Thursday, August 9, 2007

Components of a Blog

One of the unique facets of a blog is that is typically viewed in reverse chronological order. When you open a blog, the first entry you see is the one written most recently. This differs from a webpage where the first page you view is usually a portal which directs you to the various portions of the website, which organized categorically or topically, rather than chronologically.

There are several components that are included in most blogs:

Entry Title:
Every blog entry will have a title of some sort to give you an idea about the content it holds.

Bio:
Short for Biography, most blogs include a short bio giving a description of the writer, the blog's content and sometimes a short history of the blog.

Date and time:
Most blog entries are marked with a time and date so the reader knows when the information was posted.

Recent Posts:
The most recent posts, or entries, are usually listed on the side of the webpage, so readers can quickly scan through the titles to see if any of the topics interest them.

Comments:
Blogs are designed to be interactive, and most blogs have a comment section where readers can respond to the writer's entries.

Permalinks:
Short for permanent link, a permalink is a URL pointing to a specific blog entry.

Blog Links:
Bloggers love other bloggers, and most blog writers include links to other blogs they themselves enjoy or think their readers might be interested in. These lists are referred to as blogrolls.

Archives:
Most blogs allow you to search the site to catch up on entries you may have missed or revisit past entries.

Photos:
Most blogs feature photos related to the topic content. The photos may be actually on the site or may be viewed through a photo-sharing site.

Advertising Links:
Many blogs have links to products the writer recommends or links to sites offering products related to the content. Bloggers can generate income through these links. For instance, a blogger might discuss a book and include a link to Amazon where the reader can purchase the book. For every book purchased through the blogger's link, the blog writer will be paid a certain percentage. Other advertising links only have to be clicked on to create income for the blogger.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great stuff.
Thnx for getting basic and hand holding.
Look fwd to your posts