What is Blogging?

“Blogging is a great source of income.“

This is a sentence we mostly heard while researching online side hustles. And in my experience, it’s the best online business you can start from the comfort of your home.

However, a blog was not used as a business before, and definitely, there was a completely different picture when it first came into consideration.

But if you’ve stumbled upon such an excellent chance to earn from home without taking care of what’s going on outside (For example, COVID-19 outbreak), then you’re at the right place.

Here in this article, we’re going to discuss all of your fundamental queries about blogging that can be helpful if you choose this as a career path.

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

What is a blog?

According to optinmonster, about 77% of internet users read blogs. Yes, that’s a huge number that can show the opportunities you can get after starting your blog.

Now you might be thinking, “Alright! But what is the meaning of a blog?”

Well, a blog is a platform where information on a particular topic is organized. This is the simplest definition anyone can ever give.

But if you go back a few decades, you’d find that the real meaning of a blog is a personal diary—a diary where people regularly update their thoughts, feelings, and queries.

Previously it was a kind of mental therapy to remove and organize your thoughts into blank paper and share your view with the entire world.

And that is evidenced from its history. The term blog was shortened from its original name, “weblog,” which was coined by John Barger – an American blogger – in 1997. That means “online journals” or “online diary.”

However, now it’s not meant for just that purpose, and even if you want to use your blog as a diary, you also need to be strategic about what you should publish and what you shouldn’t.

And the main reason is that there are more internet users than ever before. Plus, the number of blogs is also increasing day by day, making it highly competitive.

A blog is a type of website where informational content is regularly published to be easily accessible by readers or knowledge seekers.

A few years ago, some individuals created these blogs to share their knowledge on specific subjects.

However, the blog has become the central point of any business nowadays, and there are terrific ways to earn some extra bucks in your free time.

What is the purpose of a blog?

After understanding what a blog is, the most crucial question you must have is, “what is the purpose of creating blogs?“

There are different purposes of blogs for other businesses. And according to the motive of a blog, we can categorize them into various types.

However, there are a few main reasons behind creating a blog:

Firstly, you can genuinely connect with people like you.
You can educate your audience about the usage of your products or services.
You can share your thoughts and opinions.
Further, you can boost traffic to your business website
You can even sell your products or services
You can create your online presence and build an authority in that industry
For business bloggers, it helps in building quality links
You can use your existing content to drive more traffic through social media channels
It can genuinely help people and make a difference in their life
You can share your current knowledge and establish yourself as an expert in that niche.

These are a few reasons why you should start a blog.

What is a blog post?

The informational content you publish on your blog is known as a blog post.

There are different types of blog posts according to the kind of business. If you’re selling some products or services, you tend to educate your customers through your blog posts.

For example, Microsoft, Adobe, Filmora, and all other software companies. If you move to their official website, you could find a blog page in their menus.

An instance of such a blog post is “How to use mail-merge on Microsoft office?” or “How to use the pen tool in adobe illustrator?“. These types of posts usually educate the customer about how to use their product.

If you are an organization, you could share the latest news and events as blog posts. For example, several non-profit organizations where they share their regular milestones towards the change.

And if you’re blogging solely to earn, your blog post would be some informational content.

In this case, you create a blog to educate your audience by providing content answering their questions. You also teach your readers how to perform a particular action.

For example, How to remove stretch marks after pregnancy?

The content you are reading now is also a type of informational content where you’re learning the basics of blogging.

However, some other blogs are created to generate affiliate commissions. Most of the time, such blogs are affiliate blogs (they get a commission if someone purchases these products or services through their links).

Such blogs are aware of the pros and cons of certain products before purchasing. This also helps people make buying decisions.

So, these can be of various types according to the motive of a business.

Yet, there are other ways through which we can categorize multiple blog posts. According to the type of content, we can classify them into some broad categories;

List posts (the most abundant one)
Media or news event posts
personal stories
how-to or tutorials or guideposts
Interviews and round-up posts
Checklists or cheat sheets
Reviews and comparisons

These are the names of a few. You can analyze and give a name to it.

What is the difference between a blog and a website?

Now let’s come to our most significant query. Are blogs and websites the same? If not, what are the differences between them?

You can call a blog a website; however, not all websites can be called blogs.

Let’s understand this with a simple explanation.

You have a business where you sell makeup products (let’s assume). And after a few years of establishment, you get to know that you can increase sales through a website.

In that case, you created an e-commerce site (for example, Amazon). That will be your main website where most of your products are listed. You will also add some other information about your company, how to contact you for feedback, and some other legal pages that must remain on each website. So, these are called pages.

Now, you get some feedback that some of your clients face difficulties with your brand new products (which are not available anywhere else). Now, how could you help them?

Well, your first step would be helping them through contacting them and assisting them directly.

But if it will be a common problem for most of your clients, you need to create some tutorials telling about the usage. And here, you will open a blog section where you can educate and aware your audience.

For example, this is an example of a website with a blog as a section.

And this is a website as a blog itself.

So, basically, a blog can be a website or a part of a website, where contents are regularly updated. Blogs are generally dynamic websites in which the latest posts are organized first and also according to categories and tags.

However, a website is a static structure that is rarely updated and has additional pages, including blogs or resources (sometimes).

According to Google, Blog is a verb whose present participle is blogging. Blogging means updating a blog through some content. The person who runs the blog is known as a blogger.

Previously, people used blogging to share educational content in text formats. However, modern blogs and types of blogging range from text, pictures or photographs, arts, videos (vlogs), music, or even audio (podcasts) contents.

Some blogs often provide study materials on academic topics and are known as edu-blogs.

Further, microblogging is a type of blogging where users share content such as text, videos, and pictures with a comparatively shorter length than common blogs.

Social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, and Twitter are examples of some platforms for microblogging.

Why is blogging so popular?

When these online diaries were launched, the maintenance was a bit cranky and daunting about two decades ago. But after the launch of web 2.0, blogging became so easy that anyone can do it without any hassle.

And nowadays, blogging is popular because of a handful of reasons. First, you can earn some extra dollars in your free time. It’s easy. You need to share what you learn from your day-to-day activities.

Several moms get a good chance of exposure while taking care of their little ones. Further, it keeps your mind engaged. And also, it’s a great way to track your progress if you’re taking on some challenges.

Many people quit their day job to remove the stressful corporate life and start blogging as their home-based business. That’s because it gives you freedom, and here you’re your only boss.

For promotional works, you tend to network with other bloggers too. So, it’s not anti-social, yet it increases your chances to gain popularity and authority through more social interactions.

Why Should You Start Blogging Today?

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of internet users has increased drastically.

Based on a report published by Statista, the global digital population has become 4.66 billion by January 2021, which is about 59.5% of our people worldwide. Out of all internet users, around 92.6% of people use the internet through mobile devices.

This is a huge trend that happened last year, which has increased enormous online business opportunities worldwide.

Besides, about 7 million blog posts are published every day. And 70% of B2B buyers (business to business) purchase products or services after reading blog content.

So, you can’t imagine what you can get after starting a blog in this century.

Further, businesses use blogging as their primary way to connect with their customers and one of the most powerful marketing strategies.

If you start a blog today, you can create a complete chain of income sources for yourself.

You might be thinking, “how?”

Well, through blogging, you can establish yourself as an expert in people’s minds. And people believe the words of authorities mindlessly. So, it becomes easier for you to sell products or services among them.

As the author of the book Influence – Robert Cialdini – says, “We like people who are similar to us. This fact seems to hold whether the similarity is in the area of opinions, personality traits, background, or lifestyle.”

So, when you come on the radar screen and create genuine connections with your audience, they will start to like you. And that’s another advantage if you want to make a change or want to convince them for something.

Besides, there are several ways to quickly make a living out of blogging, which takes us to the next point.

How do you make an income from a blog?

It’s up to a level after which you can quickly start earning a living from your blog. The ways through which you can make blogging your primary income source are as follows;

you can run ads on your site and get a commission from the advertisement networks such as Google Adsense.
A good amount of earnings can be generated through direct and native advertisements.
You can review the products and services of different brands to generate an affiliate income.
Larger companies can offer you sponsorship for the promotion of their products and services.
You can create your online courses and sell them through your blog.
You can create e-books or other merchandise and build sales through your site.
Further, you can offer consulting services or one-to-one coaching programs to share your knowledge with the world.
Through white labeling, you can rebrand a product and sell it on your blog.
You can even create an ecommerce page to sell the products you design or build.

There are endless ways you can earn a good amount of income that’s enough for you to thrive in this digital world.

Want to start your blog?

So, there is a final question from my side, “would you want to jump into the blog-o-sphere?“

I know it must be a “HELL, YES.” And thus, I’m going to share a complete series of blog posts, mainly focusing on blogging.

Answering everything in a single post is neither possible nor feasible. So, save your curiosity, and let’s create a new endeavor.