I have decided to start a new series called So You’re a New Blogger? The New Blogger Series Better Your Blog (renamed in 2015) in order to help new bloggers learn the ropes and get caught up with some of us more experienced bloggers. Not a new blogger and found this useful? Great! I also hope it can help experienced bloggers increase their knowledge as well. Today’s lesson is all about that blogger lingo-you know, the terms experienced bloggers throw around, and you may not know what it means yet. Don’t worry, I’ve got you boo-here it is.

Important Blogger Lingo

SEO: Stands for Search Engine Optimization and is very important if you want your site to be ranked highly, attract more readers, and work cohesitvely with search engines like Google. In today’s world you can’t afford to not pay attention to SEO. If you’re struggling with it, it might be a good idea to talk to a search engine optimization agency in Bangkok.

Analytics: The tracking of things like page views, visitors, keywords, and SEO stuff. Very useful if you want to know more about your audience and how many views your site is getting on average. I use Google Analytics.

Blogging Platforms

Blogger: Blogger is the blogging platform owned and hosted by Google. It’s so easy to use, quick to set up, and a great place for beginners-however, it’s important to realize when using Blogger that you don’t own any of the data you post to it. Technically, google takes ownership of it.

WordPress.com: The free WordPress blogging platform. It’s very much like Blogger, only more limited and also you are not allowed to take sponsorships or receive money for your blog or blog posts. I’d stay away from this one if you ever plan to monetize your blog.

WordPress.org: Where you put your self-hosted wordpress.

Hosted WordPress: This is where you use WordPress as your blogging platform, but you own your own hosting. Usually, it is managed WordPress hosting through your web provider. I use GoDaddy, but have heard good things about Host Gator also. If you’re thinking of setting up a WordPress blog then visit this page to find out how to do it!

eCommerce: When you set up your website to sell products online. Most people use platforms like samcart or Shopify to set up an ecommerce store.

GFC: Stands for Google Friend Connect and is a slightly-outdated way of measuring followers and following blogs. While it still runs and works for most google blogs, it has been mostly dropped by google in favor of Google+.

Advertising Terms

Monetizing Your Blog: This is the act of making profit off of your blog.

Note: Check out my Advertise page for an example of how I have it set up and what I offer.

Blog Headers: These are basically the image/words that people first see when visiting your blog. Most often along the top of the page, but recently I moved mine over to the right for a different look. These should show a little of what your blog is like, list the title of your blog, and can include words or other images that relate.

Note: These are GREAT for making new blog friends and gaining readership, especially if you fully participate and leave meaningful comments on the other bloggers posts-they’ll usually come back and check yours out as well! I host three of these!

Note: I also co-run a swap blog, so you can see more examples and maybe participate in one by visiting Chaotic Goddess Swaps!

Note: Popular blogging conventions include Alt Summit, Bloggy Bootcamp, BlogHer, and more.

The Better Your Blog Series is a series of posts written by myself, Angie of My So-Called Chaos, from my own personal experience as a long-time blogger, small-business owner, and as someone who’s worked with technology and customer service for many many years. They are written with the intent of sharing the knowledge I’ve acquired through years of practice and education (both self-taught and school-taught) with others in the blogging community.

In this collection of posts you’ll not only find tips for maintaining your blog, but also for anything that goes along with being a blogger and/or small business owner-like design tips and tutorials, social media, tools, and more.

The posts in this series are constantly being updated to make sure they stay current, and the series is constantly being added to. Please contact me if there’s something you’d like to learn.