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Many people involved in Internet marketing are still confused sometimes frightened by the word blog. A blog, short for Weblog is a series of online posts, mainly informal, used originally to ‘vent’ in an open forum. For many years, blogs were defined as text-based websites that kept records of days or events, similar to a captain's log on a ship, or that described personal events like an online diary. However, this started to change as the people who kept blogs became more diverse. The more bloggers began to explore the limits of the medium and of the technology that made it possible, the more the boundaries of what could be called a "blog" expanded.

Today, blogs can be found in many formats. There are video blogs, photo blogs; there are even mobile blogging devices. It is evident that the blogosphere (a collective term for the world of blogs) is going to be an ever-changing world. Between all of the different forces that are constantly expanding and reshaping the world of blogs, it is clear that, what a blog is or is not will never remain fixed for very long.

So, Why should you use a blog? Well that one is a little more difficult to answer than one would think. It really depends on what you want to achieve. If you simply want to air your views or thoughts in public, you could start a simple social blog. You can give your address to your friends and they can read and add comments as a way to communicate for the world to see. If you have a business you can very effectively use a blog as a way to advertise, help create a buzz surrounding a new product or event or use a blog to let clients know what is happening with your business. If you want to start an online business, blogs can be used for that too. Click here to see an example of an Internet marketing blog.

What can you blog about? Just about anything. Try using your favorite search engine to find a blog. You can come up with anything from celebrity gossip too horse grooming techniques. There is literally a blog for every occasion.

What are the advantages of blogging? Simply put, there are many. A blog gives you the same worldwide reach that a regular website offers, but unlike a traditional website, a blog can be free or very low cost to start up. Again, unlike regular websites, blogs require little or no technical knowledge to set up. They are extremely easy to maintain and can be up and running inside of 20 mins. If you want to make changes to your blog, whether it is the text, photos, graphics, font, color, layout or template it can be done instantly and it will not cost you a cent (sorry penny.) You can even become employed as a blogger, there are many people employed by large corporations just to set up and maintain blogs. You should by now be starting to see the potential of blogging.

How do you start a blog? My favorite platform (the place that allows you to write and update your blog) is Blogger.com. Registering and setting up your blog is completely free at Blogger.com and the process is so simple a 9-year could do. In fact a 9 year old has done it. (My niece had a favorite video games and toys blog.) There are many other places to start your blog such as WordPress, Moveable Type, Greymatter or Live Journal to name a few. Do a search, your will come up with hundreds more.

Blogging is definitely the wave of the future. Some marketers even believe that in time to come blogs will take over from traditional websites. I would suggest you get on board before the ship sets sail.