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Blogging Terms and Terminology and their Meaning
Blogging for beginners seem complex at the beginning trying to figure out the different blogging terms.
This page features most of the commonly use blog terms and their meanings.
Blogging Terminology
As a blogging beginner I realize most of the terms commonly used with blogging will be new and strange to you.
So here I made a list arranged in alphabetical order of the most commonly use blog terms and gave their meanings.
Blogging terms starting with alphabet A
Autocasting : Automated form of podcasting that allows bloggers and blog readers to generate audio versions of text blogs from RSS feeds.
Audioblog : A blog where the posts consist mainly of voice recordings sent by mobile phone, sometimes with some short text message added for metadata purposes.
Archives: A sidebar link of previous posts usually organized by month.
Atom : Specific web feed format.
Blog : Short form of weblog. See meaning of blogging
Blog terms starting with alphabet B
Blogging : The act of posting on blogs.
Blogsphere : The Internet blogging community.
Blogger : Person who runs a blog. Also blogger.com, a popular blog hosting web site. Rarely: weblogger.
Blogware : A category of software that consists of a specialized form of content management system designed specifically for creating and maintaining blogs.
Blog Carnival : A blog article that contains links to other articles covering a specific topic.
Most blog carnivals are hosted by a rotating list of frequent contributors to the carnival, and serve to both generate new posts by contributors and highlight new bloggers posting matter in that subject area.
Blogstream : A play on the term mainstream that references the alternative news and information network growing up around weblogs and user driven content mechanisms.
Can also be used as a play on the phrase "thought-stream", referring to the stream of consciousness as expressed through a weblog.
BlogThis : Pioneered by Blogger.com, BlogThis links on a blog allow the reader to automatically generate a blog entry based on the blog entry he/she is reading, and post to his/her blog.
Blogroll: A list of recommended blog sites of a blogger displayed at the sidebar of the blog.
Blogging terminology for alphabet C
Catblogging : (traditionally "Friday catblogging") is the practice of posting pictures of cats, in typical cat postures and expressions, on a blog.
Sometimes a comment on the cat or the situation shown is provided.
Cats had been on web pages already, but "catblogging" as a distinct and defined practice originated on Calpundit by Kevin Drum. He also established Friday as the canonical catblogging day.
Comments : Comments are feedback readers of a blog leave at the end of each blog posts.
Comment spam : Like e-mail spam. Robot "spambots" flood a blog with advertising in the form of bogus comments.
A serious problem that requires bloggers and blog platforms to have tools to exclude some users or ban some addresses in comments.
Categories : A method of organizing blog entries by assigning each entry to a predetermined topic. Each topic links to a list of entries all with related content.
Description: Description of your site or entries are where you sell your site or posts in few words. Description briefly give the benefits of what your site or posts offers.
Blogging terms for alphabet D
Drafts : Unfinised posts saved.
Dooced : Now use to mean to lose your job over something you wrote on your blog. Coined after Heather B. Hamilton got fired after complaining about the job she does on her blog.
Terms with the alphabet F, H, I, K, L, M
Feed : A summary of blog entries displayed in newsreaders with no categories, graphics or elements. Just title and some or all of the entry post.
Feeds enables bloggers to syndicate blog entries globally so that readers do not have to visit their blog to read their content.
Feeds always carry a link back to the content entry so that readers can also visit the site to leave a comment when they feel the need to.
Feed Aggregator : Another term for newsreader.
HTML : An acronym for hypertext markup language.
Index Page : Home page of a blog or website.
Keywords : The terms that information seekers for a given niche/topic type in the search engines.
Using such terms in specific places on your site and your posts, gives you a higher chance that your blog and posts will be among the ones that will be displayed when people type such words into the search engines.
Links : Links are selectable connection from one word, picture, or information object to another using hypertext.
Linklove : Willingly posting a link to another site without any demand from the site owner to do so.
Meta tags: Meta elements are HTML or XHTML elements used to provide structured metadata about a Web page.
This information is not visible to users on a website, but is loaded into areas of a web page (placed as tags in the head section of an HTML or XHTML document) to be found by Search Engines and help them rank the site in results.
Metablogging : A blog about blogs and blogging.
Some Blogging terms starting with the alphabet P, R, S
Permalinks : Web addresses of individual posts that allows people to refer to each post.
This is what you use when you want to link to a post that relates to an article you have written whether within or outside your blog.
Ping : Software features that notifies the search engines when a new posts/comments gets published.
Pingback : The alert in the trackback system that notifies the original poster of a blog post when someone else writes an entry concerning your original post.
Posts : Written published articles on your blog with their unique URLs.
Post scheduling : Write a post and schedule it to be posted on a particular time and date. Most of the blogging softwares allow for this.
Post Slug : The part of the URL that is unique or specific to posts or entries.
Photoblog : A blog mostly containing photos, posted constantly and chronologically.
Podcasting : Contraction of ipods and broadcasting. Posting audio and video material on a blog and its RSS feed for digital players.
Plugins : Plugins are tools to extend the functionality of a blog. By allowing easy modification, customization and enchancement of your blog especially wordpress blog.
RSS : Real Simple Syndication used to annouce blog updates to readers.
RSS Aggregators : Software or online service allowing a blogger to read an RSS feed. Especially the lastest posts on their favorites blogs. Also called reader or feedreader.
RSS Feed : A file containing a site's lastest posts and read by the feed reader.
May contain only title and few lines or the entire post which is usually determined by the entry author.
Reciprocal Link : When a blogger or webmaster exchanges link with another blogger or webmaster.
Sidebar : Refers to the left and/or right hand sides of a blog that carries links like categories, archives, and so on. Anything can be displayed on the sidebar of a blog including ads.
Spambots : A program designed to collect email addresses from the internet just to build a list to which they send spam mails.
Spam Blog : A blog that contains no value but spam.
Subscribe : Buttons or links on a site that allows feedreaders to subscribe.
Static page : A static page as the name implies is a page that is not displayed in other places on the blog.
Unlike the normal posts you make on your blog that can be visible immediately on your homepage, static pages can only be viewed through the link to it on your home page.
Syndicate : RSS feature that automatically informs subscribers when new posts or comments have been published on your blog.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The use of various techniques to improve a web site's ranking in search engines in the hopes of attracting more visitors.
Search Engine Friendly : A web page designed and optimized for high search engine rankings. Such pages are rich in keywords and structured for ease of crawling.
Blogging terms for alphabet T
Tag : Single or multiple words that used in an entry that describes what the entry is about.
Tag Clouds : A visual representation of tags or keywords used in a blog.This is usually displayed in boldface by the right hand side of a blog.
Template : Used on the backend of a blog or website to present the site's information. A choice of template determines the site's look and feel. Templates can also be customized to meet one's needs.
Theme: Also referred to as template.
Timestamp : The time and date that will be automatically added to a post.
Trackback : A remote comment system used by some blogging programs and services. Trackback enables bloggers to add links to their blogs, as well as others.
Trackback Ping : A ping that signals a blog's server that a post on that blog has been commented on.
Thread : A series of comments on a post or page entry of an online discussion.
Traffic : The number of readership or visitors to a site.
Traffic log : Records the amount of visitors to a site. Where they came from. Where they got your URL from. Was it through the search engines? Or from a link on another site?.
Vlog : A video blog.
Weblog : An online dated diary listing your periodic thoughts on a specific topic, often in reverse chronogical order.
XML : An acronym for eXpensible markup language. XML is the underlying language of RSS. A standard syndication format.
Other Blogging Terms
There are more blogging terms or terminology of course but like I said these are just the commonly used ones.
Do you want to start a blog? Have you identified the reasons you want to blog?
Having clear reasons for Blogging is your first step to blogging success.
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