchange for visitors’ email addresses. That way, you’ll nudge them one step further down your sales funnel.

Want to start a blog on your own?

Creating your own personal blog takes a few steps. First, you need to decide on a name for your blog, also called a domain name. Then, you need to choose the best blogging platform for your needs. We recommend going with a self-hosted platform. There are a few choices when it comes to self-hosted platforms, but the most popular is WordPress.org.

The next step is to choose a web hosting service. For new bloggers, we strongly recommend Bluehost. You will get a Free domain name when you sign up with them and if you don’t like their services, they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

1st choice for new bloggers
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Conclusion

We hope that you’ve learned some helpful information about the world of blogging. If you’ve managed to start a blog, then your next step is to work on your blog content in order to keep your future readers satisfied and engaged. Feel free to check out our extensive list of blogging resources which will help you to run and grow your new blog!

What-is-a-Blog infographic

114 comments on “What is a Blog? – Definition of Terms Blog, Blogging, and Blogger”

  1. Meenal

    Thank you so much. This article cleared my basic confusions about the blog. It is very helpful in learning basic concepts.

  2. Emmanuel Obarhua

    This is the best article on the concept of blogging. I am writing on blogging and I wanted insight. That, I got. The scope of the article is valid. Well done. Will revisit soon.

  3. Emanuel

    Hello,
    Bravo! This is a very valuable article.
    I will now start my blog without any difficulty.
    Thank you…

  4. Hannah Jackson

    Thanks for sharing information about “Blog” & “Blogging”, can you please also guide me about Academic Blog Writing? Or what tips/rules should I follow to increase my viewers on my Academic blogs? I really appreciate it as you made blogging easier. Keep sharing such informative articles.

  5. surazzShahil

    I think I should start blogging, thanks for your awesome post.

  6. Daniel

    Thanks for these useful tips.

  7. Ambaresh

    I want to start a blog .. thank you

  8. Eliza Jennifer

    Nice post shared here. Good work and keep it up. Wishing you a very warm and blessed Happy New Year 2019.

  9. Alan

    Clean and nice explanations, thank you!

  10. Nagesh

    I am planning to start Blog, Nice article it helps lot.
    Thank you

  11. ankita

    Thanks for your article. Really helpful.

  12. Abdillah

    Good article. Great to know.

  13. Sarah

    Very useful

  14. Sumit kumar gupta

    Thank you for sharing this great information. This information is very helpful for me.

  15. Ayurvedic Products

    Really helpful article for newbie and I’m too.. Your article is very productive to create a blog…All the steps are very important for the structure of a blog. Thank you for sharing this post. Now I will share this post…

  16. swathi

    Good article. All the points and steps are very clearly explained. It is very informative and interesting to read.

  17. Ayushi

    Nice article, very informative. Keep the good work going.

  18. Kapil

    Hi Admin.
    Great Article, Thanks For Sharing.

  19. Sonika Srivastava

    Great Post! All the points and steps are very clearly explained. It is very informative and interesting to read.

  20. Marcus Co

    It was so fun reading your article and have provided much information needed for the industry.

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