Life constitutes of many phases and blogging has become an important phase of many people around the world. It repeatedly reminds the human race that we are thinkers and writing is a big part of our daily life.
Blogging presents a new set of approach to internet marketing, branding and growing a product. It also presents a major refreshing tool as a medium to showcase all the lows and highs in one’s life. Blogging can also be used by public relationship manager to handle all the stockholders efficiently.
The intricacies of Blogging
What is blogging?
Before diving deep into the world of blogging, the term blogging should be clear. The word “blog” is derived from weblog. The idea is simple; the need to share information and idea on the daily basis. Developers, game reviewers and famous celebrities use blogging to celebrate the idea of daily sharing their commentaries.
Things you should keep into mind before jumping into the world of blogging.
Right now, there are thousands of blogs in the world that has less than 3 visitors in the world. Most of them have no clue what rendered their blog useless in so less time. The biggest mistake done by bloggers is not caring about the niche they are writing about.
So, the first step is to properly define the blog’s purpose and the target audience. After setting up, the blog must encourage users or readers to comment and interact with the blog and other readers of the blog. Call to action also plays an important role in driving the important responses from the readers.
Design also plays an important role in overall user response. The main reason that many blog fail as they don’t understand the importance of Site Design. A good site design will bring more readers than an out-dated or a bad site design.
Content is the core of the site. Without unique and catchy content, all other aspects of the site are nullified. Try to provide completely new content and there are more than good chances that the content will be at the top of Google search. Another important aspect of developing good content is to present the content in a unique writing voice and style. This will bring more value to the blog.
Learn SEO and implement it effectively through the site. Do proper keyword research and write invasive content on the keyword to bring and harness new readers to the site.
Other important aspects are learning the rights of a blogger, reaching more people through social networking and interaction and learning about copyright.
WordPress or Blogger?
WordPress and Blogger are the two most famous blogging platforms in the world. WordPress is the dominating one capturing around 25% of all the websites. Blogger is also good but fails in many aspects when compared to WordPress. WordPress easily beats Blogger in customization, reach and other aspects as described below:
WordPress is highly customizable: With great customization, comes great power. WordPress stands tall in the customization category and provides unlimited customization in the form of plugins that are updated on the regular basis. In contrast, blogger provides limited customization.
The themes on WordPress can also be easily modified and is owned by the blog owner. In the case of Blogspot, the blog is owned by Google.
WordPress supports major media types: Great content with great media revitalizes the whole post with immense depth and attractiveness. WordPress supports all major media types beyond text such as video, audio and images.
Lightning Fast Setup and Maintenance: A quick 2-5 clicks will make everything look perfect in the case of WordPress. Other CMS are not that user-friendly. Maintenance on WordPress is also easier with the help of plugins and availability of cheap developers.
The Power of OpenSource: OpenSource is the future and it holds the key to infinite growth in the software industry. WordPress being open source in nature showcases its true potential with the availability of tons of plugins.
A great friend of Search Engine: WordPress is semantically designed for search engines and requires no or little effort from the users to get started with ranking their sites higher on the Google. Specialized plugins like Yoast SEO helps to leverage more SEO functionalities of WordPress.
Great Documentation and Community: Learning how to run around the problem is easy in WordPress as documentation is plenty. If you are still stuck, the community is there to help. In short, the accessibility is amazing.
What about Joomla and Drupal?
Joomla and Drupal is another great choice for Bloggers to look at. They provide completely new experience and even beat WordPress in some aspects. But, is it even worth considering Joomla and Drupal over WordPress. The answer can be both no and yes.
The difficulty level of Drupal is exponential compared to Joomla and WordPress. Joomla with seamlessly easy integration can be a good contender for WordPress.
The presence of WordPress over Joomla and Drupal also plays an important role in the choosing the CMS. Longitiviy speaks a lot about the impact of WordPress over Joomla and Drupal. Other important aspects that overshadow the other two CMS are customization, support, usability and search engine friendliness.
What to choose?
The ultimate question that stands beneath us is what to choose? The answer is simple and intuitive; WordPress. Blogspot, on the other hand, acts as a minified version with less control and less intuitive dashboard. Blogspot is also plagued by poor themes and designs.
Even though the choice is clear, the end user preference beats everything out of the window. There are still hundred and thousands of users who currently use Blogspot and are getting good response. At the end of the day, it all depends on how well the blog is executed rather than the tools used.
Tools to look out for
As a blogger, there are few tools that you must try. Some of them are listed below:
1. Evernote
2. Wunderlist
3. Disqus
5. Wordy
Conclusion
Blogging not only mind stimulating; if properly done can generate good amount of revenue. For some, writing is a passion and when used in collaboration with WordPress can yield amazing results for the blogger. So, what are you waiting for? Start blogging now!