by: Angie Noack
If you've been hearing all the buzz about blogging and want to know what it is and how to get started, this article is for you. Here we will discuss what blogging is, what blog software you'll need, and what you can do with it.
What's a blog?
A weblog - blog for short - is a type of website. Blogs are unique from other static website in that they are usually updated often. The main page of the site usually contains the most recent post or posts of the author or authors of the website. Also, blogs often also allow readers to post their comments directly to the site.
All of the factors work together to make blogs a very popular form of website creation, and online community building. If you'd like to try your hand at blogging, here's how to get started.
First, decided on the topic of your blog. Maybe you want to keep a diary of your daily life for your friends and family. If there's a topic that you are interested in, say, politics for example, blogs are a great way to discuss and share your interests and comments on current topics related to your interests.
Once you've decided on the topic of your blog, you'll want to choose a blog software program. The great thing is, some of the best programs and blog services are free!
Many blogging services are based online, such as blogger.com. Just visit these sites and register with them - many will give you free webspace and allow you to start blogging immediately.
If you want to register your own domain name and run your blog on your own server, you will need to install server side blog software. Not to fear, many webhosts come with an automatic installer called fantastico that will make getting your site up and running quick and easy.
Some of the more popular free blogging software programs are Wordpress and B2Evolution. Doing a search for any of these will get you the free downloads if they are not available through your webhost.
Blogs can be useful for building many types of websites. Examples include, corporate sights for keeping employees and customers up-to-date, travel diaries, niche websites on specific topics, interactive community websites, and more. The ease of posting and editing your blog website online makes blog software useful for many purposes.
About the Author
Angie Noack is a business strategist with a sharp edge for technology. With her unique ability to combine these two skills, she's able to help businesses save time and increase profits. You can find her online at http://www.liquidblogging.com/blogs.php.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
How to Make Money With Your Blog?
by: Ryen Kim
Make money blogging is fun: you enjoy blogging and getting money from blogging. As long as "making money with your blog" is concerned, it doesn't matter matter actually whether you enjoy or not. The way generating money from blogging is the same regardless of whether you enjoy blogging or painfully doing.
Let's get to the point.
Every business has the same process. That is, make potential customer come to you and sell your product, service or information.
Paraphrasing it into blogging term, let the readers come to your blog and make them click the link like "Buy now", "Join Now", "Adsense Ads", etc.
We call readers as traffic. And about how many out of your readers click the link refer we as conversion rate. Of course, the higher the conversion rate, the better.
Specifically, make-money blogging follows for steps:
Step 1: You blog, if not, start blogging.
Step 2: Bring traffic to your blog.
Step 3: PREsell with your blog.
That is, your blog content attract your reader to do some kind of action: buy your own product or go to the link you prepared, for example. But did you notice the word "PREsell"?. That's the most important thing in your make-money blogging plan. Many experienced Internet marketers say that people are not buying anything when you extensively try to sell something. This makes sense if you recall your own experience. Did you buy something when a blogger tried to sell something? Maybe not! Instead, give your readers useful information and create the warm mood by giving them the benefits of product that you have in mind. And then, only then place a link so that your readers click through. This is so called PREsell.
Step 4: Monetize: This is your final goal and the monetization has two streams.
-Sell your own product, service or information, if you have one.
-For the blogger who don't have their own product, it's still possible to earn money from their blog thanks to the many affiliate programs among which most popular one is "Google Adsense". But it's just one example out of hundred affiliate programs. if not thousand.
In short, make-money-blogging is doing step-by-step action: that is, you blog, bring traffic, PREsell your blog readers and finally monetize. Without bringing traffic and achieving PREsell, it is not possible to monetize your blog. That's why you need to keep in mind the fact that make-money-blogging is step-by-step action.
Due to the space limitation, I can't explain all the detail. If you want to know more about each step, you can read it from the article, what blog can make money?.
About the Author
Ryen Kim is an MBA, specialized in marketing research and analysis. His current focus is blogging and home based affiliate business as a work-at-home scheme. He is a founder of Blog Sites and running Hom Based Affiliate Business web site.
Make money blogging is fun: you enjoy blogging and getting money from blogging. As long as "making money with your blog" is concerned, it doesn't matter matter actually whether you enjoy or not. The way generating money from blogging is the same regardless of whether you enjoy blogging or painfully doing.
Let's get to the point.
Every business has the same process. That is, make potential customer come to you and sell your product, service or information.
Paraphrasing it into blogging term, let the readers come to your blog and make them click the link like "Buy now", "Join Now", "Adsense Ads", etc.
We call readers as traffic. And about how many out of your readers click the link refer we as conversion rate. Of course, the higher the conversion rate, the better.
Specifically, make-money blogging follows for steps:
Step 1: You blog, if not, start blogging.
Step 2: Bring traffic to your blog.
Step 3: PREsell with your blog.
That is, your blog content attract your reader to do some kind of action: buy your own product or go to the link you prepared, for example. But did you notice the word "PREsell"?. That's the most important thing in your make-money blogging plan. Many experienced Internet marketers say that people are not buying anything when you extensively try to sell something. This makes sense if you recall your own experience. Did you buy something when a blogger tried to sell something? Maybe not! Instead, give your readers useful information and create the warm mood by giving them the benefits of product that you have in mind. And then, only then place a link so that your readers click through. This is so called PREsell.
Step 4: Monetize: This is your final goal and the monetization has two streams.
-Sell your own product, service or information, if you have one.
-For the blogger who don't have their own product, it's still possible to earn money from their blog thanks to the many affiliate programs among which most popular one is "Google Adsense". But it's just one example out of hundred affiliate programs. if not thousand.
In short, make-money-blogging is doing step-by-step action: that is, you blog, bring traffic, PREsell your blog readers and finally monetize. Without bringing traffic and achieving PREsell, it is not possible to monetize your blog. That's why you need to keep in mind the fact that make-money-blogging is step-by-step action.
Due to the space limitation, I can't explain all the detail. If you want to know more about each step, you can read it from the article, what blog can make money?.
About the Author
Ryen Kim is an MBA, specialized in marketing research and analysis. His current focus is blogging and home based affiliate business as a work-at-home scheme. He is a founder of Blog Sites and running Hom Based Affiliate Business web site.
7 Tips for Choosing the Right Blog Software for Your New Blog
by: Michael Turner
Choosing the right blog software for your new blog requires that you ask yourself some questions and make a list of all of the features and tools you need as well as your budget. Once you have this information written down you will be prepared to start shopping for blog software. However, keep in mind the following seven tips for choosing the best software for you.
Tip #1 Ping Updates
These allow you to update your blog and are very important in blog software. Make sure the blog software you are interested in provides automatic ping updates.
Tip #2 Comments
Whatever blog software you choose, you'll want to make sure that it has an area for comments from visitors. This will help you understand what is successful in your blog and what is not, as well as guide you in future blogs. This is a really great tool and should be part of your blog software.
Tip #3 Trackback
If you are discussing your blog on another blog, or simply adding information to another blog, trackback will allow you to update this information. This is a little confusing, but trackback allows you to talk on your blog about information on another blog and ping the writer of the other blog to let them know what is going on. Trackback is certainly a feature you want in your blog software.
Tip #4 Pingback
Pingback is similar to trackback, but it just sends a URL to the other blog to let them know you are talking about their blog on your blog. This is not used as much as trackback, but you will want a blog software that has at least one of these two functions.
Tip #5 Web-based
The point of a blog is you can post information instantly online, so you want your blog software to be similar to a word processor and web based without a shadow of a doubt.
Tip #6 Archiving
You want a blog software that supports archiving, and most of them do. The reason for this is you will want to save all of your past blogs by the date they were published and archiving allows you to do that.
Tip #7 Categorize
Another great tool you will want in your blog software is the ability to categorize. You want to keep your blogs organized and in categories, if you have them, so this option is really a great one for most bloggers.
There are lots of types of blog software available. You just need to do the research and compare what you find with what you need and then... start blogging!
About the author:
Michael Turner reveals step-by-step how you can increase search engine traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/
Choosing the right blog software for your new blog requires that you ask yourself some questions and make a list of all of the features and tools you need as well as your budget. Once you have this information written down you will be prepared to start shopping for blog software. However, keep in mind the following seven tips for choosing the best software for you.
Tip #1 Ping Updates
These allow you to update your blog and are very important in blog software. Make sure the blog software you are interested in provides automatic ping updates.
Tip #2 Comments
Whatever blog software you choose, you'll want to make sure that it has an area for comments from visitors. This will help you understand what is successful in your blog and what is not, as well as guide you in future blogs. This is a really great tool and should be part of your blog software.
Tip #3 Trackback
If you are discussing your blog on another blog, or simply adding information to another blog, trackback will allow you to update this information. This is a little confusing, but trackback allows you to talk on your blog about information on another blog and ping the writer of the other blog to let them know what is going on. Trackback is certainly a feature you want in your blog software.
Tip #4 Pingback
Pingback is similar to trackback, but it just sends a URL to the other blog to let them know you are talking about their blog on your blog. This is not used as much as trackback, but you will want a blog software that has at least one of these two functions.
Tip #5 Web-based
The point of a blog is you can post information instantly online, so you want your blog software to be similar to a word processor and web based without a shadow of a doubt.
Tip #6 Archiving
You want a blog software that supports archiving, and most of them do. The reason for this is you will want to save all of your past blogs by the date they were published and archiving allows you to do that.
Tip #7 Categorize
Another great tool you will want in your blog software is the ability to categorize. You want to keep your blogs organized and in categories, if you have them, so this option is really a great one for most bloggers.
There are lots of types of blog software available. You just need to do the research and compare what you find with what you need and then... start blogging!
About the author:
Michael Turner reveals step-by-step how you can increase search engine traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/
Blood Test for Your Blog?
by: Nick Smith
Are you contributing to one of the estimated 36.1 million (and growing) blogs online? Or are you thinking of entering the fray and starting to publish a blog for your small or home business? Make sure you are publishing the right type of blog for your kind of business, or all that writing time will have been for naught.
The Blog Blood Test
Just as there are different types of blood, there are many different types of blogs, and each serves its own purpose. Giving your blog a blood test will help you determine which type of blog is best for your business and what may be wrong with the one you've got now.
Blog Blood Type 1: Customer Relations - Blogging is one of the best ways to put a face and personality on your business, especially if you operate entirely in cyberspace. Those that best employ their blog in strengthening relationships with their customers spend a lot of time interacting with customers, answering questions, providing useful tips, and keeping them informed of business happenings. These blogs focus less on the company's products and more on the company's culture and outlook. The goal of this type of blog is to engender customer loyalty and establish a consistent flow of interested website visitors.
Blog Blood Type 2: Sales - As you can imagine, most businesses that blog do so because of the perceived benefit to their bottom line. While very little quantitative research has been done with regards to the actual monetary impact of blogging on overall sales, the ubiquity of sales-oriented blogs indicates some kind of return-on-investment. Sales blogs focus on product developments and benefits to the customer. There is less online interaction with customers via the blog as the goal is to move readers off of the blog and onto the product pages. The goal of a sales blog is to encourage visitors to purchase a product, service, or information that the company is offering.
Blog Blood Type 3: Personal Web Journals - These blogs make up the bulk of the 36.1 million web logs online. The majority are personal accounts written without regard to size of readership or monetary value. Many have heralded free blogs as the Internet's greatest achievement, allowing virtually anyone with an internet connection to publish literally whatever they want, and all in a matter of a few minutes. There are as many purposes for personal blogs as there are bloggers. Perhaps the most common theme is the chance to be heard.
I've Taken the Blog Blood Test.Now What?
Which category did your blog best fit in? Did you find that you're writing one type of blog but desiring the benefits of another? If you haven't already started your blog, which type do you believe would best match your writing abilities and desired outcome? Simply put, if you're not writing the best type of blog for the benefits you want, you'll never get them - and you'll waste a lot of time in the process.
If your current blog is doing exactly what you want it to, leave it alone. If you find that some changes are necessary, consider the following questions:
Do I think I can drive actual sales from the blog?
Would I rather spend my writing time interacting with customers (both positive and negative) or writing about my product? (Remember the blood test)
Am I the best person to author my blog, or is there someone else who could do a better job?
Do I want to stage the blog as a company-sponsored communication tool or would I rather it appear as a kind of third-party, objective review?
How much time am I willing to spend writing?
How free do I want to be with regards to frequency of posting and responding to customer comments?
Millions of others are already blogging, but don't let that stop you from starting. Give your business the blog blood test and see which type works best for you.
About the author:
Nick Smith is an internet marketer with an internet positioning strategy. For information about a DNA blood test and other DNA products, visit Genetree.com.
Are you contributing to one of the estimated 36.1 million (and growing) blogs online? Or are you thinking of entering the fray and starting to publish a blog for your small or home business? Make sure you are publishing the right type of blog for your kind of business, or all that writing time will have been for naught.
The Blog Blood Test
Just as there are different types of blood, there are many different types of blogs, and each serves its own purpose. Giving your blog a blood test will help you determine which type of blog is best for your business and what may be wrong with the one you've got now.
Blog Blood Type 1: Customer Relations - Blogging is one of the best ways to put a face and personality on your business, especially if you operate entirely in cyberspace. Those that best employ their blog in strengthening relationships with their customers spend a lot of time interacting with customers, answering questions, providing useful tips, and keeping them informed of business happenings. These blogs focus less on the company's products and more on the company's culture and outlook. The goal of this type of blog is to engender customer loyalty and establish a consistent flow of interested website visitors.
Blog Blood Type 2: Sales - As you can imagine, most businesses that blog do so because of the perceived benefit to their bottom line. While very little quantitative research has been done with regards to the actual monetary impact of blogging on overall sales, the ubiquity of sales-oriented blogs indicates some kind of return-on-investment. Sales blogs focus on product developments and benefits to the customer. There is less online interaction with customers via the blog as the goal is to move readers off of the blog and onto the product pages. The goal of a sales blog is to encourage visitors to purchase a product, service, or information that the company is offering.
Blog Blood Type 3: Personal Web Journals - These blogs make up the bulk of the 36.1 million web logs online. The majority are personal accounts written without regard to size of readership or monetary value. Many have heralded free blogs as the Internet's greatest achievement, allowing virtually anyone with an internet connection to publish literally whatever they want, and all in a matter of a few minutes. There are as many purposes for personal blogs as there are bloggers. Perhaps the most common theme is the chance to be heard.
I've Taken the Blog Blood Test.Now What?
Which category did your blog best fit in? Did you find that you're writing one type of blog but desiring the benefits of another? If you haven't already started your blog, which type do you believe would best match your writing abilities and desired outcome? Simply put, if you're not writing the best type of blog for the benefits you want, you'll never get them - and you'll waste a lot of time in the process.
If your current blog is doing exactly what you want it to, leave it alone. If you find that some changes are necessary, consider the following questions:
Do I think I can drive actual sales from the blog?
Would I rather spend my writing time interacting with customers (both positive and negative) or writing about my product? (Remember the blood test)
Am I the best person to author my blog, or is there someone else who could do a better job?
Do I want to stage the blog as a company-sponsored communication tool or would I rather it appear as a kind of third-party, objective review?
How much time am I willing to spend writing?
How free do I want to be with regards to frequency of posting and responding to customer comments?
Millions of others are already blogging, but don't let that stop you from starting. Give your business the blog blood test and see which type works best for you.
About the author:
Nick Smith is an internet marketer with an internet positioning strategy. For information about a DNA blood test and other DNA products, visit Genetree.com.
Friday, May 23, 2008
What Blog Can Make Money?
How to blog to make money from it?
Truly the whole picture of making money blogging is simple:you blog (B), traffic comes to your blog (T), you PREsell to them (P) and finally monetize (M).
You may ask me "I have blog and peoples are coming. I need to know how to monetize, though not sure about what the PREsell means. So, tell me how to monetize, NOW." Understandable request. But before you rush into monetization, there is something you must take care of, otherwise you'll rush in vain.
I read some articles talking about "how to monetize or in what way can you make money from your blog." They were OK and nothing was wrong. But most of them were missing one thing, very important one. If you have a lot of traffic, say 10,000 visitors a day, you may need to focus only for how to monetize. And the way of monetization is simple, something like placing banner, affiliate text link, Google Adsense, (listed a few) on your blog page. What you have to realize is that "B--T--P--M" is really STEP-by-STEP. Monetizing will work only when you make a good success in previous three STEPS (B--T--P)
What blog can make money?
The answer is Any Kind! So, the right question should be "what blog can make more money?"
The answer is Well Prepared Blog! :-) What to prepare? Why not just posting? If you want to just blog and you don't care things to prepare, maybe you're not serious about making money from your blog. Otherwise, please read on.
First, I want to say this, "DON'T BLOG unless you know what you're going to blog!"
By this, I don't mean only conclusion of you blog. Before you blog, sit back from your keyboard and take a time to answer following 3 questions:
1. About what topic am I going to write? Are many people want to know about that topic?
2. With that topic, what product or link am I gonna introduce?
3. And how am I gonna do that?
What do I have in mind about those questions?
1. About topic, I'll do a little bit of research before I write. Have you heard about "keyword research"? There are free tools fit for keyword research. Not only for blog but for any kind of writings, if Internet is involved, I do keyword research first. For example, for this article, I took a little bit of time to find what kind of keyword people are using when they want to look for information about how to make money from blog. And I found people are using "make money blogging." This keyword research has two fold benefit. One is that it helps you fine what kind of topic people want to read. The other is that by using these keyword you'll have better chance to be positioned high in search engine result page.
2. About question 2, I'm thinking about what monetization method I'm going to use. Am I going to introduce an affiliate program, a book or place Adsense?
3. The purpose of asking question 3 was to emphasize the word "PREsell". In blogging, though you want to sell something or want your visitor to click links, don't rush it.
What do you do if you see a blogger is doing nothing but a sales pitch. You leave him once and for all, don't you? So PREsell is the key of how to write.It is something like creating a worm mind to your suggestion.
If you want to make money from your blog, start writing it only after you know what keyword is related your topic and what kind of monetization you can apply. This can make a huge difference.
If you want to know about how to do a keyword research, you may want to read this blog, Traffic to Blog: Keyword Research.
To sum up, a blog that can make more money is;
1. a blog talking about the topic people want to read and this can be found by keyword research
2. a blog that uses the the keyword in the post so that search engine can easily pick up
3. a blog that PREsells product by creating warm mood.
About the Author
Ryen Kim is an MBA, specialized in marketing research and analysis. His current focus is blogging and home based affiliate business as a work-at-home scheme. He is a founder of Blog Sites and running Hom Based Affiliate Business web site.
Truly the whole picture of making money blogging is simple:you blog (B), traffic comes to your blog (T), you PREsell to them (P) and finally monetize (M).
You may ask me "I have blog and peoples are coming. I need to know how to monetize, though not sure about what the PREsell means. So, tell me how to monetize, NOW." Understandable request. But before you rush into monetization, there is something you must take care of, otherwise you'll rush in vain.
I read some articles talking about "how to monetize or in what way can you make money from your blog." They were OK and nothing was wrong. But most of them were missing one thing, very important one. If you have a lot of traffic, say 10,000 visitors a day, you may need to focus only for how to monetize. And the way of monetization is simple, something like placing banner, affiliate text link, Google Adsense, (listed a few) on your blog page. What you have to realize is that "B--T--P--M" is really STEP-by-STEP. Monetizing will work only when you make a good success in previous three STEPS (B--T--P)
What blog can make money?
The answer is Any Kind! So, the right question should be "what blog can make more money?"
The answer is Well Prepared Blog! :-) What to prepare? Why not just posting? If you want to just blog and you don't care things to prepare, maybe you're not serious about making money from your blog. Otherwise, please read on.
First, I want to say this, "DON'T BLOG unless you know what you're going to blog!"
By this, I don't mean only conclusion of you blog. Before you blog, sit back from your keyboard and take a time to answer following 3 questions:
1. About what topic am I going to write? Are many people want to know about that topic?
2. With that topic, what product or link am I gonna introduce?
3. And how am I gonna do that?
What do I have in mind about those questions?
1. About topic, I'll do a little bit of research before I write. Have you heard about "keyword research"? There are free tools fit for keyword research. Not only for blog but for any kind of writings, if Internet is involved, I do keyword research first. For example, for this article, I took a little bit of time to find what kind of keyword people are using when they want to look for information about how to make money from blog. And I found people are using "make money blogging." This keyword research has two fold benefit. One is that it helps you fine what kind of topic people want to read. The other is that by using these keyword you'll have better chance to be positioned high in search engine result page.
2. About question 2, I'm thinking about what monetization method I'm going to use. Am I going to introduce an affiliate program, a book or place Adsense?
3. The purpose of asking question 3 was to emphasize the word "PREsell". In blogging, though you want to sell something or want your visitor to click links, don't rush it.
What do you do if you see a blogger is doing nothing but a sales pitch. You leave him once and for all, don't you? So PREsell is the key of how to write.It is something like creating a worm mind to your suggestion.
If you want to make money from your blog, start writing it only after you know what keyword is related your topic and what kind of monetization you can apply. This can make a huge difference.
If you want to know about how to do a keyword research, you may want to read this blog, Traffic to Blog: Keyword Research.
To sum up, a blog that can make more money is;
1. a blog talking about the topic people want to read and this can be found by keyword research
2. a blog that uses the the keyword in the post so that search engine can easily pick up
3. a blog that PREsells product by creating warm mood.
About the Author
Ryen Kim is an MBA, specialized in marketing research and analysis. His current focus is blogging and home based affiliate business as a work-at-home scheme. He is a founder of Blog Sites and running Hom Based Affiliate Business web site.
How to Boost Traffic to Your Blog:Tips to Get Inbound Links
by: Ryen Kim
Inbound links bring you traffic and boost your ranking!
One time I saw a blog that saying,
If you want to increase traffic... get links!
If you want to get high page rank ... get links!!
Link, link, links!!!
Though that blog was written for general web sites owner, when it comes to blogging, nothing changes!
Strictly speaking, the amount of traffic coming from external links may be small compared to that of one coming from major search engines. But,it is highly targeted traffic and moreover it does increase your page rank. Thus, more traffic can be expected from search engines.
One may raise a question. "How many inbound links do I need?"
Sorry, it's a wrong question. Quality of links matters,having many inbound links is not bad, though. If you have external inbound links from absolutely not related to your blog theme, the links are just junk. And if they are coming from the site which have lower page rank than your blog site, it doesn't help you much. That said; quality matters.
One way to get inbound link is link exchange. You link to other sites and ask the owner of that site to link back to you. I don't want to discourage you from doing link exchange, however, it is difficult and time consuming job. Whenever possible, try to get inbound links by doing link exchange. But you may put more effort to do other things yet more effective ones.
First, why getting inbound links by link exchange is difficult?
Most of web masters and bloggers know that they have to get inbound links from
the web sites or blog sites that have similar themes as theirs
those have higher page rank than theirs
The first one generally doesn't produce problem. But there seems to be logical problem when the second one is concerned. If everybody wants to get inbound links from higher ranked site, who else is willing to link back to the lower ranked sites. Not many, I guess. This makes doing link exchange less effective.
A warning: under any circumstances, don't be involved in link farm or Free For All(FFA) links. Once they were good tips to get high rank, however, nowadays search engine, especially Google will ban you if you're involved in those activity. They are not legitimated link exchange.
Having said that, here are 4 tips to get inbound links other than link exchange.
Submit your blog and/or RSS feed to blog search engine and directories
It does bring you small amount of traffic. More importantly you will get inbound links from authentified web sites, blog search engines and directories. There are more than 100 of them and you can find the links at RSSTop55 - Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites. It says top 55 but if you read on more than 100 submission lists you'll find. I don't think you have to submit all of them, but if you can it's OK. Submitting to 100 sites is not pleasant job. Start from first 10 or 20 sites, and if you think you need more, do it another day. But don't fool yourself by buying auto submission program or service because most of blog search engines don't allow auto submission and most of them pinging is enough.
A note: it lists Yahoo Directory and Open Directory at the first two spot but postpone submitting there unless you have more than 20 content pages.
Leave a comment to other blogger
Everybody seems to know this. :-) My 2 cent tip is that visit a blogger who has higher rank than you and leave a comment with your blog link (remember you have to use your blog name or keywords as a link title). Some bloggers allow to leave a link, some are not. Of courses go to the bloggers who allow. Don't forget to leave your blog link with your keyword title.
Similarly leave a post on some forums
Of course to the forums that are active and highly ranked.
Write a free article and submit it to the article directories
This is a powerful tip yet not many blogger are doing. By doing this you'll get quality inbound links and a decent amount of traffic. This tip even make many other sites work for you. The secrete is that you provide useful information with your resource box that promote your blog. You allow other blogger or web master to publish your article on their web sites or blog with the condition of placing your resource box at the end of your article. Just pick up some of your blog, refurnish it and submit to the article directories. You can submit your article at "Ezine Articles", "Article City", "Go Article", "Article Factory", etc.
There you have 4 tips about how to get quality inbound link to your blog and this concludes the traffic to blog:how to boost traffic to your blog series.
To sum up,
find niche keywords that are related to your blog theme and topics
write a good informative blog using the keywords
mind some search engine optimizations
and more importantly get quality inbound links
That's it. Happy blogging and wish you all the best.
About the Author
Ryen Kim is an MBA, specialized in marketing research and analysis. His current focus is blogging and home based affiliate business as a work-at-home scheme. He is a founder of Blog Sites and running Hom Based Affiliate Business web site.
Inbound links bring you traffic and boost your ranking!
One time I saw a blog that saying,
If you want to increase traffic... get links!
If you want to get high page rank ... get links!!
Link, link, links!!!
Though that blog was written for general web sites owner, when it comes to blogging, nothing changes!
Strictly speaking, the amount of traffic coming from external links may be small compared to that of one coming from major search engines. But,it is highly targeted traffic and moreover it does increase your page rank. Thus, more traffic can be expected from search engines.
One may raise a question. "How many inbound links do I need?"
Sorry, it's a wrong question. Quality of links matters,having many inbound links is not bad, though. If you have external inbound links from absolutely not related to your blog theme, the links are just junk. And if they are coming from the site which have lower page rank than your blog site, it doesn't help you much. That said; quality matters.
One way to get inbound link is link exchange. You link to other sites and ask the owner of that site to link back to you. I don't want to discourage you from doing link exchange, however, it is difficult and time consuming job. Whenever possible, try to get inbound links by doing link exchange. But you may put more effort to do other things yet more effective ones.
First, why getting inbound links by link exchange is difficult?
Most of web masters and bloggers know that they have to get inbound links from
the web sites or blog sites that have similar themes as theirs
those have higher page rank than theirs
The first one generally doesn't produce problem. But there seems to be logical problem when the second one is concerned. If everybody wants to get inbound links from higher ranked site, who else is willing to link back to the lower ranked sites. Not many, I guess. This makes doing link exchange less effective.
A warning: under any circumstances, don't be involved in link farm or Free For All(FFA) links. Once they were good tips to get high rank, however, nowadays search engine, especially Google will ban you if you're involved in those activity. They are not legitimated link exchange.
Having said that, here are 4 tips to get inbound links other than link exchange.
Submit your blog and/or RSS feed to blog search engine and directories
It does bring you small amount of traffic. More importantly you will get inbound links from authentified web sites, blog search engines and directories. There are more than 100 of them and you can find the links at RSSTop55 - Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites. It says top 55 but if you read on more than 100 submission lists you'll find. I don't think you have to submit all of them, but if you can it's OK. Submitting to 100 sites is not pleasant job. Start from first 10 or 20 sites, and if you think you need more, do it another day. But don't fool yourself by buying auto submission program or service because most of blog search engines don't allow auto submission and most of them pinging is enough.
A note: it lists Yahoo Directory and Open Directory at the first two spot but postpone submitting there unless you have more than 20 content pages.
Leave a comment to other blogger
Everybody seems to know this. :-) My 2 cent tip is that visit a blogger who has higher rank than you and leave a comment with your blog link (remember you have to use your blog name or keywords as a link title). Some bloggers allow to leave a link, some are not. Of courses go to the bloggers who allow. Don't forget to leave your blog link with your keyword title.
Similarly leave a post on some forums
Of course to the forums that are active and highly ranked.
Write a free article and submit it to the article directories
This is a powerful tip yet not many blogger are doing. By doing this you'll get quality inbound links and a decent amount of traffic. This tip even make many other sites work for you. The secrete is that you provide useful information with your resource box that promote your blog. You allow other blogger or web master to publish your article on their web sites or blog with the condition of placing your resource box at the end of your article. Just pick up some of your blog, refurnish it and submit to the article directories. You can submit your article at "Ezine Articles", "Article City", "Go Article", "Article Factory", etc.
There you have 4 tips about how to get quality inbound link to your blog and this concludes the traffic to blog:how to boost traffic to your blog series.
To sum up,
find niche keywords that are related to your blog theme and topics
write a good informative blog using the keywords
mind some search engine optimizations
and more importantly get quality inbound links
That's it. Happy blogging and wish you all the best.
About the Author
Ryen Kim is an MBA, specialized in marketing research and analysis. His current focus is blogging and home based affiliate business as a work-at-home scheme. He is a founder of Blog Sites and running Hom Based Affiliate Business web site.
How To Boost Traffic To Your Blog:How to write a better blog
by: Ryen Kim
Sources of traffic and how to write blog that boost traffic?
Where does the traffic come from? Where my readers come from?
It's essential to know the sources of traffic. Then, you know where your effort should go to boost traffic to your blog.
The sources of traffic:
Your blog itself
Major search engines and Directory: Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL,...
External links
First thing first. Whatever techniques or tips you hear about how to bring traffic to your blog, don't get lost the foremost important thing: your blog itself!
Your blog itself should be something people like to read and like to link.
People are not waiting for you. They even don't know you. But they'll start noticing you if your posts cater their interest and they'll spread your blog to their friends. The quality of your blog is superior to any other techniques such as search engine optimization (SEO). But it seems some blogger apt to forget this yet the majorities are providing good blog. This is common sense, right? Nothing new, huh?
OK, here are four tips how to make your blog attractive:
Write something controversial,topical, and pithy. And make your blog title attractive but don't forget to include keyword in your title. The word "keyword" will appear several times in rest of post, meaning it's just important! You may want to read, Traffic to Blog:Keyword Research, to know why keywords are important and how to find keywords that brings traffic to your blog, if you haven't read. It also guides you how to find topical keywords.
Write as frequently as possible.
If you just started new blog, write everyday. If your blog already have decent traffic, just keep on writing as frequently as you can. Both readers and search engines look for new information. You provide new information and they will come.
Write fresh content.
Don't just copy from others. This not only troubles you in legal matter but also makes your readers leave you. If you find less traffic comes to your blog though you write every day, check whether you're posting fresh content.
Fresh content doesn't mean that it should deal with brand new item. It does mean that new point of view, additional point of view, or even imitation of topic but filled with recreated content.
Provide internal link within your blog.
If you have related post to other post, link each other within your blog content. This helps your reader find more information out of your blog, stay with you longer and even come back to you again.
Furthermore, it is one of SEO techniques. By doing inter link you can have more back links, though they are less valuable than external inbound links. More technically it can be used to improve the page rank of certain blog. For example, suppose you have 5 related post, 4 have page rank 4 and the other page rank 0. If you want to increase that page rank of 0, you link all the other 4 posts to that post. It'll surely improve the page rank of the lowest one. But be aware that when you link back the higher page rank post may not keep the original page rank. So do it under your plan and do it moderately. Don't abuse this technique because search engines may consider you as a search engine spammer.
The bottom line is that moderate is always good.
In the second bullet, I wrote "You provide new information and they will come." Oops, it's WRONG! They don't come. They don't know whether you provided new information at all. You have to let them know you wrote new information. This is related to the topic that how to optimize your post search engine friendly. If you want know more about this topic, you may want to read Search engine optimization for bloggers.
About the Author
Ryen Kim is an MBA, specialized in marketing research and analysis. His current focus is blogging and home based affiliate business as a work-at-home scheme. He is a founder of Blog Sites and running Hom Based Affiliate Business web site.
Sources of traffic and how to write blog that boost traffic?
Where does the traffic come from? Where my readers come from?
It's essential to know the sources of traffic. Then, you know where your effort should go to boost traffic to your blog.
The sources of traffic:
Your blog itself
Major search engines and Directory: Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL,...
External links
First thing first. Whatever techniques or tips you hear about how to bring traffic to your blog, don't get lost the foremost important thing: your blog itself!
Your blog itself should be something people like to read and like to link.
People are not waiting for you. They even don't know you. But they'll start noticing you if your posts cater their interest and they'll spread your blog to their friends. The quality of your blog is superior to any other techniques such as search engine optimization (SEO). But it seems some blogger apt to forget this yet the majorities are providing good blog. This is common sense, right? Nothing new, huh?
OK, here are four tips how to make your blog attractive:
Write something controversial,topical, and pithy. And make your blog title attractive but don't forget to include keyword in your title. The word "keyword" will appear several times in rest of post, meaning it's just important! You may want to read, Traffic to Blog:Keyword Research, to know why keywords are important and how to find keywords that brings traffic to your blog, if you haven't read. It also guides you how to find topical keywords.
Write as frequently as possible.
If you just started new blog, write everyday. If your blog already have decent traffic, just keep on writing as frequently as you can. Both readers and search engines look for new information. You provide new information and they will come.
Write fresh content.
Don't just copy from others. This not only troubles you in legal matter but also makes your readers leave you. If you find less traffic comes to your blog though you write every day, check whether you're posting fresh content.
Fresh content doesn't mean that it should deal with brand new item. It does mean that new point of view, additional point of view, or even imitation of topic but filled with recreated content.
Provide internal link within your blog.
If you have related post to other post, link each other within your blog content. This helps your reader find more information out of your blog, stay with you longer and even come back to you again.
Furthermore, it is one of SEO techniques. By doing inter link you can have more back links, though they are less valuable than external inbound links. More technically it can be used to improve the page rank of certain blog. For example, suppose you have 5 related post, 4 have page rank 4 and the other page rank 0. If you want to increase that page rank of 0, you link all the other 4 posts to that post. It'll surely improve the page rank of the lowest one. But be aware that when you link back the higher page rank post may not keep the original page rank. So do it under your plan and do it moderately. Don't abuse this technique because search engines may consider you as a search engine spammer.
The bottom line is that moderate is always good.
In the second bullet, I wrote "You provide new information and they will come." Oops, it's WRONG! They don't come. They don't know whether you provided new information at all. You have to let them know you wrote new information. This is related to the topic that how to optimize your post search engine friendly. If you want know more about this topic, you may want to read Search engine optimization for bloggers.
About the Author
Ryen Kim is an MBA, specialized in marketing research and analysis. His current focus is blogging and home based affiliate business as a work-at-home scheme. He is a founder of Blog Sites and running Hom Based Affiliate Business web site.
Blogging for Profits - Finding the Gold hidden inside your words
by: Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian
"How are you going to profit from your blog?" asked my cousin. I could tell him almost 33 different ways! "Do you blog?"
It was my cousin asking this question. Of course I did. My weblogging started in November 2001.
But I was an 'off-and-on' blogger. To me, a blog was like a bad tooth. Y'know, you can't help seeking it out with your tongue. But when you find it, "Ouch!"
My blog was like that. Each time I set out to make a success of it. And after a week or two, backed down, beaten.
Until I discovered the secret that helped me crack the code! Now I enjoy blogging - because I know how to do it right.
"What's your business model?" I asked my cousin.
He stared at me blankly. I tried again.
"How are you going to profit from your blog?"
He looked at me as if I was mad.
"What do you mean 'profit'? Blogs aren't profitable!" he exclaimed.
I smiled quietly. Of course, that's what everyone says - including the 'gurus' of online marketing.
But I knew better.
"Yesterday, my blogging earned me $170" I said.
His look said it all. "Liar"
"I'm not kidding" I continued. "I can show you THIRTY ways to profit from blogs."
"Name three" he countered.
"Well, you could ask your blog community to make a donation every now and then."
"Hmm... that's a thought. But why will they give me money?"
I explained how he could make his blog valuable to visitors, involve them in his agenda, so that they'll be happy to participate in his ventures and support them.
"You could use a direct selling model to earn money. By including a powerful sales letter for your product or service, specifically focused on the benefits a buyer will get from it. Add a way to order - and hey, presto. You're set to make a tidy profit from your blog."
He was now listening carefully, nodding his head in agreement.
"Or you could get paid for displaying ads targeted to your visitor's interests."
I was on fire now. Explaining the steps he needed to take to create value on his blog. Telling him how to make it appear valuable to users. Showing him exactly how to leverage his experience at blogging into money in the bank.
When we finally finished a couple of hours later, we made a list. I had suggested exactly THIRTY THREE ways to profit from a blog. My cousin was ecstatic.
"You simply MUST tell others about this."
A book about profiting from blogs - now that was a *cool* idea.
I spent some time looking for other books or resources teaching profitable blogging. Zilch. No one else was telling people about these powerful secrets!
That's when I read blog expert, David Winer's post:
"Another problem with books about blogs (blooks?) is that as I read them I want to comment, more than any other kind of book. Well, how do you do that? Will these books be on the Web? Will they have paragraph-level permalinks?"
Flashbulbs exploded in my mind.
Why not a book on blogs that's *ITSELF* a...
BLOG ?!
The result is my blogBook, "Blog Profit Ideas Exposed - 33 Quick Tips Blog Publishers Can Profit From" http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/blogbook/
It's the first of its kind, and presents the content of a 'book' in the form of a 'blog'.
Now YOU can annotate or remark on any of these ideas or tips. Share YOUR experiences or reservations about them. Post any modifications or tweaks YOU feel will make them more effective.
blogBooks make books uniquely reader-friendly in a very personal way. What will emerge? The resulting 'composite' blogBook, annotated with reader comments, will be far more enriching and valuable than my own writing.
PLUS - I can keep adding to the blogBook as and when I find, hear about or use a new Blog Profit Idea! This blogBook will be a living thing that grows and morphs over time...
A personal publishing form of online journalism, the 'blog' has become a medium to share anything you may care to. Today it has also become a publishing format for electronic books. Only time will tell if it's here to stay. Until then, keep blogging - profitably!
About the Author
Why are some people getting rich with email newsletters? Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian has created the *ultimate* guide- "How to Create your own Profitable *Killer* Email Newsletter ... In just 14 Days! FREE details: http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/ezinelaunch/ FREE email course: mailto:freezine@ezinemarketingcenter.com
"How are you going to profit from your blog?" asked my cousin. I could tell him almost 33 different ways! "Do you blog?"
It was my cousin asking this question. Of course I did. My weblogging started in November 2001.
But I was an 'off-and-on' blogger. To me, a blog was like a bad tooth. Y'know, you can't help seeking it out with your tongue. But when you find it, "Ouch!"
My blog was like that. Each time I set out to make a success of it. And after a week or two, backed down, beaten.
Until I discovered the secret that helped me crack the code! Now I enjoy blogging - because I know how to do it right.
"What's your business model?" I asked my cousin.
He stared at me blankly. I tried again.
"How are you going to profit from your blog?"
He looked at me as if I was mad.
"What do you mean 'profit'? Blogs aren't profitable!" he exclaimed.
I smiled quietly. Of course, that's what everyone says - including the 'gurus' of online marketing.
But I knew better.
"Yesterday, my blogging earned me $170" I said.
His look said it all. "Liar"
"I'm not kidding" I continued. "I can show you THIRTY ways to profit from blogs."
"Name three" he countered.
"Well, you could ask your blog community to make a donation every now and then."
"Hmm... that's a thought. But why will they give me money?"
I explained how he could make his blog valuable to visitors, involve them in his agenda, so that they'll be happy to participate in his ventures and support them.
"You could use a direct selling model to earn money. By including a powerful sales letter for your product or service, specifically focused on the benefits a buyer will get from it. Add a way to order - and hey, presto. You're set to make a tidy profit from your blog."
He was now listening carefully, nodding his head in agreement.
"Or you could get paid for displaying ads targeted to your visitor's interests."
I was on fire now. Explaining the steps he needed to take to create value on his blog. Telling him how to make it appear valuable to users. Showing him exactly how to leverage his experience at blogging into money in the bank.
When we finally finished a couple of hours later, we made a list. I had suggested exactly THIRTY THREE ways to profit from a blog. My cousin was ecstatic.
"You simply MUST tell others about this."
A book about profiting from blogs - now that was a *cool* idea.
I spent some time looking for other books or resources teaching profitable blogging. Zilch. No one else was telling people about these powerful secrets!
That's when I read blog expert, David Winer's post:
"Another problem with books about blogs (blooks?) is that as I read them I want to comment, more than any other kind of book. Well, how do you do that? Will these books be on the Web? Will they have paragraph-level permalinks?"
Flashbulbs exploded in my mind.
Why not a book on blogs that's *ITSELF* a...
BLOG ?!
The result is my blogBook, "Blog Profit Ideas Exposed - 33 Quick Tips Blog Publishers Can Profit From" http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/blogbook/
It's the first of its kind, and presents the content of a 'book' in the form of a 'blog'.
Now YOU can annotate or remark on any of these ideas or tips. Share YOUR experiences or reservations about them. Post any modifications or tweaks YOU feel will make them more effective.
blogBooks make books uniquely reader-friendly in a very personal way. What will emerge? The resulting 'composite' blogBook, annotated with reader comments, will be far more enriching and valuable than my own writing.
PLUS - I can keep adding to the blogBook as and when I find, hear about or use a new Blog Profit Idea! This blogBook will be a living thing that grows and morphs over time...
A personal publishing form of online journalism, the 'blog' has become a medium to share anything you may care to. Today it has also become a publishing format for electronic books. Only time will tell if it's here to stay. Until then, keep blogging - profitably!
About the Author
Why are some people getting rich with email newsletters? Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian has created the *ultimate* guide- "How to Create your own Profitable *Killer* Email Newsletter ... In just 14 Days! FREE details: http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/ezinelaunch/ FREE email course: mailto:freezine@ezinemarketingcenter.com
Creating Effective Corporate Blogs
by: Colin Ong TS
The terms "blog" and "blogging" have become part of the new economy dictionary and are an extremely cheap and efficient way of disseminating information through the web. A blog is best described as an online diary that readers can also post their thoughts. Many subject experts and academics have created open blogs (free access) that are read by thousands of readers and futurists are predicting that these blogs will emerge as the new mega magazines.
Which leads to the question about why companies are slow to create corporate blogs in order to promote their organizational goals and ideals. The reason for this lax attitude is that corporate blogs can be misinterpreted for techies and the employment of full-time blog administrators as too costly.
Before creating a corporate blog, determine some guidelines. Here are some tips:
Clear Organisational Message:
Before starting a corporate blog, you have to be very clear about the organizational message and direction. The reason is that your blog will be read by the public who may also be potential customers who have different global perceptions. You do not want your blog to convey negative perceptions of your organizational values.
Determine Success Targets:
The setting up of a corporate blog is not just an opportunity for people to ventilate or post their comments online. There must be clear success targets. Feasible short term targets are the generation of new sales leads and increase in customer database. In contrast, a medium term target can be the creation of new alliances.
Promote Your Alliance:
Your corporate blog can be used to highlight your current alliances and give your customers a better understanding about your global reach. You can invite representatives of these organizations to either be guest bloggers or have a separate blog within your main corporate blog. With enough online exposure, your corporate blog can also evolve into a dynamic networking online community.
Great Feedback Channel:
Invite your customers to post their comments in the corporate blog and get your blog administrator to act on the feedback as soon as possible. This will give the image that your organization is very serious about all feedback and you can also rectify the problem before it escalates. The more advanced blogs can also provide immediate sms to blog administrators once a feedback has been posted too.
Value-add to Your Print Newsletter:
A corporate blog can value-add to your current monthly print newsletter. One way is that some online postings can provide article-ideas for future newsletter issues. Blog visitors can also request for print newsletters to be posted to their homes.
Test Out New Products:
Your organizational engineers and sales team can use the corporate blog to test out new products and ideas. This is an effective and cheap solution as your blog readers should already have a good idea about how these ideas should co-exist with your other products.
Security Measures:
Ensure that your corporate blog has security measures that prevents spamming to your blog readers. This will ensure that spamming will not create a definite negative image about your company. Your blog administrator should also ensure that there is no flaming and that all potential debates should not be a battle of personalities.
Not Infringe Intellectual Property:
Some blog posters may introduce other websites which may have beta versions of new products. To some blog readers, this may be purely educational but the implication for your organization is that it may infringe intellectual property
About The Author
This article is contributed by Colin Ong TS, Managing Director/Chief Trainer of MR=MC Consulting (http://www.mrmc.com.sg) and Founder of 12n Community (http://www.mrmc.com.sg/12n). He can also be contacted about corporate blogging at colin@mrmc.com.sg.
The terms "blog" and "blogging" have become part of the new economy dictionary and are an extremely cheap and efficient way of disseminating information through the web. A blog is best described as an online diary that readers can also post their thoughts. Many subject experts and academics have created open blogs (free access) that are read by thousands of readers and futurists are predicting that these blogs will emerge as the new mega magazines.
Which leads to the question about why companies are slow to create corporate blogs in order to promote their organizational goals and ideals. The reason for this lax attitude is that corporate blogs can be misinterpreted for techies and the employment of full-time blog administrators as too costly.
Before creating a corporate blog, determine some guidelines. Here are some tips:
Clear Organisational Message:
Before starting a corporate blog, you have to be very clear about the organizational message and direction. The reason is that your blog will be read by the public who may also be potential customers who have different global perceptions. You do not want your blog to convey negative perceptions of your organizational values.
Determine Success Targets:
The setting up of a corporate blog is not just an opportunity for people to ventilate or post their comments online. There must be clear success targets. Feasible short term targets are the generation of new sales leads and increase in customer database. In contrast, a medium term target can be the creation of new alliances.
Promote Your Alliance:
Your corporate blog can be used to highlight your current alliances and give your customers a better understanding about your global reach. You can invite representatives of these organizations to either be guest bloggers or have a separate blog within your main corporate blog. With enough online exposure, your corporate blog can also evolve into a dynamic networking online community.
Great Feedback Channel:
Invite your customers to post their comments in the corporate blog and get your blog administrator to act on the feedback as soon as possible. This will give the image that your organization is very serious about all feedback and you can also rectify the problem before it escalates. The more advanced blogs can also provide immediate sms to blog administrators once a feedback has been posted too.
Value-add to Your Print Newsletter:
A corporate blog can value-add to your current monthly print newsletter. One way is that some online postings can provide article-ideas for future newsletter issues. Blog visitors can also request for print newsletters to be posted to their homes.
Test Out New Products:
Your organizational engineers and sales team can use the corporate blog to test out new products and ideas. This is an effective and cheap solution as your blog readers should already have a good idea about how these ideas should co-exist with your other products.
Security Measures:
Ensure that your corporate blog has security measures that prevents spamming to your blog readers. This will ensure that spamming will not create a definite negative image about your company. Your blog administrator should also ensure that there is no flaming and that all potential debates should not be a battle of personalities.
Not Infringe Intellectual Property:
Some blog posters may introduce other websites which may have beta versions of new products. To some blog readers, this may be purely educational but the implication for your organization is that it may infringe intellectual property
About The Author
This article is contributed by Colin Ong TS, Managing Director/Chief Trainer of MR=MC Consulting (http://www.mrmc.com.sg) and Founder of 12n Community (http://www.mrmc.com.sg/12n). He can also be contacted about corporate blogging at colin@mrmc.com.sg.
Creating An Effective Corporate Blog
by: Colin Ong TS
The terms "blog" and "blogging" have become part of the new economy dictionary and are an extremely cheap and efficient way of disseminating information through the web. A blog is best described as an online diary that readers can also post their thoughts. Many subject experts and academics have created open blogs (free access) that are read by thousands of readers and futurists are predicting that these blogs will emerge as the new mega magazines.
Which leads to the question about why companies are slow to create corporate blogs in order to promote their organizational goals and ideals. The reason for this lax attitude is that corporate blogs can be misinterpreted for techies and the employment of full-time blog administrators as too costly.
Before creating a corporate blog, determine some guidelines. Here are some tips:
Clear Organisational Message
Before starting a corporate blog, you have to be very clear about the organizational message and direction. The reason is that your blog will be read by the public who may also be potential customers who have different global perceptions. You do not want your blog to convey negative perceptions of your organizational values.
Determine Success Targets
The setting up of a corporate blog is not just an opportunity for people to ventilate or post their comments online. There must be clear success targets. Feasible short term targets are the generation of new sales leads and increase in customer database. In contrast, a medium term target can be the creation of new alliances.
Promote Your Alliance
Your corporate blog can be used to highlight your current alliances and give your customers a better understanding about your global reach. You can invite representatives of these organizations to either be guest bloggers or have a separate blog within your main corporate blog. With enough online exposure, your corporate blog can also evolve into a dynamic networking online community.
Great Feedback Channel
Invite your customers to post their comments in the corporate blog and get your blog administrator to act on the feedback as soon as possible. This will give the image that your organization is very serious about all feedback and you can also rectify the problem before it escalates. The more advanced blogs can also provide immediate sms to blog administrators once a feedback has been posted too.
Value-add to Your Print Newsletter
A corporate blog can value-add to your current monthly print newsletter. One way is that some online postings can provide article-ideas for future newsletter issues. Blog visitors can also request for print newsletters to be posted to their homes.
Test Out New Products
Your organizational engineers and sales team can use the corporate blog to test out new products and ideas. This is an effective and cheap solution as your blog readers should already have a good idea about how these ideas should co-exist with your other products.
Security Measures
Ensure that your corporate blog has security measures that prevents spamming to your blog readers. This will ensure that spamming will not create a definite negative image about your company. Your blog administrator should also ensure that there is no flaming and that all potential debates should not be a battle of personalities.
Not Infringe Intellectual Property
Some blog posters may introduce other websites which may have beta versions of new products. To some blog readers, this may be purely educational but the implication for your organization is that it may infringe intellectual property
About the Author
This article is contributed by Colin Ong TS, Managing Director/Chief Trainer of MR=MC Consulting (http://www.mrmc.com.sg) and Founder of 12n Community (http://www.mrmc.com.sg/12n). He can also be contacted about corporate blogging at colin@mrmc.com.sg
The terms "blog" and "blogging" have become part of the new economy dictionary and are an extremely cheap and efficient way of disseminating information through the web. A blog is best described as an online diary that readers can also post their thoughts. Many subject experts and academics have created open blogs (free access) that are read by thousands of readers and futurists are predicting that these blogs will emerge as the new mega magazines.
Which leads to the question about why companies are slow to create corporate blogs in order to promote their organizational goals and ideals. The reason for this lax attitude is that corporate blogs can be misinterpreted for techies and the employment of full-time blog administrators as too costly.
Before creating a corporate blog, determine some guidelines. Here are some tips:
Clear Organisational Message
Before starting a corporate blog, you have to be very clear about the organizational message and direction. The reason is that your blog will be read by the public who may also be potential customers who have different global perceptions. You do not want your blog to convey negative perceptions of your organizational values.
Determine Success Targets
The setting up of a corporate blog is not just an opportunity for people to ventilate or post their comments online. There must be clear success targets. Feasible short term targets are the generation of new sales leads and increase in customer database. In contrast, a medium term target can be the creation of new alliances.
Promote Your Alliance
Your corporate blog can be used to highlight your current alliances and give your customers a better understanding about your global reach. You can invite representatives of these organizations to either be guest bloggers or have a separate blog within your main corporate blog. With enough online exposure, your corporate blog can also evolve into a dynamic networking online community.
Great Feedback Channel
Invite your customers to post their comments in the corporate blog and get your blog administrator to act on the feedback as soon as possible. This will give the image that your organization is very serious about all feedback and you can also rectify the problem before it escalates. The more advanced blogs can also provide immediate sms to blog administrators once a feedback has been posted too.
Value-add to Your Print Newsletter
A corporate blog can value-add to your current monthly print newsletter. One way is that some online postings can provide article-ideas for future newsletter issues. Blog visitors can also request for print newsletters to be posted to their homes.
Test Out New Products
Your organizational engineers and sales team can use the corporate blog to test out new products and ideas. This is an effective and cheap solution as your blog readers should already have a good idea about how these ideas should co-exist with your other products.
Security Measures
Ensure that your corporate blog has security measures that prevents spamming to your blog readers. This will ensure that spamming will not create a definite negative image about your company. Your blog administrator should also ensure that there is no flaming and that all potential debates should not be a battle of personalities.
Not Infringe Intellectual Property
Some blog posters may introduce other websites which may have beta versions of new products. To some blog readers, this may be purely educational but the implication for your organization is that it may infringe intellectual property
About the Author
This article is contributed by Colin Ong TS, Managing Director/Chief Trainer of MR=MC Consulting (http://www.mrmc.com.sg) and Founder of 12n Community (http://www.mrmc.com.sg/12n). He can also be contacted about corporate blogging at colin@mrmc.com.sg
Blogging - what's it all about?
by: Inka-Maria Kunz
A blog usually is a web page that contains brief, discrete hunks of information called posts. These posts are arranged in reverse-chronological order (the most recent come first) and each is uniquely identified by an anchor tag which is marked with a permanent link that can be referred to by others who wish to link to it.
A blog is a means of communication and there are many different types of messages carried by blogs. Some are nothing but pointers to other web sites, while others run long essays, some are personal diaries, others feature technology, and some are edited by one person, others by teams.
There are hundreds of thousands of blogs on the Internet, and new blogs are created every day. Can anybody and more importantly can you blog? Yes, there are bloggers of all types, equipped with all levels of technical skills. Bloggers approach their sites with as much variety and passion as the general Net public approaches the Web itself.
The most commonly used blogging tool is Blogger. It requires the least amount of commitment in time or resources, allowing you to go from wanting a blog to having one in about five minutes and at no cost. The Blogger software is the property of Pyra Labs (www.pyra.com). Blogger is often credited as the reason for the explosion of blogging that's occurred in the last couple of years. It is a web-based tool, requiring no installation of software on your personal computer or on your server if you happen to have a web site. You access the tool through the Blogger web site (http://blogger.com) and the blog pages are posted to your web site or to Pyra's BlogSpot (http://blogspot.com) community blog server. For more detailed information on this see O'Reilly's Essential Blogging.
Re-read anything before you publish. Electronic text can expose unintended meaning easily and it will also make what you say a lot more focused. If nothing else, it should help you catch spelling mistakes! Blogging is a way to share your opinions and thoughts to the rest of the world. If you post interesting things, share links with other bloggers and post comments on other blogs. Linking is the way of the Web that is the key of successful blogging.
In order to keep your blogs really fresh, invite a group of your friends / colleagues and give them blogging access. That way you will have several reporters blogging information and you won't end up killing yourself, trying to keep your blog populated with good information. If you use Blogger, upgrade to Blogger Pro. You can have your team post to the blog from email, create and syndicate your blog as an RSS feed, and a whole lot more! Adding the ability to post comments on your blog extends interactivity and usefulness to the blog itself. Blogs are about community and information, and commenting is a real way to gauge your viewer's blogging efforts. Blogging is one of the quickest ways to update your site. Syndicating others' blogs into your own site is another. There is a wealth of information out there - just tap into it!
About The Author
This article was written by Inka-Maria Kunz, CEO of a flourishing multilingual translations agency with offices in Germany and New Zealand. This article may be printed or used in its entirety with full author contacts and details. For more information, translations or purchases of a new website/e-business, contact the author thru the official website www.linguatransl.co.nz or the blog www.linguatransl.blogspot.com.
A blog usually is a web page that contains brief, discrete hunks of information called posts. These posts are arranged in reverse-chronological order (the most recent come first) and each is uniquely identified by an anchor tag which is marked with a permanent link that can be referred to by others who wish to link to it.
A blog is a means of communication and there are many different types of messages carried by blogs. Some are nothing but pointers to other web sites, while others run long essays, some are personal diaries, others feature technology, and some are edited by one person, others by teams.
There are hundreds of thousands of blogs on the Internet, and new blogs are created every day. Can anybody and more importantly can you blog? Yes, there are bloggers of all types, equipped with all levels of technical skills. Bloggers approach their sites with as much variety and passion as the general Net public approaches the Web itself.
The most commonly used blogging tool is Blogger. It requires the least amount of commitment in time or resources, allowing you to go from wanting a blog to having one in about five minutes and at no cost. The Blogger software is the property of Pyra Labs (www.pyra.com). Blogger is often credited as the reason for the explosion of blogging that's occurred in the last couple of years. It is a web-based tool, requiring no installation of software on your personal computer or on your server if you happen to have a web site. You access the tool through the Blogger web site (http://blogger.com) and the blog pages are posted to your web site or to Pyra's BlogSpot (http://blogspot.com) community blog server. For more detailed information on this see O'Reilly's Essential Blogging.
Re-read anything before you publish. Electronic text can expose unintended meaning easily and it will also make what you say a lot more focused. If nothing else, it should help you catch spelling mistakes! Blogging is a way to share your opinions and thoughts to the rest of the world. If you post interesting things, share links with other bloggers and post comments on other blogs. Linking is the way of the Web that is the key of successful blogging.
In order to keep your blogs really fresh, invite a group of your friends / colleagues and give them blogging access. That way you will have several reporters blogging information and you won't end up killing yourself, trying to keep your blog populated with good information. If you use Blogger, upgrade to Blogger Pro. You can have your team post to the blog from email, create and syndicate your blog as an RSS feed, and a whole lot more! Adding the ability to post comments on your blog extends interactivity and usefulness to the blog itself. Blogs are about community and information, and commenting is a real way to gauge your viewer's blogging efforts. Blogging is one of the quickest ways to update your site. Syndicating others' blogs into your own site is another. There is a wealth of information out there - just tap into it!
About The Author
This article was written by Inka-Maria Kunz, CEO of a flourishing multilingual translations agency with offices in Germany and New Zealand. This article may be printed or used in its entirety with full author contacts and details. For more information, translations or purchases of a new website/e-business, contact the author thru the official website www.linguatransl.co.nz or the blog www.linguatransl.blogspot.com.
Blogging Explained in Simple Terms
by: Elizabeth Kirwin
By now, if you haven't heard of Blogging, you must be in a coma, seldom watch or listen to the news, or never use the internet. Bloggers are the newest and most popular 'authentic' voice on the internet.
Blogging Defined
First, let's begin with an accurate definition of Blogging. Blog is short for Web Log. To blog is to upload text onto the same place on the internet daily, weekly, monthly, or at least with some predictable frequency. The best bloggers are trained professional writers, people who write because it's their passion, and politically inclined individuals who need a bully pulpit for their ideas. Some bloggers are traveling long distance over an extended period of time, and they want to communicate with family and friends. The traveling bloggers do not have enough time to e-mail everyone - so they blog. Family and friends can check their blog for updates on their whereabouts, their adventures, mishaps, and golden opportunities while they're on the road.
Is Blog a Noun, Verb, or Adjective?
I have seen Blog used as a noun, verb and adjective. This means blogging is a thing, an active principle, and a way to describe something. If you want to blog (verb) and do it well, the best advice is to blog on a subject you know quite a good deal about. Chances are, most people who blog with a good solid background in their subject area, do not readily run out of good material. Also, people who read blogs (noun) constructed in this way will walk away enriched, educated on a particular subject, and are more likely to return.
Blogging as Gossip or for Profits
As a professional writer and a creative writer, I am enjoying the popularity of the blogger (noun). Why? Because bloggers are bringing back respect for the individual voice in writing. Their popularity is sometimes based upon the depth of their knowledge on a particular subject. Or, as in the case of bloggers who helped reveal the true identity of White House Press Corps gay hustler Jeff Gannon, bloggers can turn a little vicious gossip into an international news story, which I personally find amusing and enlightening. Since bloggers uncovered this scandalous man's double life, blogging has gained a great deal of attention. In fact, marketing and public relations firms are now using blogging as a tool in their whole package of increasing a client's media visibility.
Public Relations and Marketing Blogging
If the Public Relations and Marketing firms gain a stronghold on blogging activities, perhaps the 'authentic' individual voice that began the blogging craze will be lost in the rubble. This is the worry of many devoted bloggers. Or, maybe this trend could strengthen the position of political or gossip oriented bloggers. Perhaps the 'devoted bloggers' who were working in the restaurant and retail industry, will now find they're being offered the opportunity to blog for money instead of slave away over a hot grill, or at a cash register.
This is where the whole blogging debate takes over.
Ethical versus Unethical Blogging
Who actually has the 'right' to blog? What does an authentic blogger look and feel and sound like? How do you identify a slick, Public Relations blogger? Should blogging remain in the realm of the individual voice? Or will it be usurped by multinational corporations and governments for their own devious purposes? These are all valid questions, and I'm afraid I do not possess an answer to any of these ethical questions about blogging. I feel that the individual person, company, or entity must answer these questions on their own. But there is one thing I am absolutely certain about. Everyone has a right to blog, just as every one has a right to write and publish their work in the public sphere, which includes the internet.
For some ideas on how to increase web site traffic by blogging, visit http://www.sidhecommunications.com and read the companion piece to this article: Start Blogging to Increase Internet Traffic: We Blog.
About the Author
Elizabeth Kirwin has published work in national magazines and newspapers. She is co-owner of Sidhe Communications http://www.sidhecommunications.com in Asheville NC. She develops web sites, newsletters, brochures, and internet marketing plans for businesses, non-profits, and health care ogranizations nationally. For more information, e-mail ekirwin@bellsouth.net.
By now, if you haven't heard of Blogging, you must be in a coma, seldom watch or listen to the news, or never use the internet. Bloggers are the newest and most popular 'authentic' voice on the internet.
Blogging Defined
First, let's begin with an accurate definition of Blogging. Blog is short for Web Log. To blog is to upload text onto the same place on the internet daily, weekly, monthly, or at least with some predictable frequency. The best bloggers are trained professional writers, people who write because it's their passion, and politically inclined individuals who need a bully pulpit for their ideas. Some bloggers are traveling long distance over an extended period of time, and they want to communicate with family and friends. The traveling bloggers do not have enough time to e-mail everyone - so they blog. Family and friends can check their blog for updates on their whereabouts, their adventures, mishaps, and golden opportunities while they're on the road.
Is Blog a Noun, Verb, or Adjective?
I have seen Blog used as a noun, verb and adjective. This means blogging is a thing, an active principle, and a way to describe something. If you want to blog (verb) and do it well, the best advice is to blog on a subject you know quite a good deal about. Chances are, most people who blog with a good solid background in their subject area, do not readily run out of good material. Also, people who read blogs (noun) constructed in this way will walk away enriched, educated on a particular subject, and are more likely to return.
Blogging as Gossip or for Profits
As a professional writer and a creative writer, I am enjoying the popularity of the blogger (noun). Why? Because bloggers are bringing back respect for the individual voice in writing. Their popularity is sometimes based upon the depth of their knowledge on a particular subject. Or, as in the case of bloggers who helped reveal the true identity of White House Press Corps gay hustler Jeff Gannon, bloggers can turn a little vicious gossip into an international news story, which I personally find amusing and enlightening. Since bloggers uncovered this scandalous man's double life, blogging has gained a great deal of attention. In fact, marketing and public relations firms are now using blogging as a tool in their whole package of increasing a client's media visibility.
Public Relations and Marketing Blogging
If the Public Relations and Marketing firms gain a stronghold on blogging activities, perhaps the 'authentic' individual voice that began the blogging craze will be lost in the rubble. This is the worry of many devoted bloggers. Or, maybe this trend could strengthen the position of political or gossip oriented bloggers. Perhaps the 'devoted bloggers' who were working in the restaurant and retail industry, will now find they're being offered the opportunity to blog for money instead of slave away over a hot grill, or at a cash register.
This is where the whole blogging debate takes over.
Ethical versus Unethical Blogging
Who actually has the 'right' to blog? What does an authentic blogger look and feel and sound like? How do you identify a slick, Public Relations blogger? Should blogging remain in the realm of the individual voice? Or will it be usurped by multinational corporations and governments for their own devious purposes? These are all valid questions, and I'm afraid I do not possess an answer to any of these ethical questions about blogging. I feel that the individual person, company, or entity must answer these questions on their own. But there is one thing I am absolutely certain about. Everyone has a right to blog, just as every one has a right to write and publish their work in the public sphere, which includes the internet.
For some ideas on how to increase web site traffic by blogging, visit http://www.sidhecommunications.com and read the companion piece to this article: Start Blogging to Increase Internet Traffic: We Blog.
About the Author
Elizabeth Kirwin has published work in national magazines and newspapers. She is co-owner of Sidhe Communications http://www.sidhecommunications.com in Asheville NC. She develops web sites, newsletters, brochures, and internet marketing plans for businesses, non-profits, and health care ogranizations nationally. For more information, e-mail ekirwin@bellsouth.net.
Web Blogs Defined, Explained and Understood
by: Sharon Housley
What are Blogs?
Having heard the term previously but not having paid much attention most are just to afraid to show their ignorance and ask the question, what is a blog? Lets face it; the term blog does not conjure pleasant images.
Blogs are web logs that are updated regularly, usually on a daily basis. They contain information related to a specific topic. In some cases blogs are used as daily diaries about people's personal lives, political views, or even as social commentaries. The truth of the matter is that blogs can be shaped into whatever you, the author, want them to be.
Where Did Blogs Come From?
The roots of blogging can be traced back to the mid 1990's. Who the very first blogger actually was is unclear, as the art of blogging did not really take hold until 1999. The original "weblogs" were link-driven sites with personal commentaries. The very first blogs were human guided Internet web tours. While initially thought of as diaries or online journals, blogs have evolved into the latest fresh web content.
The Future of Blogs
A buzz word in techie circles, "blogging" is the wave of the future. Whether its a fad, or proves to be a new way to communicate with existing and potential customers it deserves at the very least a cursory look.
Why is Blogging Helpful to Businesses or Individuals?
Just as animated .gifs were once cool, blogging is the trendy thing to do. That does not mean that it is not beneficial to businesses. Webmasters struggling to keep fresh, attractive content on their websites to lure visitors back, have found blogs the answer. Content is a necessity for online businesses, both for purposes of being found by search engines but also because it gives visitors a reason to come back.
Now that we have established that blogs are not only trendy but also beneficial to businesses, its important to understand how they can be used to your advantage. We currently manage and update two blogs on a daily basis. The first is our new business blog at:
http://www.notepage.net/blog.htm
This professional business blog allows us the opportunity to tell potential, or existing customers industry news, updates, or generally how mobile or paging software can be used in specific situations to alleviate problems. The bottom line is we control the content. Its updated daily, which increases the chances that search engines will spider on a regular basis and it helps with page rank because it's been submitted to all the blogging directories. Initially started on a whim we've found it beneficial to report tips, tricks or make visitors aware of new regulations related to the mobile or paging industry.
The second blog we manage is at:
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog.html
This blog is less formal and contains marketing tips, or promotional advice for software developers or online marketers. We found that we had overflow from our monthly newsletter. Generating a daily blog would require very little effort and would assist us in creating fresh content which our readers told us was of significant interest.
Blogs & Your Business
The bottom line is you need to determine how a blog will benefit your business, determine a schedule and adhere to it. Let your readers know what to expect and when to expect it. Blogs provide great supplemental content and direct attention to areas of your business that you want to showcase; you direct the content but let your readers guide you.
Creating a Blog
There are numerous online tools that can be used to create a blog. We found that because of security concerns, it would just be best to use a standard html program. In our case we used Dreamweaver and create daily posts. Its really not much more complicated than typing an email. The content is then sent via FTP to a web server. If you want to test the waters there are online web-based tool that helps you publish to the web instantly. The most popular web based tool is likely Blogger http://www.blogger.com.
Other Advantages to Blogs
While you may initially create a blog for your existing customers, you may find that you can attract new customers by illustrating your expertise in a specific field. There are numerous websites that act as "blog search engines", be sure to submit your sites to these websites to increase your exposure. This will also help with your page rank and possibly increase the likelihood you will receive decent ranking with Google. You can also create an RSS feed in order to syndicate blog content and gain additional exposure.
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and http://www.monitoring- software.net
What are Blogs?
Having heard the term previously but not having paid much attention most are just to afraid to show their ignorance and ask the question, what is a blog? Lets face it; the term blog does not conjure pleasant images.
Blogs are web logs that are updated regularly, usually on a daily basis. They contain information related to a specific topic. In some cases blogs are used as daily diaries about people's personal lives, political views, or even as social commentaries. The truth of the matter is that blogs can be shaped into whatever you, the author, want them to be.
Where Did Blogs Come From?
The roots of blogging can be traced back to the mid 1990's. Who the very first blogger actually was is unclear, as the art of blogging did not really take hold until 1999. The original "weblogs" were link-driven sites with personal commentaries. The very first blogs were human guided Internet web tours. While initially thought of as diaries or online journals, blogs have evolved into the latest fresh web content.
The Future of Blogs
A buzz word in techie circles, "blogging" is the wave of the future. Whether its a fad, or proves to be a new way to communicate with existing and potential customers it deserves at the very least a cursory look.
Why is Blogging Helpful to Businesses or Individuals?
Just as animated .gifs were once cool, blogging is the trendy thing to do. That does not mean that it is not beneficial to businesses. Webmasters struggling to keep fresh, attractive content on their websites to lure visitors back, have found blogs the answer. Content is a necessity for online businesses, both for purposes of being found by search engines but also because it gives visitors a reason to come back.
Now that we have established that blogs are not only trendy but also beneficial to businesses, its important to understand how they can be used to your advantage. We currently manage and update two blogs on a daily basis. The first is our new business blog at:
http://www.notepage.net/blog.htm
This professional business blog allows us the opportunity to tell potential, or existing customers industry news, updates, or generally how mobile or paging software can be used in specific situations to alleviate problems. The bottom line is we control the content. Its updated daily, which increases the chances that search engines will spider on a regular basis and it helps with page rank because it's been submitted to all the blogging directories. Initially started on a whim we've found it beneficial to report tips, tricks or make visitors aware of new regulations related to the mobile or paging industry.
The second blog we manage is at:
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog.html
This blog is less formal and contains marketing tips, or promotional advice for software developers or online marketers. We found that we had overflow from our monthly newsletter. Generating a daily blog would require very little effort and would assist us in creating fresh content which our readers told us was of significant interest.
Blogs & Your Business
The bottom line is you need to determine how a blog will benefit your business, determine a schedule and adhere to it. Let your readers know what to expect and when to expect it. Blogs provide great supplemental content and direct attention to areas of your business that you want to showcase; you direct the content but let your readers guide you.
Creating a Blog
There are numerous online tools that can be used to create a blog. We found that because of security concerns, it would just be best to use a standard html program. In our case we used Dreamweaver and create daily posts. Its really not much more complicated than typing an email. The content is then sent via FTP to a web server. If you want to test the waters there are online web-based tool that helps you publish to the web instantly. The most popular web based tool is likely Blogger http://www.blogger.com.
Other Advantages to Blogs
While you may initially create a blog for your existing customers, you may find that you can attract new customers by illustrating your expertise in a specific field. There are numerous websites that act as "blog search engines", be sure to submit your sites to these websites to increase your exposure. This will also help with your page rank and possibly increase the likelihood you will receive decent ranking with Google. You can also create an RSS feed in order to syndicate blog content and gain additional exposure.
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and http://www.monitoring- software.net
Top 10 Places to Find the Most Popular Blogs
by: Andy Wibbels
The easiest way to get acquainted with the conventions of the blog format is to start reading them. The more blogs you read, the more you'll get a feel for the depth and breadth of style and subject matter they have to offer.
Here are a few sources:
Blog Monitors
- Blogdex (http://blogdex.com/)
- Daypop (http://daypop.com/)
- Technorati (http://technorati.com/)
These three sites monitor millions of blogs every minute of every day, searching for the top key words being mentioned in blog posts or in the most popular links and sites. It's like being in a huge convention hall eavesdropping on billions of conversations at the same time. This is a fantastic way to do market research and to see what everybody is buzzing about. The collective 'hive' of blogs is often called the blogosphere. Often, links and news bubble up in the blogosphere first, even before they reach your evening television news program.
Blog Search Engines and Directories
- Blogarama (http://blogarama.com/)
- Globe of Blogs (http://globeofblogs.com/)
- The Open Directory (http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Weblogs/)
Just like web sites, there are also directories and search engines devoted to cataloging the ever-growing global network of blogs. Try searching by topic or geographic location.
Search Engines
- Google (http://google.com/)
- Yahoo! (http://yahoo.com/)
- A9 (http://a9.com/)
As usual, Google and friends to the rescue! These are the more traditional and widely known search engines. Type in some topic and the word 'blogs' and see what results come up. The more specific keywords, the more likely you are to find bloggers talking about what you're interested in.
Blogrolls
And number ten is the blogroll. Most blogs have a blogroll, which is a list of a blogger's favorite blogs and websites. If you find a blog you like, try checking out the other sites that the blogger likes. You might find other valuable sites and blogs to read. The more your read blogs, the more you'll catch the nuances and conventions that have made them the fastest, easiest, cheapest way to publish online.
Copyright © 2005 Andy Wibbels
About Andy: Andy Wibbels is a blogging evangelist and creator of the Easy Bake Weblogs seminar that has helped hundreds of small businesses all over the world leverage blogs and RSS news feeds to increase profits and save time. You can download his free special report on business and blogs at http://easybakeweblogs.com/.
The easiest way to get acquainted with the conventions of the blog format is to start reading them. The more blogs you read, the more you'll get a feel for the depth and breadth of style and subject matter they have to offer.
Here are a few sources:
Blog Monitors
- Blogdex (http://blogdex.com/)
- Daypop (http://daypop.com/)
- Technorati (http://technorati.com/)
These three sites monitor millions of blogs every minute of every day, searching for the top key words being mentioned in blog posts or in the most popular links and sites. It's like being in a huge convention hall eavesdropping on billions of conversations at the same time. This is a fantastic way to do market research and to see what everybody is buzzing about. The collective 'hive' of blogs is often called the blogosphere. Often, links and news bubble up in the blogosphere first, even before they reach your evening television news program.
Blog Search Engines and Directories
- Blogarama (http://blogarama.com/)
- Globe of Blogs (http://globeofblogs.com/)
- The Open Directory (http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Weblogs/)
Just like web sites, there are also directories and search engines devoted to cataloging the ever-growing global network of blogs. Try searching by topic or geographic location.
Search Engines
- Google (http://google.com/)
- Yahoo! (http://yahoo.com/)
- A9 (http://a9.com/)
As usual, Google and friends to the rescue! These are the more traditional and widely known search engines. Type in some topic and the word 'blogs' and see what results come up. The more specific keywords, the more likely you are to find bloggers talking about what you're interested in.
Blogrolls
And number ten is the blogroll. Most blogs have a blogroll, which is a list of a blogger's favorite blogs and websites. If you find a blog you like, try checking out the other sites that the blogger likes. You might find other valuable sites and blogs to read. The more your read blogs, the more you'll catch the nuances and conventions that have made them the fastest, easiest, cheapest way to publish online.
Copyright © 2005 Andy Wibbels
About Andy: Andy Wibbels is a blogging evangelist and creator of the Easy Bake Weblogs seminar that has helped hundreds of small businesses all over the world leverage blogs and RSS news feeds to increase profits and save time. You can download his free special report on business and blogs at http://easybakeweblogs.com/.
The Huge Marketing Potential Of A Simple Blog
by: Ian Canaway
A Blog (also known as Weblog) is traditionally a webpage where pre-surfer or a blogger "logs" all pages he/she finds interesting. In other words, it is a Web page that contains brief, chronologically arranged items of information. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
Weblogs provide a series of annotated links to items such as news stories, and often include personal rants. They are maintained by one person, most commonly someone who is involved in Web design or some other tech-related field.
A blog is often a mixture of what is happening on a particular website and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people. Blogs can be used to introduce products to potential customers.
People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process.
Blog as a marketing tool:
Blogs offer huge marketing potential. They are highly strategic tools that can strengthen relationships, share knowledge, increase collaboration, and improve branding. Besides, blogs can represent the real voice of the website.
A weblog can take the form of a diary, a news service (or summaries of and links to current news items on a topic), a collection of links to other Web sites, a series of book reviews or products, reports of activity on a project, the journal of an expedition, and much more. Businesses can use this tool to effectively advertise their products or services.
One of the most interesting ways to use a weblog is by allowing it to function as a discussion forum for customers of your products or services. In this case, the webmaster can give posting rights to other people - visitors and customers, and their posts may or may not be reviewed before they are published to the Web page. Customers, in such a way can post favorable comments about the websites offerings. Some weblogs are set up in such a way that only the owner or the owner and certain other people have posting rights, but anyone else can add comments to the posts.
Weblogs when used with newsletters present immense marketing opportunities:
- Articles within newsletters can be linked to a blog, extending life and creating a massive conversation.
- You can offer a bidirectional forum to customers to get true, personal opinions on your products and services.
- Company experts can start a blog and become industry experts, helping your company edge out competition and, through this interactive forum, draw customers into another exchange of information and thoughts.
- The beauty of this interplay is you can layer your blog with editorial controls.
How to create a Weblog?
The majority of weblogs are now created using software or services designed specifically for this purpose. Some of the software is free - and some of the organizations that provide weblog software will also provide free server space to house a weblog so that it is publicly accessible on the Internet.
There are also commercial versions of some of the free software; these commercial versions often provide more features. Some weblog software is available only as commercial software. Alternatively, bloggers can create and maintain their weblog using free software or a free weblog service, but use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to load the resulting weblog to their own Website.
There are many blogging softwares available easily on the Internet. One of the most popular weblogger is "Blogger" which can be used for free at http://www.blogger.com. Most webloggers simplify the process of Website creation. However, they do require basic knowledge of FTP, Website structures and a few technical terms. Besides, creating an advanced weblog requires knowledge of HTML.
So get out there and start your own Blog.it's free, easy and can work seamlessly with the rest of your website or newsletter.
About The Author:
Get your FREE step by step guide to setting up your first blog, visit: http://www.trafficstrategiesonsteroids.com/blogsetup.pdf - Ian Canaway will help you launch your very own money making website today that's 100% ready to take orders and pull in massive profits for you right now. guaranteed! http://www.asuccesfullhomebusiness4u.com
Copyright Ian Canaway - http://www.asuccesfullhomebusiness4u.com
A Blog (also known as Weblog) is traditionally a webpage where pre-surfer or a blogger "logs" all pages he/she finds interesting. In other words, it is a Web page that contains brief, chronologically arranged items of information. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
Weblogs provide a series of annotated links to items such as news stories, and often include personal rants. They are maintained by one person, most commonly someone who is involved in Web design or some other tech-related field.
A blog is often a mixture of what is happening on a particular website and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people. Blogs can be used to introduce products to potential customers.
People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process.
Blog as a marketing tool:
Blogs offer huge marketing potential. They are highly strategic tools that can strengthen relationships, share knowledge, increase collaboration, and improve branding. Besides, blogs can represent the real voice of the website.
A weblog can take the form of a diary, a news service (or summaries of and links to current news items on a topic), a collection of links to other Web sites, a series of book reviews or products, reports of activity on a project, the journal of an expedition, and much more. Businesses can use this tool to effectively advertise their products or services.
One of the most interesting ways to use a weblog is by allowing it to function as a discussion forum for customers of your products or services. In this case, the webmaster can give posting rights to other people - visitors and customers, and their posts may or may not be reviewed before they are published to the Web page. Customers, in such a way can post favorable comments about the websites offerings. Some weblogs are set up in such a way that only the owner or the owner and certain other people have posting rights, but anyone else can add comments to the posts.
Weblogs when used with newsletters present immense marketing opportunities:
- Articles within newsletters can be linked to a blog, extending life and creating a massive conversation.
- You can offer a bidirectional forum to customers to get true, personal opinions on your products and services.
- Company experts can start a blog and become industry experts, helping your company edge out competition and, through this interactive forum, draw customers into another exchange of information and thoughts.
- The beauty of this interplay is you can layer your blog with editorial controls.
How to create a Weblog?
The majority of weblogs are now created using software or services designed specifically for this purpose. Some of the software is free - and some of the organizations that provide weblog software will also provide free server space to house a weblog so that it is publicly accessible on the Internet.
There are also commercial versions of some of the free software; these commercial versions often provide more features. Some weblog software is available only as commercial software. Alternatively, bloggers can create and maintain their weblog using free software or a free weblog service, but use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to load the resulting weblog to their own Website.
There are many blogging softwares available easily on the Internet. One of the most popular weblogger is "Blogger" which can be used for free at http://www.blogger.com. Most webloggers simplify the process of Website creation. However, they do require basic knowledge of FTP, Website structures and a few technical terms. Besides, creating an advanced weblog requires knowledge of HTML.
So get out there and start your own Blog.it's free, easy and can work seamlessly with the rest of your website or newsletter.
About The Author:
Get your FREE step by step guide to setting up your first blog, visit: http://www.trafficstrategiesonsteroids.com/blogsetup.pdf - Ian Canaway will help you launch your very own money making website today that's 100% ready to take orders and pull in massive profits for you right now. guaranteed! http://www.asuccesfullhomebusiness4u.com
Copyright Ian Canaway - http://www.asuccesfullhomebusiness4u.com
The Future Of Next Generation Weblogs
by: Bolger Redet
In the earlier days having a blog was an instant hit. People who embraced writing web logs from the beginning, did get a lot of extra exposure. Now the mass is jumping on a train which already left the station some time ago.
The success of the first blogs explained
The first blogs on the web were non commercial and that was the first ingredient for their success. Second, web logs are quality content and can be made really easy. As we all know search engines like Google really love good content. The first blogs could be on top of search results in mayor search engines like Google in a matter of days, where other (big) websites struggled to get the same result in years. This could happen because web logs contain loads of text which is related to quality content. Other traditional websites tweaked their sites with tricks that did not compete with the awesome power of blogs: honest quality content.
These days loads of people have their own blog and I must say 90% is not even worth reading. Because the amount of people having a blog is exploding, search engines which finally were able to find some good content related websites, now have to struggle with the millions of blogs with absolutely no good content at all. Many blogs are not updated on a regular basis, they are often made to sell products or used for marketing the thousands "get rich quick schemes" around on the internet. They really lack the power a good blog can have.
Next generation blogs
But there are really good blogs around and web logs will definitely stay around for a while. Beside that there is a new generation blogs on their way. Blog techniques are changing fast, many people start to put photos and pictures on their blogs. This caused a very interesting phenomenon. The first pictures of the London bombings where spread by blogs so fast, that they did beat the big television networks and news agencies. People actually submitted their pictures made from the scene with their mobile phones on their blogs. Other blogs picked up the news with the photo material in minutes and spread them around with lighting speed. I think this is the evidence that blog are really powerful things and earned their place on the internet. With the implementation of video on blogs their importance and popularity is even growing. This makes us consumers of news and multimedia much more independent from big commercial TV and news agencies. Those guys have other interests to consider then provide us with objective news, quality TV and radio programs.These advertisers and investors want everything to be a commercial success, rather then not so commercial quality content.
If you want to start your blog then here are some tips.
These days you can't make any money from having a blog. You are way too late to do that at this stage. Use web logs for their own purpose e.g. provide quality content. This is the only way to attract people to you web log.
Pick a quality blog hosting provider on the internet where to host your blog. There are free providers like blogger.com and Bloxster.net, both of them are free and provide features for your blog you really need. There is no reason why you should go for a paid service. The bigger the blog community not always means this is the best choice, because the servers of these providers often can't handle the hughe amount of traffic and need to be shut down for maintenance very often. So bloxster.net would be a good pick
Post pictures with your articles to enhance your blog. If you have a startup band or you want to be the new rising pop star on the block, place a link to your demo (make one in mp3 format), and place it on your blog. This is called pod casting. While traveling submit travel stories and photo's to inform people at home or fellow travelers about your adventures. You can even stream video on you blog!
Most important write and provide quality content and update your weblog on a regular basis. Also take the time to promote your blog and rss feed to web blog directories because the competition of other blogs is fierce!
About The Author
Bolger Redet is webmaster at http://www.bloxster.net a free quality weblog hosting service. Bolger is working on the bloxster.net website to provide their users tools to publish multimedia content
In the earlier days having a blog was an instant hit. People who embraced writing web logs from the beginning, did get a lot of extra exposure. Now the mass is jumping on a train which already left the station some time ago.
The success of the first blogs explained
The first blogs on the web were non commercial and that was the first ingredient for their success. Second, web logs are quality content and can be made really easy. As we all know search engines like Google really love good content. The first blogs could be on top of search results in mayor search engines like Google in a matter of days, where other (big) websites struggled to get the same result in years. This could happen because web logs contain loads of text which is related to quality content. Other traditional websites tweaked their sites with tricks that did not compete with the awesome power of blogs: honest quality content.
These days loads of people have their own blog and I must say 90% is not even worth reading. Because the amount of people having a blog is exploding, search engines which finally were able to find some good content related websites, now have to struggle with the millions of blogs with absolutely no good content at all. Many blogs are not updated on a regular basis, they are often made to sell products or used for marketing the thousands "get rich quick schemes" around on the internet. They really lack the power a good blog can have.
Next generation blogs
But there are really good blogs around and web logs will definitely stay around for a while. Beside that there is a new generation blogs on their way. Blog techniques are changing fast, many people start to put photos and pictures on their blogs. This caused a very interesting phenomenon. The first pictures of the London bombings where spread by blogs so fast, that they did beat the big television networks and news agencies. People actually submitted their pictures made from the scene with their mobile phones on their blogs. Other blogs picked up the news with the photo material in minutes and spread them around with lighting speed. I think this is the evidence that blog are really powerful things and earned their place on the internet. With the implementation of video on blogs their importance and popularity is even growing. This makes us consumers of news and multimedia much more independent from big commercial TV and news agencies. Those guys have other interests to consider then provide us with objective news, quality TV and radio programs.These advertisers and investors want everything to be a commercial success, rather then not so commercial quality content.
If you want to start your blog then here are some tips.
These days you can't make any money from having a blog. You are way too late to do that at this stage. Use web logs for their own purpose e.g. provide quality content. This is the only way to attract people to you web log.
Pick a quality blog hosting provider on the internet where to host your blog. There are free providers like blogger.com and Bloxster.net, both of them are free and provide features for your blog you really need. There is no reason why you should go for a paid service. The bigger the blog community not always means this is the best choice, because the servers of these providers often can't handle the hughe amount of traffic and need to be shut down for maintenance very often. So bloxster.net would be a good pick
Post pictures with your articles to enhance your blog. If you have a startup band or you want to be the new rising pop star on the block, place a link to your demo (make one in mp3 format), and place it on your blog. This is called pod casting. While traveling submit travel stories and photo's to inform people at home or fellow travelers about your adventures. You can even stream video on you blog!
Most important write and provide quality content and update your weblog on a regular basis. Also take the time to promote your blog and rss feed to web blog directories because the competition of other blogs is fierce!
About The Author
Bolger Redet is webmaster at http://www.bloxster.net a free quality weblog hosting service. Bolger is working on the bloxster.net website to provide their users tools to publish multimedia content
Blogging For Business - Great Reasons For Every Business To
by: John Jantsch
If Howard Dean's failed political campaign accomplished anything, I would say that it brought to the mainstream the use of something called a weblog or "blog" as it known in cyberspace.
A blog is really nothing more than a diary uploaded to the Internet and until about the last 12 months was the realm of the individual who saw it as a way to publish there random (and sometimes disturbed) thoughts. The great thing about weblogs, and the growing set of software that is being created to publish them, is that they are a tremendous business tool.
Weblogs allow you to create content and contact.and that is what your clients crave more than anything.
I use a program (there is a free trial version) called PMachine to publish my weblog at DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php. This program allows me to simply make many entries and updates and also allows readers to add comments. Better still, now seemingly random articles can be sorted and searched by content or subject. My weblog is more like a content management system and my readers seem to love it.
Another great reason to explore the use of weblogs is that search engines seem to love them. Within 30 days of launching my weblog it became the most visited page on my fairly high traffic website.
So what is it about blogs that those little spiders love so much?
Here's a little secret, search engines crave content. Okay so maybe that's not such a secret but to look at many websites you would think it so. The fact is that too many websites just sit there doing nothing that the search engines admire. Providing content, not to mention fresh content, is one of the toughest chores of anyone who maintains a website. But when it comes to generating traffic it is the most important job.
Blogs, by their very nature, are all about content. In a commercial environment every blog entry is fresh content. Get in the habit of making two, three, even four entries a week and you've got a content building bonanza on your hands. Everyone knows you need new content to give visitors a reason to come back; blogs just make the task so much easier.
Another advantage that blogs seem to currently possess over traditional web pages and sites is lack of competition. While the number of bloggers grows daily, there are still relatively few commercial blog sites. When I created my blog I found that it showed up in the number 3 spot in Google for the term "Marketing Weblog" within about 3 weeks of launch. Not bad considering I did nothing to make it happen.
There are a couple of other things you should do to make your weblog a traffic magnet. They aren't really that different than tradition SEO tactics but the names and faces are unique to the blogging world.
Use targeted keywords in your entry titles
No rocket science here but this tip can't be stated enough. Forget cute.go for titles that fit your targeted keywords and phrases.even if they seem a bit awkward. (You do have targeted keywords and phrases don't you?)
Register with Blog Search Engines - Search engines that specialize in blogs
http://www.daypop.com/
http://www.blogvision.com/
http://www.blogsearchengine.com/
Register with Tracking Services - These services note when a blog has been updated and publish an ongoing list. They even keep track of the most updated and most visited weblogs. Plus you get to learn what pinging is.
http://blo.gs/
http://www.weblogs.com/
Trade Some Links
You don't need to get out of control on this one but a few "relevant" swapped links to related blogs can boost your traffic.
Syndicate your content
This one is way to technical to cover here but do some research on the term RSS and you may discover ways to have your content and entries fed to sites that are hungry for the type of stuff you write. Many of the popular weblog software packages have this capability built right in.
http://www.feedster.com/
Copyright 2004 John Jantsch
John Jantsch is a marketing consultant based in Kansas City, Mo. He writes frequently on real world small business marketing tactics and is the creator of "Duct Tape Marketing" a turn-key small business marketing system. Check out his blog at http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php
If Howard Dean's failed political campaign accomplished anything, I would say that it brought to the mainstream the use of something called a weblog or "blog" as it known in cyberspace.
A blog is really nothing more than a diary uploaded to the Internet and until about the last 12 months was the realm of the individual who saw it as a way to publish there random (and sometimes disturbed) thoughts. The great thing about weblogs, and the growing set of software that is being created to publish them, is that they are a tremendous business tool.
Weblogs allow you to create content and contact.and that is what your clients crave more than anything.
I use a program (there is a free trial version) called PMachine to publish my weblog at DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php. This program allows me to simply make many entries and updates and also allows readers to add comments. Better still, now seemingly random articles can be sorted and searched by content or subject. My weblog is more like a content management system and my readers seem to love it.
Another great reason to explore the use of weblogs is that search engines seem to love them. Within 30 days of launching my weblog it became the most visited page on my fairly high traffic website.
So what is it about blogs that those little spiders love so much?
Here's a little secret, search engines crave content. Okay so maybe that's not such a secret but to look at many websites you would think it so. The fact is that too many websites just sit there doing nothing that the search engines admire. Providing content, not to mention fresh content, is one of the toughest chores of anyone who maintains a website. But when it comes to generating traffic it is the most important job.
Blogs, by their very nature, are all about content. In a commercial environment every blog entry is fresh content. Get in the habit of making two, three, even four entries a week and you've got a content building bonanza on your hands. Everyone knows you need new content to give visitors a reason to come back; blogs just make the task so much easier.
Another advantage that blogs seem to currently possess over traditional web pages and sites is lack of competition. While the number of bloggers grows daily, there are still relatively few commercial blog sites. When I created my blog I found that it showed up in the number 3 spot in Google for the term "Marketing Weblog" within about 3 weeks of launch. Not bad considering I did nothing to make it happen.
There are a couple of other things you should do to make your weblog a traffic magnet. They aren't really that different than tradition SEO tactics but the names and faces are unique to the blogging world.
Use targeted keywords in your entry titles
No rocket science here but this tip can't be stated enough. Forget cute.go for titles that fit your targeted keywords and phrases.even if they seem a bit awkward. (You do have targeted keywords and phrases don't you?)
Register with Blog Search Engines - Search engines that specialize in blogs
http://www.daypop.com/
http://www.blogvision.com/
http://www.blogsearchengine.com/
Register with Tracking Services - These services note when a blog has been updated and publish an ongoing list. They even keep track of the most updated and most visited weblogs. Plus you get to learn what pinging is.
http://blo.gs/
http://www.weblogs.com/
Trade Some Links
You don't need to get out of control on this one but a few "relevant" swapped links to related blogs can boost your traffic.
Syndicate your content
This one is way to technical to cover here but do some research on the term RSS and you may discover ways to have your content and entries fed to sites that are hungry for the type of stuff you write. Many of the popular weblog software packages have this capability built right in.
http://www.feedster.com/
Copyright 2004 John Jantsch
John Jantsch is a marketing consultant based in Kansas City, Mo. He writes frequently on real world small business marketing tactics and is the creator of "Duct Tape Marketing" a turn-key small business marketing system. Check out his blog at http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php
Why Blog?
by: Jill Hart
It seems everyone these days is talking about blogging. Everywhere I go, I find articles and forums devoted to this craze. I also have heard from many moms who are trying to figure out what a blog is and how they can use one to their benefit.
The term "blog" is short for "weblog", which just means an online journal or "log". You can jot down personal thoughts and notes, post articles you've written or keep track of interesting websites you find. The sky is the limit, it seems, when it comes to blogging. A blog is something entirely of your own creation and you can use it to share your thoughts with the world, well..with anyone you can get to read it anyway.
One of the main debates going on about blogs is whether blogging can be done to improve Search Engine rankings for businesses or to create a buzz about business websites. Both of these can be true if the blog is used correctly. Many resources show that once a blog is created, many times it is listed in Search Engines within 48 hours. This was true of the blog I created for Christian Work at Home Moms.
These are many ways to create a blog. The easiest by far is to use one of the free tools available online, such as Google's Blogger. You can create your blog for free using their online tools and templates(nothing to download). After you have created the blog, you can then publish your blog through them and "Wa-La" - your blog is posted online for the world to see.
Once you've created your blog, you will need to decide how you will use it. Will it be a personal blog, full of thoughts and comments for yourself alone or maybe your family? Or will it be a business blog, with articles and tips for potential customers? If you want your blog to be found by others, blogging experts recommend that you begin by setting the title and descriptions for your blog. These are similar to the the title and descriptions you set for your website. Try to make them meaningful because they are what people will see when your blog is returned in a Search Engine. If your description is simply "my blog", you may not draw the attention you'd like.
If you are blogging in the hopes of attracting customers, make sure to use wise use of words and links in your blogs. Try to avoid the "click here" link. Instead, opt for links within descriptive sentences. Add the HTML link within the sentence and attach it to the words that are closely related to the page or site you are linking to. For example, to link to my website I would not use "click here" as my link. I would say, "Please visit Christian Work at Home Moms for home-based work resources" with the link within the text.
There are many ways to get your blog noticed outside of optimizing them for Search Engines. For instance, there are entire websites devoted to listing blogs dedicated to any topic that you can think of. One of the best such websites devoted to women-created blogs, is BlogDaisy.com. You can also use free tools such a FeedBurner.com to track the traffic on your blog and to create a dynamic title box that can be used to display your blog headlines on your website or even in your email signature. Each time you update your blog, these headlines are instantly updated.
There are many ways to use a blog for either personal or business use. If used correctly, a blog can be a terrific tool to inform potential customers of your business. Be sure to update your blog at least once a week so that the content remains fresh and you remain in the Search Engines.
About the Author
Jill Hart is the author/editor of Christian Work at Home Moms, http://www.CWAHM.com.
It seems everyone these days is talking about blogging. Everywhere I go, I find articles and forums devoted to this craze. I also have heard from many moms who are trying to figure out what a blog is and how they can use one to their benefit.
The term "blog" is short for "weblog", which just means an online journal or "log". You can jot down personal thoughts and notes, post articles you've written or keep track of interesting websites you find. The sky is the limit, it seems, when it comes to blogging. A blog is something entirely of your own creation and you can use it to share your thoughts with the world, well..with anyone you can get to read it anyway.
One of the main debates going on about blogs is whether blogging can be done to improve Search Engine rankings for businesses or to create a buzz about business websites. Both of these can be true if the blog is used correctly. Many resources show that once a blog is created, many times it is listed in Search Engines within 48 hours. This was true of the blog I created for Christian Work at Home Moms.
These are many ways to create a blog. The easiest by far is to use one of the free tools available online, such as Google's Blogger. You can create your blog for free using their online tools and templates(nothing to download). After you have created the blog, you can then publish your blog through them and "Wa-La" - your blog is posted online for the world to see.
Once you've created your blog, you will need to decide how you will use it. Will it be a personal blog, full of thoughts and comments for yourself alone or maybe your family? Or will it be a business blog, with articles and tips for potential customers? If you want your blog to be found by others, blogging experts recommend that you begin by setting the title and descriptions for your blog. These are similar to the the title and descriptions you set for your website. Try to make them meaningful because they are what people will see when your blog is returned in a Search Engine. If your description is simply "my blog", you may not draw the attention you'd like.
If you are blogging in the hopes of attracting customers, make sure to use wise use of words and links in your blogs. Try to avoid the "click here" link. Instead, opt for links within descriptive sentences. Add the HTML link within the sentence and attach it to the words that are closely related to the page or site you are linking to. For example, to link to my website I would not use "click here" as my link. I would say, "Please visit Christian Work at Home Moms for home-based work resources" with the link within the text.
There are many ways to get your blog noticed outside of optimizing them for Search Engines. For instance, there are entire websites devoted to listing blogs dedicated to any topic that you can think of. One of the best such websites devoted to women-created blogs, is BlogDaisy.com. You can also use free tools such a FeedBurner.com to track the traffic on your blog and to create a dynamic title box that can be used to display your blog headlines on your website or even in your email signature. Each time you update your blog, these headlines are instantly updated.
There are many ways to use a blog for either personal or business use. If used correctly, a blog can be a terrific tool to inform potential customers of your business. Be sure to update your blog at least once a week so that the content remains fresh and you remain in the Search Engines.
About the Author
Jill Hart is the author/editor of Christian Work at Home Moms, http://www.CWAHM.com.
12 Reasons Why You Need A Blog
by: Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian
"Why Should I Blog? I Simply Don't Get It"
This post on a popular discussion forum set me thinking - and I came up with 12 reasons you should blog.
Read them and get started on your blog. Or better still, go get your blog up and running and THEN come back and read this :)
#1 - You Do Not Need To Know HTML
One of the biggest hurdles many hopeful website creators face is they don't know to design a webpage. Blogs overcome this - all you do is type into a box, and the blog software automatically converts it into a webpage and publishes it on the World Wide Web for anyone to see.
#2 - You Are 'Forced' To Keep Your Content Fresh
Blogs are essentially online diaries. It doesn't make sense to write in your diary every month or two. Similarly, running a blog itself 'forces' you to update it often. And refreshing your blog often makes it more useful to readers and consumers - and by extension, to search engines who are in the business of presenting *their* clients with valuable resources.
#3 - Your Blog Is AUTOMATICALLY Optimized For Search Engines
Search engines love fresh content. But that's not the only way blogs are powerful tools to rank high. Indeed, most blogs are structured to offer a high degree of search engine optimization.
All sections of your blog are linked together. The terms used as link 'anchors' are keyword-optimized. Categories can be created to host themed content. Navigating through your blog is intuitive. Archives can be customized, and generate hundreds of pages of content that act as 'search engine spider bait'.
#4 - You Get A Built-In Linking Structure
With very few exceptions, most blogs are structured to be a tightly integrated network of links - to other sections of your blog! It's quite easy for a visitor to get 'lost' within your blog... without ever leaving it.
Calendars link to posts on specific dates. 'Recent Post' listings point to your freshest content. Archives connect all your earlier posts. Search boxes let browsers look for certain kinds of content. And it all happens automatically, without you spending hours on creating a link structure or sitemap!
#5 - You Generate Multiple Content-Rich Pages
Every post you make on your blog is content. And by intelligently setting up your archiving preferences, you can turn each post into many different forms of content, each on a page of its own. Blog regularly for a few months, and you could end up having a 100+ page website - all filled with relevant, keyword-optimized, themed content!
#6 - You Can Keyword-Optimize Your Blog Extensively
All parts of your blog's template can be customized. And a very powerful way to do it is by inserting relevant keywords. It's a do-it-once job that will give you ongoing benefits for as the life of your blog. You can include keywords in your blog title, description, blog post headings, trackback links, comment invitations, archive titles, and category names.
#7 - You Create An Online Community
If your blog is on a specific theme, you can build a loyal readership and develop an online community. You can even take it a notch higher by tying it in with a forum or membership site. Ask for comments, suggestions, ideas and feedback, or invite reader participation. Pretty soon, your blog will be growing organically - even if you don't write a lot!
#8 - You Initiate Conversations With Readers
Of course, the first step is yours - to initiate a dialog with readers. You could do it with your blog post, asking a question or by inviting comments and interaction. Your blog will be read by an audience that's already interested in your subject or theme. This conversation will be priceless to you, the blog owner.
#9 - Your 'Inbound Link' Process - Trackbacks
Blogging is about distributed conversations online. Links are an integral part of such an informal network. Trackbacks are a kind of blog technology that make it possible - and simple! Your blog will benefit from the inbound links a trackback will bring, and you'll also get extra traffic from other sources.
#10 - You Can Syndicate Your Content Easily
Getting readers for your content is good. Getting your content out where many more readers can see it is GREAT! Syndication (via RSS feeds) is built in to most blogging platforms, giving you a quick and easy way to get a wide readership for your blog posts.
#11 - You're Creating Stuff Search Engines LOVE
Search engines exist to offer their audience a compilation of the best resources on a subject or keyword. Your blog is the answer to a search engine's prayers! By sticking to a theme and presenting the content in an organized, structured, intuitively connected pattern, your blog will be appealing to search engines in a way only a very professionally planned and designed website can ever hope to be.
#12 - You Get 'Alternate' Traffic Sources
Remember what we saw about blogs being linked and networked together? Bloggers like to share opinions with others. And when they 'talk' about you, they are going to point to your site, or a post on your blog, to show their readers what they mean. They become 'alternate' traffic sources - for YOU!
Other tools like blog rolls, furls, favorite bloggers and more can drive sporadic - but sometimes big floods - of traffic your way. And best of all, it's effortless and costs you nothing!
Not yet convinced? Well, then maybe blogging isn't quite your cup of tea. But if you trust me, try it - you just might be pleasantly surprised.
About the Author
Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian is author of 'Blog Profit Ideas Exposed - 33 Ways To Profit From Blogs" - http://www.BlogProfits.com - and 'How To Profit From RSS Feeds" - http://www.RSS-Marketing.com and publishes 8 different 'niche' blogs and has been reporting on marketing with blogs and RSS feeds since 2001.
"Why Should I Blog? I Simply Don't Get It"
This post on a popular discussion forum set me thinking - and I came up with 12 reasons you should blog.
Read them and get started on your blog. Or better still, go get your blog up and running and THEN come back and read this :)
#1 - You Do Not Need To Know HTML
One of the biggest hurdles many hopeful website creators face is they don't know to design a webpage. Blogs overcome this - all you do is type into a box, and the blog software automatically converts it into a webpage and publishes it on the World Wide Web for anyone to see.
#2 - You Are 'Forced' To Keep Your Content Fresh
Blogs are essentially online diaries. It doesn't make sense to write in your diary every month or two. Similarly, running a blog itself 'forces' you to update it often. And refreshing your blog often makes it more useful to readers and consumers - and by extension, to search engines who are in the business of presenting *their* clients with valuable resources.
#3 - Your Blog Is AUTOMATICALLY Optimized For Search Engines
Search engines love fresh content. But that's not the only way blogs are powerful tools to rank high. Indeed, most blogs are structured to offer a high degree of search engine optimization.
All sections of your blog are linked together. The terms used as link 'anchors' are keyword-optimized. Categories can be created to host themed content. Navigating through your blog is intuitive. Archives can be customized, and generate hundreds of pages of content that act as 'search engine spider bait'.
#4 - You Get A Built-In Linking Structure
With very few exceptions, most blogs are structured to be a tightly integrated network of links - to other sections of your blog! It's quite easy for a visitor to get 'lost' within your blog... without ever leaving it.
Calendars link to posts on specific dates. 'Recent Post' listings point to your freshest content. Archives connect all your earlier posts. Search boxes let browsers look for certain kinds of content. And it all happens automatically, without you spending hours on creating a link structure or sitemap!
#5 - You Generate Multiple Content-Rich Pages
Every post you make on your blog is content. And by intelligently setting up your archiving preferences, you can turn each post into many different forms of content, each on a page of its own. Blog regularly for a few months, and you could end up having a 100+ page website - all filled with relevant, keyword-optimized, themed content!
#6 - You Can Keyword-Optimize Your Blog Extensively
All parts of your blog's template can be customized. And a very powerful way to do it is by inserting relevant keywords. It's a do-it-once job that will give you ongoing benefits for as the life of your blog. You can include keywords in your blog title, description, blog post headings, trackback links, comment invitations, archive titles, and category names.
#7 - You Create An Online Community
If your blog is on a specific theme, you can build a loyal readership and develop an online community. You can even take it a notch higher by tying it in with a forum or membership site. Ask for comments, suggestions, ideas and feedback, or invite reader participation. Pretty soon, your blog will be growing organically - even if you don't write a lot!
#8 - You Initiate Conversations With Readers
Of course, the first step is yours - to initiate a dialog with readers. You could do it with your blog post, asking a question or by inviting comments and interaction. Your blog will be read by an audience that's already interested in your subject or theme. This conversation will be priceless to you, the blog owner.
#9 - Your 'Inbound Link' Process - Trackbacks
Blogging is about distributed conversations online. Links are an integral part of such an informal network. Trackbacks are a kind of blog technology that make it possible - and simple! Your blog will benefit from the inbound links a trackback will bring, and you'll also get extra traffic from other sources.
#10 - You Can Syndicate Your Content Easily
Getting readers for your content is good. Getting your content out where many more readers can see it is GREAT! Syndication (via RSS feeds) is built in to most blogging platforms, giving you a quick and easy way to get a wide readership for your blog posts.
#11 - You're Creating Stuff Search Engines LOVE
Search engines exist to offer their audience a compilation of the best resources on a subject or keyword. Your blog is the answer to a search engine's prayers! By sticking to a theme and presenting the content in an organized, structured, intuitively connected pattern, your blog will be appealing to search engines in a way only a very professionally planned and designed website can ever hope to be.
#12 - You Get 'Alternate' Traffic Sources
Remember what we saw about blogs being linked and networked together? Bloggers like to share opinions with others. And when they 'talk' about you, they are going to point to your site, or a post on your blog, to show their readers what they mean. They become 'alternate' traffic sources - for YOU!
Other tools like blog rolls, furls, favorite bloggers and more can drive sporadic - but sometimes big floods - of traffic your way. And best of all, it's effortless and costs you nothing!
Not yet convinced? Well, then maybe blogging isn't quite your cup of tea. But if you trust me, try it - you just might be pleasantly surprised.
About the Author
Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian is author of 'Blog Profit Ideas Exposed - 33 Ways To Profit From Blogs" - http://www.BlogProfits.com - and 'How To Profit From RSS Feeds" - http://www.RSS-Marketing.com and publishes 8 different 'niche' blogs and has been reporting on marketing with blogs and RSS feeds since 2001.
A Person Is Known By the Blog He Keeps
by: Abhishek Sarkar
Literature is the soul of the wit. The best source of literature can be now found in blogs. The growing trend of 'blogmania' is slowly sweeping the netizens. Every person aspires to have a blog as a platform to publish his thoughts and be heard and read.
General surveys undertaken on blogs and bloggers shows a rising trend in blogging. A parallel platform for literary endeavor, the blogs are overthrowing the traditional journalistic norms. Publishing of news and views no longer remains the privilege of an elite minority. Anybody and everybody is free to get in touch and explore the writer within himself. The anamorphic nature of the human soul is best reflected in the blogs.
http://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/2005_20_03_alphablog_archive.html
A survey in the United States brought out a startling fact the 30% of the surveyed people read blogs. Also, 52% of the surveyed people advocate equal journalistic rights and freedom for the blogs. And the most striking fact is that 31% of the surveyed people revealed that they found blogs to be more credible than the newspapers.
The growing popularity of blogs can be gauzed from the fact that Yahoo, Google, MSN, Rediff and all the other bigwigs of the cyber world are experimenting with blogs and bloggers. Both free and paid blog hoisting sites have come up which offers a plethora of tools to make blogging a breeze.
MSN has even gone to the extent of making a common 'passport' database across all its services. So now, a MSN user can use his own personal 'id' across MSN messenger, Spaces and hotmail. Also, MSN has integrated its Spaces with MSN Messenger 7.0. The users of MSN Messenger 7.0 will have a tab labeled 'gleams' which will inform them when their contacts have updated their individual blogs.
Recent statistics from MSN shows that MSN has 170,000 daily blog updates. This number is huge considering the fact that most of the bloggers do not update their blogs on a daily basis.
The Literature of the new era is no longer limited to books. From Poems to Features, from Humor to Short Stories, everything can be found in the blogs.
http://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/2005_27_03_alphablog_archive.html
http://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/2005_03_04_alphablog_archive.html
Though good blogs are a trifle to find, yet close scrutiny will reveal every blog to be good in its own personal aspect. After all, blogs are a slice of the blogger's life and every one's life is a good source of learning experience.
http://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/
This also opens up the teaching value of blogs. Blogs can be a mirror of life, culture and society. What can be a better teacher than one with a plethora of experiences to offer on a silver platter?
About the Author
Abhishek Sarkar works as an Executive Content Developer and Analyst. He is currently associated with Alpha Blog.
Literature is the soul of the wit. The best source of literature can be now found in blogs. The growing trend of 'blogmania' is slowly sweeping the netizens. Every person aspires to have a blog as a platform to publish his thoughts and be heard and read.
General surveys undertaken on blogs and bloggers shows a rising trend in blogging. A parallel platform for literary endeavor, the blogs are overthrowing the traditional journalistic norms. Publishing of news and views no longer remains the privilege of an elite minority. Anybody and everybody is free to get in touch and explore the writer within himself. The anamorphic nature of the human soul is best reflected in the blogs.
http://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/2005_20_03_alphablog_archive.html
A survey in the United States brought out a startling fact the 30% of the surveyed people read blogs. Also, 52% of the surveyed people advocate equal journalistic rights and freedom for the blogs. And the most striking fact is that 31% of the surveyed people revealed that they found blogs to be more credible than the newspapers.
The growing popularity of blogs can be gauzed from the fact that Yahoo, Google, MSN, Rediff and all the other bigwigs of the cyber world are experimenting with blogs and bloggers. Both free and paid blog hoisting sites have come up which offers a plethora of tools to make blogging a breeze.
MSN has even gone to the extent of making a common 'passport' database across all its services. So now, a MSN user can use his own personal 'id' across MSN messenger, Spaces and hotmail. Also, MSN has integrated its Spaces with MSN Messenger 7.0. The users of MSN Messenger 7.0 will have a tab labeled 'gleams' which will inform them when their contacts have updated their individual blogs.
Recent statistics from MSN shows that MSN has 170,000 daily blog updates. This number is huge considering the fact that most of the bloggers do not update their blogs on a daily basis.
The Literature of the new era is no longer limited to books. From Poems to Features, from Humor to Short Stories, everything can be found in the blogs.
http://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/2005_27_03_alphablog_archive.html
http://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/2005_03_04_alphablog_archive.html
Though good blogs are a trifle to find, yet close scrutiny will reveal every blog to be good in its own personal aspect. After all, blogs are a slice of the blogger's life and every one's life is a good source of learning experience.
http://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/
This also opens up the teaching value of blogs. Blogs can be a mirror of life, culture and society. What can be a better teacher than one with a plethora of experiences to offer on a silver platter?
About the Author
Abhishek Sarkar works as an Executive Content Developer and Analyst. He is currently associated with Alpha Blog.
Blog Your Business
by: Angela Booth
Does your business need a blog?
A blog is a Web log, an online journal. Blogs started out as
online diaries, in which diarists shared their everyday lives
with the world. From their beginnings as a weird Web fad in 1998,
blogs have moved on, and are well on the way to becoming a
standard business tool.
Why? Because in February 2003 Google.com bought Pyra Labs, the
company which owns the Blogger weblogging tool. Blogger.com, one
of the main sites providing blog software and hosting, boasted a
million hosted web logs in early 2003.
Google.com's interest in blogs indicates that blogs are
mainstream. A blog help your business in many ways, depending on
whether you create a private or a public blog. Blogs are so
useful that you'll want to create both.
=> Your business's private, internal blog
These days, no one works alone. Even if you're a solo business
operator, you have colleagues --- partners, contractors, and
suppliers with whom you communicate daily. A private blog makes
working with a group easier, because you can streamline your
interactions, saving time and energy.
A private blog can contain notes to yourself, or to colleagues.
It's a place to store information and tips that might not warrant
a special email message. You can post information like meeting
notes, project tasks and summaries, and updated price lists. You
can also post links to large files --- no need to email, fax, or
mail them to and fro.
Your blog is more useful than email, because blog postings are
dated, and easily searchable. You can post a message you want
everyone to read, and the message stays on the blog. With email,
you read and delete, or read and forget.
If you've worked on a project with someone in another state or on
the other side of the world, you've blessed email, because it
makes sharing information so easy. Using a blog to share
information is even easier than using email.
=> Your business's public blog
A business blog is a marketing tool. A blog can add value to your
Web site, or it can take the place of a Web site. Look on it as a
combination "What's New" Web site page, and an online journal.
Because of a blog's freewheeling nature, it's friendly and
relaxed.
If you don't have a site, your blog's a place to put your online
CV, portfolio and client list. You can, and should, use your blog
to express your personality and expertise.
If you have a Web site, your blog page builds loyalty, because
if you provide interesting content, your visitors will return to
your site. And because it's a Web page, your blog will appear on
search engines, attracting new clients.
Google has been treating blogs differently from other Web pages
for a couple of years. Whereas it takes a standard Web page/ site
a month to be indexed by Google, blogs are indexed daily. This
means that your blog is mega-cheap advertising. You can post
something on your blog and have it indexed by Google within a
day.
Will creating a blog help your business? As I suggested in the
article: "Get Googled And Build Credibility", because Google.com
is so popular and indexes so comprehensively, if you focus some
of your marketing and promotion time on getting your name out on
the Web, you're building your credibility, both online and
offline.
(You can read the complete article in the newsletter archives at:
http://www.digital-e.biz/newsletter.html
--click the Archive button on the Newsletter page.)
So go ahead, blog your business!
=> Blog resources <=
Blogger -create your own free blog(s) www.blogger.com Blogger
provides a template for your blog, and makes adding to your blog
as easy as writing an email message. The "Post" and "Publish"
buttons on the interface update your blog.
Weblog.com --- recently updated blogs: http://www.weblogs.com/
w.bloggar --- http://wbloggar.com/A clever and useful little
freebie to write and format your blog posts offline, then
automatically post them when you go online.
Angela Booth's Digital-e Blog: http://www.digital-
e.biz/blogger.html
***Resource box: if using, please include***
Veteran multi-published author and copywriter Angela Booth crafts
words for your business --- words to sell, educate or persuade.
E-books and e-courses on Web site. FREE ezines for writers and
small biz: http://www.digital-e.biz/
About the Author
Writer, journalist and author Angela Booth has been writing for print and online venues for over 25 years. She also writes copy for businesses.
Does your business need a blog?
A blog is a Web log, an online journal. Blogs started out as
online diaries, in which diarists shared their everyday lives
with the world. From their beginnings as a weird Web fad in 1998,
blogs have moved on, and are well on the way to becoming a
standard business tool.
Why? Because in February 2003 Google.com bought Pyra Labs, the
company which owns the Blogger weblogging tool. Blogger.com, one
of the main sites providing blog software and hosting, boasted a
million hosted web logs in early 2003.
Google.com's interest in blogs indicates that blogs are
mainstream. A blog help your business in many ways, depending on
whether you create a private or a public blog. Blogs are so
useful that you'll want to create both.
=> Your business's private, internal blog
These days, no one works alone. Even if you're a solo business
operator, you have colleagues --- partners, contractors, and
suppliers with whom you communicate daily. A private blog makes
working with a group easier, because you can streamline your
interactions, saving time and energy.
A private blog can contain notes to yourself, or to colleagues.
It's a place to store information and tips that might not warrant
a special email message. You can post information like meeting
notes, project tasks and summaries, and updated price lists. You
can also post links to large files --- no need to email, fax, or
mail them to and fro.
Your blog is more useful than email, because blog postings are
dated, and easily searchable. You can post a message you want
everyone to read, and the message stays on the blog. With email,
you read and delete, or read and forget.
If you've worked on a project with someone in another state or on
the other side of the world, you've blessed email, because it
makes sharing information so easy. Using a blog to share
information is even easier than using email.
=> Your business's public blog
A business blog is a marketing tool. A blog can add value to your
Web site, or it can take the place of a Web site. Look on it as a
combination "What's New" Web site page, and an online journal.
Because of a blog's freewheeling nature, it's friendly and
relaxed.
If you don't have a site, your blog's a place to put your online
CV, portfolio and client list. You can, and should, use your blog
to express your personality and expertise.
If you have a Web site, your blog page builds loyalty, because
if you provide interesting content, your visitors will return to
your site. And because it's a Web page, your blog will appear on
search engines, attracting new clients.
Google has been treating blogs differently from other Web pages
for a couple of years. Whereas it takes a standard Web page/ site
a month to be indexed by Google, blogs are indexed daily. This
means that your blog is mega-cheap advertising. You can post
something on your blog and have it indexed by Google within a
day.
Will creating a blog help your business? As I suggested in the
article: "Get Googled And Build Credibility", because Google.com
is so popular and indexes so comprehensively, if you focus some
of your marketing and promotion time on getting your name out on
the Web, you're building your credibility, both online and
offline.
(You can read the complete article in the newsletter archives at:
http://www.digital-e.biz/newsletter.html
--click the Archive button on the Newsletter page.)
So go ahead, blog your business!
=> Blog resources <=
Blogger -create your own free blog(s) www.blogger.com Blogger
provides a template for your blog, and makes adding to your blog
as easy as writing an email message. The "Post" and "Publish"
buttons on the interface update your blog.
Weblog.com --- recently updated blogs: http://www.weblogs.com/
w.bloggar --- http://wbloggar.com/A clever and useful little
freebie to write and format your blog posts offline, then
automatically post them when you go online.
Angela Booth's Digital-e Blog: http://www.digital-
e.biz/blogger.html
***Resource box: if using, please include***
Veteran multi-published author and copywriter Angela Booth crafts
words for your business --- words to sell, educate or persuade.
E-books and e-courses on Web site. FREE ezines for writers and
small biz: http://www.digital-e.biz/
About the Author
Writer, journalist and author Angela Booth has been writing for print and online venues for over 25 years. She also writes copy for businesses.
Blogosphere Networking
by: Thom Singer
Blogosphere Networking
Blogging seems to be taking over the world, or at least everyone seems to be talking about blogs. However, there are a surprisingly large number of people who have no idea of blogs, blawgs, blogsphere, etc....
I was recently at a social gathering with some very educated and sophisticated individuals. In the conversation I mentioned my new book ("Some Assembly Required: How to Make, Keep and Grow Your Business Relationships" and my blog ("The Business Development / Networking Blog"). Everyone immediately understood the concept of a book.....but the idea of a blog created many a puzzled face.
I was asked a lot of questions (some folks had heard of blogging, others had not). The following are the top questions, and my feeble attempt to answer them:
1. Why did you start your blog?
I started it as an experiment to help educate myself about blogs. My company is interested in having an industry focused blog, and I decided to take it upon myself to jump into the blogosphere and get my feet wet. In addition, I write a recurring column for Professional Marketing Magazine, and I thought that regularly writing a blog would give me some good practice and help me uncover themes for future articles. I also felt I could use it to help promote my new book.
2. Has it been worth it?
Yes!!! On all three of the above reasons I have exceeded my goals. I now understand the commitment involved if we create an industry blog. I have already created a lot of positive material that can later be turned into articles for my marketing column. AND.....I have sold a bunch of copies of my new book .....even before it is released.
3. Are all blogs the same?
NO. There are as many types of blogs are there are writers. I have categorized them into three types, but I am sure others would have arguments about these areas:
A. Corporate Blogs. These are hosted by companies to promote their products and services or to communicate with clients.
B. Philosophical / Content Blogs. In this type, an individual (or group of individuals) writes on a specific topic and shares their opinions with the readers. Topics can range from business to sports to politics to religion, etc.... I would put The Business Development / Networking Blog in this category. The blogs from which I learn the most are philosophical/content blogs.
C. Diaries. In these blogs people record their daily experiences the way one would write in a diary. Some of these can be quite entertaining, as they allow the voyeur in each of us to look into someone else's private world. However, reader beware...some of these can reveal a bit more than you want to read (or see).
4. Why would I want to read blogs?
They are a great way to discover information on any particular topic or variety of ideas. Many bloggers have very good sources of information and they certainly have opinions. As with any media source, you need to beware of the authors intent and ulterior motives. Also, blogs can just be interesting to read.
5. What have you learned from writing your blog?
Like the term "World Wide Web" only a decade ago, "Blogs, blogging and the blogosphere" are the new new thing, and are not just a "fad". If people are not yet aware of blogs, they will be soon. More and more blogs are created every day and blogs will soon touch everyone who surf the internet.
Having your own blog, however, is not for everyone. You must be committed to writing on a regular basis, and not shy about sharing your opinions. I have learned that a blog can go stale if you do not make posts on a regular basis.
I also learned that when you blog, you are actually networking. At first it seemed like this was one sided, until I began to hear from people who were regularly reading my blog. I have developed new friendships with many bloggers who write about similar topics. Often one blogger will email another with a compliment or suggestion, and they will begin to correspond regularly. Just like any other type of business friendship, the relationship grows over time. This blog-networking leads to mutual understanding and respect between the bloggers and then can lead to business relationships and referrals.
6. Should I start a blog?
That is a question every person will have to answer for himself/herself. I
would suggest you begin by reading other blogs and getting familiar with what is out there in blog-land. If you believe that you have something to say...then by all means, start a blog. But remember to be patient and persistent. Like writing a book, it takes time and there is no guarantee that you will become widely read. However if you are dedicated, you will uncover many unexpected benefits from your blogging experience.
If you are interested in easily learning about blogs, I suggest you start by reading the posts and links in the series called "31 Days to Better Blogs" at www.problogger.net, hosted by Darren Rowse. This is the best collection of advice to the experienced and novice blogger.
Don't forget to read my blog at www.thomsinger.blogspot.com.
About the Author
Thom Singer is the author of "Some Assembly Required: How to Make, Keep and Grow Your Business Relationships" (www.thomsinger.com), and write "The Business Development / Networking Blog" (www.thomsinger.blogspot.com)
Blogosphere Networking
Blogging seems to be taking over the world, or at least everyone seems to be talking about blogs. However, there are a surprisingly large number of people who have no idea of blogs, blawgs, blogsphere, etc....
I was recently at a social gathering with some very educated and sophisticated individuals. In the conversation I mentioned my new book ("Some Assembly Required: How to Make, Keep and Grow Your Business Relationships" and my blog ("The Business Development / Networking Blog"). Everyone immediately understood the concept of a book.....but the idea of a blog created many a puzzled face.
I was asked a lot of questions (some folks had heard of blogging, others had not). The following are the top questions, and my feeble attempt to answer them:
1. Why did you start your blog?
I started it as an experiment to help educate myself about blogs. My company is interested in having an industry focused blog, and I decided to take it upon myself to jump into the blogosphere and get my feet wet. In addition, I write a recurring column for Professional Marketing Magazine, and I thought that regularly writing a blog would give me some good practice and help me uncover themes for future articles. I also felt I could use it to help promote my new book.
2. Has it been worth it?
Yes!!! On all three of the above reasons I have exceeded my goals. I now understand the commitment involved if we create an industry blog. I have already created a lot of positive material that can later be turned into articles for my marketing column. AND.....I have sold a bunch of copies of my new book .....even before it is released.
3. Are all blogs the same?
NO. There are as many types of blogs are there are writers. I have categorized them into three types, but I am sure others would have arguments about these areas:
A. Corporate Blogs. These are hosted by companies to promote their products and services or to communicate with clients.
B. Philosophical / Content Blogs. In this type, an individual (or group of individuals) writes on a specific topic and shares their opinions with the readers. Topics can range from business to sports to politics to religion, etc.... I would put The Business Development / Networking Blog in this category. The blogs from which I learn the most are philosophical/content blogs.
C. Diaries. In these blogs people record their daily experiences the way one would write in a diary. Some of these can be quite entertaining, as they allow the voyeur in each of us to look into someone else's private world. However, reader beware...some of these can reveal a bit more than you want to read (or see).
4. Why would I want to read blogs?
They are a great way to discover information on any particular topic or variety of ideas. Many bloggers have very good sources of information and they certainly have opinions. As with any media source, you need to beware of the authors intent and ulterior motives. Also, blogs can just be interesting to read.
5. What have you learned from writing your blog?
Like the term "World Wide Web" only a decade ago, "Blogs, blogging and the blogosphere" are the new new thing, and are not just a "fad". If people are not yet aware of blogs, they will be soon. More and more blogs are created every day and blogs will soon touch everyone who surf the internet.
Having your own blog, however, is not for everyone. You must be committed to writing on a regular basis, and not shy about sharing your opinions. I have learned that a blog can go stale if you do not make posts on a regular basis.
I also learned that when you blog, you are actually networking. At first it seemed like this was one sided, until I began to hear from people who were regularly reading my blog. I have developed new friendships with many bloggers who write about similar topics. Often one blogger will email another with a compliment or suggestion, and they will begin to correspond regularly. Just like any other type of business friendship, the relationship grows over time. This blog-networking leads to mutual understanding and respect between the bloggers and then can lead to business relationships and referrals.
6. Should I start a blog?
That is a question every person will have to answer for himself/herself. I
would suggest you begin by reading other blogs and getting familiar with what is out there in blog-land. If you believe that you have something to say...then by all means, start a blog. But remember to be patient and persistent. Like writing a book, it takes time and there is no guarantee that you will become widely read. However if you are dedicated, you will uncover many unexpected benefits from your blogging experience.
If you are interested in easily learning about blogs, I suggest you start by reading the posts and links in the series called "31 Days to Better Blogs" at www.problogger.net, hosted by Darren Rowse. This is the best collection of advice to the experienced and novice blogger.
Don't forget to read my blog at www.thomsinger.blogspot.com.
About the Author
Thom Singer is the author of "Some Assembly Required: How to Make, Keep and Grow Your Business Relationships" (www.thomsinger.com), and write "The Business Development / Networking Blog" (www.thomsinger.blogspot.com)
The Secrets of Corporate Blogging
by: Karoline White
Web logs, popularly known as blogs, have become one of the hottest communication tools on the Web. Offering the opportunity for anyone to create their own free Web site, encouraging opinions and interaction, blogs provide forums for individuals to create their own highly personal presentations to the Web audience, and for consortia of all types to experience the sort of online community feeling that was pioneered by early newsgroups and by the phenomenal success of AOL in the 1990s.
Blogs have reached into the corporate and government sectors as well. A prominent federal magazine suggests that some company employees spend more time blogging than on personal e-mail, an average of over an hour a day. What started out as an outlet for teenage expression and grassroots journalism has turned into a lucrative communications tool for small and large businesses alike.
General Motors' Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, turned to the company's blog when rumors surfaced about the discontinuation of the Pontiac and Buick brands. It became a means for a direct response, a way to talk to their consumers unfiltered.
Other companies such as Sun Microsystems and Microsoft are also recognizing the impact of blogging in their relationships with their customers and employees. In an article dated June 5, 2005, The Washington Post proposed that there were more than 100 official corporate blogs in existence, with hundreds more on the horizon.
Although the a major newspaper called blogging "ephemeral, fast-paced and scathingly opinionated," blogs continue to grow steadily in the corporate world and companies are realizing their value.
Corporate Blogging
Internal Communication
Corporate Blogging refers to a company producing or supporting a blog that it uses to accomplish business objectives. A blog can serve many purposes in a corporate setting. Internally, a blog can be a forum for discussion about work-related issues. The informal atmosphere is encouraging to internal corporate communication. From small-scale discussions to virtual "town meetings," in which employees at all levels feel that they can be heard, blogs promote collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Blogging can help establish a company or employee as an expert in their field. By posting information about a certain topic, a person exhibits their knowledge of the subject matter, setting himself up as an authority. People will come to equate the site and the author with that topic. This reputation for subject mastery and expertise can boost your sales and consumer opinion.
A blog can be an interactive addition to an intranet or e-mail newsletters. Since automatic update notification is possible on blogs, people are more likely to stay on top of the latest postings.
Public Communication
Blogs can be used to communicate to prospects, clients, employees and the media. Press releases and project updates can be posted, as well as job opportunities or information that the company wants to distribute outside of the normal news channels.
A blog can strengthen the bonds between the company and its customers. When a company presents itself honestly and transparently, it not only builds trust, but instills loyalty as well. Customers are more likely to work with a company they feel they know better than another. Blogs allow for that informal communication. They create good word-of-mouth among customers who don't read the trade magazines or business pages. The nature of a blog fosters that image of transparency and openness for a company. Most people prefer companies who are honest in their dealings and frank about their issues. As seen in the media with the Dan Rather case, a blog can illuminate the truth through encouraging people to share what they know.
Blogging also reflects forward thinking. By staying current with the technological trends, you give your company a fresh image.
A blog can serve as a recruiting method. Interested job seekers can examine the company by reading its blog.
When testing a new product or service, a blog is an excellent place to give more detailed instructions or receive feedback.
Although, comments can be negative. Not everyone will agree with what is said on a blog. Instead of preventing them, welcome the constructive criticism and edit comments only to remove profanity and personal attacks.
The Down Side
There are some drawbacks to blogging. It is not a magic solution to your business needs. Many people feel that blogging popularity is much like the Internet in the 90's, a promise of money, but not necessarily delivery.
Blogging can lead to legal issues as well. Companies have real concerns about liability, exclusions and limitations, and indemnity. Although there are laws that protect against libel, misappropriations and other injuries suffered as a result of posts on the Web, companies can be held vicariously responsible for statements made by employees that are harmful to others.
In any medium where an employee is sharing information, there is the possibility of leaking trade secrets or financial information. Former Google employee Mark Jen was famously fired for gabbing about life at the company on his personal blog, not sanctioned by Google.
Like all essentially unfiltered communication, blogs can get personal. Many bloggers feel the need to discuss their personal lives as well as their professional ones. Companies must be careful not to stifle communications by keeping personal lives out of the workplace. By doing this, they risk closing down the lines of communication entirely.
Inevitably, a disgruntled employee may use this as an opportunity to badmouth the company. This is not limited to blogs, since an unhappy employee has a variety of mediums through which to vent his disapproval. Blogs just make it easy.
The content may not have enough substance to warrant or hold an audience. Some companies fill their blog with marketing fluff. People can see right through this and will most likely ignore the site. Blogs should be used for transparency, not shameless self-promotion.
Best Practices
Fine Print. Since there are so many legal issues surrounding blogs, it is imperative that the site has some sort of disclaimer and limitation of liability.
Know What You're Doing. Senior management should be educated by the corporate communications and legal department about what blogs are and how they might affect business.
Create blogging policies. A company should have a list of policies regarding blogging to ensure that trade secrets are kept secret and personal lives do not become public. Policies may include keeping financial information from being posted, as well as severe consequences for anyone using the blog for negative publicity.
Avoid the Marketing Blog. Making your blog into a blatant marketing campaign is a bad idea. Customers are looking for real answers and honest opinions. They will pick up on insincerity instantly.
Keep It Fresh. Make content relevant and timely. Update the blog as often as possible with the most worthwhile news. This will encourage people to come back.
Reinforce the company's core values. Then, make sure the content fits these values and supports the business strategy.
Encourage employees to use it, but remind them of the ramifications of their actions.
Free versus Paid Products
When creating a blog, there are hundreds of services and software from which to choose. The first decision to make is whether to go with a free service or pay for one.
For paid services, the cost varies depending on the features used. The basic hosting fee for a domain is anywhere from $5 to $15 a month. The domain name will need to be registered yearly, which can cost $5 to $35. This does not include the software, which may also have to be purchased.
While free services offer the basic necessities of blogging, paid services are usually more desirable since they have more to offer.
With a free service, the company offers a free site, but it may contain advertisements to offset the cost of maintenance. A paid site will not have any advertisements.
Most free services have a variety of templates to choose from for the look of the site, but paid services offer highly customizable designs.
In addition to the basic functions, paid blogs offer the ability to upload photos and images and tailor links on the site. They also offer better security and allow the creator to censor or control comments. Paid sites normally lead to a higher search engine ranking. They enable the creator to configure search output and there are fewer restrictions placed on paid sites.
Paid news aggregators will often keep a list of recently updated blogs and will rank them, showing new sites and newly added photo albums.
For a simple blog, any free service will do, but to get a truly customized and highly functioning product, it will take paying something for it.
RSS Feeds
With the rising popularity of blogs, it has become increasingly time-consuming to keep track of ones that are of interest. No one has time to check each and every favorite blog every day to search for new content. RSS feeds have become the solution.
RSS feeds are small XML files that contain a headline, date/time and description and link to information published on a blog. When used along with a feed reader, or news aggregator, they give an update on the newest content that has been added to a blogging site to a subscribed user.
RSS was developed in several different versions, each with a different meaning. RSS can stand for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary, depending on the version used. All versions do the same thing, though. They provide a summary of information. They send a blog's highlights to subscribers instantly upon publication. RSS feeds save the user from having to visit the site for updates.
To receive RSS feed, a user must have a feed reader, also commonly referred to as a news aggregator. This can be software, a Web-based service, extension or built into a browser. It essentially takes the XML code and translates it into readable information. When the "update" button on the feed reader is clicked, it searches all of the subscribed sites' RSS feed for new information.
Having a RSS feed greatly increases the traffic to a blogging site because it provides an easy way to keep an audience abreast of the latest developments. Once someone is a subscriber, he will continue to be involved in the site. RSS also makes it easier for someone to add a site as a link onto their own site.
Blogging inherently encourages communication and the transfer of ideas. Blogging lets businesses extend their reach and strengthen consumer loyalty, as well as get people talking about their product. It's a matter of perception, encouraging integrity and strengthing relationships in the corporate world. Blogging has become the trademark of forward thinking companies, willing to suffer a few stings in order to get to the benefits it has to offer.
About the author:
Karoline White is a Content Developer at Brook Group, a Web site design firm near Washington, DC. For more articles, visit http://www.usabilityandbranding.com. For more information about the author, visit http://www.brookgroup.com.
Web logs, popularly known as blogs, have become one of the hottest communication tools on the Web. Offering the opportunity for anyone to create their own free Web site, encouraging opinions and interaction, blogs provide forums for individuals to create their own highly personal presentations to the Web audience, and for consortia of all types to experience the sort of online community feeling that was pioneered by early newsgroups and by the phenomenal success of AOL in the 1990s.
Blogs have reached into the corporate and government sectors as well. A prominent federal magazine suggests that some company employees spend more time blogging than on personal e-mail, an average of over an hour a day. What started out as an outlet for teenage expression and grassroots journalism has turned into a lucrative communications tool for small and large businesses alike.
General Motors' Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, turned to the company's blog when rumors surfaced about the discontinuation of the Pontiac and Buick brands. It became a means for a direct response, a way to talk to their consumers unfiltered.
Other companies such as Sun Microsystems and Microsoft are also recognizing the impact of blogging in their relationships with their customers and employees. In an article dated June 5, 2005, The Washington Post proposed that there were more than 100 official corporate blogs in existence, with hundreds more on the horizon.
Although the a major newspaper called blogging "ephemeral, fast-paced and scathingly opinionated," blogs continue to grow steadily in the corporate world and companies are realizing their value.
Corporate Blogging
Internal Communication
Corporate Blogging refers to a company producing or supporting a blog that it uses to accomplish business objectives. A blog can serve many purposes in a corporate setting. Internally, a blog can be a forum for discussion about work-related issues. The informal atmosphere is encouraging to internal corporate communication. From small-scale discussions to virtual "town meetings," in which employees at all levels feel that they can be heard, blogs promote collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Blogging can help establish a company or employee as an expert in their field. By posting information about a certain topic, a person exhibits their knowledge of the subject matter, setting himself up as an authority. People will come to equate the site and the author with that topic. This reputation for subject mastery and expertise can boost your sales and consumer opinion.
A blog can be an interactive addition to an intranet or e-mail newsletters. Since automatic update notification is possible on blogs, people are more likely to stay on top of the latest postings.
Public Communication
Blogs can be used to communicate to prospects, clients, employees and the media. Press releases and project updates can be posted, as well as job opportunities or information that the company wants to distribute outside of the normal news channels.
A blog can strengthen the bonds between the company and its customers. When a company presents itself honestly and transparently, it not only builds trust, but instills loyalty as well. Customers are more likely to work with a company they feel they know better than another. Blogs allow for that informal communication. They create good word-of-mouth among customers who don't read the trade magazines or business pages. The nature of a blog fosters that image of transparency and openness for a company. Most people prefer companies who are honest in their dealings and frank about their issues. As seen in the media with the Dan Rather case, a blog can illuminate the truth through encouraging people to share what they know.
Blogging also reflects forward thinking. By staying current with the technological trends, you give your company a fresh image.
A blog can serve as a recruiting method. Interested job seekers can examine the company by reading its blog.
When testing a new product or service, a blog is an excellent place to give more detailed instructions or receive feedback.
Although, comments can be negative. Not everyone will agree with what is said on a blog. Instead of preventing them, welcome the constructive criticism and edit comments only to remove profanity and personal attacks.
The Down Side
There are some drawbacks to blogging. It is not a magic solution to your business needs. Many people feel that blogging popularity is much like the Internet in the 90's, a promise of money, but not necessarily delivery.
Blogging can lead to legal issues as well. Companies have real concerns about liability, exclusions and limitations, and indemnity. Although there are laws that protect against libel, misappropriations and other injuries suffered as a result of posts on the Web, companies can be held vicariously responsible for statements made by employees that are harmful to others.
In any medium where an employee is sharing information, there is the possibility of leaking trade secrets or financial information. Former Google employee Mark Jen was famously fired for gabbing about life at the company on his personal blog, not sanctioned by Google.
Like all essentially unfiltered communication, blogs can get personal. Many bloggers feel the need to discuss their personal lives as well as their professional ones. Companies must be careful not to stifle communications by keeping personal lives out of the workplace. By doing this, they risk closing down the lines of communication entirely.
Inevitably, a disgruntled employee may use this as an opportunity to badmouth the company. This is not limited to blogs, since an unhappy employee has a variety of mediums through which to vent his disapproval. Blogs just make it easy.
The content may not have enough substance to warrant or hold an audience. Some companies fill their blog with marketing fluff. People can see right through this and will most likely ignore the site. Blogs should be used for transparency, not shameless self-promotion.
Best Practices
Fine Print. Since there are so many legal issues surrounding blogs, it is imperative that the site has some sort of disclaimer and limitation of liability.
Know What You're Doing. Senior management should be educated by the corporate communications and legal department about what blogs are and how they might affect business.
Create blogging policies. A company should have a list of policies regarding blogging to ensure that trade secrets are kept secret and personal lives do not become public. Policies may include keeping financial information from being posted, as well as severe consequences for anyone using the blog for negative publicity.
Avoid the Marketing Blog. Making your blog into a blatant marketing campaign is a bad idea. Customers are looking for real answers and honest opinions. They will pick up on insincerity instantly.
Keep It Fresh. Make content relevant and timely. Update the blog as often as possible with the most worthwhile news. This will encourage people to come back.
Reinforce the company's core values. Then, make sure the content fits these values and supports the business strategy.
Encourage employees to use it, but remind them of the ramifications of their actions.
Free versus Paid Products
When creating a blog, there are hundreds of services and software from which to choose. The first decision to make is whether to go with a free service or pay for one.
For paid services, the cost varies depending on the features used. The basic hosting fee for a domain is anywhere from $5 to $15 a month. The domain name will need to be registered yearly, which can cost $5 to $35. This does not include the software, which may also have to be purchased.
While free services offer the basic necessities of blogging, paid services are usually more desirable since they have more to offer.
With a free service, the company offers a free site, but it may contain advertisements to offset the cost of maintenance. A paid site will not have any advertisements.
Most free services have a variety of templates to choose from for the look of the site, but paid services offer highly customizable designs.
In addition to the basic functions, paid blogs offer the ability to upload photos and images and tailor links on the site. They also offer better security and allow the creator to censor or control comments. Paid sites normally lead to a higher search engine ranking. They enable the creator to configure search output and there are fewer restrictions placed on paid sites.
Paid news aggregators will often keep a list of recently updated blogs and will rank them, showing new sites and newly added photo albums.
For a simple blog, any free service will do, but to get a truly customized and highly functioning product, it will take paying something for it.
RSS Feeds
With the rising popularity of blogs, it has become increasingly time-consuming to keep track of ones that are of interest. No one has time to check each and every favorite blog every day to search for new content. RSS feeds have become the solution.
RSS feeds are small XML files that contain a headline, date/time and description and link to information published on a blog. When used along with a feed reader, or news aggregator, they give an update on the newest content that has been added to a blogging site to a subscribed user.
RSS was developed in several different versions, each with a different meaning. RSS can stand for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary, depending on the version used. All versions do the same thing, though. They provide a summary of information. They send a blog's highlights to subscribers instantly upon publication. RSS feeds save the user from having to visit the site for updates.
To receive RSS feed, a user must have a feed reader, also commonly referred to as a news aggregator. This can be software, a Web-based service, extension or built into a browser. It essentially takes the XML code and translates it into readable information. When the "update" button on the feed reader is clicked, it searches all of the subscribed sites' RSS feed for new information.
Having a RSS feed greatly increases the traffic to a blogging site because it provides an easy way to keep an audience abreast of the latest developments. Once someone is a subscriber, he will continue to be involved in the site. RSS also makes it easier for someone to add a site as a link onto their own site.
Blogging inherently encourages communication and the transfer of ideas. Blogging lets businesses extend their reach and strengthen consumer loyalty, as well as get people talking about their product. It's a matter of perception, encouraging integrity and strengthing relationships in the corporate world. Blogging has become the trademark of forward thinking companies, willing to suffer a few stings in order to get to the benefits it has to offer.
About the author:
Karoline White is a Content Developer at Brook Group, a Web site design firm near Washington, DC. For more articles, visit http://www.usabilityandbranding.com. For more information about the author, visit http://www.brookgroup.com.
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