Today, blogging has become a phenomenon. Blogging has captured the imagination of everyone, from celebrities to sportspersons to students to politicians. Everyday, almost 175,000 new blogs and over 1.6 million blog updates take place over the internet, according to Technorati - a firm that tracks blogs. By the end of January 2007, 63.2 million blogs were being tracked by Technorati!

Why Blogs?

If the above data doesn't sound tempting to you then get a load of this. Experts believe this explosive and unheralded growth of the blogging industry is bound to continue for some more years to come. Today, blogging is increasingly being considered as a highly effective marketing tool and there has never been a better time to start your own personal blog than now! Based on the outcome from a recent survey conducted by research firm MarketingSherpa, blogs are the #4 most effective tools for sales leads generation. Their excellent responses to search engines and webspiders have made them very endearing and valuable. They are also the fastest way to build websites - if you don't know how to build a website in HTML you can use a blog instead.

Blog History

Derived from the term "Web log," blog is a simply a web page or a website that is partly an online journal or diary, and partly an open forum on which readers can comment. You can either update your blog on a daily basis, or write as per convenience on a weekly, monthly, or any other frequency basis.

Typically, blogs are short, expressive entries (around 200-300 words) and may or may not include photographs, links, etc. Blogging is a technique which needs to be practiced in order to improve. Since blogs are open to everyone, other readers can post their comments or reactions to your writing and continue the dialogue further.

The world of blogs or "blogosphere" literally has several thousands of blogs on every topic you can think of! While many of the blogs are hosted on public blog sites such as Blogger, Windows Live Spaces etc, others are hosted on business or individual websites.

Blog for Profit or Fun

Whether you decide to start your own blog for fun, social interaction or for profit and business expansion, blogging is just plain fun. Moreover, like other marketing tools used by marketing experts, blogs are at their effective best when used correctly. So, even if you a novice at blogging our suggestions will show you how to start your very own profitable blog.

• Sell advertising space. When you sell text links or banners on your blogs, you are essentially selling advertising space to other businesses for the promotion of their services or products. This blog strategy is only going to work if your blog enjoys high page rank on Google and other search engines.

• Offer affiliate advertisements. As a blog owner, you may wish to promote your affiliates by offering visitors links or banners to their products/services. But this would involve setting up your entire blog around the affiliate product or service. You must concentrate on building links to specific website pages for targeted traffic.

• And the simplest way to make profit from blogging is by allowing Google Adsense or any other ads on your blog. Whenever visitors click these ads, you will make money. You can visit www.google.com/adsense for more details. As you can see, there are many ways in which you can not just start your own blog but also make money from it. Use the strategies that are viable for you, match your skill level, and can fit your personal schedule.

Blogs for Business

However, even if you are starting a blog just for social interaction and sharing of ideas there is no harm in make some money as well. If you are starting a blog for business purposes then remember that your competitors are most likely using blogs as well to reach to their customers more effectively. A business blog will help you educate your customers about your business while also making it easy for you to keep pace with a dynamic market.

Simply said, blogs allow your audience to submit their comments, interact with you, exchange dialogues on the information you share with them, allowing you to constantly improve your services and expand your reach at a level where it counts.

A personal blog is a smart statement, so why not start blogging now!