Web logs, commonly referred to as "blogs," represent all the rage right now in online publishing.

Not really a newsletter or traditional html page publishing, blogs resemble more of a web-based diary where the creator records their thoughts, posts links, or responds to questions.

With so much confusion online and an absence of "personal touch," blogs stand to actually bring back some humanity to the web by allowing people of like minds to come together.

** Why Blog? **

As the sea of information on the World Wide Web gets larger and deeper, people starve for knowledge.

It's a fact that most human beings learn better when someone else shows or tells them how to do something, or explains what something means and its impact on their lives.

People sitting around a fire and passing information one to another is as old as human history, and with blogs you can do the online equivalent.

Blogs allow you to do everything from staying in touch with family members to building a world-wide following of loyal readers based around a hobby or your profession.

** Monologue or Dialogue? **

You basically have two choices when it comes to your blog.

You can set it up so only you can post to the blog and viewers just read your posts, or you can allow your audience to comment on your posts and create a dialogue with them.

Which model you choose comes down to your purpose for the blog.

If you want to get feedback from customers, family members, friends, or subscribers, then allowing them to post will add a tremendous dimension to your communication.

If you want to keep it simple, then start out with a blog where you post and others only read.

** How Do You Set Up a Blog? **

Log on to Blogger.com to set up a free account (monologue type).

With absolutely zero experience and without reading the help files, I set up my blog - www.ebookblog.com - in about 5 minutes.

At first I just posted a few old articles to fill in content and see how the process worked.

Lately I've gotten the "blogger bug" and plan to start posting several times a week.

Though my blog gets posted on my own website, Blogger.com also allows you to post to their server so you don't even need a hosting account to set up your own blog.

You can get a more full-featured blog (dialogue type) from MovableType.org.

There you have the option of getting their software installed on your server or obtaining a very reasonably priced account hosted on their servers.

Either way you choose, posting rates as simple as typing into a web form, clicking a button, and your articles and comments automatically get posted to your blog (no html or ftp skills required).

If you want to find one of the thousands of blogs online about everything from cooking to puppy potty training, log on to: www.daypop.com www.blogsearchengine.com www.feedster.com

You can easily and quickly search through rapidly expanding databases of blogs open to the public.

-- Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr-e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links...

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