Blogging... for business?
by aisling d'art ©2006
The word "blog" is short for weblog, or a series of website posts--usually short notes or essays--related to one topic. Most often, people are posting about their lives and experiences.
Like the annual school essay, "How I spent my summer vacation," many people write in their blogs describing how they spent their day, or they may share personal opinions as if writing an editorial.
I've kept an online diary since the mid-1990s. I was one of the first to do this, long before it was called a blog. (I'm member #44 of Open Pages, started in July 1996.)
I wrote my pages by hand, using HTML, and posted them daily. It was tedious, but I also felt driven to do this during some difficult pre-divorce years.
I talked about my life and about my art. When people asked to see my art, I posted it online, and Aisling.net was launched.
Today, I blog more than ever... via LiveJournal and Blogger, mostly.
I've tried other blogging sites such as MySpace.com, but didn't like them nearly as well.
As a professional artist, blogging is a way to connect with others--artists, collectors, and friends--as well as general PR.
The "voice" (the way that you write, and "sound" in text) should be uniquely yours. Just as we step up saturation slightly to make photos of our art look more "real" on the monitor, it can be helpful to write bigger, bolder, and more stylized than you would say the same thing in real life.
What's key is a clean, simple page design, with navigation that makes it easy for the reader to find related (date or topic) posts.
Illustrations enhance the reading experience, when you're talking about art. Ditto audio effects, if you can add them. (Some blog software limits the kinds of files that you can embed in your blog.)
There are blogging programs (software) that you can install on your site to automate the process as much as
possible. These include WordPress (free) and Movable Type.
There are also content management systems (called "CMS") that can be adapted to blogging. Some are free, like Mambo/Joomla and some PHP products.
Blogger is another option, hosted at their site or at yours. LiveJournal posts can be embedded in your website, too.
Blogging is a huge field and it can be an asset or a time sink, depending upon how you manage your time.
Related articles at this site
Live Journal - pros and cons - An overview.
Embed your Live Journal entries at your website
The perils of Live Journal, My Space, etc. - Keep it professional!
Related links:
- Popular blogging websites
- Blogger - Host your blog at their website or theirs. It's free, and fairly easy. Minor HTML skills are helpful for tweaking the template, but otherwise not necessary.
- LiveJournal - An easy interface makes this a prime choice for many people. The blog is hosted at their website, free of charge. You can also embed your blog in your website automatically. (Paid accounts have more embedding options.)
- My Space - Enormously popular with young adults and some celebrities (and wannabes), MySpace.com is also categorically disliked by people who object to slow-loading pages and visual clutter.
- WordPress - Open-source software to install on your website. Popular with many people, it's not always easy for beginners to set up and customize.
- Movable Type - Not free, but highly respected and widely used for corporate blogs.
- Mambo - A very simple, free content management system (CMS). The learning curve may make it impractical for some beginners, and even for some pros.
- Joomla - Evolved from Mambo, and--like Mambo--it's open source, with a steep learning curve for some.
- Open Source CMS - Review and test open source options before installing them. This site offers a wide array of current options for blogging and website management.
Blogging software
Content Management Systems/Software