We have written a series of reviews recently on a number of blogging platforms that you have access to (both paid and free) but you may not have the first idea of why you should be blogging, or what indeed, is a blog?
Here at Cosmic we highly recommend that you blog regularly for your business and so over the next series of blog posts we will talk you through what is a blog, where did it originate, how is it going to be useful for you, and your business and how you can benefit from it.
First of all, let’s take a look at some stats…
- 6.7m people blog on blogging sites
- A further 12m blog via Social Media
- 77% of internet users read blogs
- Small businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads
- 61% of consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post
- 60% of businesses who blog acquire more customers
- 5th most trusted source for accurate online information
And if that wasn’t enough to convince you;
- A new blog is created somewhere in the world every half a second
- Around 175,000 blogs are added to the Internet daily
- There are over 150,000,000 blogs on the Internet
So, what is a blog?
A blog is a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.
- Blog (noun) – a journal or diary that is on the Internet.
- Blogger (noun) – a person who keeps a blog ‘Bloggers are revolutionizing the way news is shared.’
- Blog (verb) – to write a blog ‘I am going to blog before breakfast this morning.’
- Blogging (verb) – the action of writing a blog ‘Blogging is my way of sharing my passions with the world.’
When was the first blog created?
It's generally recognized that the first blog was Links.net, created by Justin Hall, while he was a Swarthmore College student in 1994. Of course, at that time they weren't called blogs, and he just referred to it as his personal homepage.
It wasn't until 1997 that the term “weblog” was coined. The word’s creation has been attributed to Jorn Barger, of the influential early blog Robot Wisdom. The term was created to reflect the process of “logging the web” as he browsed.
Did you know?
- The first blogs were hand-coded by the authors, however then came the rise of the blogging software.
- Blogger was created in 1999
- Wordpress 2003
- Many more followed as you have read about here and here.
Next time: Why you should blog for your business