What is a Blog?

What is a blog for me who, quite awhile ago, decided to write about the City and the Island of Montreal officially called the Urban Agglomeration of Montreal. An Island where the City of Montreal with its 19 boroughs and 15 other cities must never cease to function.

Here I am during what the World Health Organization calls a "controllable" pandemic. A "what is a blog" meant to be about the City and Island of Montreal but now a lot about a prospective COVID-19 vaccine we are all waiting for.

Valérie Plante - Mayor of the City of Montreal - Montreal Gazette

Local information I planned to mix with the personal reasons why I started a series of Montreal Kits some six or seven years ago. A Montreal Kits eventually accompanied by a Master Degree in Public Administration.

With this coronavirus close by, the only solution is to be very careful and to keep going. Friends and family members are in good health although nervous and so are our favorite neighbours. We can't be with them unfortunately, but we can talk, we can write and we can help whenever we can.

I'm not used to this. I'm used to researching facts and logic, to writing informative content and to providing useful and interesting material but, this present situation is going to be good blogging practice.

This page is the second page of a section called Montreal Blog Kit. I worked alone up until recently, now I have to reach out and collaborate. Actually, I don't have to, I want to.

I became familiar with content writing, now I have to become familiar with blog writing mostly because a coronavirus recently decided what we should do with our confined days and time.

What is a blog? According to Wikipedia "A blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries.

Solo Build It!, the "machine" behind Montreal Kits insists on the following:

be consistent with your publishing frequency and stick to your schedule;
create content that is unique, thoughtful and helpful;
do not expect a flood of new contacts and traffic tomorrow;
know your ideal reader and create content that is relevant;
promote your content on social media and be consistent.

For your information, Solo Build It! is a "membership platform that provides tools, training and support to build our own online business from scratch". More on SBI! in our 10 days, 10 pages series.

Here are some statistics found on the web starting with some that grabbed all my attention.

Websites that also have a blog have 434% more indexed pages". I love this. This is very good news.

Bloggers used to publish a few times per week, now many publish only a few times per month. No problem with that.

Bloggers who write articles of 2,000 words or more are likely to have strong results. My pages have between 550 to 750 words and 2,000 words is going to be a lot of work.

Blogs have been rated as the 5th most trustworthy source of online information. I'll have to make sure I always provide the right and proper information.

Companies such as Montreal Kits who blog get 97% more links to their websites. This is good.

Internet users in United States spend more time on blogs than they do on emails. This is important since my traffic comes from United States first, followed by France and Canada or vice versa.

LinkedIn is the most effective social media platform for delivering content and securing audience engagement. OK, we'll do.

77% of internet users read blogs. This is good.

96% of bloggers promote their blog posts on social media. Something I've been postponing for years.

So, what is a blog or, more precisely, what does blogging enable us to do? In short, it gives us a platform and it enables us to share our thoughts and our opinions.