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By Amy Covington
Do your friends and coworkers turn to you for fashion advice?
Are you a bonafide guru when it comes to the hottest designers
and trends? Or, maybe you’re a would-be political pundit—the
next Walter Cronkite? You could simply have a riveting way of
capturing the world around you. Whatever your talent, rant or
position, you can share your inner most thoughts in a place
called the “blogosphere”—all you need is an Internet
connection.
To the uninitiated, a blog is a personal website that is
updated frequently by the author and typically consists of
commentary and favorite links, as well as photos, or anything
else really. There are essentially two rules to blogging: 1.)
update your site at least every 48 hours and 2.) make the
content somewhat compelling. It seems like everyone has a blog
nowadays; even William Shatner and Mariah Carey have one. I
mean, everyone’s story is unique, right? And since you don’t
need to know HTML, FTP or graphic design to create and
maintain
a weblog, it’s pretty much fair game for all. Blog hosting
sites, such as Radio Userland ( radio.userland.com ),
Blogstream ( www.blogstream.com ), squarespace (
www.squarespace.com ) and Blogger.com, provide software for
easy updating of your blog—just download and you’re ready to
start blogging.
Since there are literally hundreds of thousands of blogs, with
millions of words blasted into cyberspace every minute,
inevitably there are bad blogs. But not all blogs are filled
with relentless rants and whining that was meant to be witty.
Blogs are a great way to connect with like-minded—or not so
like-minded—people, exchange tips and ideas, and promote
services, products, projects and events. If you’re an artist
or
budding fashion designer, you can gain exposure for your work
through an artist blog or fashion blog. Some bloggers even
have
“fans” and sell merchandise like t-shirts and bumper stickers
imprinted with their blog site. Many companies also have
jumped
on the blog bandwagon to promote themselves and offer useful
information to their customers. Some of the best blogs are
from
regular people living ordinary lives.
If you don’t have the time or the motivation to start your
own,
you don’t have to miss out on blog-o-mania. Many people enjoy
reading other people’s blogs to engage in political discourse
or learn about subjects they are interested in and to keep
informed about what’s going on in a particular city. Food
blogs
are very popular. Find out—or share—cooking tips and recipes.
Get in a good laugh or catch up on celebrity gossip with humor
blogs and celebrity gossip blogs, or blogs hosted by
celebrities themselves.
So, if you have an idea for a blog, don’t be shy. There’s
bound
to be an existing category for your blog—and if there’s not,
you
can create your own. That’s the beauty of blogging; there are
infinite possibilities and millions of people who can access
your site
About The Author: Amy's passion is writing about the good
things in life: food, wine, fashion, and travel. Her writing
credits include Downtown San Francisco Magazine, Dining Out
San
Diego Magazine, among many others, as well as numerous
consumer
and luxury websites such as www.justluxe.com and
www.livingluxe.com
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