Weekend Writers Cafe - Is The Word “Blog” On The Way Out? How Do You Explain A Blog To Non Bloggers?
Welcome to the Cafe and apologies for not opening the Cafe last week. We have a veritable feast awaiting you, along with drinks and good company. We also have an interesting discussion this weekend.
Is the word “blog” on the way out?
Brian Clark, at the recent SOBCon 08 Biz Bloggers Conference sparked a thought provoking discussion, saying
“The word blog will fade into the background.” - Brian Clark
As someone who does professional blogging, I was curious. I wondered if it was just the word or the whole concept of blogging as we know it at present.
Chris Brown from the Branding And Marketing blog mentioned this in her conference reflections, with a post entitled Thoughts From Copyblogger Brian Clark At SOBCon 08. I asked Chris if she would mind expanding on that statement for those of us who weren’t there.
She was kind enough to elaborate with her thoughts on the topic (quoted here with permission).
There is some negative baggage associated with the word “blog”… Some people feel there is too much emphasis on the medium (newspaper article, magazine article, blog post) and not on the content in the article or post. Some people picture bloggers as a nerd sitting in front of a computer screen in their pj’s drinking a cup of something with caffeine.
Maybe the word blogger or blogging might just drop and change to writing… but I think the word blog is going to be with us for a while. I did notice that many of the folks (bloggers!) at SOBCon referred to their blog as a website rather than a blog. Since I have been back, I’ve noticed how many more websites are actually put up just on wordpress software for easy content management.
So maybe the word blog will switch to website and blogger/blogging to writer/writing. Who knows! Twitter and Twittering was mentioned a lot during the conference too, and I’m not sure how mainstream that is yet!!
How Has Blogging Changed Since You’ve Been Blogging?
Blogging has changed and broadened in the time I’ve been blogging. Podcasts, mashups, videos and social networking have all become more a part of blogging. And there is the stumbling block of non bloggers not really knowing what a blog is.
How Do You Explain What A Blog Is?
It’s tricky enough explaining what a blog is to your family and friends. But what about when you need to pitch to a prospective client. How do you explain the benefits of a blog to someone who doesn’t know what it is, and has survived quite nicely up until now, without ever knowing?
How do you explain a blog to business clients?
I asked this question of my Twitter friends. (A Twitter thread reads from the bottom up, so my question is at the “end”.)
Meryl K. Evans is celebrating her 8th Blog Birthday. She has seen many blogging changes and developments. I asked her the same questions I asked our Grow Your Writing Business readers a few days ago about how blogging has changed, but I’ll save that for next week.
For now, let’s start by talking about
- Do you think the word “blog” will fade into the background?
- Any ideas for alternatives to the words “blog” and “blogging”?
- What do you see as the future of blogging?
- What it will “look like” in the future? How will it evolve?
- How do you explain blogging and blogs to others (friends and business associates or clients)?
- Any other thoughts?
- Do you know someone else who may be interested in this Writers Cafe conversation?
- Please spread the word and let them know.
Any Other Writers Cafe Topics, Questions, Suggestions & Networking Welcome
Of course any other blogging, writing or business related topics or questions are also on the table as usual - Just throw it all into the Writers Cafe melting pot, pull up a chair and let’s chat. The Writers cafe is open from Friday through to Sunday night, but there are usually a few people hanging around even after that, so feel free to drop back in to check.
Thank You To Twitter Friends
Thanks for the Twitter feedback from my Twitter friends, Sonia Simone at Remarkable Communication , Rosa Say of Joyful Jubilant Learning, Bloggeries, Gayla McCord at Mom Gadget and Suzanna at Great Adaptations.
The Great Grow Your Writing Business Skype Meetup
And a word to those interested in the Great Grow Your Writing Business Skype Meetup… I’ll be in touch with you all within the next week or two, to get this happening. Thanks for your patience.
Please consider Stumbling this post if you found it useful.
Catch me on the web - Yvonne Russell
www.growyourwritingbusiness.com
www.smallbizmentor.com
www.homebiznotes.com
Recently wrote a post on the future of blogging. http://tinyurl.com/5yrefa The word “blog” may fade into the background as businesses continue to use them in different ways. Finding another name for “blog” might be useful for overcoming bias, but I’m happy to report that I’m finding more interest than ever in business blogs. It’s sinking in that blogs are now a marketing force to be reckoned with. I like to describe blogs to clients as interactive Web pages you can use to have meaningful conversations with customers, prospects, and stakeholders. Great topic, Yvonne! Looking forward to what your readers have to say about all this.
Brad Shorr’s last blog post..Another Story about Falling Down Mountains
I’m relatively new to blogging. I heard the word thrown around but didn’t really know what it was till about August of last year. I had a negative attitude attached to it because the only ones I ever really saw before then were with our local paper and the commenters were often cruel, nasty and mean. I wanted nothing to do with that. I don’t have to explain a blog to professionals too often so I don’t know the answer. I know my non-blogging family and friends don’t always understand it and I would like to see a new term associated with them that made them more welcoming to people who are not “computer nerds” I really am not one, either. Before my blog I used the computer to check my e-mail.
Debbie Yost’s last blog post..Washing Machine - Take Two
Hi Yvonne
Great question!
I think part of the problem (and also of course why we love it so much) is that a blog is so many things including…
easy to update content
relationships
shop front
learning tool
cafe (!)
It’s hard to find one word that catches them all.
I’m currently thinking about “an easy and affordable way to tell your story on the web, and to let other people share in the telling of it”
I liked Gayla’s and Sonia’s versions too - informality, regular updates, revealing who you are and what you’re good at.
Thanks again for prompting a great conversation
Joanna
Joanna Young’s last blog post..10 Writing Reasons To Take More Photographs
Hi Brad
Thanks for directing me to your article. I found it interesting and it sparked a few more questions.
Your description of blogging resonates with me, and it’s a great way to explain it to business owners. It’s really heartening to hear you’re finding increased interest from business owners in the concept.
I see a strong future for business blogging, but wish I had a crystal ball to see what the blog of the future will look like and what applications/social media it will encompass.
Any thoughts?
Hi Debbie
Yes, it’s easy to forget that a lot of people aren’t even on the web at all for whatever reason.
There are so many different types of blogs, so the danger is that people unfamiliar with blogging lump all blogs together. It’s like saying I own a “house” and assuming all houses are the same.
I discovered some interesting stats for my post Keep The Noise Down - Looking For A Quiet Space In A Web 2.0 World including that 22 of the most popular 100 websites in the world are blogs.
I’m really pleased you did take up blogging Debbie.
How is blogging different from what you thought at first? And what do you like most about it?
Hi Joanna
I love your explanation of a blog - “an easy and affordable way to tell your story on the web, and to let other people share in the telling of it”.
The richness of all the descriptions shared here lies in the fact that each speaks as much of the person explaining it, as about the blogging process itself.
It’s also about the purpose of the particular blog and the nature of the client’s business. The story approach suits your philosophy beautifully Joanna, and is a perfect fit for your blog as well.
Are you comfortable with the word “blog”, or do you think it will “fade into the background” as Brian Clark suggests?
For what it’s worth, I’ve always though blog sound a little too much like blah, as in I’m blah, blah, blogging.
Then again, isn’t that the truth? That’s part of blogging’s charm, getting to blah, blah, blah with people, sometime over very important matters, sometimes about what cute thing their toddler said this week.
Do you think the business world need their own word to distance themselves from the blah, blah, blah of the masses? It’s not like we don’t know that their words are blah, blah, blah as well.
Anna’s last blog post..Seduced by the New
Hi Anna
Welcome to the Writers Cafe.
He..he… “blah, blah, blogging.” Doesn’t that just describe some blogs perfectly? But then I guess as you intimate, the other side of that is they may think the same about ours.
I’ve had people tell me they think “blog” is a strange word. You make an interesting point about whether business blogs need to be called something different.
Maybe as blogs evolve, blogs that are business oriented (by topic or by purpose), may look different and be called something different from blogs which are for more social pruposes.
As I’ve probably already strayed into the realm of blah, blah, blah I’ll toss the question to the other cafe goers.
What do others think?
Interesting conversation. All these comments point to the fact that a blog can have myriad definitions. It all depends on what the publisher and the readers want to accomplish. Another complication, something Joanna and I have discussed in the past - the objectives of the publisher and the readers tends to change over time. A lot of traditional marketing tools such as newsletters and direct mail have a quality of sameness, whereas blogs are really organic. Blogs grow and are influenced by their environment (not only individual readers but the aggregate character of conversations. So as I think about it, can one definition of blogs possibly be sufficient?
Brad Shorr’s last blog post..Another Story about Falling Down Mountains
Yvonne, I don’t think there’s another word, or phrase, but I wouldn’t necessarily lead with it.
What I think is interesting about Brian’s statement is the sense that blogs are part of a bigger picture - and that was probably my biggest take from sobcon.
A blog is great for content, for links, for authority, for credibility, for community… but it’s not the whole thing: you need other places where you can sell (online and offline), and I think you also need to see your blog as part of a network of connections online.
Chris Garrett had a good post on that the other week - the totality of your brand online
http://www.chrisg.com/social-media-brand/
Joanna
PS Great conversation Yvonne!
Joanna Young’s last blog post..10 Writing Reasons To Take More Photographs
Aloha Yvonne, this is quite a timely discussion, mahalo for hosting it at your Writer’s Café this weekend.
The word “blog” has never bothered me, in fact, I like it because it appeals to the learner in me as a naming of what I truly feel has been a remarkable and name-worthy phenomenon in what I tweeted to you as “citizen publishing.” In early Blogsville, people learning the word did not think of blog and website as interchangeable, in that a website was a kind of broadcasting, whereas a tab labeled “blog” on that site was a customer feedback form on more recent news—halleluiah, you could talk back! Therefore, when I named my very first blog four years ago, I called it Talking Story (TS). We’ve gone through quite an evolution since then (I tweeted about this BW article yesterday: http://snurl.com/2aap2 Beyond Blogs), but I think what we are seeing is an evolution of that core idea: What is evolving is our collaborative techniques for conversations, and social media like Twitter are the new-app responses to the collaboration.
Joyful Jubilant Learning (JJL), which you’ve associated with me now, is a kind of spin-off, where I took the popular guest author forums I’d hosted on TS, focused them on ‘Ike loa (the Hawaiian value of learning) and Kākou (the Hawn value of inclusiveness and synergy), and created a new home base for the emerging Ho‘ohana Community of TS. What I adored about this evolution (and still do!) is that I evolved too, from sole blogger to a publishing manager of sorts, and the on-going challenge I give the authors at JJL, is, How will we now lead the learning growth of our community? Frankly, to be one of the more successful contributors there (we are up to 45) is about conversing with the community first, and about the value-aligned writing second.
On the personal front, the blog I now primarily concentrate on, MWAC, is a coaching website connected to my business, however I still call it a blog because of the common thread; to me, coaching is that conversation, whereas ‘consulting’ harks back to the broadcasting again. I hope we keep the word blog, and just allow it to get bigger (just as conversations need to get bigger
opening our arms to the inherent abundance.
This is a first time for me at your Writer’s Café, and I hope I haven’t gone on too long! Looking back over what I’ve written it’s an intro of sorts too I guess, so I’ll be more concise next time!
I’ll define a blog with a simple “to publish” and I doubt that the word will fade. Publishing text on regular basis on a blogging platform will remain blogging. We already know that publishing sound or video has other definitions.
The minute we go out of the platform and extend the reach to other publishers, inviting them to join a conversation - as you did today Yvonne - we extend “blogging” to “networking” - I wish someone would define this better. I find networking and social media more biased than blogging.
Mig’s last blog post..SEO Book for WordPress 2.5 Available for Free Download
Since I’ve been a newspaper and magazine columnist for years, I find it easiest to explain to people who ask me, “What is a blog?” that it’s something like a column I write for an online publishing network. That most can understand.
I further explain that some blogs are more like journals where writers jot down their thoughts and feelings.
Others may be a place where you can make money from advertisers.
Since I’ll be teaching a class for beginning bloggers on June 4, I’m trying to find ways to describe a blog in terms they will relate to. This discussion should help me tremendously.
Mary Emma Allen’s last blog post..Writers Cafe - Is The Word “Blog” Obsolete?
@Mary Emma it seems like your definitions miss the conversation aspects of blogging (which is one of its distinguishing features.
I think the fact that blogging is “organic” (as Brad describes) is another of its distinguishing features and inherent in that is a difficulty in defining and pinning down the blog.
Anna’s last blog post..Seduced by the New
Thanks, Anna, for pointing out the conversation aspect. That has evolved since I began blogging. Then it was mainly the writer’s activity with very few comments. Now a blog can almost take on a life of its own, with readers/viewers adding their input to the posts.
Mary Emma Allen’s last blog post..Writers Cafe - Is The Word “Blog” Obsolete?
Hi Brad
That’s a useful distinction about blogs being organic, compared with other media, and that is not only on a daily basis but over time.
Your discussion with Joanna about the purpose of blogs changing is something I think we can all identify with, as we tweak our own blog direction, so thanks for highlighting that, as well as the changing needs of the reader.
Problogger says he mainly writes for the blogger in their first few years of blogging. Although his readership goes beyond that, he finds that is his core audience. So some readers move on.
That’s part of the organic nature of blogging as well.
So maybe it’s not important to get hung up on the term “blog”, but more on explaining the process and understanding more clearly what a blog means to us as well?
What do others think?
Hi Joanna
Thanks for sharing the link and the takeaway from SOBCon. I like Chris Garrett’s term “connecting the social media dots” with the blog at the center.
I guess it’s like everyday life. You may invite people over to dinner, but you also meeet them down the street, at the local school etc. and just by happy accident along the way sometimes.
Your relationship with them is not just in one place. It’s the totality of your interactions with them, and their perception of you etc. I agree about an integrated approach - online and offline.
There are implications in what Chris says about your “personal brand”. I love Twitter but I notice some people “let their hair” down on Twitter,as if no one can “see” them.
Casual and friendly is great, but it’s a fine line.
And a question… How do you get someone who has only marketed offline to venture into the online world? Would you encourage them to start with a blog, or elsewhere?
Hi Rosa
Welcome to the Writers Cafe. Your comments are never too long or too short. Whatever you want to add to the conversation is “just right”. It’s great to have you here.
Thanks for the link to the “Blogs and Beyond” article - fascinating reading. Your insights into collaborative conversations and the evolving techniques around them are helping me put the pieces of this wonderful jigsaw together.
The interesting thing is that these other ways of communicating such as Twitter are also evolving as users find new and innovative ways to add them to the mix.
I’m also interested in the concept of multi author blogs, to extend the conversation in yet another direction with each author interacting with each other and with the community.
Hi Mig
I loved your comment in the StumbleUpon review you kindly did for this post - “No… the word blog will not fade. It’s already a verb… soooooo…..” He.. he… Thanks!
“Social media” does seem like a bit of an “inner circle” term to those who are not familiar with the web. But once you “get it” I think it actually does describe the process quite well.
I guess that’s the nature of jargon in any industry though. When it all boils down though, I guess the “jargon” is the least important part of it as every industry has that. It’s the process and explaining and sharing the process that’s important.
Thanks also for your insights on blogging and the word “blog”. It seems as if the consensus at thet Writers Cafe is that the word may stay but the process may evolve to encompass so much more, and to offer even more collaborative potential.
As someone who is on the cutting edge with social media, what do you envisage the blog “looking like” in say, 5 years? How will it have changed? Care to make a prediction or even share a wish list?
Hi Anna & Mary Emma
This Writers Cafe get together is a great example of the conversation taking on a life of its own, as we all spark off each other and share.
Did I mention I love blogging… and that’s why… it’s all about the people and the rich sharing of ideas.
In answer to your questions: “How is blogging different from what you thought at first? And what do you like most about it?”
I thought blogs were just part of the newspaper, kind of gossip columns with an editorial section for people to give their opinions instead of using the letter to the editor section. The few times I would click through people were often just hateful and would be hateful to other commenters. And, quite frankly, they were often ignorant in what they had to say. In August I got an e-mail about the Pokemon Lady and the e-bay auction she had. It was hilarious and she sent people to her blog: Because I Said So. I’m slow in getting into things so I read for a while and never commented. Eventually I started commenting and started thinking about starting my own blog. She had others asking her about starting a blog and she and her readers provided some useful infomation. In December I finally made the leap and started my own blog. I’ve learned a lot since August but I have a lot more to learn. The blogs I read are so positive. There is a community of others out there supporting each other and giving advice or a shoulder to lean on. I’ve rarely ran into anything negative and when someone does make a negative comment all the other readers rally around the blogger.
Debbie Yost’s last blog post..Proud Mama
Hi Debbie
That’s really interesting. Thanks for sharing your journey. I guess we gravitate to communities where we feel we “belong” and where we feel welcome.
Like you I’ve visited blogs which didn’t resonate with me, so I moved on. I guess it’s like forming friendship groups offline too.
I think the most successful blogs (not just traffic wise) involve their communities, work with them, respond to them and support each other. This is when genuine networking happens.
And realistically… there are lots of fantastic blogs out there, but we can’t possibly be part of an active community on every single blog we like… It’s about keeping the noise down, as I mentioned in a previous post - Keeping The Noise Down - Looking For a Quiet Space In A Web 2.0 World”
Wow, Yvonne. You’re sparked quite a conversation here.
When I started blogging I thought it was pretty much what Mary Emma said: an online column. I decided to start blogging because I really missed being an expert on AskMe.com. People asked questions and experts in that category answered. The site provided a great service, but the company was simply using it to test a product to sell to large companies. When they worked out the bugs, they shut down the free site and started selling the software. I was really disappointed, and though I tried several other “expert” sites, I didn’t really like any of them. When I discovered blogging, I thought of it as something similar - I would write articles that answered common questions from my AskMe days.
However, in the last two years, I’ve gradually come to learn that blogging is more about conversation than it is about providing information. This discussion is a perfect example of blogging at its best: thoughtful and thought-provoking comments and links to other ideas - an online conversation.
I’ve built several Web sites on WordPress (using the Revolution theme), and if I ever get time from client work to work on my own site, I’m going to put it all on WordPress. My crystal ball (murky and unreliable as it is) suggests that blogs will be more integrated into Web sites in the future. The word blog may phase out as blogs will be an interactive element of the entire Web site.
Lillie Ammann’s last blog post..What I Learned From ? Mashing It Up
Popping back on (my) Sunday morning. I agree with Lillie about blogs becoming integrated into the rest of a website (but it’ll be the best bit to read!)
I’m very impressed with what Wordpress can do in that regard and I’m going to start experimenting with it for few small personal blogs before seeing how to make the switch from typepad to wordpress for Confident Writing.
My final question is one I was thinking about yesterday. Seth Godin’s blog. There’s no conversation there, no interaction, yet in my mind it’s most definitely a blog. It’s one of the best blogs (in my mind) that there is.
I guess I say that because: it’s published regularly, it’s easy to read (written with web readers in mind), it’s conversational and engaging (in style), it’s thought provoking, it’s written with a strong personal point of view
I suppose that means for me that conversation isn’t essential to blogging.
Hope you’re all enjoying the weekend and thanks once again Yvonne for hosting this conversation
Joanna
Joanna Young’s last blog post..Did You Miss These Posts?
I am the only one in my immediate circle of friends who keep a blog. There was one who created one but after the first post, that was it. But they want to know how I do it together with work and family matters. I am still trying my best to convince them one at a time.
When they ask me why I blog, my explanation is always because I want my brain to continue functioning as I record, on the web, those special moments in my life, and I blog because I’ve found out that there is so much I can learn from other bloggers.
I think blogging will be even stronger as time goes on, based on the number of blogs created every second. And a plethora of topics/categories will come with it.
I can feel that it will never fade away.
A great Memorial Day weekend to you, Yvonne.
(Do you celebrate one in Australia, too?)
Hi Lillie
Thanks for sharing your interesting progression from “Ask me” to blogging. Your blog provides great information and a dynamic community, so the conversation is thriving there.
I’m loving the conversation this topic has sparked here, which for me too, is an essential part of the blogging experience… an interactive sharing of ideas.
Love your word picture of a “murky crystal ball”. It seems a blog holding its own as the interactive part of the website is something we all agree on. What it encompasses will no doubt, evolve.
Just reading ahead to Joanna’s comment below - Lillie - would you still blog if there was no commenting capability?
Hi Joanna
Pleased you’re considering WP. I’m very happy with it. More blogs? That sounds intriguing.
I agree Seth Godin has a great blog, but I think it is a shame he and some other bloggers don’t allow comments. Even if he never answers a single one, other bloggers can continue the conversation with each other in the thread. I’m sure there would be some valuable exchanges.
I guess you can have a community without comments, just in a different way… and I guess Seth’s readers take the conversations to their own blogs - a thought provoking discussion, Joanna.
His case apart, I have always (perhaps unfairly) perceived it as a bit “rude” not to allow readers to comment,as it seems (to me) like the blogger thinks it’s too much trouble. Just a perception, and again, this may be unfair, so I’d be interested in their thought processes/rationale on this. I wonder if they comment at other blogs.
On the other hand, blogging is all about freedom, so every blogger needs to do what works for them, so I definitelyl respect that.
Thanks for getting me thinking on this.
Joanna - While technically, you can have a blog without comments, do you think the actual conversation on your blog is still an important element for you? Would you ever consider not having comments at all?
What do others think?
Hi Princess
Pleased to hear your flying the blogging flag among your circle of friends. Are any of them tempted?
Blogging to record is a wonderful use of blogging, and you can share your memories and thoughts at the same time. Learning from other bloggers, sharing and connecting are key elements for me as well, as in this conversation.
Australians celebrate Anzac Day (April 25th)which is much the same as Memorial Day. Anzacs is the original name for the Australian & New Zealand soldiers who fought in Gallipoli in WW1, but Anzac Day honors all soldiers. There are parades and services, and it’s a public holiday.
Thanks for calling into the cafe, Princess. Have you tasted that yummy chocolate cake yet? Help yourself.
Yvonne, thanks for such a great conversation! Maybe Seth is a case apart, but it makes me think harder about how I define blogging.
By the way I respect him for not inviting comments (knowing he doesn’t have time to respond) more than those that do invite, and don’t bother to reply…
Your question to me on comments and community and conversation - it is vitally important to me, and I wouldn’t / couldn’t blog in the way that I do without them.
That being said some of the other blogs I’m thinking about are more personal writing and reflection, or business related, and I wouldn’t be looking to recreate comment and conversation there. It wouldn’t fit in the same way, would distract me from my purpose… plus I think it would be too much work to connect meaningfully with a community in more than one place.
(Which reinforces the point to me that I have more than one definition in my head of what a blog means)
I hope to use some of these ideas in a post later in the week - will check back with you first to make sure it’s okay to use ideas and comments you’ve prompted
Joanna
Joanna Young’s last blog post..What’s The Main Focus For Your Writing? Reader Survey
Joanna’s comment about Seth Godin’s blog does raise the question of whether a blog has to be interactive. To me, his is more like a regular column. He uses blog software to make it easy to post articles in reverse chronological order, but he doesn’t use the interactive features of the software. Does using blog software and posting in reverse chronological order make it a blog? Or is it an online column using blog software?
The Web sites I create on WordPress include a blog, but just using blog software doesn’t make them blogs. The next one I create may not allow comments - we haven’t decided yet - but the blog format will make it easy to announce the entertainer’s performance schedule and product releases.
It seems there are different kinds of blogs for different purposes. Maybe that’s another reason the word blog will fade away - maybe new words will be coined to reflect the different kinds of blogs or maybe they’ll just be called Web sites.
Lillie Ammann’s last blog post..Memorial Day
Hi Joanna
I take your point about those who invite people to comment and don’t respond to the comments… a real shame.
Ah.. I think I’m getting the drift of where you’re coming from. Are you saying that it depends on the purpose of the blog?
I very much understand that maintaining a strong community gets harder, if not impossible on two or more blogs.
So, these thoughts raise a few more considerations.
Would you still promote those additional blogs(assuming you want an audience?)
Would you enable comments or close comments on those?
Don’t feel you have to answer those questions Joanna, as I don’t want to put you on the spot. I’m really just thinking “aloud”, as I am in a similar situation at the moment - actively working on a second blog. I also have a third blog which is purely for “storage” of old articles I have no home for at the moment. I don’t promote that at all.
Thanks for getting my brain cells rattling as always, Joanna… a stimulating conversation.
How do others handle a second, third or subsequent blog?
Hi Lillie
I thought about that too… do you need blog software if you don’t have comments?
However, when I thought about it, Seth Godin does link out and plenty of people link to him. He uses the blog functionality of trackbacks etc. By linking he’s also alerting the blogger that he has linked. Blogging by its nature “encourages” linking between blogs, which has a myriad of benefits, as does the viral nature of blogging and its sense of freshness and “immediacy”.
So if having to choose one or the other, there would still be benefits over a static website in terms of connections with others, networking, profile, promotion, spread of ideas, plugins and SEO.
One solution is to combine the best of both - a static website and a blog - an effective approach as they have slightly different purposes. As you say, maybe the line will blur even more as blogging evolves. The blog can have a more conversational tone and the website can be more the formal business presence, landing page or “brochure”.
Do you think as bloggers we can sometimes fall into the trap of being “elitist” about the wonders of blogging? This conversation has certainly sparked some great thoughts and lateral thinking.
I guess one takeaway for me from the wonderful conversation in this thread is that there are no “shoulds”. Everyone has their own direction, needs and purpose.
Thanks Lillie, for your wise insights as always.
Anyone else want to weigh in?
Wow, great discussion! I have dabbled in my own blog since 2005 but did not get serious about posting until March of this year. I have been involved in business blogs for clients for sometime. A couple of years ago I noticed the trend from the static website to the content management system site. Blogging is of course an excellent platform for easily updating and publishing content for your audience. I am always amused by the labels and how people use them to box people in to restrictive descriptions. I read an article about Jen Lancaster in which they called her a “blogger.” She has a blog which launched a book, and she is now the author of three books and currently on tour. Call me crazy, but I would call her a writer. So, yes I think we may see redefining of the terms of blogs and bloggers and a continued evolution of the platform but self publishing - of blogs and books - is not likely to fade away any time soon.
Karen Swim’s last blog post..The Bigger Picture
A blog is an expression of ones self. Some blogs express feelings while others make money.
When they ask me why I blog, my explanation is always because I want my brain to continue functioning as I record, on the web, those special moments in my life, and I blog because I’ve found out that there is so much I can learn from other bloggers.
I think blogging will be even stronger as time goes on, based on the number of blogs created every second. And a plethora of topics/categories will come with it.
rentenversicherung vergleich’s last blog post..Abzüge von der Rente
Hi Karen
Your reference to self publishing is an interesting one. I hadn’t thought of blogging as “self publishing”, but this is a very apt description.
Blogging (or whatever we call it now or in the future) is part of the self publishing revolution. It has given you and I and the average person a public voice.
We can all “talk” at the same time (no wonder the web is a “noisy” place… LOL).
Karen - As the web and blogging becomes even more interactive, do you think we’ll see more multi author blogs?
Great to have you join in the conversation, Karen.
Hi Greg
Welcome to the Writers Cafe. I think you’ve distilled the essence of blogging here… “self expression” in whatever way suits the blogger and their purpose.
Hope you’ll call by again. The Writers Cafe is open every weekend - Friday through to Sunday.
Hi Yvonne! It is always great to be a part of the community here. Yes, I do think we’ll see more multi-author blogs, for several reasons including:
1)newspapers and magazines are competing in this space and multi-author blogs offer the variety of voices and topics that are competitive with other forms of media.
2)The workload is easier to bear when shared with multiple authors.
3)offering variety provides an opportunity to broaden your audience and expand your readership
We already see this trend with blogs like Joyful Jubliant Learning, wowowow, 7 babes a blogging and The Debutante Ball.
Karen Swim’s last blog post..A Post About Nothing
It’s hard to find one word that catches them all. because a blog id s bunch of stuff. Datanomia.com
I think the word blog is far from passing out of the lexicon. In fact, check out this view on Google Trends pitting searches for the word “blog” vs. the word “website”:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=blog%2Cwebsite
You can see that in April of 2006 the word blog took the lead from website and never looked back.
However, what’s interesting about this chart is that news occurrences of the word blog have not kept pace with the usage of the word in public searches.
I wonder why that is?
Jamie Grove - How Not To Write’s last blog post..How to Write a Book and Why I Write About Writing
To me, the difference between a website and a blog is it’s purpose. If you’re writing posts based on keywords or talking about you’re sick cat, you’re a blogger. If you write intelligent and useful articles and the site isn’t about you but about a topic (If your writing about the 5 strategic threats to our global water system) then you are writing articles instead of blogs and you have a website.
Just my personal opinion
Adam’s last blog post..Genetically Engineered Seed Company C.E.O. Buys Organic
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