This article is on a “web 2.0” style combination website/blog. It has (1) pages like a website and, (2) a journal with dated articles. Search engines like blogs for a variety of reasons explained below. Today this website/blog is coming up on the first page out of 241,000 results in a search for Central Oregon Coast Computer Services.
Below are 10 characteristics of a blog style website. In the beginning blogs had a reputation for meaningless rambling. But now even the White House has a blog.
1. The homepage has a series of articles arranged by their dates, like a journal. The newest articles are at the top. The oldest articles are at the bottom or in the archives.
2. The blog may or may not also have pages, the way a web 1.0 website does.
3. The oldest articles are stored in the Archives. Readers can access these by clicking Archives. Some blogs are thousands of pages long. The writer may have been adding articles known as “posts” for years.
4. There’s a list of Categories or Tags, which are like a Table of Contents. You can click on a Category or a Tag to see articles on that topic.
5. There’s usually a list of useful or favorite links, often called a Blogroll.
6. Under each article or post on the blog the reader can leave a Comment. The Comment will be posted on the internet under the article. The webmaster can reply to the Comment as well. Often other readers comment on each others’ Comments.
7. The Blog or Web 2.0 is therefore Interactive. The visitors can add material.
8. Often the webmaster of a Blog or combination Website/Blog adds articles almost daily. Therefore the information is up to date.
9. Blogs often have more visitors than regular 1.0 websites. The same people might visit daily or weekly to see the new material. So one visitor repeatedly returning means more visits.
10. The addition of new material daily or weekly helps get more of the articles listed by the search engines. This creates more visitors, which increases the search engine rank, and the cycle goes on.