Blog traffic

Blog traffic is measured to see the popularity of blog sites and individual pages or sections within a site.

Blog traffic can be analysed by viewing the traffic statistics found in the blog server log file, an automatically generated list of all the pages served. A hit is generated when any file is served. The page itself is considered a file, but images are also files, thus a page with 5 images could generate 6 hits (the 5 images and the page itself). A page view is generated when a visitor requests any page within the web site – a visitor will always generate at least one page view (the main page) but could generate many more.

List of blogs

Blog↓ Language↓ Subject↓ Author↓
1000 Awesome Things English Miscellaneous topics Neil
The 9 on Yahoo! English Video blog on web videos Multi-author
A Motley Vision English Criticism of the Mormon Arts, particularly LDS literature and film Multi-author
The Art Life English Blog about the art scene in Sydney, Australia Multi-author
Athletics Nation English Sports blog focusing on the Oakland Athletics baseball team Tyler Bleszinski
Audimated English Music related blog focused on news, resources and information for independent artists. Lucas Sommer
Balkinization English Blog focusing on US civil liberties issues Jack Balkin
The Bear Club English Niche blogging site for teddy bears and their collectors Multi-author
Belle de Jour English Insight into the life of a London call-girl. Brooke Magnanti
Belmont Club English Political and historical blog Richard Fernandez
Bestiario del balón Spanish Colombian football blog Multi-author
Blogcritics English Multiple sections, mostly involving entertainment and science Multi-author
Bloggingheads.tv English Video blog on politics, philosophy, and science Multi-author
The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks English Blog about the misuse of English quotation marks Bethany Keeley
Blogswara English Indian audio-blog intended to showcase amateur musicians Multi-author
Boing Boing English Politics, science fiction, and general interest Multi-author
Brain Blogger English Multidimensional biopsychosocial perspectives Multi-author
The Brussels Journal English, Dutch Conservative blog on Belgian politics Paul Beliën
Cake Wrecks English Photoblog featuring images of cakes that are humorous or strange in appearance Jen Yates
CampusJ English Jewish college news Multi-author
The Catbirdseat English Mp3 blog Ryan Catbird (screen name)
Chinadialogue Chinese, English Blog on the environment, both globally and in China Multi-author
China Law Blog English Blog of news and opinions on Chinese law and business Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson
Climate Audit English Using statistical methods to analyze historical reconstructions of past climates Stephen McIntyre
The Comics Curmudgeon English Critical analysis of newspaper comics Josh Fruhlinger
ConservativeHome English Conservatism from a UK perspective Tim Montgomerie
Consumerist English Blog on consumerism Multi-author
Contempo Magazine English Blog on Hispanic Conservative Tony Magana
Cosmic Variance English Science blog on physics and astrophysics Multi-author
Couric & Co. English Official blog of the “CBS Evening News” The “CBS Evening News” staff
Crash Test Kitchen English Cooking and food video blog Waz and Lenny (screen names)
Crooks and Liars English Liberal video blog Multi-author
Cute Overload English Photos and videos of “cute” animals Multi-author
The Daily Howler English Center-left political blog Bob Somerby
The Daily Nightly English Official blog of “NBC Nightly News” Brian Williams and other NBC News correspondents
Daring Fireball English Macintosh and technology blog John Gruber
Deadspin English Sports blog Multi-author
Defamer Australia English Celebrity gossip Multi-author
Desipundit English Commentary on India’s major blog posts Multi-author
Diabetes Mine English Blog relating to diabetes Amy Tenderich
Dlisted English Celebrity gossip Michael K.
Down By The Hipster English Blog on the New York City nightlife Multi-author
DrugWarrant English Blog used to advocate the termination of the War on Drugs in the United States Peter Guither
Durma Melhor Portuguese Blog on various issues related to sleep Marcos Miguel
EastSouthWestNorth English China focused blog out of Hong Kong Roland Soong
Engadget English, Chinese (simplified Han), Chinese (traditional Han), Japanese, Spanish, Polish, Korean, German Technology blog Multi-author
Faces in Places English Photo blog of faces seen in everyday objects Multi-author
/Film English Movie news and reviews Peter Sciretta
The Fix English Blog written for The Washington Post Chris Cilliza
Fluxblog English MP3 blog Matthew Perpetua
FoodMayhem English Blog about all topics related to food. Multi-author
GamePolitics.com English Blog about the politics of computer and video games Dennis McCauley
Gawker.com English Manhattan news and gossip Multi-author
Geenstijl.nl Dutch General commentary Multi-author
Generación invisible Spanish Blog by professional journalists Multi-author
GigaOM English Blog with opinions on startups, new technologies, broadband, and online games Multi-author
Gizmodo English, French, Dutch. Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese Consumer electronics centered blog Multi-author
Go Fug Yourself English Comedy fashion blog Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks
Google Blogoscoped English Blog covering the Google search engine Philip Lenssen
Gothamist English Local interest blog about New York, branch sites cover other cities Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung
Groklaw English Blog covering legal news pertinent to a free and open-source software community Multi-author
The Grumpy Old Bookman English Litblog Michael Allen
Gulfsails English Documented the effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans Troy Gilbert
Hanzi Smatter English Blog satirizing the misuse of Chinese characters in the west Tian Tang
Holla Back NYC English Photoblog intended to raise awareness of street harassment Multi-author
Hot Air English Center-right political and news blog Multi-author
How the World Sees America English Blog showcasing views on the United States from around the world Amar C. Bakshi
The Huffington Post English Liberal news blog Multi-author
I Can Has Cheezburger? English Blog featuring lolcats and other animals created by the writers Eric Nakagawa and Kari Unebasami
IPKat English Blog dedicated to intellectual property law Multi-author
Idolblog English Blog dedicated to the talent search show NZ Idol Multi-author
India Uncut English blog regarding India Amit Varma
Inhabitat English Blog on sustainable architecture Multi-author
InkTank English Blog on webcomics Barry Smith
Israellycool English Pro-Israel blog Aussie Dave (screen name)
IvyGate English News and gossip from Ivy League schools Multi-author
Joystiq English Video gaming blog Multi-author
J-Walk Blog English List of strange things found on the internet John Walkenbach
Jezebel English Women’s interest blog Multi-author
Jihad Watch English Blog on the ideas behind Islamic jihad Multi-author
Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal English Military blog detailing a scout platoon leader’s daily life on the Iraqi frontlines LT G. (screen name)
Kissing Suzy Kolber English NFL humor blog Multi-author
Know HR English Human resources and employee related blog Multi-author
Kotaku English Video game blog Multi-author
Language Log English Language blog Mark Liberman
Lebanese Political Journal English Blog commenting on various aspects of Lebanese politics Multi-author
Liberty and Power English A Libertarian political blog Multi-author
Lifehacker.com English Blog covering life hacks Multi-author
Little Green Footballs English Center-left political blog Charles Foster Johnson
Madame Arcati English British gossip blog Multi-author
Marginal Revolution English Economics focused blog Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok
The Marmot's Hole English Blog focusing on Korean politics and society Multi-author
Mashable English, French Social networking news based blog Multi-author
Memepool English Link blog Multi-author
MetaFilter English Link and general interest blog Multi-author
Milblogging.com English Blog index to other military blogs Multi-author
Mind Hacks English Psychology and neuroscience blog Multi-author
Mini-Microsoft English Blog on Microsoft Anonymous
MobuzzTV English, French, Spanish Technology and current event related video blog Multi-author
Momversation English Home and family blog Multi-author
Monsters and Critics English News blog Multi-author
MSDN Blogs English Microsoft blog where employees blog to a public audience Multi-author
Music (For Robots) English MP3 Blog Multi-author
MyDD English Progressive American politics blog Multi-author
Node Magazine English Blog to annotate the novel “Spook Country” Multi-author
The Oil Drum English Blog on energy issues Multi-author
Overheard in New York English Humor blog of conversations heard in New York Multi-author
Overheard in Pittsburgh English Humor blog of conversations heard in Pittsburgh Chris Griswold
The Panda's Thumb English Blog on the creation-evolution controversy Multi-author
Pharyngula English Science blog PZ Myers
Patentlyo English Patent law blog Dennis Crouch
PinoyCentric English Blog on Filipino culture Multi-author
PopText English Mp3 Blog Abigail McDonald
Popjustice English Music blog Peter Robinson
PopSugar English Gossip and celebrity news blog Multi-author
Protein Wisdom English Conservative and Libertarian political blog Jeff Goldstein
QT's Diary English Satirical blog whose writer falsely claimed to be Quentin Tarantino Unknown
Rate Your Students English Parody blog on the behavior of college students Multi-author
ReadWriteWeb English Blog on web technology Richard MacManus
RealClimate English Blog on climatology Multi-author
The Religious Policeman English Blog on Saudi Arabia Alhamedi Alanezi (user nam)
Retecool Dutch Shocklog Multi-author
Rocketboom English Video blog Andrew Baron and Joanne Colan
Sarcastic Gamer English Blog parodying the video game industry Multi-author
The Sartorialist English Fashion blog Scott Schuman
The Scientific Activist English Blog on science, politics, and science policy Nick Anthis
SCOTUSblog English Blog on the Supreme Court of the United States Multi-author
Seeking Alpha English Provides free stock market advice through a blog format Multi-author
the show with zefrank English Comedy and current events video blog Ze Frank
SiliconBeat English Blog on Silicon Valley technological innovation Matt Marshall and Mike Bazeley
Simply Recipes English Cooking recipes Elise Bauer
Skatter Tech English Technology review blog Multi-author
Slugger O'Toole English Irish news blog Mick Fealty
Smashing Magazine English Blog on web design and web development Multi-author
The Sneeze English General interest blog Steve (screen name)
Soul Sides English Mp3 blog Oliver Wang
The Soxaholix English Comic-based blog for discussing the Boston Red Sox Hart Brachen
Squawk Box English Blog for the CNBC show Squawk Box Multi-author
Stuff White People Like English Satirical blog about the interests of upper white class Americans Christian Lander
Sturvs English Nigerian sharing and voting blog Multi-author
Surviving Grady English Boston Red Sox blog Red and Denton (screen names)
TV Newser English American television news ticker blog Multi-author
TechCrunch English, French, Japanese Blog covering Web 2.0 products and companies Multi-author
Terra Nova English Blog related to game studies and virtual worlds Multi-author
TorrentFreak.com English BitTorrent news blog Ernesto (screen name)
TPMCafe English Center-left political blog portal Multi-author
TrueHoop English Blog on basketball, primarily the NBA Henry Abbott
U.S.S. Mariner English Blog on the Seattle Mariners Multi-author
Watts Up With That English Blog on man made global warming Anthony Watts
Valleywag English Gossip and news on Silicon Valley personalities Multi-author
Velvet Underground Hebrew Israeli news blog Dvorit Shargal
The Volokh Conspiracy English Conservative political blog written mainly by law professors Multi-author
Worldchanging English Blog pertaining to sustainability and social innovation Multi-author
Zen Habits English Blog on productivity, GTD, simplifying, living frugal, happiness and related topics. Leo Babauta
Zooillogix English Blog on zoology Andrew and Benny Bleiman

Fashion blog

A fashion blog can cover many things such as specific items of clothing and accessories, trends in various apparel markets (haute couture, prêt-à-porter, etc.), celebrity fashion choices and street fashion trends. They cover fashion at all levels from the biggest names to the smallest indie designers.

Many fashion blogs could also be categorised as shopping blogs, since "most of the conversation is shopping advice, liberally laced with consumer recommendations". This is very similar to the content of fashion magazines. Some retailers in the fashion industry have even started blogs of their own to promote their products.

Blogs that only occasionally mention fashion are not categorised as fashion blogs, although they may be labeled by the blogger as such



Impact on the fashion industry

Fashion is a multi-billion-dollar industry that has considerable impact on the way ordinary people clothe themselves. As fashion is trend-driven and fashion blogs provide a new way to follow these trends, it is likely they will have a considerable long-term influence on the industry.

These are some of the things fashion journalists have said about fashion blogs and the impact they are having on the industry:

* "These days, to have one finger on the fashion pulse, you need to have the other one on your computer mouse, reading (or writing) the latest blogs."
* "Before a designer’s runway show has even finished, you can bet your bottom dollar that someone in the audience – or better still, backstage – has recorded every silhouette, signature shoe, styling detail and sulking supermodel, then uploaded it onto the internet for style watchers across the globe to Enjoy."


Number of fashion blogs

There is considerable disagreement regarding the number of fashion blogs in existence.

In a February, 2006 Women's Wear Daily article, Corcoran stated:

There is an enormous, and growing, number of fashion and shopping-related blogs: about 2 million, according to Technorati Inc., [...] or slightly less than 10 percent of the 27 million blogs the company tracks. (That number includes blogs in languages that use the Roman alphabet and that contain anything fashion-related, including sites such as Pink Is the New Blog, which focuses on celebrities.)

It is likely that this figure is inflated by a substantial number of personal blogs that mention fashion. These are not considered fashion blogs using the criteria above.

All other estimates of the popularity of fashion blogs are considerably lower. In September 2005, La Ferla stated that "as little as a year ago, the number of [fashion bloggers] could be counted in the dozens. Today there are hundreds."Lara Zamiatin estimated in November 2006 that there are now "several hundred fashion blogs".


Types of fashion blogs


By writer's expertise

Fashion blogs may be written by insiders, outsiders or aspiring insiders.

Insiders are people who work (or have previously worked) in the fashion industry or for the traditional fashion media. In addition, some fashion insiders blog occasionally as guest on larger sites. For example, the fashion designer Nanette Lepore has contributed to Glam.com.

Outsiders are people who know a lot (or at least have strong opinions) about fashion, usually by virtue of being very dedicated consumers of fashion.

Aspiring insiders are people who want to work in the fashion industry or media and believe their blog may provide a ‘back door’ entry into a mainstream fashion writing job. Examples of people who have been employed within the fashion industry on the strength of their blogs include:

* Manolo the Shoe Blogger, who now has a weekly column in the Express a Washington Post Publication
* Heather and Jessica from Go Fug Yourself, who recently covered Fashion Week for New York Magazine

* The Budget Fashionista, Kathryn Finney, wrote a book called "How To Be a Budget Fashionista" that was published by Ballantine Books.


By ownership

Fashion blogs may be owned either by individuals or by companies.

The types of individuals running fashion blogs are listed above.

The types of companies now running fashion blogs include large mainstream media organizations and fashion retailers. Condé Nast Publications is a mainstream media organization with fashion blogs. Fashion retailers with blogs include Bluefly, Queen of Suburbia and Splendora.


By theme

Most successful fashion blogs follow a particular theme or angle. Some narrow their field to one type of fashion item e.g. shoes, handbags or denim. Some specialise in a particular price point: usually either very high-end or very budget conscious. Some cover celebrity fashion exclusively, while others cover street style. Some cover a mix of two or more of these topics. Many show the authors own personal style and asks for the readers opinion.


Early fashion blogs

Fashion blogs first appeared in the blogosphere prior to 2002, and Kathryn Finney, of The Budget Fashionista, was invited to New York Fashion Week as early as September 2003; a short time later, Fashiontribes.com was being seated fourth row at shows like Bill Blass. By 2008 Tina Craig and Kelly Cook of Bag Snob.com were seated second row at shows like Diane von Furstenberg and Oscar de la Renta.

The fashion blogs that attracted media attention in 2002 include two that are still in existence: LookOnline Daily Fashion Report and She She Me.

In 2004, the first accessories blog, Manolo's Shoe Blog, was launched. While it has been stated that Manolo's Shoe Blog was the first fashion blog,Manolo himself disputes this. He says he read a number of fashion blogs in 2003, and these inspired him to start blogging.

Later in 2004, Michelle Madhok introduced SheFinds.com, "an online shopping publication". By 2005, the site earned $300,000 per year, although most of that revenue went towards running expenses and Madhok paid herself just $40,000 per year.

Legal status of mp3 blog

Many MP3 blogs post copyrighted material as a free download. While this is essentially illegal, record companies often turn a blind eye because of a belief that the blogs constitute free advertising. Bands such as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The National have reported increases in sales as a result of attention from MP3 blogs, which often provide links to legal album downloads.

MP3 bloggers commonly post disclaimers stating that all files are intended only for sampling, and often remove posted files within a short period of time.

The economic significance of MP3 blogs is relatively small compared to peer-to-peer networks.

MP3 blog

An MP3 blog is a type of blog in which the creator makes music files, normally in the MP3 format, available for download. They are also known as "musicblogs" or "audioblogs". MP3 blogs have become increasingly popular since 2003. The music posted ranges from hard-to-find rarities that have not been issued in many years to more contemporary offerings, and selections are often restricted to a particular musical genre or theme. Some MP3 blogs offer music in Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) or Ogg formats.

Aggregators such as The Hype Machine and Elbo.ws track MP3 blog posts and display the most recently updated posts on its front page. The services are meant to provide a snapshot of what's going on in music blogging and make it easier to search through recently posted MP3s. The Hype Machine features a list of the most popular tracks of the last three days, as well as the most blogged bands and most popular searches. In June 2009, the popular songs list was altered so that it is only affected by user accounts that are several days old, after it was discovered that the "hearts scores" for dozens of songs were being artificially inflated by dummy accounts, often created in batches numbering in the hundreds. Elbo.ws has a similar feature listing which Bands, Tracks, and Videos are currently "hot." Music Blog Aggregators have caused a boom in MP3 blog readership and accessibility. Aggregators use RSS technology to collect data from MP3 blogs and link to the individual blog posts instead of directly to the MP3s.

The Hype Machine does not list blogs whose writers or editors are involved in the music public relations industry.

How can I make my blog load faster? ( secret tips and tricks )

just go to the site "http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42394".

Software used for top 20 blogs

The top blogs as ranked by Technorati use a mixture between third party software such as Wordpress and that developed and maintained primarily by internal engineers, such as the system used by Gizmodo.


Blog Software
1 The Huffington Post Movable Type
2 Gizmodo Gawker bespoke software[1]
3 TechCrunch Wordpress
4 TMZ.com Unknown
5 Engadget Blogsmith
6 Mashable Wordpress
7 The Corner Same CMS as National Review
8 Boing Boing Movable Type
9 Hot Air Wordpress
10 Gawker Gawker bespoke software[2]
11 Think Progress Wordpress
12 The Daily Dish Typepad
13 The Daily Beast
14 Newsbusters Unknown
15 CNN Political Ticker Wordpress
16 Ezra Klein at Washington Post Unknown
17 Breitbart.tv Unknown
18 Big Government Wordpress
19 ReadWriteWeb Movable Type
20 Matthew Yglesias Wordpress
21 /Film Wordpress

Server models

Many weblog applications can be downloaded and installed on user systems. Some of them are provided under a free-software or open-source licenses, allowing them to be used, modified, and redistributed freely. Others are proprietary software which must be licensed.

Other weblog applications are offered only through their developers' hosts, either free of charge or for a fee. Services are typically limited to hosting of the blog itself, but some services offer the option of using the hosted software to update a blog published elsewhere.

Blog software

Weblog software (also called blogging software or blogware) is software designed to simplify the creation and maintenance of weblogs. As specialized content management systems, weblog applications support the authoring, editing, and publishing of blog posts and comments, with special functions for image management, web syndication, and moderation of posts and comments.

Consumer generated advertising in blogs

Consumer generated advertising is a relatively new and controversial development and it has created a new model of marketing communication from businesses to consumers. Among the various forms of advertising on blog, the most controversial are the sponsored posts. These are blog entries or posts and may be in the form of feedbacks, reviews, opinion, videos, etc. and usually containS a link back to the desired site using a keyword/s.

Blogs have led to some disintermediation and a breakdown of the traditional advertising model where companies can skip over the advertising agencies (previously the only interface with the customer) and contact the customers directly themselves. On the other hand, new companies specialised in blog advertising have been established, to take advantage of this new development as well.

However, there are many people who look negatively on this new development. Some believe that any form of commercial activity on blogs will destroy the blogosphere’s credibility.

Legal and social consequences

Blogging can result in a range of legal liabilities and other unforeseen consequences.
Defamation or liability

Several cases have been brought before the national courts against bloggers concerning issues of defamation or liability. U.S. payouts related to blogging totaled $17.4 million by 2009; in some cases these have been covered by umbrella insurance. The courts have returned with mixed verdicts. Internet Service Providers (ISPs), in general, are immune from liability for information that originates with third parties (U.S. Communications Decency Act and the EU Directive 2000/31/EC).

In Doe v. Cahill, the Delaware Supreme Court held that stringent standards had to be met to unmask the anonymous posts of bloggers and also took the unusual step of dismissing the libel case itself (as unfounded under American libel law) rather than referring it back to the trial court for reconsideration. In a bizarre twist, the Cahills were able to obtain the identity of John Doe, who turned out to be the person they suspected: the town's mayor, Councilman Cahill's political rival. The Cahills amended their original complaint, and the mayor settled the case rather than going to trial.

In January 2007, two prominent Malaysian political bloggers, Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Attan, were sued by pro-government newspaper, The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad, Kalimullah bin Masheerul Hassan, Hishamuddin bin Aun and Brenden John a/l John Pereira over an alleged defamation. The plaintiff was supported by the Malaysian government. Following the suit, the Malaysian government proposed to "register" all bloggers in Malaysia in order to better control parties against their interest.This is the first such legal case against bloggers in the country.

In the United States, blogger Aaron Wall was sued by Traffic Power for defamation and publication of trade secrets in 2005. According to Wired Magazine, Traffic Power had been "banned from Google for allegedly rigging search engine results." Wall and other "white hat" search engine optimization consultants had exposed Traffic Power in what they claim was an effort to protect the public. The case was watched by many bloggers because it addressed the murky legal question of who is liable for comments posted on blogs. The case was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction, and Traffic Power failed to appeal within the allowed time.

In 2009, a controversial and landmark decision by The Hon. Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of Richard Horton.

In 2009, NDTV issued a legal notice to Indian blogger Chetan Kunte for "abusive free speech" regarding a blog post criticizing their coverage of the Mumbai attacks. The blogger unconditionally withdrew his post, replacing it with legal undertaking and an admission that his post had been "defamatory and untrue" which resulted in several Indian bloggers criticizing NDTV for trying to silence critics.

Meaning of Blog

A blog (a blend of the term web log) is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (Art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

points helps to make a huge income

Topic Experience

Topic Popularity

Topic Competition

Topic Contents

Choosing a Topic

Topic Interest

you just love your topic and make the habit of reading , while in reading you get many many good ideas and this reading habit will help you to choose a topic for blogging and this will help you to earn a huge income from the blogging and adsense .

only choose the idea with you have a lot of ideas to express your all feelings towards to the blogging. If you have rich with your idea, normally your though will make a great sense of blogging this will pick you the hights of the life with the huge income by the adsense. Where the adsense have no limitation whether your traffic make you a huge income maker.

love yout topic and earn it

That would be the best case scenario because it would be easy to write to the blog, because you love what you are talking about and to get paid as well would be an added bonus! Or do you pick a high earning niche that isn’t your passion, and then have to blog day after day about a topic that doesn’t capture your interest? That would be hard work. There is a lot to think about and consider when choosing a blog topic, and the heart should also be considered in that decision. There are no guarantees with blogging and you need to make the best decision for yourself from all the information, as you will be doing the blogging.

Do you find it difficult to choose a blog topic?

It’s sometimes not as easy as it sounds! It depends on what you want out of the blog or out of your blogging? If you want to blog for the creative expression or the desire to talk about a topic or issue. Then you probably won’t be too bothered about the size or popularity of your chosen niche, how much traffic you can tap into or how much money you can make. You just want to blog about it for the passion and therefore these are not big factors in the decision making process.

It gets more complicated when you want to reach an audience, a certain amount of readers or you want to make an income from your blog. Now it becomes very important to look at your niche and how much traffic you can hope to receive. You will have to look at how saturated the market is, are there a lot of blogs already out there that cover the topic that you want to talk about, and can you stand out from that crowd to make yourself heard, or read! Can you blog for long enough about the topic and is the niche big enough to attract an audience. Are there a lot of authority blogs running in your niche that have huge amounts of readers. If there are and the niche looks crowded then maybe you could try a sub niche for your topic and specialize in that instead. You need to look at all these answers and determine which way you should go, to give yourself the best chance of having a successful blog. At the end of the day that’s what the research is for, to make an educated decision.

How to Choose a Blog Topic

1

Write down your ideas. Write down any idea that you have that you think would make a good blog. You can search around and check out other blogs that interest you or use a blog directory

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2

When making the decision you will want to choose a topic that you are passionate about. If you don't have passion for the topic then it will be hard for you to keep the topic up.
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3

Choose a topic that you already know a lot about. After all, it isn't going to do you any good if you have to spend lots of time researching posts in order to update your blog.
#
4

Once you think you have a good topic sit down and make sure that you can make at least ten, but preferably closer to twenty sub-topics, categories, and or related topics. This will make it easier for you to have something to write about!
#
5

Make sure there is plenty to say. You will want to update it at least three times a week for a long time. You will want to make sure there is plenty to say to keep your blog updated.

History of blogging

While the term "blog" was not coined until the late 1990s, the history of blogging starts with several digital precursors to it. Before "blogging" became popular, digital communities took many forms, including Usenet, commercial online services such as GEnie, BiX and the early CompuServe, e-mail lists[1] and Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). In the 1990s, Internet forum software, such as WebEx, created running conversations with "threads". Threads are topical connections between messages on a metaphorical "corkboard". Some have likened blogging to the Mass-Observation project of the mid-20th century.
1983–1990

Usenet was the primary serial medium included in the original definition of the Internet. It featured the Moderated Newsgroup which allowed all posting in a newsgroup to be under the control of an individual or small group. Most such newsgroups were simply moderated discussion forums, however, in 1983-84, one exception, named mod.ber, was created, named after and managed by an individual: Brian E. Redman. Regularly, Redman and a few associates posted summaries of interesting postings and threads taking place elsewhere on the net.

1994–2001
The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives. Most such writers called themselves diarists, journalists, or journalers. A few called themselves "escribitionists". The Open Pages webring included members of the online-journal community. Justin Hall, who began eleven years of personal blogging in 1994 while a student at Swarthmore College, is generally recognized as one of the earliest bloggers,[2] as is Jerry Pournelle.[citation needed] Another early blog was Wearable Wireless Webcam, an online shared diary of a person's personal life combining text, video, and pictures transmitted live from a wearable computer and EyeTap device to a web site in 1994. This practice of semi-automated blogging with live video together with text was referred to as sousveillance, and such journals were also used as evidence in legal matters.

Other forms of journals kept online also existed. A notable example was game programmer John Carmack's widely read journal, published via the finger protocol. Some of the very earliest bloggers, like Steve Gibson of sCary's Quakeholio (now Shacknews) and Stephen Heaslip of Blue's News (still running since 1995 with online archives back to July 1996), evolved from the Quake scene and Carmack's .plan updates. Steve Gibson was hired to blog full-time by Ritual Entertainment on February 8, 1997 [3], possibly making him the first hired blogger.

Websites, including both corporate sites and personal homepages, had and still often have "What's New" or "News" sections, often on the index page and sorted by date. One example of a news based "weblog" is the Drudge Report founded by the self-styled maverick reporter Matt Drudge, though apparently Drudge dislikes this classification. Another is the Institute for Public Accuracy which began posting news releases featuring several news-pegged one-paragraph quotes several times a week beginning in 1998. One noteworthy early precursor to a blog was the tongue-in-cheek personal website that was frequently updated by Usenet legend Kibo.

Early weblogs were simply manually updated components of common websites. However, the evolution of tools to facilitate the production and maintenance of web articles posted in reverse chronological order made the publishing process feasible to a much larger, less technical, population. Ultimately, this resulted in the distinct class of online publishing that produces blogs we recognize today. For instance, the use of some sort of browser-based software is now a typical aspect of "blogging". Blogs can be hosted by dedicated blog hosting services, or they can be run using blog software, such as WordPress, Movable Type, Blogger or LiveJournal, or on regular web hosting services.

The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger[4] on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999.[5][6][7] Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used "blog" as both a noun and verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog") and devised the term "blogger" in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms.[8]

After a slow start, blogging rapidly gained in popularity. Blog usage spread during 1999 and the years following, being further popularized by the near-simultaneous arrival of the first hosted blog tools:

* Open Diary launched in October 1998, soon growing to thousands of online diaries. Open Diary innovated the reader comment, becoming the first blog community where readers could add comments to other writers' blog entries.
* Brad Fitzpatrick, a well known blogger started LiveJournal in March 1999.
* Andrew Smales created Pitas.com in July 1999 as an easier alternative to maintaining a "news page" on a website, followed by Diaryland in September 1999, focusing more on a personal diary community.[9]
* Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan (Pyra Labs) launched blogger.com in August 1999 (purchased by Google in February 2003)

Blogging combined the personal web page with tools to make linking to other pages easier — specifically permalinks, blogrolls and TrackBacks. This, together with weblog search engines enabled bloggers to track the threads that connected them to others with similar interests.
[edit] 2001–2004

Several broadly popular American political blogs emerged in 2001: Ron Gunzburger's Politics1, Taegan Goddard's Political Wire, Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit, Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs, and Jerome Armstrong's MyDD. Andrew Sullivan's AndrewSullivan.com — now entitled "The Daily Dish" — launched in October 2000 and gained readership during 2001, especially in the wake of the September 11 attacks.[10] (Two earlier popular American political blogs were Bob Somerby's Daily Howler, launched in 1998, and Mickey Kaus' Kausfiles, launched in 1999).

By 2001, blogging was enough of a phenomenon that how-to manuals began to appear, primarily focusing on technique. The importance of the blogging community (and its relationship to larger society) increased rapidly. Established schools of journalism began researching blogging and noting the differences between journalism and blogging.

Also in 2002, many blogs focused on comments by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Senator Lott, at a party honoring U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, praised Senator Thurmond by suggesting that the United States would have been better off had Thurmond been elected president. Lott's critics saw these comments as a tacit approval of racial segregation, a policy advocated by Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign. This view was reinforced by documents and recorded interviews dug up by bloggers. (See Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo.) Though Lott's comments were made at a public event attended by the media, no major media organizations reported on his controversial comments until after blogs broke the story. Blogging helped to create a political crisis that forced Lott to step down as majority leader.

The impact of this story gave greater credibility to blogs as a medium of news dissemination. Though often seen as partisan gossips, bloggers sometimes lead the way in bringing key information to public light, with mainstream media having to follow their lead. More often, however, news blogs tend to react to material already published by the mainstream media.

Since 2002, blogs have gained increasing notice and coverage for their role in breaking, shaping, and spinning news stories. The Iraq war saw bloggers taking measured and passionate points of view that go beyond the traditional left-right divide of the political spectrum.

Blogging was established by politicians and political candidates to express opinions on war and other issues and cemented blogs' role as a news source. (See Howard Dean and Wesley Clark.) Meanwhile, an increasing number of experts blogged, making blogs a source of in-depth analysis. (See Daniel Drezner and J. Bradford DeLong.)

Blogging was used to draw attention to obscure news sources. For example, bloggers posted links to traffic cameras in Madrid as a huge anti-terrorism demonstration filled the streets in the wake of the March 11 attacks.

Bloggers began to provide nearly-instant commentary on televised events, creating a secondary meaning of the word "blogging": to simultaneously transcribe and editorialize speeches and events shown on television. (For example, "I am blogging Rice's testimony" means "I am posting my reactions to Condoleezza Rice's testimony into my blog as I watch her on television.") Real-time commentary is sometimes referred to as "liveblogging."
[edit] 2004–present

In 2004, the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants, news services and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming. Even politicians not actively campaigning, such as the UK's Labour Party's MP Tom Watson, began to blog to bond with constituents.

Minnesota Public Radio broadcast a program by Christopher Lydon and Matt Stoller called "The blogging of the President," which covered a transformation in politics that blogging seemed to presage. The Columbia Journalism Review began regular coverage of blogs and blogging. Anthologies of blog pieces reached print, and blogging personalities began appearing on radio and television. In the summer of 2004, both United States Democratic and Republican Parties' conventions credentialed bloggers, and blogs became a standard part of the publicity arsenal. Mainstream television programs, such as Chris Matthews' Hardball, formed their own blogs. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary declared "blog" as the word of the year in 2004.

In 2004, Global Voices Online, a site which "aggregates, curates, and amplifies the global conversation online – shining light on places and people other media often ignore" surfaced, bringing to light bloggers from around the world. Today, the site has a relationship with Reuters and is responsible for breaking many global news stories.

Blogs were among the driving forces behind the "Rathergate" scandal, to wit: (television journalist) Dan Rather presented documents (on the CBS show 60 Minutes) that conflicted with accepted accounts of President Bush's military service record. Bloggers declared the documents to be forgeries and presented evidence and arguments in support of that view, and CBS apologized for what it said were inadequate reporting techniques (see Little Green Footballs). Many bloggers view this scandal as the advent of blogs' acceptance by the mass media, both as a news source and opinion and as means of applying political pressure.

Some bloggers have moved over to other media. The following bloggers (and others) have appeared on radio and television: Duncan Black (known widely by his pseudonym, Atrios), Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit), Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (Daily Kos), Alex Steffen (Worldchanging) and Ana Marie Cox (Wonkette). In counter-point, Hugh Hewitt exemplifies a mass media personality who has moved in the other direction, adding to his reach in "old media" by being an influential blogger. Music blog publisher Jeff Davidson, Earvolution.com, now produces Sun Studio Sessions airing on PBS stations across the U.S.

Some blogs were an important news source during the December 2004 Tsunami such as Médecins Sans Frontières, which used SMS text messaging to report from affected areas in Sri Lanka and Southern India. Similarly, during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and the aftermath a few blogs which were located in New Orleans, including the Interdictor and Gulfsails were able to maintain power and an Internet connection and disseminate information that was not covered by the Main Stream Media.

In the United Kingdom, The Guardian newspaper launched a redesign in September 2005, which included a daily digest of blogs on page 2. Also in June 2006, BBC News launched a weblog for its editors, following other news companies