Blog search engines

Several blog search engines are used to search blog contents (also known as the blogosphere), such as blogdigger, Feedster, and Technorati. Technorati provides current information on both popular searches and tags used to categorize blog postings.

Business models

While the great majority of blogs are non-commercial, full-time bloggers have struggled to find a way to make a profit from their work. The most common and simplest method is to accept targeted banner advertising. However, some bloggers have been hesitant to use this because of negative reader response to the ads. A more discreet form of advertising is for bloggers to promote merchandise from other sites, receiving a commission when a customer buys the item after following a blog link

However, In the early twenty-first century, many magazines and newspapers began sponsoring personal blogs by their employees. The business model in this case is essentially the same as that of a traditional newspaper columnist. In a creative extension of the model, employees at other media companies began blogs focusing on the companies' products. For example, many actors in pornography blog about their work on company sites, creating a sense of personal connection between consumer and product.

The reason for the controversy is that many bloggers do not reveal to their readers that they are being paid for a given post, leading to the impression that they are sincerely endorsing the product or service when in fact they're acting as writers of ad copy. In response, many bloggers denounce the practice of paid posting as "facilitating the pollution of the blogosphere" and even "evil". Others claim that there is no ethical problem as long as the blogger discloses that he or she is being paid. This dispute seems unlikely to be resolved in the forseeable future.

Many bloggers write for sites other than their own. Blogging networks have appeared, where bloggers are paid for generating content on a network's site.

A blog entry typically consists of the following:

Title, the main title, or headline, of the post.
Body, main content of the post.
Permalink, the URL of the full, individual article.
Post Date, date and time the post was published.