Why Blogger?

I would suggest Blogger over WordPress for anyone who doesn’t have their own web host and/or wants an easy and quick blog.

Blogger is good because:

• Blogger works for anyone who doesn’t have a lot of programming, moving files, installs, bits and bolts of how things work experience.
• You want an easy setup with the most features of a blog hosted by the blog provider and the lots of options for adding plugins and html code easily.
• You want to have your own domain name, but want to use a blog hosted by the blog provider.
• In other words, if you want to buy a domain name like say,www.blogmaadi.com but dont want to have your own web hosting service where you can add and maintain your own data and blogs, since redirecting is free in Blogger- this scores a point.
  

• You want to have commercial usage on your blog.(Ad's)
• Blogger has the most features, the most choices and the ability to add html code easily including use of javascript. That means when you find something you like you can add it to your blog posts very easily.
  

In short, Blogger is easy, attractive and is a flexible blogging platform.

The one thing that seems to keep a lot of people from recommending Blogger is that it does not allow you to back up your posts. Therefore, if anything happened to Blogger, you could lose your data. Also, you can’t move the data to another blog if you wanted to. And looking at the hacks to backup your data, there really isn’t a good way to do it.

Also, if you start with Blogger, you can later choose to go to WordPress.
However, you can’t go the other way because Blogger doesn’t have an import or export function.

Introduction: Blogger vs. WordPress

When you want to decide which type of blogging platform would work best for your needs and which one you would recommend to others. It turns out to be not very simple.
Each of the platforms has some serious advantages and some serious drawbacks.
Thus rather than recommending one above the others, I will give you an overview of what is good and bad about them and why I would recommend a particular platform.

To make a long story short, I recommend Blogger for people who don’t want to pay for a service and for those who want a quick and easy blog as this one hardly take’s any maintenance or technical know-how.

For people who want the all-around best solution,and like to get ‘techie’ (know how to do installs, use unix and ftp, etc), it’s definitely WordPress from wordpress.org. This is the most flexible, you can control your data and it will do almost anything you want if you find the right plug-ins or code.
But you have to have the know-how and desire to use it and it is only as good as you make it. And you have to have somewhere to install it like a web hosting service.

What is a blogging platform?

When you choose an email address you typically choose something like John@hotmail.com; Mary@yahoo.com; Learning@aol.com, etc.
Which is typically in the format of <name>@domain.com.

In case of Blogging, the names of yahoo.com; hotmail.com and aol.com are replaced by Blogger,WordPress,TypePad , Live Journal or MoveableType.

These are called as Blogging platforms – to cut down jargons; a blogging platform is a canvas that you should choose to display your online diary.
In my Blog - http://blogmaadi.blogspot.com/; blogspot.com is the blogging platform I use.

Choosing a blogging platform to use is one of the most initial decisions that you make as a blogger. The right platform can make blogging a breeze, and the wrong platform can make blogging a chore.

Finding the right platform isn't always easy, but with a little bit of contemplation and a little bit of research, you will be on your way to finding the perfect blogging platform.

There is no such thing as a blogging platform that is objectively the best platform, because every blogger has unique needs. However, the fact that no two bloggers need the same thing from a blogging platform can make your search for the right platform a bit tricky.
When you are reading reviews of different platforms, try to keep your priorities in mind and do your best to take into account the position that the reviewer is coming from.

What is the future of Blogging?

Estimates say a new blog is created every 7.4 seconds, which adds up to 12,000 new blogs a day. Blogging is certainly on the rise.

How blogs will fit into mainstream media in the long-term remains to be seen. While the World Wide Web made obtaining information universal, blogging is now making the publication of information universal.
Anyone can log onto a free blog creation site and publish their own unique ideas and thoughts for the rest of the world to read. This development is the next great extension of the power of the Internet.

How to find the Best Blogs?

Finding interesting blogs largely depends on your personal taste. There is something out there for everyone, but finding the best blogs can sometimes feel like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. The only way is simply to begin searching. There are several Internet websites dedicated to listing and rating the web's best blogs. Many newspapers also publish lists of the best blogs, as well as reviewing new or growing ones.

Blogrolls are a great source of discovering new and interesting blogs.
When you find a blog you enjoy, take time to explore the author's other listed blogs. Chances are you will find additional blogs that peak your interest.

The Weblog Awards (or the Bloggies) are a set of 30 publicly chosen awards handed out to blog writers and those associated with producing blogs. Perusing the lists of pervious winners may help you find a blog gem that is just what you are looking for.

What are the diff types of Blogs?

So what really are the different kindsof Blogs? Well most blogs fall into one of these four categories:

Personal Blogs:
By far, the vast majority of blogs fall into the category of a Personal Blog. These are blogs created by people simply for the purpose of sharing information, trading ideas, and communicating with both friends and strangers. Personal blogs typically focus on a topic the writer is passionate about, be it cooking, photography, child-rearing, education, or politics.
Some personal blogs can be general in scope, but the most effective ones tend to have a fairly narrow focus. This allows the blogger to cultivate a group of regular readers that are interested in the same topic.
A personal blog can be as simple as posting pictures and family stories as a way to stay in touch with out-of-town relatives and friends, or as complex as a hobby-related blog with a great deal of advertising intended to generate income for the writer.

Business Blogs:
Business Blogs exist for the sole purpose of selling products or services. A business blog is a promotional marketing tool, though it is usually well designed and packed with helpful content, so as not to appear completely commercial.

Organizational Blogs:
Organizational Blogs are similar to personal blogs, except that the content represents an organization, rather than an individual. Organizational blogs can be internal (within a large company, for instance) or external (communicating with clients or interested parties). Organization blogs are a common way for not-for-profit groups to communicate their message to the general public.

Professional Blogs:
Though not common yet, professional blogging is slowly becoming a career for some writers. More and more companies and organizations are hiring writers to maintain blogs promoting their services, products, or ideas.

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.

Blog History

Modern day blogging has roots in the 1990s when people began creating and updating personal web pages. During his time at Swarthmore College, Justin Hall began a web-based diary entitled "Justin's Links from the Underground." The site began as a general guide to the web but evolved into a collection of personal thoughts and ideas. It resulted in the New York Times referring to Hall as "the founding father of personal blogging" in an article published in December 2004.

Editor of blog precursor Robot Wisdom, Jorn Barger coined the term weblog in December 1997. The shortened form blog was first used by Peter Merholz in 1999 when he broke the phrase into the words we and blog on his website.

Blog usage began to spread rapidly and is now considered a mainstream portion of modern day media.

On 14 July 2007 a Blogiversary (blog + anniversary) was celebrated across the world.

What is a Blog?

The term blog formally entered America's vernacular when it was inaugurated into the printed pages of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2005. In fact, the word was at the top of Merriam-Webster's list of "words of the year" in 2004, a testament to its ever-increasing popularity.

But what exactly is a blog?

The term blog is actually a blending of the words web and log. Over time the two words combined to become weblog, and eventually simply blog.
A blog is defined in the dictionary as "a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer."

In simplest terms, a blog is bit like an online diary. But instead of recording thoughts in a locked book, the writer posts his or her musings on the World Wide Web, with the possibility - and hope - that readers across the globe will take a look at what they have to say.