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Blog Anatomy: What Makes a Blog a Blog?

For those of you who wouldn't know a blog if it bit you, this post--complete with helpful illustrations--is for you. Please keep in mind that a blog comes in many forms; the items listed refer to the Web page version of a blog.

Post: The heart and soul of a blog. This is where your content goes. Usually several appear on a blog's home page, with older posts getting archived automatically by the blogging platform (i.e., TypePad, WordPress, etc.)

Categories: Blogging platforms usually allow you to categorize your posts into one or more self-created categories. These represent common themes for your blogs, whether it's "Web Marketing" or "Organic Gardening."

Archives: Archived posts are grouped by month or week, depending on how you set it up. This allows visitors to access older posts on your blog.

Permalink: The actual URL of a given post. If you post something to your blog and send out the link to www.yourblog.com, by the time someone visits that post may have fallen off the home page. The permalink will drive people directly to the post you have in mind. For example: http://www.flyteblog.com/flyte/2006/09/when_seo_isnt_e.html

Comments: What makes blogging scary to so many businesses! Visitors to your blog can leave their own .02 on your post, continuing the conversation. Some will be positive, some will be negative, and some will be spam, promoting their Texas Hold-em Web site or generic Viagra.

Trackbacks: Similar to comments, except that the conversation is continuing at another blog. An excerpt of that post appears below yours with links to the post.

Feeds & Chicklets: The little buttons or text links that allow your visitors to subscribe to the feed from your blog. This way they can receive updates to your blog at their My Yahoo page or Bloglines or through a newsreader. Blogging platforms almost always offer a feed, but you'll need to go to a service like Feedburner to generate the chicklets.

Blogrolls: On your Web site these would appear on your links page. These are links to other blogs you read and recommend.

Recent Posts: A list of the most recent posts on your blog, automatically generated by the platform.

Recent Comments: A list of the most recent comments on your blog, automatically generated by the platform.

Email Signup: Although not a part of blogging software, a nice add-on. This way, visitors who aren't savvy enough to subscribe to your feed and read it in their newsreader can still receive updates to your blog...delivered right to their email inbox.

Now you should be able to recognize blogs when you come face-to-face with them in the wild.

Just don't make eye contact with them. They'll see that as a sign of aggression. Better to get down on one knee and hand over any sweets you may have in your backpack.

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