The word "blog" is simply a contraction of Web and log. In basic terms, a Web log is a type of Web site that has software running in the background which makes it easy to add content to a Web site.

Blogging started out as a very personal way for a small number of Internet trendsetters to communicate via an online diary or journal. Then, as you may recall, political blogs became mainstream leading up to the 2004 presidential election. Now, just a few years later, professional and business blogs are becoming more and more common for a number of reasons.

In general, blogs are:

• Real-time. Since blogs are so easy to use, they tend to get frequent updates.
• Interactive. Many businesses use their blogs to test new ideas, get feedback and have customers share success stories.
• Conversational. Blogs are typically written in a casual, often edgy voice. It's okay if they have misspellings or are written as a stream of consciousness, rather than with carefully crafted language.

Blogging has spawned its own vocabulary with terms like "blogosphere", the interconnected universe of blogs; "bloggerati", which is a knowledgeable inner circle of bloggers and "blogroll", which are links to a blogger's favorite blogs.

Anatomy of a Blog

When you look at a typical blog, you'll see a number of common elements, including:

1. The name of the blog with a number of dated entries with optional comments
2. A sidebar that contains additional information and links.
3. Blog entries that are usually dated with the most recent entries appearing first.
4. And archived entries that can be accessed using links.

Visitors comment and respond to other blog entries, with their comments appearing below the associated entry. Entries are arranged by date and the sidebar encourages others to contribute to the content.

As a business owner/entrepreneur, you are a subject matter expert. You might want to consider blogging for a number of reasons. You could share ideas and contribute to the conversation in the blogosphere. You can also raise the visibility of your business' products and services by sharing your knowledge and insight. Additionally, you can be an authentic and transparent voice in the market. Your blog can provide access to real people, who do real work, and are passionate about their area of expertise.

Sidebars

Nearly every blogging tool comes with a sidebar that's packed with links and a collection of related information. Most bloggers have a "Who Am I?" link that lets readers learn about the blogger.

It's important to include information about yourself in your blog, because blogging should foster a matter of trust. As you would expect, signed writings have more credibility than anonymous posts. So, unless you're really, really famous, it's not enough to simply say, "Joe Blogger writes the content for this blog." Readers want to know more about Joe. What is his experience in the field that he's commenting on? Even if you don't have formal credentials, readers will trust you more if you're honest about that fact. So tell about your informal experience, and explain the reasons for your enthusiasm.

Sidebars contain other key elements that make it easy for readers to navigate. They include links to archives, categories that help organize entries so visitors can quickly identify and focus on areas of interest, and as mentioned earlier, there's a blogroll which link to the blogger's favorite blogs.

Today, businesses of all sizes use blogs to communicate with customers and prospects, and they reap tremendous benefits in the process.  Let your business stake out some space in the blogosphere!