Blog

What is a Blog?

A blog is a web page or site where a writer posts articles on a particular topic to share ideas and information with the wider audience and provide relevant opinions. Blogs are updated regularly and are used both for personal or business purposes.

Website owners or marketers arrange their blogs in reverse chronological order so visitors can view the latest published post first.

Initially, blogs were used as personal journals where their owners could write and cover about any topic of interest. But over time this has changed, and now businesses are using it to also connect with customers, provide helpful content, and introduce their products and services.

Most blogs encourage discussions and include comment sections on each article where readers and the author can interact with each other.

More from Findstack: Check out our guide on ‘How to Make Money Blogging‘ and learn what are the most popular ways of monetizing both newly established blogs and the ones which are already enjoying a large following.

History & Origin of the Term

In 1997, Jorn Barger, a programmer and writer, coined the term “weblog.” However, the first-ever blog known to experts was made in 1994 by Justin Hall called Links.net. On his site, Justin shared short articles with links and opinions relevant to the subject matter. Many people did the same at that time, but since the term “blog” doesn’t exist yet, they were addressed as “Online Diaries.”

From there, everything started to grow. In 1998, Jonathan Dube took it to the next level and wrote a blog focused on an event.

Moreover, available blogging platforms have also increased. Some of the earliest platforms are Open Diary, Blogger, and Live Journal. At the same time, the term “weblog” has been shortened to “blog.”

Fast forward to 2002, having a blog become more of a career rather than a hobby. People started monetizing their blogs with BlogAds, and companies developed more tools and platforms to help people market their content. Monetization was improved the next year and turned into AdSense.

The blogging industry started to get bigger and bigger, and it gave birth to the creation of WordPress in 2003. With the rise of bloggers and websites using their blogs to talk about news and politics, people trusted blogs as a source of information and a new type of legit media.

Recent Blog Statistics

There are more than 31 million bloggers in the United States and more than 600 million blogs internationally. ¹
There’s an increase of 10 million bloggers from 2014 to 2020 in the United States.²
In 2018, 50% of the 200 successful companies on the Fortune 500 ran a business blog.³

Purpose of a Blog

The primary reason why individuals and companies need a blog is to become visible to their audience by ranking on Google and other search engines. It’s a great way to introduce themselves and their products and services to prospective customers. At the same time, it allows businesses to provide valuable and relevant information for their visitors and earn their trust.

A blog is also an excellent place for businesses and writers to answer questions and build a relationship with their audience.

Types of Blog

People can write about any niche or topic on their blog. But according to an article released by Themeisle, these are the top most popular blog types.