Blog Is: Definition, Structure, Types and Important Things in Making it

You've probably heard the term "blogging" or "blog" and how to create or read about a blog so you can benefit from it.

Or maybe you just don't know what this blog is about, or you already know the basics but want to learn more, the following definitions will give you a thorough breakdown of the topic.

Definition of Blogs

Menurut Website Hubs A blog is an online diary or journal on a website. Blog content typically includes text, images, videos, animated GIFs, and even scans of old physical offline diaries or journals and other paper documents.

Meanwhile, according to First Site Guide A blog is an online journal or informational site that displays information in reverse chronological order, with the most recent posts first. This is a forum where an author or a group of writers exchange views on a single topic.

From the two definitions above, it can be concluded that a blog is an online magazine in the form of a website that displays information containing a chronology and the latest posts appear first at the top. There is blog content in the form of text, images, videos, animated GIFs and some are scanned from old offline physical magazines or magazines.

Blog Structure

Blogs have a very large and varied appearance and arrangement, depending on the function of the blog itself. Basically blogs have a standard structure, here are some of the structures that exist on blogs:

1. Header: Usually located at the top of the blog. The header contains the blog title, blog description, and blog menu.
2. Navbar (navigation bar): Located above header. Function navbar this is for simplicity editor/blog owner to manage their blog so that it only appears when accessed by the blog owner himself.
3. Play blogs: Main blog is located in the middle of the blog. This is where posts/blog content created by blogger. The main blog also has a structure such as the title, date, author's name, and comment fields.
4. Sidebar: This element exists popular post and archive. You can also add widget such as calendar, clock, and widget other interesting. Sidebar can be placed on the left or right of the blog.
5. Footer: Located at the end or at the very bottom of the blog. Usually contains brief information about the blog owner, contact, copyright information, sponsors, and a credit website. Sometimes, footer can also be used as a place to display widget.

Types of Blogs

You want to start blogging but don't know what kind to make? You are not alone. Many people feel this way. The following are 5 types of blogs that exist in the current era:

Personal blog

A personal blog is a blog created for yourself only to fill your free time or share things from your daily life. A personal blog is basically a note online public on various topics and not aiming to make money.

Professional blog

Professional blogs are thematic in nature. The language written should not be careless, let alone with spam keywords. With a professional blog, you can also be considered an expert in a certain field and can benefit, through advertising, sales, and more.

Business blogs

A business blog is a blog that aims to gain business advantage by using the blog pages of a business blog to try to achieve business goals. For example, to reach a wider market and invite people to buy a product or service.

Business blogs are often used by goods or service companies such as Tokopedia and Shopee, because these blogs are very useful for generating sales traffic and increasing website authority.

Blog niche

Niche blogs are blogs whose content is only focused on certain content. This blog only covers one specific topic on its page. Niche blogs rely more on targeted keywords to make it easier for many people to access the blog and earn money from AdSense.

Affiliate blogs

Affiliate blogs are blogs that allow you to earn commissions if you succeed in getting other people interested in buying or using a product.

Things that Must Be Fulfilled in Creating a Blog

Decide on a platform to create a blog

To start creating a blog, you need to determine the platform you are using first. There are many of the best blogging platforms that can help you create a blog easily.

WordPress.org

WordPress.org is open source software that is free to use. However, WordPress is the most popular content management system or content management system. More than 35% of blogs and websites use this platform.

Many WordPress.org users because of the ease of use, attractive appearance, and the many powerful plugins available.

So, to create a blog on this platform, you must first purchase hosting and domain name services. Instructions for hosting and selecting a domain are discussed in the next section.

WordPress.com

Almost similar to WordPress.org, WordPress.com is also a website creation system that uses the WordPress hosting server. So your blog name contains a domain .wordpress.com.

WordPress.com is free to use, but has many drawbacks. For example, plugins and themes are not available. To get plugins and themes that suit your needs, you have to spend more.

Blogger

Blogger or Blogspot is a CMS platform from Google. Thanks to the advantages of Blogger, now you can more easily take advantage of Google services such as AdSense, AdWords, Google Analytics, and others.

Well, almost the same as WordPress.com, the drawback is that your blog name will be added to the domain .blogspot.com. Of course, it is not suitable for professional or commercial purposes.

Choose a niche blog

A niche blog is a specific topic or topics covered in a blog. In other words, the content displayed on the blog is part of the same topic. For example the topic of technology, cooking, travel, beauty and the like.

When creating a blog, it's actually better not to specify a blog niche, so make a mixed blog. However, if you still want to start a niche blog, you can focus more and create articles more easily, be recognized as an expert, and easily earn money from advertising.

Buy the right hosting service

After choosing a blog niche and platform, you need to buy hosting first. Hosting is a place to store blog files so they can be accessed online.

There are several types of hosting that you can use, namely:

• shared hosting: the most affordable and easy-to-use type of hosting;
• Cloud hosting: type of hosting with large resources and ease of use;
• VPS Hosting: type of hosting with large capacity and can be managed independently by requiring technical skills;
• WordPress Hosting: same as shared hosting, but specifically for WordPress users.

Define a domain name

If you have chosen a web host, you will also need a domain name as an address to access your blog. For example the domain name DailySocial.id namely www.dailysocial.id

You can benefit from choosing this domain name only if you are using WordPress.org. If you use WordPress.com, the domain name will have a standard domain extension, for example [blogname].wordpress.com or namablog.blogspot.com.

Choosing a domain name should not be arbitrary. Because the domain name is your blog brand. So make sure your blog name is short and easy to write. You don't have to use a combination of numbers and hyphens to make your blog more memorable.

Those are the things you should know about the creation and benefits of a blog. Through the blog you can share things that you know and even benefit from it. Happy creativity!