WordPress is the most popular blogging software on the planet.
Between the hosted service at WordPress.com and the self-hosted
software available at WordPress.org, millions of bloggers use WordPress
today! That’s impressive. And with WordPress, you can truly tailor a blog to
your own tastes and needs.
With no cost for using the benefits of the WordPress platform to publish
content on the Web, WordPress is as priceless as it is free. WordPress
makes writing, editing, and publishing content on the Internet a delightful,
fun, and relatively painless experience whether you’re a publisher, designer,
developer — or just blogging as a hobby.
journals to become tools for real journalism, business, and authorship.
A blog is a fabulous tool for publishing your diary of thoughts and ideas;
however, blogs also serve as excellent tools for business, editorial journalism,
news, and entertainment. Here are some ways that people use blogs:
. Personal: A blogger can use a blog as a journal or diary. You¡¯re considered
a personal blogger if you use your blog mainly to discuss topics
related to you or your life . your family, your cats, your children, or
your interests (for example, technology, politics, sports, art, or photography).
Lisa¡¯s blog, which you find at http://lisasabin-wilson.
com, is an example of a personal blog.
. Business: A blogger can use a blog to promote her company¡¯s business
services or products. Blogs are very effective tools for promotion and
marketing, and business blogs usually offer helpful information to readers
and consumers, such as sales events and product reviews. Business
blogs also let readers provide feedback and ideas, which can help a
company improve its services. A good example of a business blog is
ServerBeach, which you can find on the hosted WordPress.com service
at http://serverbeach.wordpress.com.
. Media/journalism: Popular news outlets, such as Fox News, MSNBC, and
CNN, are using blogs on their Web sites to provide information on current
events, politics, and news on a regional, national, and international
level. These news organizations often have editorial bloggers, too. CNN¡¯s
Anderson Cooper, for example, maintains a blog on CNN¡¯s Web site at
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com, with news and commentary from the
Anderson Cooper 360¡Æ television show. Readers are invited to join in,
too, by leaving comments about the news stories.
. Government: Number 10 (www.number10.gov.uk) is the official site of
the British Prime Minister from his headquarters at 10 Downing Street
in London. (See Figure 1-1.) The Prime Minister and his staff provide
content by way of blog posts, photos, and videos, and integrate feeds from
their Twitter and Facebook accounts. Governments use blogs to post news
and updates to the web quickly, as well as integrate social-media tools as a
means and way to interact with their citizens and representatives.
. Citizen journalism: Blogging has provided people opportunities to
report and analyze news and information on a national and international
level. Citizens are using blogs with the intention of keeping the media
and politicians in check by fact-checking news stories and exposing
inconsistencies. Major cable news programs interview many of these
bloggers because the mainstream media recognize the importance of the
citizen voice that¡¯s emerging via blogs. An example of citizen journalism
is Power Line at http://powerlineblog.com.
Professional: Professional bloggers, a category that’s growing every
day, can blog for companies or Web sites. Blog networks, such
as WeblogsInc.com, hire bloggers to write about certain topics.
Additionally, several services match advertisers with bloggers, and the
advertisers pay the bloggers to post about their products. Check out
Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger blog at http://problogger.net. Darren
is considered the grandfather of all professional bloggers.
The Web sites and blogs we provide in this list run on the WordPress platform.
Using WordPress as a Content Management System
You hear it a lot if you browse different Web sites that publish posts about
WordPress: ¡°WordPress is more than a blogging platform; it¡¯s a full content
management system.¡± What does that mean?
A content management system (CMS) is a platform that lets you run a full
Web site on your domain. This means that WordPress, in addition to a blog,
allows you to create pages and build additional features into your Web site
that have nothing to do with the content on your blog.
A Web site and a blog are two different things. Although a Web site can contain
a blog, a blog cannot contain a full Web site. We know it sounds confusing,
but after you read this section and explore the differences between the
two, you¡¯ll have a better understanding.
A blog is a chronological display of content . most often, written by the
blog author. The posts are published and, usually, categorized into topics
and archived by date. Blog posts can have comments activated so readers
can leave their feedback and the author can respond, creating a dialogue
about the blog post.
A Web site is a collection of published pages and different sections that offer
the visitor a different experience. A Web site can incorporate a blog but usually
contains other sections and features. These other features include
. Photo galleries: Albums of photos uploaded and collected in a specific
area so that visitors can browse through and comment on them.
. E-commerce stores: Fully integrated shopping area into which you can
upload products for sale and from which your visitors can purchase
them.
. Discussion forums: Where visitors can join, create discussion threads,
and respond to one another in specific threads of conversation.
Between the hosted service at WordPress.com and the self-hosted
software available at WordPress.org, millions of bloggers use WordPress
today! That’s impressive. And with WordPress, you can truly tailor a blog to
your own tastes and needs.
With no cost for using the benefits of the WordPress platform to publish
content on the Web, WordPress is as priceless as it is free. WordPress
makes writing, editing, and publishing content on the Internet a delightful,
fun, and relatively painless experience whether you’re a publisher, designer,
developer — or just blogging as a hobby.
Introducing the World of Blogging
Blogging is an evolutionary process, and blogs have evolved beyond personaljournals to become tools for real journalism, business, and authorship.
A blog is a fabulous tool for publishing your diary of thoughts and ideas;
however, blogs also serve as excellent tools for business, editorial journalism,
news, and entertainment. Here are some ways that people use blogs:
. Personal: A blogger can use a blog as a journal or diary. You¡¯re considered
a personal blogger if you use your blog mainly to discuss topics
related to you or your life . your family, your cats, your children, or
your interests (for example, technology, politics, sports, art, or photography).
Lisa¡¯s blog, which you find at http://lisasabin-wilson.
com, is an example of a personal blog.
. Business: A blogger can use a blog to promote her company¡¯s business
services or products. Blogs are very effective tools for promotion and
marketing, and business blogs usually offer helpful information to readers
and consumers, such as sales events and product reviews. Business
blogs also let readers provide feedback and ideas, which can help a
company improve its services. A good example of a business blog is
ServerBeach, which you can find on the hosted WordPress.com service
at http://serverbeach.wordpress.com.
. Media/journalism: Popular news outlets, such as Fox News, MSNBC, and
CNN, are using blogs on their Web sites to provide information on current
events, politics, and news on a regional, national, and international
level. These news organizations often have editorial bloggers, too. CNN¡¯s
Anderson Cooper, for example, maintains a blog on CNN¡¯s Web site at
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com, with news and commentary from the
Anderson Cooper 360¡Æ television show. Readers are invited to join in,
too, by leaving comments about the news stories.
. Government: Number 10 (www.number10.gov.uk) is the official site of
the British Prime Minister from his headquarters at 10 Downing Street
in London. (See Figure 1-1.) The Prime Minister and his staff provide
content by way of blog posts, photos, and videos, and integrate feeds from
their Twitter and Facebook accounts. Governments use blogs to post news
and updates to the web quickly, as well as integrate social-media tools as a
means and way to interact with their citizens and representatives.
. Citizen journalism: Blogging has provided people opportunities to
report and analyze news and information on a national and international
level. Citizens are using blogs with the intention of keeping the media
and politicians in check by fact-checking news stories and exposing
inconsistencies. Major cable news programs interview many of these
bloggers because the mainstream media recognize the importance of the
citizen voice that¡¯s emerging via blogs. An example of citizen journalism
is Power Line at http://powerlineblog.com.
Professional: Professional bloggers, a category that’s growing every
day, can blog for companies or Web sites. Blog networks, such
as WeblogsInc.com, hire bloggers to write about certain topics.
Additionally, several services match advertisers with bloggers, and the
advertisers pay the bloggers to post about their products. Check out
Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger blog at http://problogger.net. Darren
is considered the grandfather of all professional bloggers.
The Web sites and blogs we provide in this list run on the WordPress platform.
Using WordPress as a Content Management System
You hear it a lot if you browse different Web sites that publish posts about
WordPress: ¡°WordPress is more than a blogging platform; it¡¯s a full content
management system.¡± What does that mean?
A content management system (CMS) is a platform that lets you run a full
Web site on your domain. This means that WordPress, in addition to a blog,
allows you to create pages and build additional features into your Web site
that have nothing to do with the content on your blog.
A Web site and a blog are two different things. Although a Web site can contain
a blog, a blog cannot contain a full Web site. We know it sounds confusing,
but after you read this section and explore the differences between the
two, you¡¯ll have a better understanding.
A blog is a chronological display of content . most often, written by the
blog author. The posts are published and, usually, categorized into topics
and archived by date. Blog posts can have comments activated so readers
can leave their feedback and the author can respond, creating a dialogue
about the blog post.
A Web site is a collection of published pages and different sections that offer
the visitor a different experience. A Web site can incorporate a blog but usually
contains other sections and features. These other features include
. Photo galleries: Albums of photos uploaded and collected in a specific
area so that visitors can browse through and comment on them.
. E-commerce stores: Fully integrated shopping area into which you can
upload products for sale and from which your visitors can purchase
them.
. Discussion forums: Where visitors can join, create discussion threads,
and respond to one another in specific threads of conversation.
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