A weblog, or blog, is a type of website in which content posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order, not unlike a newsfeed, journal or diary.

Blogs have come into popularity in recent years due to ease of publication; blogging software is readily available for advanced users, and people who know little about web design may register onto a free blogging service and create a blog in mere minutes.

While many people use blogs to record personal thoughts, creative writing, and random facts, others use blogs to relay political and industrial news and opinion. Many companies, media organizations, and other entities may use blogs to advertise services and items, or relay news faster.

Blogs may be interactive and employ the use of audio media (also known as podcasting), images, affiliate links, and comment sections for readers. The amount of fresh, relevant content available on blogs as opposed to traditional websites has in recent time captured the attention of the search industry. Google has made available specialized search for blog content, and new search engines geared specifically toward blog content search are finding popularity.

It is due to the continuing importance of blog content that SEOs may recommend websites to add blogs and blog content, as blog content tends to be spidered and indexed at a faster rate than traditional weblog content. Blog content may also be syndicated and aggregated into RSS readers for wider exposure.

Weblogs Compendium offers a list of helpful blog tools a blogger can use to improve functionality to a blog and increase traffic.

Blog software and hosting sites	Blog Search Engines
Blogger - acquired by Google Greymatter LiveJournal Moveable Type Multiply Typepad WordPress Xanga	Blogdex Blogdigger BlogHop Blogwise Bloogz Daypop Eatonweb Portal Technorati

Online communities using blog features

Online communities that feature various publishing tools for Internet users are gaining popularity. These contained sites, set up primarily for networking, offers users to set up blogs and photo gallerys, directories of favorite links, message boards, and an online friends list through which users can contact one another. This online cliques may be utilized for website promotion for certain types of websites - to inform users of a particular site and products.

MySpace and Yahoo360 are two current popular online communities.

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