Information as of October 2009

Blogs

WordPress ()

TypePad ()

Blogger ()

At a glance…

  • The term “blog” is derived from the words “web log.”
  • Blogs are like online diaries: chronological records of information.
  • Blogs started as a means for people to chronicle their thoughts and activities online. They are still used primarily for this purpose.
  • The most popular blogs are updated often, at least once a week. Any less than that and your blog appears dormant.
  • Blogs can also be used for discussions, press releases, newsletters, and to display photos.
  • Stats:
  • WordPress.com –31.1 million monthly US visitors.
  • TypePad.com – 9.4 million monthly US visitors.
  • Blogger.com – 19 million monthly US visitors.

What is it?

A blog is a record of information, essentially a journal published in a web environment. Blogs feature written entries that are published and available for other readers to respond to with comments. Popular blogs generate a great deal of discussion and serve as a medium between blog authors and their readers.

The primary feature of a blog is its written content. Posts to a blog are displayed on a webpage in reverse chronological order (the newest is at the top). Blogs are all about publishing what you want when you want––controlling your online presence and overall image by engaging readers in an ongoing conversation.

The content of a blog can range from a simple collection of writing by one person, to a multi-contributor multi-media experience. A blog can be 100% original content, or it can be exclusively content generated elsewhere and brought in as a collection to represent your interests. Most blogs fall somewhere in between.

Usefulness

Engaging website readers. A blog is another communication tool in your e-toolbox. More casual than a traditional website and more in depth than Twitter( an organization’s blog can be integrated with an existing website or it can standalone. An ideal blog would be the human voice of your organization that makes a deep connection with supporters.

Site-wide enhancement. A blog can provide your website and your organization’s social media sites with dynamic and current content without any additional work. Although the content on a web page may not change, a link to a frequently updated blog will give supporters a sense of what your organization’s current focus is and what the issues are that matter.

Increased exposure. A blog provides another web presence for your organization that may attract a different readership than your website. There are countless ways for others to find your blog, including other blogs and websites linking to you, search enginelink to glossary results, and old fashioned word-of-mouth. In any case, it’s an opportunity to engage new people, spread your message, and gather support.

How is a blog different from a website?

The primary difference is that blogging software makes it simple for you to communicate and publish your message. Blogs are more flexible than traditional websites in that they arefast and simple to update and havethe tools you need to categorize and archive searchable content as you go.

A blog is built as time progresses and new posts are added—and that’s what people expect. When you launch a website, visitors expect it to be an all encompassing experience that includes information about your organization, contact information, your mission statement, current events, and answers to their questions.

With a blog, the expectation is that the visitor will see the latest entries you have posted, and if that is interesting enough to them they will dig deeper into past blog posts. Blog posts are focused on timely information, while regular web pages may feature information that doesn’t need to be updated as often.

Blogs are also a forum for two-way conversation. You are in charge of the information going out to your readers, but you can—and should—allow for readers to respond with comments. For many blogs, the real attraction is in the conversation around what was originally written.

Blogs also differ from websites in how they are indexed by search engines. One feature of a blog is that it automatically “pings” search engines each time it is updated, signaling them to come and re-index the site to include the latest information. Therefore, blog posts tend to land higher on searches than information posted on a traditional website.

Getting Started

Before establishing a blog, do a little brainstorming. Ask yourself what you hope to accomplish. Some answers might be that you want to:

  • Increase your organization’s profile in the community.
  • Keep others informed of your activities. (e.g. sharing photos from a recent event, thanking donors, and recapping the event for those who couldn’t attend.)
  • Promoting and providing health information.
  • Providing an additional way to engage with the public.
  • Driving traffic to your website.

Then ask:

  • How much time do you want to spend blogging? How much time will it take to achieve your blogging goals?
  • Who in your organization will blog? How often will they blog?
  • On what topics will they post?

Elements to Consider

Planning Content

Readers enjoy blogs that update frequently and provide relevant, important information in a concise format. However, they also like to read blogs that provide a healthy mix of media, including photos, videos, and sound files. At the very least, include graphically interesting features in your blog design or theme. That said, be aware that black text on a white background is easiest to read and should always be your first choice, unless you have a compelling reason to do otherwise.

Planning Length

Don’t try to fill a blog post with pages of information. Boil your blog entry down to the most important details you want to give your readers. Most bloggers keep their blog posts on the punchy side, an average of 500 words or less. Unless they’re extremely interested in your subject matter, most web users read by scanning web pages, not by reading them word for word. Make your words count.

Tags

Blogs include “tags,” which are keywords pertaining to the blog entry’s subject matter. These tags, which are chosen by the author, should be applied to each blog post. These tags help readers find blog posts in keyword searches and archive browsing. A post should contain as many tags as applicable to help users find it. Before you get started blogging, brainstorm a list of possible tags that you would use consistently. Your readers shouldn’t have to look too hard to find the information they seek.

Promotion

Aside from having wonderful and informative content, you will have to put in a little work to get people to go to your blog. A good promotion practice is cross-promoting your blog through other social media and traditional media outlets. Linking to your own blog through your other projects will inform supporters that you’re blogging and will encourage them to engage with you. Other ways to attract activity to your blog include:

  • Adding your blog web address to your email signature line and using it on every email.
  • Creating enticing, newspaper-styled headlines for your blogs, so readers will want to find out more.
  • Publishing to your blog on a regular basis so search engines know where to find you and your readers stay happy and engaged.
  • Respondingpromptly, thoughtfully and publicly to comments and questions left by readers.
  • Linking to your blog when you post anywhere else on the web.
  • Participating in discussions and offering to be a guest columnist on related blogs.
  • Plugging your blog into other social media accounts. For example, Facebooklink to glossary offers applications that allow you to display your latest posts, and WordPresslink to glossary offers instant integration into your Twitterlink to glossary feed, if you have one.

Storage

If you aim for a content rich environment, including not just text but photographs, video, and/or audio, storage may quickly become an issue. The three popular blog services discussed here provide basic storage features. Methods of storing files include:

  • Storing media online with the blog service, although you may have to pay a fee to access more storage space.
  • Storing media on your own server, which you likely have if you have your own website.
  • Storing media on other social media sites (YouTube, Flickr link 2 to glossary) and embedding them in posts.
  • Storing media on other file storage sites (Box.net) and linking to them.

Privacy

Blogs are great for outreach, but they can also be used as a means of internal communication or a way to interact with a group of select individuals. If desired, you can protect the privacy of the blog and the comments posted by members by changing the security settings. Most sites, including the ones discussed here, offer the option to create a private blog.

Domain names/Hosting options

Most blog services register blogs under their domain names (web addresses). For example, creating a blog with a name of “vaccinenews” on a blog hosting service will generate a web address something like “

Most professional bloggers opt to host their blogs with other online hosting services or on their own servers so they can choose their own domain name, such as “ This option is offered on the three blog services discussed here, but they may charge fees depending on what decisions you make regarding self-hosting.

Measuring Success

It takes time to build a following on your blog and to get a feel for content that works. You may not have significant data to analyze until three or six months into your blogging project. While you’re waiting for stats to accumulate, other questions can be asked:

  • Are you posting new items regularly?
  • Does your readership find value in what you offer?
  • Are they actively commenting on your posts?
  • Has anyone linked to your blog?
  • Are readers subscribing to your blog vs. visiting your blog directly? Subscriptions are a good indicator of success because a reader subscription means that they value your content enough to allow you to send it to them regularly––wanting to hear what you have to say immediately rather than checking in on occasion.
  • Are people visiting your site because of the blog? That is, is the blog referring visitors to your site?

Other resources for analyzing the traffic on your blog include:

  • Google Analytics( Note: you can’t put this on WordPress, but you can add it to your website and see if traffic is coming from your blog to your site.
  • Shiny Stat(
  • Stat Counter(
  • Technorati (
  • Quantcast(

Notables

WordPress(

WordPress is a free blogging service that hosts private or public blogs. Their content management software offers free “themes” to help you design your blog, and they give you up to three gigabytes of file storage, so you can provide your readers with a rich reading environment that includes pictures, videos, sound files, and other content. Additional premium services are available for a fee.

Dashboard

In WordPress, the menu along the left hand side of your website administration page is called the “dashboard.” This is where you control each of the various elements of your blog.

There are two types of dashboards. The main dashboard, called the “global dashboard,” lets users oversee their entire accounts.

Each blog created is given an individual dashboard that allows users to make specific changes. The global dashboard is the first thing you see when you sign in. You will likely see a summary of your latest activity, a “Tools” section, a “Profile” section, and a “Dashboard” box with access to more features. A menu bar at the top has links to the dashboard for additional blogs and more features. Most anything needed to be done with a WordPress account can be accessed through the Dashboard.

Layout

WordPress offers over sixty “themes,” or layout designs for your blog. Keep in mind that black text on a white background is easiest to read, and that all themes do not support all features. When you are building your blog, you can try different themes out with a click of the mouse. Your blog content is automatically laid out in the new style, so you can try it out before you go live.

Posting

WordPress makes adding text simple. As shown in the illustration [direction], its visual text editor mimics a familiar word processing program. You can compose a new blog post on the website, or cut and paste text from a word processing program. For those who know HTML (link to glossary.doc) code, there is an HTML code editor available. When you’re done composing your message, you have the option of saving your work as a draft or making it public right away.

WordPress also offers the option to create an entry and schedule the content to be published on any given date and time in the future.

Plug-ins

WordPressfeatures the ability to add widgets to your blog design. Widgets are small programs that you add to the larger collection of code that composes your blog. They can come from your blog provider or a third-party programmer, and are usually tools (e.g. a calendar or hits tracker) or something that brings in content from elsewhere on the web (e.g. an RSS feed or video sharing ) (link 2 to glossary.doc). Widgets add depth and richness of content to your blog.

WordPress offers users statistics on the readership of their blogs, including where visitors are coming from, which entries they view, and which search terms they used to find your blog.

As mentioned previously, additional premium services are available, including the ability to host your WordPress blog on your own domain, adding additional storage space up to 25 gigabytes, the ability to remove advertisements, and the ability to design your own “theme” (using CSS link to glossary). You can also use their VideoPress ( service to convert your uploaded videos into a more web friendly viewing format.

Getting Started

The following are steps for setting up a blog on WordPress.

  • Navigate to Wordpress ( on your web browser.
  • Click the “Sign up now” button.
  • Enter your desired username, password, and email address.
  • Select your blog domain name, title, and primary language. Enable your blog for public viewing only if you want your blog indexed on search engines. NOTE: once you choose a domain name (e.g. yourblog.WordPress.com), you can’t change it, so double-check that it looks exactly as you want it. The title of the blog, however, can be changed at any time.
  • Complete your registration by clicking the link in the confirmation email WordPress sends you.
  • Update your profile by providing the name of your organization and a paragraph or two about it.
  • Log in and get started!
  • Choose a theme—you might consider a theme with a customizable header so you can upload a design using your group’s logo and colors.
  • Add content to your sidebar (the area to the side of the main content area).
  • Add links to other sites of interest, including your organization’s website(s) and social media accounts.
  • Add useful widgets, including RSS feeds.

Publish a few articles you have written and edited in advance. Don’t forget to include mixed media content, perhaps a video and some photographs.

WordPress is one of the most popular blog hosting services on the Internet. If you encounter problems or want to know how to perform a specific task, ask other WordPress users you know or conduct a few search engine queries. Other WordPress users likely have asked similar questions in the past or found assistance reading articles or other blog posts.

TypePad(

TypePad is a low cost fee-based blog hosting service. The site offers different levels of pricing and services depending on your blogging needs. It supports private and public blogs and includes the option for multiple author accounts on some price levels.

TypePad’s content management software offers hundreds of themes to help you design your blog layout. They also give you a minimum of 100 megabytes of file storage space, which might be plenty for a basic blog, but will come up short if you intend to add large amounts of video, pictures, and audio files. Blog owners do have the option to host their blogs on their own domains.

TypePadhas something it calls its dashboard.However, unlike the version used by WordPress, it is more like a welcome screen than a master control panel. Users do get to control the themes of their blogs, which may be tested with a click of the mouse before going live.

TypePad makes adding text simple. Its visual text editor mimics a typical word processing program and lets authors compose entries on the website or cut and paste from a word processing program.

For those who are familiar with HTML (link to glossary.doc) code, an HTML code editor is provided. When you’re done creating a blog post, you have the option of saving a draft or publishing it immediately. TypePad offers the option to create an entry and schedule the content to be published on any given date in the future.