A blog is a type of web site that is used primarily to publish articles and updates in a diary like fashion. Blogs differ from a regular corporate web site in this key respect. In a corporate web site or an e-commerce site, the focus is often on information that does not change very often.

Regular web sites should aim to make the most important information the most easily accessible. Blogs work on the basis of a regularly changing timeline and are read differently to a regular web site. So for example if you need a plumber and use the web to search for a local plumber you will probably check the contact details page and any examples of previous work. However with a blog, you are more likely to subscribe to the blog as you would with a magazine and read the blog articles because the subject of the blog appeals to you.

In general, blogs are easy to set up and can be free of charge if you use a hosted service such as WordPress.com, Blogger.com or TypePad.com. However, you may wish to have a large degree of control over the customisation
and design of your blog and to integrate it closely with your organisation’s existing web site. In this case you will can still use freely available blogging software such as WordPress, but will probably have to pay a professional to do the design and integration. Even if you opt for a paid solution, you will still have the ease of use associated with free, hosted services.

Because of the low barrier to entry in setting up a blog, many different types of blogs have emerged and they are written by a huge variety of people and organisations. Some people use blogs as a way to keep their families up to date with the events of their lives, others use it to experiment with writing, while others write about hobbies and niche interests which can find a large readership on the internet. Organisation can use blogs to issue campaign updates or present a less formal aspect of their corporation.

Some blogs are direct equivelants of traditional newspaper columns and some blogs are seasonal covering a voyage or a major sporting league. Some blogs do no even have any written content but comprise exclusively of photographs
or video updates.

What all blogs have in common is the ability to grow a readership and for those readers to contribute to the blog in the form of comments. Some popular authors can write articles on blogs that regularly receive hundreds of comments. This open, conversational format usually with a single author is perhaps the key defining factor of a blog.