A “blog” is an abbreviation of the word “weblog”, a term used to describe an ongoing chronicle of information and web links. Blogs may cover any topic from personal thoughts to political news. The content of a blog consists of articles called “posts” or “entries”. These articles are arranged in reverse chronological order.
The modern blog evolved from the early 1990s, its origins in online diaries, where people would keep running accounts of their personal lives. After a slow start, blogging gained popularity during 1999 and the years following, with the almost simultaneous arrival of the first hosted-blog tools. Currently, a blog is created somewhere in the world every half a second.
Blogs differ regarding the regularity of their updates, with the most common frequency being 2–3 times per week. To give some indication of the sheer scale of blogging activity, Blogger.com reports that 270,000 words are written on the blogs they host every minute.
The content of a blog is the reason for its existence. Some blogs are run purely for commercial purposes, with advertising revenues as their main goal. It is estimated that 77% of internet users read blogs, and as they are equally popular among men and women, they are powerful platforms for communicating to the internet community at large.
Advertising revenues can be so lucrative that some bloggers have quit their regular jobs to focus on becoming full-time bloggers. This does not mean that they are merely making enough to get by without having to follow office hours. Some blogs report DAILY earnings of between $15,000 and $50,000. Once these levels of revenue have been reached, the blogs themselves can be sold for staggering amounts. The blog “UGO” had an approximate daily worth of $27,397 and sold for $100,000,000 in 2007, ten years after being founded.
This blog will be used to bring you news, opinion pieces, and general financial wisdom, and we invite you to suggest topics you would like us to discuss here. We hope that you will follow us with interest and enjoyment!