A BLOG is a derivative word from “WEBLOG” which is an online journal or diary, written by a person and which contains his or her thoughts as an expression shared with others who read them. You can read more about this from Wikipedia: Since your purpose for taking this course is to make money with blogging, let us skip that, and move forward. We still have a lot of grounds to cover.
Blogs can also be described as an interactive platform of expression of passions, commonly shared by those who subscribed to that passion. This means you can create blogs around any passion you delight in.
Blogs are organized in reverse chronological order, that is, the latest post or entry is on the front page, while older posts are tucked inside pages.
The person that writes the posts or entries on a blog is called a Blogger, while the act of writing regularly or frequently on a blog is called Blogging.
HISTORY
By 1993, what we now know today as the internet evolved into the World Wide Web (www) and Blogging became a natural spin-off of the internet. The earliest known Blogger was an American called, Justin Hall.
Blogging developed on a large and commercial scale about 5 years ago (2002), when the web giant GOOGLE, acquired BLOGGERand also created an advertising network called, Adsense. This was a great motivation for writers worldwide to create blogs around their area of specialty and make money from the advertising space from their blogs.
Google made the BLOGGER dot COM(http://www.blogger.com) available as a free platform for writers to blog. This is what heralded the fame and popularity of blogging.
The BLOGOSPHERE
The Blogosphere is the environmental community of bloggers and their blogs, which also encompasses all events and activities therein.
The ever exploding population of blogs in the blogosphere is now reckoned by Technorati, to be 106 million blogs (September 2007). 36 million blogs were created alone in the last 12 months (September 2006 to September 2007). Appropriately, I would call year 2007 as a year of BLOGS! It is a joy that you launched out to become a blogger this year, of explosion of blogs. You are part of that history making. Congratulations.
For the first time in the 14 year history of the internet, the number of blogs surpassed and outstripped the number of traditional websites! All this indicates the growth and popularity of blogging as an internet phenomenon.
An Organization called TECHNORATI has sprung up to keep tabs, measure and rank blogs popularity and authority. The more the blogs that are linked to your blog, the higher your blog’s rank and authority in the blogosphere. This also implies the greater your chances of making more money with your blog, than that of a lower ranked blog. Many advertisers check on Technorati daily to determine, among other metrics, the worth of your blog, before placing advertisement for their products.
Technorati is the Bloggers “Hall of Fame” where the Top 100 blogs in the blogosphere are showcased. To succeed as a blogger, I advise that you visit Technorati and study the Top 100 blogs, find out what makes them tick. This would help you in creating a blog productive, prosperous and successful blog of your own.
Part of the reason for this course is to help at least 20 Africans to climb into the top 100 blogs within the next 3 years! Presently, African presence is almost nil on the internet and on the blogosphere.