Information - Publishing a blog

When blogs first started gaining popularity, they were mostly used to allow individuals to journal, gossip, or just vent about whatever thoughts popped into their heads. But gradually, web designers realized they could harness the power of the blog to easily develop powerful, customized web sites without significant coding.

Here are some key benefits of creating or building a site with a blog:

1.Wealth of plug-ins and add-ons for customization
Anyone building a site with a modern blogging tool has access to thousands of free (or low-cost) plug-ins to expand and enrich a website in ways previously only available from expensive developers or high-end programmers. In addition, the wealth of design templates available means initial design efforts could be quite a bit less than it would be with traditional website building from scratch.

2. Ease of maintenance
Modern blogging tools make updating a website easy as pie. Site owners can perform simple edits and changes without needing to use complex code. Furthermore, one can change the entire look of a site simply by changing its template.

3. Increased traffic
The very nature of a blog, with its ability to easily post frequent updates, lends itself to more readers visiting the site more often, particularly when compared with traditional, non-blog-oriented websites. This increased traffic can readily translate into income opportunities, thanks to a plethora of apps and plug-ins providing easy integration into blogging platforms.

4. Efficient navigation
One of the most important aspects of any website is its navigability. If users cannot find what they are looking for in a timely manner, they leave. Blogging tools have efficient, user-friendly navigation tools built right into the system, helping to ensure your site’s content is easily found by all users.

So, if you’re creating a website for someone for whom these benefits might be important (lots of people!),
then definitely consider using a blogging tool.

Personal sites can actually be hosted – for free! – by a blog company like Google’s Blogger (http://www.blogger.com) or WordPress (http://www.wordpress.com). Both companies offer the facility for anyone to create a new blog with or without a custom domain.

Other sites can also take advantage of the power of a blogging tool, even if they don’t host blogging themselves. Thankfully, WordPress also makes its software available – for free! – for other host companies to install on their own servers. Most, if not all, popular hosts (like those listed in the previous section) provide customers with quick and easy installations of WordPress.