A blog is a personal diary; a daily pulpit; a collaborative space; a political soapbox; a breaking-news outlet; a collection of links. In effect, a blog is the online transmission of your own private thoughts and memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be; there are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules. While it is not essential to have one, it could nevertheless provide a useful adjunct to your online strategy.

In simple terms, a blog is a website where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top so that your visitors can read what’s topical. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you – or not. Since Blogger.com was launched almost five years ago blogs have reshaped the web, impacted politics, shaken up journalism, and enabled millions of people to have a voice and connect with others. And yet the whole concept is just getting started.

Publish Your Thoughts

A blog gives you your own voice on the web. It is a place to collect and share things that you find interesting – whether it is your personal diary on matters of interest in your field of operation, or links to websites you want to remember.

Many people use a blog just to organise their own thoughts while others command influential, worldwide audiences of thousands. Professional and amateur journalists use blogs to publish breaking news, while commercial journal makers reveal inner thoughts on what’s happening in their chosen business sector.

Whatever you have to say, Blogger can help you say it.

Get Feedback

The blogging experience is about not only putting your thoughts on the web, but also about hearing back from, and connecting with, other like-minded enthusiasts.

• Blogger Comments let readers of your site from all over the world give feedback on what you share on your blog. You can choose whether or not you want to allow comments on a post-by-post basis (and you can delete anything you do not like).
• Group blogs can be excellent communication tools for small business teams; consider giving your team its own space on the web for sharing news, links, and ideas.
• Blogger Profiles let you find people and blogs that share your interests. And your profile lets people find you (but only if you want to be found).
• Blogger Profile lists your blogs, your recent posts and more. Clicking on interests or location takes you to other people’s profiles whose blogs you might enjoy.

Post Photos

Sometimes you just want to share a product photo (there is a button for uploading photos in the Blogger interface). Just click the photo button to upload a photo from your computer. If the image you would like to put on your blog is already on the web that’s okay too. Just tell Blogger.com where it is.

You can also upload images by attaching them to any email sent to your own mail-to-blogger address. And you can send camera phone photos straight to your blog while you are on-the-go with Blogger Mobile.

Go Mobile

Blogger Mobile lets you send photos and text straight to your blog while you are on-the-go. All you need to do is send a message to go@blogger.com from your phone. You do not even need a Blogger account. The message itself is enough to create a brand new blog and post whatever photo and text you have sent.

Later, if you want to claim your mobile blog or switch your posts to another blog, just sign in to go.blogger.com and use the claim code Blogger sent to your phone.

While Blogger Mobile is currently only available in the US, you can always send posts to your blog using Mail-to-Blogger.

There is even a feature called AudioBlogger that lets you call Blogger from any phone and leave a message that is immediately posted to your site as an MP3 audio file.

Getting Started

The fastest way to understand blogging is to try it out. You will find easy-to-follow instructions at the website; instructions that are so simple, you will have created your first blog in minutes.

And remember, Blogger is totally free. In the unlikely event you encounter teething problems just click the ‘Help’ button from any screen and you can find the answer that you are looking for – or ask support staff for assistance.

Sign up for free at www.blogger.com and start your own small business blog straightaway.