Blogging Series...What is a blog?

For the next few weeks I'll be running a series on Blogs!

Blogs, BLOGS, Blogs...
What are they, who are they for, why are they effective, how to blog, and more. I encourage you all to leave your feedback and tips as well. I have lots of blogging experience, but I'd love to hear your blogging successes! Ever learning...

Part 1 in the series is about a blog's scope and reach. Go here.

Part 2 is about Who should blog. Go here.

This week we're addressing: What are Blogs?

According to Wikipedia, a blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.

Some blogs give information. Others are more like diaries. They can include text, images, links to other blogs or Internet sites. Sometimes they even give multimedia presentations. (I’ve played music videos on my blog before.)

According to Technorati, there are 60 million blogs online.

My Blog

My blog is a mix of my life. Thus the title: It’s Real Life. I talk about family, writing, housecleaning, Christmas shopping . . . anything that is affecting me that day.

It’s Real Life

www.triciagoyer.blogspot.com

I also have a few other blogs:

Gen X Parents

www.genxparents.blogspot.com

I also have a blog at Amazon.com, shoutlife, and CCM!

And I contribute to others a few times a month:

Girls, God and the Good Life

http://girlsgodgoodlife.blogspot.com/

CAN Book Marketing

http://canblog.typepad.com/canbookmarketing/

Why? Why is blogging a great way to connect with readers?

1. Blogging gives you an outlet for sharing YOU. Your thoughts, ideas, information, opinions, photos.
2. Blogging gives you more material present on the Internet. So when someone does a search on any of the topics you’ve blogged about, it will come up. (I’ve had people comment on blogs I’ve written months ago after they found it in a search engine.)
3. Personally, I get between 20 - 50 hits a day in each of my blogs. (I’ll tell you more about figuring out statistics later.) One half of these visitors every day are people who like me and have visited my blog once before. (Some people read my blogs daily.) One half of these are NEW readers. In fact on my blog, It’s Real Life, I’ve already had 160 new visitors this month (and since I’m writing this on December 6, that means 160 new visitors in six days).

To check out my statistics, look for “View my Statistics” on the sidebar on each of my blogs. From there you can see how much people visit my blogs, where they were from, how long they stay, etc.)

From Jan 2006 – Dec 2006 these are my stats. The first number is page loads (which means if they read numerous posts, they refreshing numerous times). The second number is unique visitors. The third number is first time visitors. The last number is returning visitors.

8,187

5,916

3,295

2,621

4. Blogging is another venue to talk about your books in fun and interesting ways.
5. Blogging gives you connect with readers. You become real to them. They get interested in you, and in return they become interested in the writing process and your books.
6. Blogging allows you to share information about your subject, such as facts, bits of research, interviews etc.