At Apollo Media, we manage a wide variety of blogs and find ourselves constantly researching, fully immersing ourselves in the rapidly evolving world of Web 2.0. Because we are always taking on new tasks and developing different types of content, we’ve had to sort out the different types of blogs to better assess the function and purpose of each.

If you’ve ever been confused about blogs, here are 3 blog categories and their brief definitions:

Personal Blog

What started out as an online diary, a personal blog usually consists of an individual or exclusive group dedicating their time to telling their personal experiences, displaying photos, writing reviews or discussing eclectic topics. Because personal blogs are so diverse, it’s difficult to generalize about their content. Their focus is usually on developing content without a substantial networking effort. But there are still many personal blogs that have achieved immense popularity either through the novelty of their content or the personality of the individual running it.

Example: Jaikido Blog

Professional Blog

Professional blogs usually consist of an individual or group of people who, outside of any official company or affiliation, write important content and work on a regular basis to monetize their efforts online. Treating blogging as a vital source of income, professional bloggers must consistently focus on SEO, social media, adding advertisements and link building to generate traffic. Professional bloggers often work for self-promotion in hopes of freelancing for other companies and organizations like news networks, businesses and even other blogs. More often than not, professional bloggers make a fine career out of appearing at speaking engagements and seminars, promoting effective blogging techniques or providing information within their field of interest.

Example: www.problogger.com

Company Blog

This is a blog that follows developments within a specific company. It can include company news, information on new clients, employee profiles, awards and promotional events. While some companies use blogs as a more immediate and accessible PR machine, others fully utilize their blog as a social media marketing tool, providing attention-grabbing articles that can draw in prospective clientele from other sources online. While company blogs may carry advertisements, they want to generate revenue through their services, rather than through the blog itself.

Example: www.SEOmoz.org

So there is a quick run through of the 3 most common blog types. Often, blogs blur the lines between these distinctions to draw in a diverse readership. A professional blog for example can establish itself as an authority to the extent that it forms its own online company. Or a personal blogger may get such an enormous response that they become a leader in their own niche, elevating them to a more professional status.

The possibilities are truly endless and don’t have to be limited to these definitions. We only categorize them as such to help new bloggers determine the direction from which to start. We hope we have gone over the core points in a way that is accessible to you and that you can enter the blogosphere with an idea of where you want to go.

Be sure to keep coming back to Apollo’s Blog for more tips, definitions and industry news relevant to your blogging endeavors. Good Luck!