A blog is simply a personal online discussion or informational site posted on the Internet consisting of relatively informal, often diary style text entries. Posts are usually displayed in reverse chronological order, with the latest post appearing at the top of the page, and older posts at the bottom. In much the same way as websites are ranked by Google and Yahoo! in terms of their popularity and relevance, a blog’s popularity can be gauged by the number of people who visit it, how many people comment on it, and the number of backlinks a blog receives.
Blogs were very popular not only because they became a perfect vehicle for blogging, but also because bloggers could make a lot of money through them. Originally, bloggers did not have a particular monetary goal in mind when starting one, but later, some people started to monetize their blogs with the help of advertisers. Bloggers could then use these ads to earn money through Google AdSense or Yahoo ads on their blog pages. This gave bloggers yet another income stream, as well as an opportunity to expand their circles of influence, as well as learn more about other people online.
The practice of blogging has become even more widely accepted over the past few years because of the ease of using a computer to log into a blog online and publishing a blog post. Blogging also allows for a level of privacy that many people desire. Many bloggers feel more comfortable leaving behind their opinions and personal thoughts in a public online journal than making those comments available to a wide audience. This sense of privacy has made blogging very popular among all kinds of bloggers, from established authors to newbie amateurs.