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How Do I Build a Blog For My Business? Proven Business Blogging Tips That Work

2008-08-20T22:33:00.003-07:00

In this article we are going to take a quick look at how you can build a blog for YOUR business in rapid fire turn around time. I'm going to list the steps, one by one, EXACTLY as I do it - and how I teach my clients to do them as well. It's quite easy, reasonably effortless, and to be perfectly honest, INCREDIBLY affordable to build a business blog these days, as I'm going to illuminate for you below! Read on..:-)

Step 1: Register Your Domain Name. I use Godaddy because they are so cheap, easy and often have deals when you are buying multiple products

Step 2: Choose your hosting Provider: Don't worry about ANY of the specs if you are starting on shared plan. Customer service is key - and really, at this level, ALL that counts! (when you scale up to a dedicated server there are other considerations to make)

Step 3: Choose Your Blogging Platform: I recommend Wordpress. It's free, dead simple to install, and extendable in a multiplicity of powerful ways.

Step 4: Do Your Keyword Research: Very important. You have to know WHAT people are searching for in your market to gain traction and visibility. You MUST start here if you want to leapfrog the learning curve and high step some of the land mines that MOST new business blogs face.

Step 5: Offer a White Paper in Your Industry: Absolutely a must. You have to have SOMETHING branded to you, that establishes your expertise, and that has shelf life. (i.e. - blog posts don't..:-)

Step 6: Create an Opt-In Form to capture names for Your White Paper: Building a list is the bedrock of business blog building, and giving something of value, in return for a name is the easiest way to do it!

Step 7: Relationship Build. Polls, link bait, Comments on YOUR blog and others are a great way to get your message out to the masses. Far too much in this area to expound on here, but once you have the first 6 steps down, NOW it's time to meet and greet some folks with your new business blog - which, dare I say, if you've done the first 6 steps right, is poised and primed for some quick success!

Have fun and simply rinse, wash and repeat these steps for ALL your domains..:-) ( and niches if you're in more than one like us!).

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Why Starting a Business Blog is Important - 3 Tips For a Big Buck Business Blog

2008-08-20T22:33:00.002-07:00

Let's take a quick look at blogging for business. So many folks believe that blogs are simply the domain of the myspace generation, little online journals to record and share mundane life facts that no one in the "real" world could possibly care about. If we are being honest, and you speak to MANY business owners a bit beyond the Generation X age, their ideas of what a blog really accomplishes are a bit out of touch. So if that is you...read on as we examine some quick and easy reasons why jumping into the blogging game COULD be the best investment your business can make!

Search Engine Visibility

Quite simply, a blog has SO much more potential to be found in the SERP's in rapid fire turn around time. Why? They are topical, relevant and time stamped, and the search engines undoubtedly want to keep fresh information constantly at the fingertips of their "customers" - i.e. - folks browsing the web. Add in the dynamic elements of blog posting, the dedicated blog search engines that ONLY track blogs and RSS feeds, and you have a recipe for getting YOUR message out front of your audience quickly.

Participation in Your Message

The number one thing that blogs build, in my opinion, is participation. They bond your clients, or potential clients, to your message in ways that NO boilerplate ad, commercial or mailing can do. They provide a forum, both literally, and even figuratively, for your audience to interact with your words, message, and ideas. Polls, comments, user submitted materials, you name it - a blog helps you move to the ground floor where the conversation is really taking place!

Humility

A blog will make you HUMAN as well. Look at Mark Cuban for example - his blog, NOT written in the most terrific or poetic style, has made HIM one of the most popular entrepreneurs (and blogs) in the world. People identify with people they can touch - and if you are there, informally, sharing your thoughts, feelings and failings with the masses, people will go out of their way to show their support. For NEW business, and old businesses alike, if you are NOT blogging today....you will REGRET it tomorrow for sure..:-)

Want to see how I make money Blogging?

FREE Blog Marketing Strategies revealed.... so much fun & effortlessly easy, it almost feels like stealing!

This Month Only ---- >Drain My Brain for FREE

http://www.KarmicConsulting.Net - Maniac Marketing MAGIC for the Masses!

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Internet Marketing Blogs Can Help You Learn and Help You Make Money

2008-08-20T22:33:00.001-07:00

When you have a home business you will need to know all you can about internet marketing. There are a lot of different ways that you can learn about this. There is also a lot of ways that you can make money with internet marketing. The best way to do both of these things is with blogs.

Internet marketing blogs have two different purposes. The first is to help people all over the world learn about internet marketing. The second is to help people that want to make money with these blogs. You can even do both, first learn, than make money, the choice is yours.

So, how can internet marketing blogs help you learn? These blogs are set up with articles that you can read to help you learn about different marketing strategies. They will also have tools and resources that you can use to build your own home business. Most of the information you can use to learn from will be free but some of it you will have to pay for. A good site will give you articles, tools, resources, tips, and many other things that will help you learn.

Now that you know how you can learn from an internet marketing blog you need to know how you can make money with them. When you want to set up one of these blogs it is very easy to do. The difficult part is writing the content for it, especially if you are not a writer. For this you can hire someone to write the content for you. You have to be careful though because this can get expensive, so you may at some point want to learn how to write for yourself.

There are many places that will help you set up a blog of your own. You just have to look for them and then take steps to get your site set up. The next thing that is important besides the content is the affiliate programs you are going to promote. You can easily find more than one program about internet marketing or about a strategy and promote it from your blog.

You want to make sure that you give your readers a lot of free useful information but there is no reason why you can't make money with your internet marketing blog too. Many people do this and are very successful with it. You can too if that is what you choose to do. Just remember that you have to learn before you can start making money with your own blog.

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5 Quick Blogging Tips to Start a Home Based Business

2008-08-13T22:25:00.004-07:00

One of the quickest ways to start a home based business today is to start your own blog. Here are five quick blogging tips that can have you making money at home in no time.

In review, or if you're not familiar with the term blogging, a blog is just short for web log, which is a way to get your thoughts about something on the Internet.

Blogging has advanced today to include everything from text, to audio, and also video. Also they have become more interactive by allowing the reader to get involved by adding comments, voting on polls, and so on.

1. Search engines love blogs and certainly Blogger.com is one of the best because it's owned by Google. It is also an excellent way to start a home based business because you can get your own blog set up in three easy steps in just a couple of minutes.

2. If you can type you can blog because that is really all you are doing. You just sit down and put down your thoughts about something. If you're the type of person that can write something interesting, humorous, controversial, or thought-provoking, you can create a loyal following that just might buy products that you recommend as well.

3. Affiliate marketing is the fastest way to get products to sell on a blog. Google also offers an affiliate program known as Google AdSense which is very easy to add to all of your blog posts.

This is a great way to make money because Google will place advertisers on your blog and every time somebody clicks on one of the ads you earn a small commission. The way to make more money with your own home based business and blogging is to drive more traffic and let them click on these Google ads.

4. Another thing the works very well is to add banners to your blog. These banners can lead to affiliate products you sell and every time somebody makes a purchase off of your affiliate website you earn a commission.

5. One final thing you can do is include hyperlink text ads right in the article itself. It is only natural for someone to click on one of these ads and again if they buy a product off of your affiliate website you make a commission.

This is a few quick blogging tips to help you start a home based business and your own blog. If you enjoy talking then you will probably do very well with blogging.

David Ogden is an established online marketer who specializes in practical website resources and advice that have helped many people like you start their very own home based business. He can help you launch your very own money making website today, ready to take orders and pull in massive profits for you right now, guaranteed!

Work at Home Training for Success
Make Money Online Now
Copyright: David Ogden

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The Power of Words and Need For Restraint

2008-08-13T22:25:00.003-07:00

Everyone who knows me or reads my personal blog knows that I am a fanatic for "The Sopranos." (And yes, I'm still mourning the series and hoping that David Chase really does have a movie planned.) Nearly all of the characters used extremely rough and vulgar language from time to time, depending upon the plot point being advanced. At first, it was rather shocking. But, over time, as I came to know and understand the characters, I barely noticed it unless I heard a word or phrase with which I was not familiar.

I did not find the language or violence upsetting because, after all, the show was about mobsters. Not being acquainted with any real-life Mafioso (that I know of), I presume that Chase's depiction of the characters was fairly accurate. Who could buy Tony Soprano, for instance, upon finding out that one of his Captains, Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero was serving as a confidential FBI informant, yelling, "Shucks! Darn! Drat! Let's get even with that awful guy!"

However, blogs and websites are not mob dramas and, from my perspective, specific rules apply.

On July 2, 2007, guest writer Finn wrote at Write Stuff:

"I love words. Not surprising, I'm sure. To me, every word has it's own feeling, it's own personality. There are some words that I find to be absolutely perfect-meaning that something about them indicates exactly what the word means. Sometimes it's the way a word sounds, sometimes it's the way the way it feels when you say it.

[Specific profanity] - I declined to write this one out as not to offend, but it is such a perfect word that I couldn't leave it out. It shoots straight out of the mouth and then hits the wall with a smack. So indicative of its meaning - the sounds, the feel. There's no mistaking this word. A bit of trivia: There is no foreign form of this word. There are words or phrases that capture the spirit, but there is no direct translation. And yet it seems universally understood. Again, a perfect word."

One of the most important rules that every writer must observe is this: Know your audience! That includes assessing who will be reading your words, the medium in which they will do so, and what their reaction will be if you opt to use, for lack of a better term, "colorful" prose. Although vulgar language may seem "perfect" when the rating system is focused upon shock value, expressiveness, and communication of a specific idea, when writing for a mass web audience, my practice is to scrupulously and uniformly avoid using such words.

First, I believe that a skilled writer should be capable of communicating without such language. An ability to do so connotes limitations that should be addressed via writing courses or seminars. In the vast majority of circumstances, vulgarity and profanity simply aren't required in order for even a marginally competent writer to convey thoughts, ideas, opinions, or feelings to a broad audience.

You cannot predict who will happen upon a blog or website, nor can you be assured that visitors to your site will not find questionable language offensive or repulsive. It is far better to err on the side of caution than risk giving your readers the type of experience I had yesterday morning.

Bleary-eyed, I signed onto Bloglines to read the latest articles from the sites to which I subscribe before heading out to the gym for water aerobics. As I scanned the headlines, deciding which articles to read in full, my eyes popped open when the most offensive word in the English language screamed at me after the words "Don't be a . . ." Sure that, in my just-awakened state, I had misread the post title, I clicked on the link to confirm. During the time interval between the headline being syndicated to the feed and my visiting the site, the author had removed the repugnant word from the title. However, it remains part of the post's perma-link.

Many comments had already been posted from readers, many of whom expressed shock and disappointment. For instance, one stated: "I think your title is in bad taste! I think you could have found a much better word to use. I have always been a fan of yours but am very disappointed in your choice of words (not that you care)." Another female reader noted that she found the gender-based epithet in question "disrespectful to your readers in general and your female audience in particular."

Problogger Darren Rouse observed:

"Have to say that I think your headline is in poor taste. In fact I suspect you'll find that due to the word you used you've probably alienated quite a few readers and possibly stopped people from reading a post that could have engaged people in a worthwhile conversation. I guess if you're interested in getting links by polarizing people then it's probably something you'll see results from - but if you're wanting to connect with and build community and engagement then you could well have lost some loyal readers with this one.

My personal response - my respect for you took a hit on this one."

Which brings me to the next consideration: The author, Rouse, and a few other folks argued that the particular term is used quite commonly in some parts of Europe and, apparently, Australia. Thus, the author seemed genuinely shocked by the reaction from American readers in general and, more particularly, women. Just as feigned ignorance of the speed limit is no excuse when a police officer cites you for speeding, a smart writer will consider regional and national variances in language usage and impact. Although the author apparently does not reside in the United States, he should have familiarized himself with his site's traffic patterns and considered cultural variances. When in doubt, the conservative choice, as this example proves, is always the correct one.

My mother taught me to choose friends wisely by reciting a cliched truism: "Others judge you by the company you keep." Writers are always judged by the words they choose.

Finn was right about the power of the vulgarity she discussed. Gender-specific monikers and profanity are powerful and evoke a strong emotional, even visceral, response from readers. Restraint is required to ensure that such terms are only used under limited, appropriate circumstances. When used indiscriminately, carelessly or with an unappreciative audience, a writer runs the risk of losing credibility and the respect of his/her readers. In the case of the post referenced above, I posted a comment advising the blog owner that I had unsubscribed and will not be visiting that site in the future.

I do not moderate comments on my blog because I welcome vigorous, respectful debate and encourage my readers to express opinions, and share their ideas and experiences. However, my comment policy is unequivocal: "Profanity, vulgarity and/or hate speech are not allowed." And I do not use such verbiage in my writing.

http://www.jhsiess.com/2007/10/29/power-need-restraint

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Life in the Blogosphere - Comment Moderation Or Censorship?

2008-08-13T22:25:00.002-07:00

There's an ongoing discussion among bloggers concerning comments. Every so often, the dialogue intensifies before going to the back burner again, only to be revived periodically. In the process, volumes have been written about why the vast majority of readers do not leave comments on blogs and how to encourage them to do so. Many bloggers have sponsored contests in pursuit of comments. On the flip side, a fair number have disabled the comment function altogether, preferring to simply let their writing speak for itself and foregoing interaction with their readers.

Much of the debate has focused on the question of whether or not comments should be moderated, i.e., require the blog owner's approval before appearing on the site. I have never moderated comments on my own blog, largely because I encourage my readers to be honest and forthright in a respectful fashion. If a reader disagrees with my viewpoint, I want them to express their opinion. I guess that I have been lucky so far -- no reader has ever abused my open approach by leaving inappropriate comments on my site.

So I really never gave the topic a lot of thought. Until this past week, that is.

Twice in the past week, I have had the experience of being censored by bloggers who opt to "moderate" comments on their blogs.

I wish I could tell you that I said something outrageous, outlandish or even slightly controversial. I did not even attempt to provoke the blog owner into vigorous debate.

In both instances, my remark was extremely benign: On one site, I merely stated that I disagreed with the author's statements, but did not elaborate. On the other blog, I respectfully suggested that the author's conclusions about cause and effect in a particular situation might be reevaluated in light of one factor he failed to take into consideration. In neither instance did I insult, belittle or attack the author. But the result was the same: My comments never showed up on their sites. They apparently chose to eliminate my contribution to the discussions. Checking back several times over the course of several days, I noted that comments on both sites are exclusively compromised of endorsements of the author's ideas and conclusions.

This experience has caused me to reconsider the issue, beginning with the purpose of comments. Obviously, the goal is interactivity. If an author is not interested in getting feedback from his/her readers, a static site is a perfectly acceptable solution.

But once an author determines that he/she wants to "open the floor," so to speak, is there an implied obligation to monitor one's site in a fair, balanced and egalitarian fashion? Is there an obligation to allow reasoned and civil discourse that includes the assertion of a viewpoint at odds with the site author's?

Or is it the province of the site owner to moderate comments in any manner he/she deems appropriate, even to the point of banning any comment from a reader who espouses a viewpoint that differs from his/her own?

It seems to me that it is incumbent upon bloggers who desire to be perceived as responsible and fair to post a comment policy in the event that he/she elects to moderate comments, setting forth the precise standards by which comments will be assessed. Even that is not a fool-proof system, however. In the latter instance I have cited here, the author devotes a whole page to an explanation of the "comment policy," even proclaiming that "disagreeing with me is positively encouraged." Obviously, the second part of the equation is simple but elusive for some: If you establish a policy, live up to it in order to assure that, as a blogger, you establish and maintain credibility.

http://www.jhsiess.com/2007/10/22/comment-moderation-censorship

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Inspiration - Where Do You Find It?

2008-08-13T22:25:00.001-07:00

Every writer suffers from "writer's block" from time to time. For me, it takes a couple of forms, but I don't know which I hate most, frankly.

Sometimes I have the idea and desire to communicate it, but simply cannot get the words to flow from my fingertips.

How many times have you found yourself aimlessly tapping the keys hoping the rhythm might stimulate your fingers to type something cogent and meaningful? It happens to me more often than I care to admit.

At those times, I have to walk away from the computer for awhile. If I am at the office, I will probably stroll down the hallway in search of conversation with a colleague or two in order to forget about the project for a few minutes. At home, those are good times to start or fold a load of laundry, make a telephone call, practice my flute, watch a little t.v. or do some reading. If I resume work on the piece only to find after a few minutes that I'm still not making any progress, I switch gears again, taking a longer break. I have learned the hard way that I cannot will myself through such a creative block. And yes, this can be problematic if a deadline is looming.

Surfing a number of blogs looking for inspiration, I noted many instances of blog owners posting about the more common form of "writer's block," a lack of subject matter.

When people ask me why I left the private practice of law, I half-jokingly explain that I feared I would turn into a stereotypical lawyer trying to eke out a living who has never met a person who wasn't a potential client. Writing is much the same. Good writers seldom have a thought or life experience that isn't a potential idea for a poem, short story, novel, blog entry, . . .

In reality, I am exactly like that stereotypical lawyer when it comes to writing. Inspiration is really only in short supply if we aren't paying attention because everything that happens to us or we observe is a potential trigger. We simply have to remain observant, receptive, and flexible.

Inspiration might be lurking where we least expect to find it. I was toying with a lot of other ideas for this article until I happened upon the aforementioned bloggers. I was astounded to find myself reading comments like "I have nothing to write about," "I can't think of anything to say," or "Nothing has happened for me to write about." I sure didn't expect to be motivated by those entries, but after stumbling upon so many of them, I found myself compelled to comment here.

Truthfully, those entries angered me because they evinced a lack of respect for my willingness to devote my time and energy to reading those folks' blogs. Needless to say, I did not bookmark those sites.

To be blunt, those writers are lazy. Good writing doesn't just happen - it requires a lot of hard work. So why do so many folks expect the inspiration for their writing to just happen serendipitously? Aside from those rare occasions when an idea practically falls out of the sky and onto the keyboard, finding inspiration for thoughtful writing often requires just as much, if not more, work as does the process of writing.

My experience illustrates the point. You might be thinking, "Hey, you just stumbled onto an idea. You got lucky!" You're absolutely right. But in order to happen upon something that inspired me and sparked imagination, I had to be vigilant and receptive to ideas and revelations. My search for motivation was deliberate and concerted. Fortunately, my efforts paid off and I found the stimulation I was seeking.

Bear in mind, too, that ideas in their original form frequently are not reflective of the final product. In other words, we have to be willing to analyze, evaluate, and, as necessary, modify our writing as insights are revealed during the process of drafting, editing, and re-editing. Too often, we are inspired to write about a particular incident, event or person, but then get bogged down by our initial notion of how the final draft will read. How often have you heard a writer say that the finished piece was a surprise to him/her because, as he/she allowed the creative process to guide him/her, he/she was inspired to take the project in an entirely different direction than the one he/she originally envisioned? That kind of flexibility and fluidity is critical.

So where might you find inspiration for your writing if it seems to be eluding you? Well, I've already mentioned one gigantic source of ideas: Blogs. I am constantly amazed and awestruck by what I read in blogs.

Memes are a cultural phenomena in and of themselves. Strictly speaking, a meme is: An idea that, like a gene, can replicate and evolve; a unit of cultural information that represents a basic idea that can be transferred from one individual to another, and subjected to mutation, crossover, and adaptation; a cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one generation to another by nongenetic means (as by imitation) -- "memes are the cultural counterpart of genes".

There are many popular memes to which bloggers subscribe to receive a writing "prompt" every so often (daily, weekly, monthly). Check out The Daily Meme for a list. Some memes allow the writer to pick his/her own topic, with the expectation that a particular format will be followed and an entry posted at specific intervals. An example is Thursday Thirteen. Participants post a list of thirteen items built around a theme of his/her own choosing. Friday's Feast provides a list of questions to be answered, while Sunday Scribblings and Wordless Wednesday each provide a weekly one-word theme, as does Photo Hunters. Even if you don't want to participate fully, review the questions and themes to stimulate your inventiveness.

Examine some old or new family photos. Is there something about a family member - an experience they had, a characteristic or trait, unusual occupation, the way they motivated or inspired you - that you can either share with your readers or use as the springboard for a fictional story? Looking at photos of yourself taken some years ago might cause you to remember an incident, event . . . maybe an interesting neighbor or friend from somewhere you lived long ago. How have you changed over the years? What have you learned?

Look at your calendar or dayplanner. Did something happen at work, school or within a community organization to which you belong that you want to explore or assess via your writing?

Have you read a book, newspaper, magazine or journal article that contained an idea you want to expand upon or take issue with? Seen any movies or television shows lately? There are always plenty of storylines that can serve as the basis for a discussion of societal or civil issues, cultural trends, or a particular artists' performance or body of work.

There are many websites such as The Quotations Page that are repositories of quotes from famous folks. Click on the name of an author or topic and see if an excerpt arouses your interest.

As these few simple suggestions illustrate, the possibilities are literally infinite, limited only by your willingness to hear that "still, small voice" that awakens your interest in a particular topic and goads you into sitting down at the keyboard.

Keep an open mind and heart. You just never know where your next remarkable idea might be lurking.

http://www.jhsiess.com/2007/01/21/write-stuff-inspiration

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Life in the Blogosphere - At What Point Does Sharing Our Lives Become TMI?

2008-08-13T22:25:00.000-07:00

"Too much information." That's what I hear from my kids sometimes, especially if I share details with them of what my life was like at their ages (almost 20 and 15 1/2). "T.M.I., Mom," they tell me as they retreat to their rooms to escape my recollections of life without the Internet, personal computers, cell phones, Blackberries or Wii.

Is there such a thing as T.M.I. in the blogosphere?

Earlier this week, I had one of my insomnia-inspired surfing sessions. I was hopping from blog to blog . . . couldn't tell you now where I started or ended up. Just clicking, reading, observing, pondering, with Conan O'Brien yammering in the background. I happened upon a blog that I found particularly intriguing because, as I was reading the owner's most recent entry, I found myself saying, "Stop! Stop! Don't write any more! T.M.I.!"

The post began with an apology, followed by the blog owner's prediction that, after perusing what she felt compelled and was about to reveal, her readers would be so reviled that they would probably never visit the site again. Assuming, of course, that they managed to read the entire entry - which she assured visitors would make them uncomfortable.

I wondered if the blog owner had a background in marketing. Talk about a hook! You know that after that introduction, I adjusted my chair and got really cozy, cleaned my reading glasses, and turned down the volume on the television so that I could fully concentrate on the big reveal awaiting me in her subsequent paragraphs.

And the author did not disappoint. She divulged extremely sensitive, painful details about events in her life. It was the proverbial train wreck: I wanted to close the browser window, but was unable to stop reading, even though I was desperately uncomfortable, squirming in my seat and cringing as new facets of her painful past were unveiled paragraph by humiliating paragraph.

The writer in question was unequivocally crying out for attention. Whether or not the stories she shared were true is really irrelevant. She deliberately sought the affirmations and approval set forth in the comments. Why she was so desperate for support from complete strangers is, for my purposes here, equally irrelevant.

The comments? You guessed it. Litanies of "Oh, of course, we will be back; we could never abandon you, especially after you have laid yourself bare in front of all of us. We love you. We support you."

For me, the post inspired a strange mixture of repulsion, embarrassment, empathy, compassion, and curiosity. I've thought about that blog entry off and on in the ensuing days, especially while visiting various other blogs. I have been much more mindful of the level of personal detail set forth there.

I keep asking myself: With so many people blogging about their personal lives, when it comes to the amount and nature of the information shared, how much is too much information? Where is the line? And how do you know when you have gotten dangerously close to or crossed it? Are there any criteria or guidelines we can use to measure the appropriate amount of personal information that should be shared in cyberspace?

What I've concluded is that, for me, it all comes back to the core reason(s) we choose to create and maintain a blog. An honest assessment of the extent and quality of exposure that will keep us within our individual zone of comfort is mandated.

Before posting intimate details of our own or others' lives, a thorough analysis of the potential ramifications has to be conducted, the risks assessed, and a determination made as to the overall wisdom of sharing intimate details about ourselves on the Internet. A good initial inquiry, it seems to me, is "Would I be comfortable having my ________ know this about me?" If the answer is "no," you might consider imparting the information in the form of a fictional piece or by altering the facts enough to make them unrecognizable to those familiar with the story. Maybe the events could be related as though they pertain to an unidentified friend, neighbor or coworker, rather than yourself or your loved ones.

"Will I hurt anyone by revealing this information in a public forum?" I am ever-mindful of the fact that my blog could be read by my family members near and far, friends, business associates and colleagues, former employers, schoolmates that I have not seen in many, many years, my neighbors across the street, . . . You have no idea who might happen upon your blog and read the entry you are considering. In the case of the woman I discussed above, I found myself wondering if she had children and, if so, imagined how they would feel reading about the events and relationships she related. If your words have the potential power to devastate another human being, you might want to work out your issues using a handwritten journal or a word processor which allows you to password-protect the document.

A companion query concerns others' privacy. Even though you don't mind having personal details about your life displayed publicly, what about the folks whose lives have intersected with yours? The fact that you don't name those folks may not prevent them from being identified via clues contained in the details. Again, examine your rationale for blogging about the topic under consideration and determine if there is an alternative way to achieve your personal goal(s) (catharsis?) while preserving others' rights and feelings.

Finally, all good writers consider their audience. Who is reading your blog? What is the flavor of the content they have come to expect from you? Will this information constitute a major shift in your blog's focus or tone? Based upon prior interactions with your audience (comments), is your readership likely to expect and embrace this new direction? Or do you risk, as the poster referenced above acknowledged, alienating your core supporters? Again, are the benefits to be gained worth the risk? Perhaps it would be prudent to launch a new blog under a different name or anonymously, providing you a new forum with a completely different voice and appearance. Starting a new blog and establishing a reader base is difficult, but may be preferable to losing the audience you have cultivated to date.

I have no way of confirming this, but am willing to bet, based upon the nature of her disclosures, that for every comment received by the poster discussed above expressing support, she lost at least as many readers.

My wish for you is that none of your readers ever responds to one of your posts with shouts of "Stop! Stop! Don't write any more! That's T.M.I."

http://www.jhsiess.com/2007/02/04/write-stuff-life-in-the-blogosphere-at-what-point-does-sharing-our-lives-became-tmi

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Five Tips to Make Money by Writing Blogs

2008-08-07T00:02:00.003-07:00

Did you know that you can make money online writing blogs? Yes it is true and some have even made up to six figures a month. It doesn't necessarily mean you can do it nor does it mean you cannot do it for it simply depends on your attitude. Creating a blog is the easiest thing on earth. Within a matter of few minutes you can create a blog in blogpsot. But the challenge lies in continuously working on it, spending time in getting content through articles, latest updates in your field and posting new information for the readers. Here are a few tips to make money by writing blogs.

1. Identify your niche: I have said this in my previous articles and I am again repeating it here. It is very important for you to identify your niche and have a strong passion for it. Unless you have a strong interest, you will have no momentum in updating your blog. First find out if your niche has a market and if it has, do research on the specifics of the niche. Here are some fields that are doing well in today's market

- Health and fitness
- Beauty and skincare
- Affiliate Marketing
- Insurance and Finance

2. Passion and Interest count more than expertise: Do not worry if you are not an expert in your area of interest. What you need is a strong passion and interest which will eventually make you an expert. Don't expect immediate results, give it some time and you will find money trickling, even though initially it may be in small amounts. You can start out by reading articles in EzineArticles, goarticles and articlecity and use the same articles that you thought were most useful giving full credit to the original author and specifying the relevant details in your blog. Then start writing your own articles and post your blog link at the end of article. This is the first step towards generating quality traffic.

3. Google Adsense: Place Google AdSense on your blogs. This is another way of generating revenue. Avoid going for Google AdSense banners as research has shown that they are consistently overlooked by the viewers. Make sure that you ad blends well with your blog layout. Match the title color of the ad with the color of your text in blog and use very light colors for the content and url so that the Ad title stands out. Don't clutter your ads at the top of the page and expect the reader to scroll down to read the content. The first one third of the page is very precious for the reader, so it is always better to let the content take preference to ads.

4. Advertise your blog to friends and relevant networks: A good way to advertise your blog may be to simply send an email with your blog link to your friends and colleagues. Another way would be to use your bloglink as a default signature in forum postings. Make sure that your postings are valuable in those respective blogs or else you will just be one more spammer. Write articles on squidoo and hub pages and generate traffic to your blog.

5. Affiliate Marketing: Add affiliate links to the products that you choose to promote. Be careful of the products you promote because you want to make sure that you are selling genuine products and don't fall for the get rich trap. What goes around comes around is the saying. Never resort to unethical affiliate marketing, because it is never good for the business. Always put yourself in the shoes of the buyer and think once, twice, thrice before selling or promoting a product.

Before I sign off, here is my offer. I am willing to personally mentor the first 25 people who need guidance in Affiliate Marketing, free of cost. To take advantage of this offer, simply visit my blog and post your comment on any section that you like.

About the Author

Vijay Dandamudi is an independent reviewer and for a comprehensive review of the Top Marketing programs, visit ExpertzReviews. GRAB 4 FREE KILLER ebooks that contains great tips to make money money online.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vijay_Dandamudi

3 Blogging Tips to Attract and Keep More Customers

2008-08-07T00:02:00.002-07:00

Blogging for your business is a widely known method of attracting more people to your website and to increase your customer base and interest in general. But what makes a blog post intriguing enough that you are the chosen one amongst the thousands of others who are your competition.

The difference is you. Your enthusiasm and motivation about your home business will make you stand out amongst the others. It's not only about the words but instead about what and who is behind those words. Too many people post matter-of-fact articles and it becomes well, "matter-of-fact." It is imperative to find a different angle that will get people who read your work looking for more.

Tip 1: Write with sincere enthusiasm. People will see it. If it is real and permeates through your words then it will show. As you are writing, think about how excited you are about what you are doing and where it will help you and especially others if they know about your program and your vision. Give inspirational examples and show your love for the business.

Tip 2: Write to help people succeed. It is one thing to promote your programs/business and to give all that they have to offer. Keep in mind though that many people are looking into these businesses for the first time with absolutely no experience whatsoever.

What do you think they are looking for? They want a home business but they need help in starting and want someone who understands their needs as well. Write with the intention of offering help. It will bring readers in and give newcomers what they are looking for.

Tip 3: Write with a sincere vision. This is easy to do if you have laid out your plans and know what you want to accomplish for your business. Keep it real but let readers and potential customers know what you envision for you and everyone else with an interest in your business. Let them know that you have a training program planned for them so that they will be able to grow as marketers. Write out your long- term plan so the readers can visualize it themselves. Inspire them with your goals and how they can incorporate these goals into their own vision for the future.

Blogging is a very personal way for businesses to attract a very loyal customer base. Blogs are more personal and give a customer a feel for the actual person behind the business. Utilize this medium because it is essential in this internet world of thousands of websites with the same goals and same customer base. It is possible to stand out. You just need to know how.

Laura Licata is a math teacher with experiences ranging from teaching in the Peace Corps in Gabon, Central Africa, to independent schools in the US and public schools in Westchester county in New York.

She started her home business in August of 2007 and has found another job she absolutely loves to do. Laura was recently named one of the top 25 women bloggers to watch out for in 2008.

Visit Laura's websites at http://www.moneymakingmathteacher.com and http://www.moneymakingmathteacher.com/blog

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laura_Licata

Get Free Web Site Traffic Using Blogs - You Need a Blog to Make Money With Online Business

2008-08-07T00:02:00.001-07:00

FACT: You Need A Blog.

If you have an online business, then you want to make money. You can easily add a blog onto your corporate or business website. Blogs are invaluable and an absolute necessary if you want site traffic or visibility online. You need visibility online in order to make with with your online business.

You Ask... Why Do I Need A Blog?

Search engines love blogs and they are tracked in real-time. As soon as you post anything... the search engines can pick it up. This means that Google, other website owners, and people searching for your product, service or business can find you.

Blogs are very easy to update. It's like using Wordpad... you just sign in and begin to create a message, article or shout out. You do not have to create new web pages or know html. You just type. Search engines send website traffic to websites with lots of relevant words... that are updated often.

Bloggers read and follow blogs. Bloggers are the ones who will provide links back to your site, because the content or blog posts are interesting, relevant or authoritative.

AN ADDITIONAL WEB SITE TRAFFIC TIP

If you want your web site traffic to increase or be significant enough for you to make tons of money online, then you must provide a lot of good quality content (blog posts) most everyday. If you cannot or will not write consistently, then you are going to have to hire someone to keep your blog updated.

There are freelance companies online that have folks (outsourced from India & other countries) who will write informative articles for you for a very small fee. A couple that come to mind are Freelancer.com and Elance.com. These websites also provide other services such as software development and programming services. Create a Google search and you can find freelance companies that will tweak your site graphics and product art design.

If you educate yourself concerning creating and managing blogs, you can make make money with your online business.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mia_Grant

Don't Allow Comments on Your Blog Without Approval - Enjoy Talking to Yourself

2008-08-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

The title of this article is a direct quote from another blog, where someone warns that they will not leave comments on your blog if you do not allow "instant comments without approval" and the person who wrote this blog post quote is a higher level professor. Now then, there is a real problem with this short-sided view of things. Let me explain:

First, and without trying to pull-rank, because I do not believe that is what blogging is about, I have been blogging since 1997 and have nearly 10,000 posts now total, when I started it was not even called blogging, I simply used it as a business communication tool to franchisees, vendors and customers in our organization, and allowed open access to the world. Over this time, I have fielded some of the most bizarre, mean-spirited, nasty, disgusting and sploggy (a Splog is comment spam) that you have ever seen in your life.

Now I realize that most social networks are a somewhat closed community and you have to be a member to post on such sites. Nevertheless, if you allow open comments then someone can easily post garbage comments and ruin your blog. On my most recent blog, I am not going to allow comments without approval, like most of the people due to experience and observations that I have personally had over the last 10-years or so - neither should you!

If someone threatens not to leave a comment unless allow unrestricted comments, then obviously they do not care about you much or they would not make that a stipulation of "online friendship" and you might want to consider that. Why would you want a "blog friend" with an attitude or pre-required stipulations?

Unless maybe you just want to add lots of friends to your list, personally someone adding themselves as a friend whom you do not know very well, without a little history is silly and childish, it does not prove anything. Other than you both believe in similar politics, god issues or preferences and are so needing of approval from others to boost your little online self-esteem.

Personally, I'd rather no comments than insincere, non-applicable, spiteful or attacking comments. If automatic approval is a condition or stipulation for you commenting, then don't bother, you too quickly assume that the World revolves around you and everyone so very much cares what you think or needs a friend so desperately like you do in that case. So, this blogger requires his comments to be approved and if that is an issue with you, be that way, be a child, act like a persnickety blogger, you wouldn't be the first or the last.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Blog Content Service

If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow

Internet News Services Explode Online

2008-03-11T02:13:00.000-07:00

It seems no matter how much information comes available online, people thirst for more.

To illustrate this point, just take a look at all the online news services sprouting up on the web like garden weeds.

With the click of a mouse you can instantly search thousands of news sources for specific and timely information on virtually any topic you choose.

Heck, if you're a real news junky, you can even get up-to- the-minute news emailed straight to your desktop!

Now, I'm the first one to say that nothing beats a good old-fashioned newspaper you hold in your hands.

Few things rate as relaxing as a cup of coffee, a quiet morning, and today's newspaper ready for my inspection. In fact, my day doesn't officially start until I walk to the end of my driveway to retrieve the paper (occasionally from under a bush).

But as much as I love the paper, it rarely contains stories on highly-specialized subjects such as the latest email marketing laws, html parsing, and search engine promotion.

Of course, it doesn't make sense for virtually any local newspaper to carry news about email marketing laws (other than how they affect consumers) because the market demand simply doesn't exist on that level.

However, around the world, thousands of people just like me want to know the instant a news story breaks on the latest "Can Spam" legislation, and that's where online news services come into play.

Log on to http://news.google.com, http://news.yahoo.com and www.news.com to search thousands of different news sources from around the world.

On these sites you can dig up information on anything from current world events and your favorite Spanish soccer team, to cattle tagging regulations in Argentina (no kidding) and the exploding online auction markets in mainland China.

News from around the world on virtually any subject waits literally just a few keystrokes and a mouse-click away.

An incredibly useful feature offered by many of these sites includes email notification based on your keyword search criteria.

So instead of paying a "clipping" service to find articles and send them to you, these websites will do it free.

Now how could you use this type of news notification service?

Well, imagine you own stock in a specific company. You could subscribe to a number of different news services and have them send you breaking stories about the company, CEO, affiliated companies and anything else you choose.

Or, let's say you deal in a very specific industry, such as real estate investment publishing.

You could sign up to get notified any time a news story gets published about changing regulations, interest rates or other factors affecting your business.

All this online news certainly does not rate a substitute for morning coffee, local and national news, and an important ritual to start the day, but it has a place, especially for extremely specialized areas of interest, hobbies, or business news.

Watch for many new services, software, and opportunities to arise from this growing and dynamic area of online publishing.

10 Reasons Why Blogs Are Good For Physical Therapy Marketing

2008-03-11T02:10:00.000-07:00

Online blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject such as sports, news, music or a hobby. Most blogs online function more as personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on photos, audio podcasting, videos, or all combined together.

Many physical therapists who have private practices, physical therapy products, and continuing education courses can use blogs to keep in touch with their readers or create a community of readers interested in their subject matter. If you are a physical therapist who focuses on total knee rehab you can talk about total knee surgery and treatment. If your expertise is in rotator cuff injuries you can blog about rotator cuff injuries and treatments. By offering quality expertise in your field you gain trust among your readers and possibly a potential patient or walk-in.

Blogs are affordable compared to the cost of building a website. Most blogs are free or have a low monthly fee to maintain. The most common blog programs available are wordpress blogs or blogger. Both are easy to use and update. Blogs are also very search engine friendly so it will also assist in getting you found easier online.

Here are some things you can do with a blog:

· Post daily tips and information to your readers.

· Share your expertise and become the go to blog for useful posts about a specific topic.

· Search Engines like to spider Blogs because the content is always fresh and constantly being updated!

· There are a lot of directories catering to Blogs online. Some directories allow you to "Ping" them when you add new content to keep their directories updated.

· Have your visitors subscribe to your blog by leaving a subscribe button on your blog so that interested visitors can get notified when you post.

· Use Google adsense to get residual income from PPC targeted advertisers.

· Have your blog offer RSS feeds and Podcast feeds of your posts.

· Place links to important information from your website like the services you offer, continuing education courses that you offer, your physical therapy product information, and etc.

· The important social and interactive aspect of blogs is its ability for visitors to post comments on your post. Creating dialogue shows your reader you are a live person behind the blog.

· You do not need to be a programmer or coder to get a blog up and running. For the most part it is very user friendly and easy to start one up.

· You can customize the design and layout of most blogs to cater to the look and feel of your business brand.

If you haven't noticed blogs are here to remain in cyberspace. If you are a physical therapist with a private practice, a physical therapy product or an instructor for a continuing education course, you need to start planning on getting a blog running now. Any business looking to gain traffic and create a social presence in web 2.0 should have one.

How RSS Is Changing Online News

2008-03-10T02:22:00.000-07:00

Really Simple Syndication [RSS] still may not mean much to the average internet user but it is a technology that may very well revolutionize the internet as a news reading medium.

RSS is a recently developed technology that allows you to follow information from multiple online sources. These sources could be news web sites or blogs. All without having to look all over the web to find it. RSS is made possible and takes advantage of another recent online development, Extensible Markup Language (XML). This is a type of code for web content that can be handled easily by a wide range of operating systems and communications devices. This is important in that it is this ability "feed" new content directly to your desktop that makes RSS such a revolutionary new development.

In order to take advantage of RSS technology you only need reader. Fortunately as the use of RSS has continued to blossom dozens of free readers are being made available. By using an RSS reader you have access to a virtually unlimited number of information channels. Each time one of the sources you have setup is updated, the new information is pushed to your computer automatically as a clickable link that appears in your reader. By clicking the link you then access the entire original post or article.

Because of RSS technology many blogs that began as the musings of everyday people have quickly caught on and are now mediums through which people with like interests have the opportunity to share their ideas in a dedicated, spam-free stream of information. In the past year, blogs have exploded into the internet mainstream.

The current blog boom has come about largely because of the ease with which RSS feeds can be accessed. It's a situation in which the blogs came first, but the development of RSS technology has taken them to the next level.

The beauty of most blog applications is that they were built to generate XML which makes them automatically RSS-enabled, giving users an easy way to keep up with new posts. Because of this simple syndication process blogs are now quickly replacing automated eMail list servers as a way to communicate online.

Blogging Bliss: Bloggers & News Sites to Marry Web Content

2008-03-10T02:19:00.000-07:00

Web content for newspapers online has been limited to repeating what paid staff writes for the print editions of their papers or material coming from one or another of the wire services to which the parent organization subscribes.

We're all familiar with seeing Associated Press or Reuters stories running in our local paper and posted online at various news organizations. Imagine a news wire service for blogs which could syndicate your blog to appear on online news sites. A new service called BlogBurst has emerged to help bring blogging and news together on the web sites of major media.

http://www.blogburst.com/

Blogburst makes the writings of a select group of bloggers available to news organizations by aggregating the musings of selected blog writers into a feed made available to major papers. The news organizations can apparently choose from among the topic areas and bloggers offered via the BlogBurst feed.

Some bloggers have launched news commentary blogs with groups of bloggers commenting on news. There already exist several attempts to popularize what has become known as "Citizen Journalism" by such notable groups as "We the Media and Dan Gillmore's Bayosphere which seems to have been taken over by BackFence. Relevant links below:

http://wethemedia.oreilly.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism
http://www.bayosphere.com/blog/dan_gillmor/
http://sf.backfence.com/bayarea/index.cfm?mycomm=BA

What is often lacking for bloggers who provide commentary on the news is an audience. Those experiments mentioned above have been available on small sites, which are otherwise unknown to the world. Struggling to gain readers is the bane of blogging, since people can't read what they don't know exists.

Some well known bloggers have found their audience through writing compelling content and being discovered by major media when they break their own news stories. Others gain that audience through connections or through fame, but most bloggers toil away daily for the pure love of a topic while gathering small and loyal followings.

BlogBurst promises to make web content from the blogosphere discoverable by the media by limiting the availability and vetting the sources, so accuracy and truthfulness is maintained and the blog can be trusted. It's an interesting experiment and may be the route to bloggers earning a living from their blogs by gaining an audience they previously had little access to - major newspaper web site visitors.

Since unknown bloggers appear to need the media in order to spread the word (becoming well known in the process) and newspaper web sites appear to want blogs associated with their site, BlogBurst is filling that need. Since a lack of income is what haunts many bloggers hoping to earn from their commentary, BlogBurst will allow those bloggers to both reach an audience and capitalize on their own traffic via their own advertising, whether that is Google Adsense, Blogads, or some other agreement with individual advertisers.

News sites have launched blogs written by volunteers, some have offered staff journalists a blog, others have tried allowing "Comments" from readers. But volunteers appear unreliable, staffers have little incentive to blog without pay and comment sections are subject to abuse by comment spam. ZDNet is currently offering bloggers in popular technology topic areas and is apparently providing payment from advertising revenue generated by those blogs.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/

BlogBurst is taking an interesting approach by offering online news organizations filtered and verified news commentary from bloggers. Presumably, this content will be available directly on the news sites, such as the Washington Post, Gannet News sites, San Francisco Chronicle and Houston Chronicle news sites.

BlogBurst is reviewing proposed blogs currently and will announce the engagement in a live trial with major news sites in May. Will the love of blogs by major media result in a spring wedding? BlogBurst appears to be offering to serve as minister to a marriage made in heaven. Stay tuned, to see if this will be a long lasting marriage.

Monetizing Wordpress Blogs - Make Money From Wordpress Blogs

2008-02-26T03:49:00.001-08:00

There are just so many ways of making money from your wordpress blogs, it's impossible to name everything in detail so you'll be shown the overall ideas that most people do to monetize their wordpress blogs.

First thing that everyone can think of is Google AdSense. Simply by posting relevant topics within your blog & putting up AdSense ads, you can get paid when someone clicks on your AdSense ads.

Some people may not like doing AdSense or they find that AdSense didn't pay them too well, so they switched over to Auction Ads. Auction Ads display live auctions based on the keywords you add into the system. You get paid, each time someone bids on an auction item after clicking on your ad.

Affiliate marketing would be another popular way to make money from your blogs. It's simply selling some else's product for a commission. A truly win-win-win situation for merchant, affiliate & buyer.

Selling your products & services. Just treat your blog as an advertising platform & all the ads focus on selling your own products & services.

Selling text links. There are many webmasters willing to pay for traffic to their websites or blogs. All you have to do is allow them to put a link on your blog & they pay you monthly. If you want it to be totally hassle free, you can sign up through a text link ad network.

Selling advertising. This can be a very steady source of income if you can get sponsors who are interested in reaching your readers with their products & services.

These are the most direct ways to earn money from your blogs, so take your pick & choose the one that suits you & your industry the most.

Best Blog Sites to Make Money From Your Blog

2008-02-26T03:44:00.000-08:00

Do you love blogging and blog just for the fun of it?

Even though you might view blogging just as a hobby, wouldn't it be wonderful if you could earn some money too through your blog?

There are various ways you can earn money through your blog - like promoting affiliate programs, paid reviews, selling advertisements etc.

Here let us discuss how to make money from blog by selling advertisement space on your blog.

Placing advertisements on your blog or website in return for money can be a simple and free way to earn money online.

There are hundreds and thousands of blogs in the blogosphere, so how do you get advertisers to advertise on your blog?

This work can be eased by using advertising networks. By using advertising networks, you can have a nice time blogging and earning money.

Here is a list of advertising networks :

1. Adbrite: Offers a variety of advertising options to bloggers like text ads, banner ads, video ads, full page ads and also inline ads. You, the blogger, has the ability to accept or reject ads. How you are paid varies from advertiser to advertiser.

2. Expoactive: This ad network offers you with a lot of freedom right from choosing specific ads you want to display on your site, to the visual appearance of the ads. You are paid per click.

3. crispads: This ad network allows publishers to namer their own price. It allows smaller blogs to participate in larger sponsorships unlike many other networks.

4. Chitika: They also offer several advertising options to choose from. Some of their ad formats are - shoplincs, eminimalls, owna, linx etc.

The above listed ad networks can be a good source of revenue for bloggers. They are some of the best blog sites to make money. Earn free fast money online now by monetizing your blog with these advertising networks.

Blogging - A Free Way To Boost Your Visibility And Profits

2008-02-25T02:43:00.000-08:00

If you are not blogging yet, you are probably missing out on a free way to boost your product visibility and profits. It is one of the best online advertising methods as it allows a two-way communication between you and your readers.

Blogging is not particularly new and have taken its spot on the Internet for a while now. It is an outlet for Internet junkies to air out their views and become their own journalists as well. It can be very addictive too.

As blogging do not cost you a dime, it is one of the best free ways to market online. With no cost to set-up, you could be up and running with your own blog in less than five minutes.

How can blogging help you in your online business?

If you have changes and updates to your products or services, you can blog to your customers and future potential ones and if you have new releases of your product, you can announce that on your blog as well.

Not only will your current customers see it but other casual surfers looking for content on the same topic may just land on your blog and turn into a reader and perhaps a future customer.

A blog also acts as an online diary of sorts for your business. With archiving of your content on a monthly and yearly basis, your content will always be stored online and people looking for older content can still reach you.

You can also publish related news in the industry related to your business and state your opinions on other similar products or services and as you know, people love reading reviews. Honest reviews that is.

Besides selling your own products, you can also include other affiliate products or services on your blog. Imagine referring a competitor and still getting paid for it?

Blogging allows you to gather feedback from your readers by asking them to comment on posts on your blog and from there you can improvise your products or services to continue serving your customers better.

Some of the most popular free blogs include Blogger, Wordpress and Typepad but if you want that professional look, it is better to host your own blog.

Blogging and SEO - A Perfect Small Business Internet Marketer Match

2008-02-25T02:32:00.000-08:00

It has become pretty obvious that blogs have been become an important part of marketing for almost any type of online business. They are unmatched resources when it comes to connecting with customers and potential customers.

But, there is an additional benefit that shouldn't be over-looked: there impact on your Search Engine Optimization efforts. Blogging can greatly enhance any websites natural search results through regular postings, and natural keyword placement. There in fact is no stronger way to market ones website for free than by blogging with natural keywords.

Similar to article marketing, posting daily blogs with the keywords of your business included can have remarkable effects on the ranking of your site in any given search engine, and thus net you more traffic. One key to gaining more traffic from keywords is to use 'niche' keywords. These are keywords or keyword phrases that may be searched for less often, but that have less competition. This means you may be able to rank much higher for these keyword. An example: The keyword term "baseball" is certainly searched for often, but there are millions of websites optimized around this keyword. However a keyword phrase like "Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz news" would have fewer competitors. The longer keyword also increases the likelihood that your blog contains exactly what the visitor is looking for.

Getting picked up in search engines can lead to increase volumes of traffic heading to your site every day. There are top keyword placers that use blogs to retain huge amounts of daily traffic to their sites just by integrating a variety of niche keywords into their posts. The amazing thing about blogs is they are often picked up by the search engines almost as quickly as one posts to it, which makes it an even more powerful tool for SEO purposes. Our experience has been that blogs that take advantage of Google's Blogger or Wordpress are quickly indexed.

Another way blogging can help your site's search engine ranking is by the quality score. Most search engines, including Google rank sites with a quality score, the more unique, user provided content, the higher it appears the quality score becomes. If a website is just a sales page, and a few pictures, the quality score will most likely be low. But if a site has a blog on it, with fresh, daily posts, the quality score becomes much better, and thus the site gets ranked much higher when people are searching for your niche, or keyword terms.

If you haven't considered a blog for the pure marketing aspect of it, it's probably time you considered it from the SEO perspective. You've got nothing to loss but website visitors.

Make Money Blogging

2008-02-23T03:43:00.000-08:00

Are you someone who is outspoken, always has something to say, and wanting to let people know it? Then blogging is for you. One of the most effective and easiest ways to make money on the Internet is to blog.

It does not take much to get started. Today, almost everyone has a computer and access to the Internet. If you have that and a working brain, you're set. There are thousands of topics available, so you'll never get stuck as to what you should write. Examples are, how to make money online/from home, parenthood, health, computers, services, all sorts of products, and the list goes on. What you need to assure your readers of is the content. Write about stuff that is useful and worth the read. Someone can write up an article and have great grammar and spelling, but the content goes on about nothing, as opposed to someone who may not have perfect grammar, but still readable, and has information that is useful. Which one would you pay for? You want to please your audience; so rambling on about nonsense is not the way to go. Most importantly, be honest. Readers need to be able to count on your opinion.

As a producer, you want to know what people are looking for and what they want. Blogs are an excellent way to find out. Companies turn to real people with real opinions on their products and services in order to see if it is good for the market. So, as a consumer, you review what they have to offer and let others know what you think. Like they say, the best type of advertisement is by word of mouth. When people see what experiences you have gone through with a product or service, it allows them to make a decision for the better. Relying on another's honest opinion, is just as good as trying it out for your self. Opinions are very valuable, and companies will compensate you for it. Remember they need you.

Make yourself available to everything. That way you'll have a wider variety, which means more income. Also, set your rates at a reasonable price, especially if you're just starting out, there is a lot of competition out there. You'll either want to match or beat those fees. Eventually, when you've gained credibility, your services will be of more value. Obviously the more you write, the more money you make. You are able to make a living out of blogging, just remember that it takes time to build. Manage your time well, and don't overwhelm yourself. Take on what you can accommodate. The last things you need are a bunch of projects that are due and you are unable to make that deadline. This can become stressful for you, and leaves your clients unsatisfied.

Wake up in the morning, have your coffee, stay in your pyjamas, and turn on the computer. That'll be your routine when you blog for a living. Blogging doesn't make you a millionaire, but you can make some serious cash, which will leave you feeling like a million bucks! If this sounds like something you want to do, then stay in those pj's and let your brain do what it already does, think. Work at home and enjoy it. Blogging is fun and easy.

History And Basics of Blogging

2008-02-23T03:38:00.000-08:00

There are a number of companies who make use of PPC but to no avail. This is because they are not actually doing the whole process right. So how do you exactly settle the problem?

Here are 6 quick steps to make more profit with PPC publishing:

1. Identify your audience. This is basically the start of PPC publishing. They will help you determine what ads to make, what keywords to select, the size of the ads, and where to put them.

2. Update your website. You have to make sure that the contents in your website are always being fresh. Ensure that your Product Catalog page displays the latest items you are currently selling.

3. Be a minimalist. Images can be very attractive to the eyes, but too much of them can be considered an eyesore. Moreover, they can make delay the downloading time. Rather than using too many images or animation, focus on your texts and, most especially, your keywords.

4. Choose your language properly. It's not what you present but how you show it. The language that you use can greatly affect the impact of your ads. Therefore, select your words very carefully. Ensure that they allow your ads to shine and compel your target market to click on them.

5. Don't cheat. Stop clicking on your own ads. It doesn't help you nor your campaign. Remember, you pay for every click on your ads. PPC publishing may be difficult at first, but then again, sticking what is ethical is the best way to go for your business.

6. Select the right publisher for you. There are numerous PPC publishing companies in the World Wide Web offering different attractive packages. Choose one that fits your budget and your business. You also have to be wary of scammers.

RSS For Rookies

2008-02-21T02:43:00.000-08:00

What are RSS newsfeeds?

RSS stands for Rich Site Summary, or for Really Simple Syndication. Both mean the same thing, so don't let it confuse you. An RSS is something a website (or a blog) offers to readers provide a "news feed" of their information. It's available for everyone to add to their own "news reader" for free and gets displayed on your desktop or in your web browser.

It works almost like a stock ticker, delivering exactly the information that you have anonymously "subscribed" to, eliminating the need to go out and check your favorite outlets for new information, because they're already delivered to your computer.

Who needs RSS?

Well, everyone need it. It's so much more efficient than going to get it, or getting endless email newsletters. Having the paper delivered to your home makes more sense than driving to the store every day, doesn't it? In the same vein, let's say that you want only the latest news about only certain subjects, and routinely go out and check several websites to see what's new. Using RSS, those individual websites will deliver that news right to your desktop, suitable for reading, clicking, printing, or ignoring.

How can you use RSS?

There seems to be no single definitive answer, because there are so many ways to use it. I'll tell you about the easiest way to get RSS feeds that I know of, but by no means is that the only way. That is; on your homepage of your web browser.

First, you need an RSS newsreader, (a.k.a. "aggregator"). The good news though is that you may already have one. Since millions of people have Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail or Google accounts, I'll walk you through adding a news feed to your MSN home page. Go to http://www.my.msn.com and sign in. If you don't already have a hotmail account, go ahead and create one. If you'd prefer, you can go to http://my.yahoo.com and do the same) It only takes a minute go get a new account.

After signing in to My MSN, you'll see quite an array of news, weather, sports, ads, stock quotes, local information etc. Think of this as your canvas, and you're free to arrange or remove the information how you see fit. Each of these sections you see can me easily moved or deleted. To move them, just click and drag from the top right of each subject area. To remove them, click the minus (-) sign in the top left of the subject area. Feel free to delete them all, since you can always add them back later.

Now go to top left of the screen, right above the "Welcome" area you'll see "Add content" below your name. When you go there, you get four choices (Tabs) for adding content. The default tab that comes up is "Search". and from here you have four options and each is clearly defined. If you know the exact web address (URL) for a company's newsfeed, you can enter it right here. The other three tabs might be worth exploring too, since they let you browse by company names and subjects. Then you just click a box for all you want.

After signing in to My Yahoo, you'll notice that there are already several news feeds from Reuters listed there, with "Top stories", "world News", "Politics" and "Business". Above those stories, you'll see a big yellow box in the center explaining how you can "Add Content". Click the link to "add content" and you'll come up with a search box allowing you to "find content" about a given subject. Type in a search phrase, and you'll be presented with search results that all have an "Add" button next to them. Hit the "Add" button by the ones you want, and then hit the "Finished" button at the top right, and you're done. You just added that RSS news feed to your My Yahoo page. Scroll down at the My Yahoo main page, and you'll see those news headlines you added at the bottom of your list. To rearrange the order of your news feeds, just hit the small "edit" button at the top right of each news section. To remove a news feed, just hit the X like you would to close any window.

Customizing your own news feeds

Now suppose you don't need to "find" a news feed on a subject, because you already know you want to add a particular one. Well that's easy too. Al you have to do is identify what the "RSS feed URL" is for the information you want to add. Most blogs or news organizations show you these now on their websites.

Look for a small orange box on the website that says XML or the words "RSS Feed" or "News feed" and click on it. In the case of large organizations, like CNN for example, you'll be taken to a page with a nice set of instructions, and a whole list of RSS news feed URL's that you can manually copy and paste into your news reader.

Sometimes though, you'll be taken to a page that looks like gibberish code. Don't let that scare you like it did me the first time I saw it! When that happens, you are actually looking right at the feed itself, and all you have to do is copy and paste what's in the address bar of your web browser, right into your news reader. That's called "knowing the specific URL of the feed" on MSN, and ""Add RSS by URL" in Yahoo.

In My Yahoo, to manually add a news feed, go to the "add content" area, and choose the link to the right of the Find button that says "Add RSS by URL". Once you paste your URL in that window and hit "add" the news headlines should show up there. If they don't, then you may have copied the URL wrong, or added a space at the end. Then just hit the "Add to My Yahoo" button and you're done! In MSN, you'll paste the URL of the news feed right into the search box, then check the box when it shows the result.

Delivering exactly what you want and only when you want is how the internet is supposed to work. Things are only getting better.

In researching this article, I notice that My Yahoo seems to be having problems adding certain manual URL's. Oh well. Nothings perfect.

Why Online Media Need Bloggers

2008-02-21T02:41:00.000-08:00

In recent years Bloggers have become an important source and tool to both online and off-line media publications. Many bloggers publish new posts on their blogs daily, and the time it takes from something happening in the world, to a blogger publishing their post on their blog is a matter of hours. With media receiving reports on particular new stories current established bloggers, all content writer need to understand that blogging and mainstream media are developing into firm partners for future reports on news stories.

When news sites and newspapers are interested in news releases from large corporations, such as online Google or Yahoo, then they are more likely to visit the respective company's online blog to see what is happening towards certain product or software releases. RSS feeds have become in recent years a useful tool for being informed about a topic or area that a blog is writing about quickly and continuously - it has been a tool for many traditional newspapers and news channels to utilise and get information on what is currently developing or happening at large online companies.

If you are wanting to get information on a certain company, the main task nowadays would be to take a look at their website, and whilst you are there take a quick look at the company's online blog. Many people subscribe to a company's online blog's RSS feed, as they can stay updated with announcements, product launches and financial information about the actual company they are interested in. By using RSS, bloggers have become aware of how fast information can be identified and the processed at a high speed - just from hearing about the information first. After a blog post is published onto a company's blog site, it is only a matter of a few hours before an a-list, or popular blogger has read the story and has written a post on their blog about what they have just read - generally they will link to the story and the readers of their blog and other search engine visitors will read the source where the blogger received their information.

With bloggers becoming fast acting on recent news being produced, the blogosphere has become a leading source for breaking news on a wide range of topics, and are publishing stories more than five times faster than any newspaper or news channel.

Some critics do refuse to accept that blogs are coming into the light of main stream media and becoming a key content media in the twenty first century, but many large corporations, including Forbes and many other legal organisations have identified that their company blogs do produce any news story faster than more traditional news media methods that so many people use.

Blogs have recently become huge sources for many people throughout the world to become informed about new and interesting topics, as well as learn about breaking news that is happening on the other side of the world - this can be a matter of hours since the first event occurred instead of the usual 6-12 hours that normal media take to report on a new story. This brings people to talk openly about news stories and establishes media blogging communities.

The question of why blogs are increasingly becoming common in social media has answers that readers are able to, and are increasingly surprised/happy that they are able to interact with the writer and editor (owner) of the article or blog post. Waiting until you read a news story in the paper is quickly becoming a factor of the past, and people are becoming impatient, waiting for the news to appear in their front doorstep the morning after.

Social media and blogging is fast overtaking the traditional world of off-line and online media, and will eventually come to the level that traditional media representation has, like news channels and printed newspapers.

Breakthrough Blogging Secrets That Will Explode Your Income

2008-02-20T02:34:00.000-08:00

If you are a newbie then you should seriously consider blogging as this is one of the easiest ways that you can start an internet business. Using software like Blogger and Wordpress you will easily be able to build a website.

However, you may want to consider getting a professional to design your theme. Wordpress is more complicated than Blogger so you may also want to get a web host that installs this automatically for you or get a professional to install the software. Under no circumstances should you make the mistake of using a hosted Blogger or Wordpress blog. I know for a fact that Wordpress have been suspending or closing many of the affiliate blogs. Similarly if you violate any of Blogger's terms of service you will lose your domain name.

Usually once you have chosen a niche market the biggest problem with a blog is driving enough traffic to your website to earn money from it. You can easily start driving traffic by using the steps that I have outlined here. Make frequent contributions on forums. You will leave a link to your blog in your signature. If somebody likes what you have written they will click through to your website.

Submit your posts to carnivals and also web 2 sites like Digg. You can also use a service like Onlywire to submit it to all the popular social bookmarking sites. Write articles and submit them to all the major article directories and include a link to your site in your resource box.

Finally, make sure that you have a subscription box on your site so that you can capture email addresses and follow up with your targeted prospects.

On Blogging for Search Engine Marketing

2008-02-20T02:29:00.000-08:00

Web 2.0 has had many success stories as the integration between web content and user interaction becomes evermore seamless. One of the most prominent and fast-growing of these new web technologies however, is blogging - a means whereby users can post articles and opinions on a topic of their choosing on their own personal web space. This results in an online community where all users of the site can contribute to the discussion by posting comments, and more significantly, hyperlinks. As a Search Engine Optimization strategy, this can be an effective means of communicating not only the existence, but the importance of your website in the industry, especially if comments and blog posts speak favorably of your site. The main factor is that blogs can reach a lot of potential users if they're implemented and promoted correctly.

Say for example, there's a situation whereby every time you had an idea to share, 5,000 people who trust your opinions see it in your blog. Most of those 5,000 people may also write blogs in your field or related fields. Some of those bloggers may often mention your site on their blogs, and they themselves could have thousands of subscribers. Within a short space of time your blog could have the attention of hundreds or even thousands of web users and customers. Search engines follow people's posting activity, so if many users link to your blog, it will also boost the search engine ranking for other parts of your site.

It is important however that your blog postings avoid what is dubbed 'commodity status', which are short posts about somebody else's work, and simply posting for the sake of generating optimized keywords. Posts must maintain quality, originality, depth and have its content driven by the user's expertise in order to acquire popularity amongst web communities. I have studied in-depth, the work of usability expert Jakob Nielsen, and I have found an interesting article of his; Write Articles, Not Blog Postings, which encapsulates this matter perfectly. He asserts that leadership (or prevalence of the poster's expertise) in blog postings, blog-post variability and regularity are of high priority in gaining trust and recognition. What Nielsen wants to do is to encourage you to personalize your posts, by giving your own opinions and judgments on your subjects to provoke interest and even raise debate - that way you'll generate more readers.

He also points out however, that if provoking content isn't the main purpose of your site, and you simply want to communicate simple answers to your user's questions then "you should comply with the bulk of content usability guidelines: be as brief as you can; use bulleted lists and highlighted keywords; chunk the material; and use descriptive headings, subheads, and hyperlinks." These guidelines all fall nicely into the standard Search Engine Optimization requirements. It seem that it is therefore essential that blog postings for SEO manage to achieve a good balance where expertise and content usability can work together to bring the right users to your site.

One of the principal objectives of Web 2.0 and web logging is to turn the Internet into more of a community that just an information resource, and by using the blogging system in the most effective way for your website, you can take major advantage of this process. This doesn't just mean writing articles on your chosen topic and leaving it there, but it means interacting with the wider web community. Quoting and linking to other popular bloggers on your blog, leaving useful comments on other related blogs, writing articles for other blogs and actively soliciting & replying to comments can really push users towards your blog. It is about generating activity in your posts and interactions with other bloggers. Now with RSS feeds also enhancing the likeliness of your articles being noticed and linked to, it will only improve your website's probability of being picked up by Search Engines, making blog posting a valuable resource for optimization.

Amateur Blogs and Blogging for Profit

2008-02-19T01:41:00.001-08:00

Most bloggers use amateur blogs as opposed to professionals, though I am not sure what a 'professional' blog is. If you are blogging for profit, whether as an amateur or professional, then you are best advised to run your blog from your own website. This involves downloading the blogging software to your web space.

This however is a personal opinion, and many people prefer the simplicity of operating their blog from a blog host such as Blogger, run from Blogspot, or Wordpress from Wordpress.com. There is little to do other than to register and make your posts. The only negative is a lack of individuality and formatting of the look of the blog and the tools that you can use on it.

The majority of people who use the internet for fun, as opposed to business, believe that they have few opportunities to make money from their blog. Their blog is to communicate with others, and to express their views online in a way that was not possible prior to around the turn of the millennium. Sure, blogs were in existence before then, but mainly in specialized applications, and it was sometime between 1998 and 2001 that blogging changed from personal diaries of internet 'experts' to what we now regard blogging as being.

However, anyone who has a blog (reminds me of a Cilla Black song) can use it to make money, or if that is against your ethos of using the internet for fun, then to 'cover your expenses' as our councillors, governors and other governmental individuals like to express it! As they do, you can cover your expenses very, very well if you utilize the monetization possibilities of blogs as they can be used.

To repeat, in order to do so to the maximum of your ability, you must run your blog from your own web host. Most amateur blogs are created using Blogger from the Blogspot site or Wordpress from Wordpress.com, but if you can run your blog from your own website, then you have a lot more flexibility in the content of your blog than otherwise.

In fact you get many more benefits other than the possibility of profit by uploading blogging software to your web space (I am now going to use the term 'website' for web space since that is more familiar to most people, though the terms mean different things). If your blogging software is to your own website rather than that that of a blog provider such as Blogger or Wordpress, you have a lot more flexibility in how you want to format your blog, and in the features contained within it.

Let's look at what you get if you upload Wordpress, for example, to your own website. In order to do so you must have control over a MySQL database, that most good web hosts provide, and know how to use an ftp program. Otherwise it is plain sailing to upload the software. What you get is the ability to edit the CSS and HTML that determine the content and appearance of your blog posts, your sidebars, headers and footers. An immediate obvious benefit of this is the ability to add Adsense blocks that bring income to your blog.

Another is the possibility of adding links to any affiliate products you are promoting, and in fact links to anything you want your visitors to link to. These could include your websites or other blogs, in addition to adverts of various kinds. You can offer these in permanent pages, at the start or end of each individual post, or even within posts, though the most effective adverts and Adsense blocks are those included in the sidebars and footers of each post.

Another significant benefit that many bloggers find they get by downloading the software is that they can upload any of thousands of page templates for their blog that are totally editable. You can use Photoshop or a clone to edit the graphics, mainly the header, to customize it exactly for you, and can also edit the entire html to render the template unique to you. That is not possible with a blog hosted by the blog provider.

You can add any of thousands of widgets to your blog, another facility not open to you if you run a provider hosted blog. These widgets range from automatic SEO, thru auto XML site-map generation to blog pinging and literally any feature you could wish for. It is the ideal medium to advertise your product or service, and make money while you sleep or when you are on vacation. Imagine waking up in the morning, checking your bank balance, and finding a lot more there than when you went to bed!

That is blogging for profit, and it is not difficult. Amateur blogs can be used for profit as well as the professional blogs. There is no distinction if you are hosting your own blog. You can make money 24/7 while you sleep, and your widgets can also include an opt-in form that builds up your email list from those that are interested in your product or niche, but not quite ready to purchase. Keep in touch with them while you sell to others.

Blogging - I'd Like To Teach The World To Blog

2008-02-19T01:37:00.000-08:00

There's been a bit of controversy over under-age bloggers this past year, particularly focused on Philippines youngster Carl (The Kid Blogger) Ocab. Let me get my bias out right from the beginning - I'm all for kids starting blogs and trying to make money from them.

Blogging is a very accessible way for kids to get experience online, learning as they earn (or don't!) with real, immediate feedback about what makes good content, and what drives traffic, and how to build relationships. The "real world" of adults will judge them purely on their results - a consideration that's actually hard for kids to get in the physical world. The verdict of the blogosphere might be harsh, but it will be accurate feedback in exactly the way that school reports aren't.

We get the kids in our Cash-Smart Kids program into some form of online activity from their first month, and blogging is a vital promotional skill, even if your core business is selling pink meringue elephants.

I was tickled pink when I Googled "Carl Ocab" the other day and found a gorgeous guerrilla marketing blog post from a 10-year-old blogger was in the first page of results (monkeylime3tc.wordpress.com/carl-ocab/). Way to generate traffic! Leveraging off someone else's controversial blog. Full marks to James Brennan. (Although he will probably have to up the ante on quality content to retain any of that traffic!)

I'm going to swing out and make a prediction (you heard it here first!).

More and more kids are going to start taking blogging seriously as a money-making activity.

This will impact YOU. How?

1. More traffic for everyone

As these kids cruise around looking for ideas to copy, affiliate links, and freebies, they will boost everyone's traffic numbers - but will they distort the demographic of the visitors who currently click on your PPC and affiliate ads?

2. Growing centres of gravity in the kid blogosphere

Let's face it - kids have more surfing time than most adults. If Ashley Qualls (age 17, making $70,000+ per month from her site) can pull the traffic numbers she pulls for her WhateverLife site giving away My Space layouts, then there are many, many blogging niches which could pull way more numbers than yet another blog about "How To Make Money From Blogging". But who is best placed to be creating the compelling content for those niches?

3. What happens when you have four million kid bloggers all having flame wars in their posts .... and linking to one another?

Sure, none of us may be interested, but the teen and tween demographics are utterly immersed in "who said what about whom" for their every waking moment - blogging is just another medium for that. And with all that traffic and all those links, the serious adult blogs are potentially going to drift downward in the "Top X" lists.

So, what can you do to protect your ranking and revenues?

Only slightly tongue-in-cheek here - get a kid.

Seriously, if a kid has a huge readership, and you're quoted in every third post as their mentor ... ka ching!

Or, use a popular kid as a guest blogger, or start a parallel blog in the kidosphere and have a panel of kids you consult about whether your posts are "lame" in their eyes ... or blog about how awful some of these kid bloggers are and then leap to the defence of others (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em).

No matter how you respond to the challenge, kids are here to stay - and I say, let's celebrate the great leveller that is the Internet, where a 12-year-old can write or speak and have their ideas taken seriously on their merits. We have long underestimated our kids, but the likes of Ben Casnocha, Ashley Qualls, and the legions of less high-profile under-18 internet entrepreneurs like Carl Ocab and David Wilkinson are proving that teens can do anything an adult can do.

Blog Marketing - Introduction

2008-02-18T01:10:00.000-08:00

"What is blogging?" This has become a common question lately, in large part because of all the press that business blogs as well as corporate blogs are getting.

So what is blogging, and how does it get started? What purpose does blogging serve to us mortals? Before we can answer these questions about blogging, let's start with a quick definition of "blog."

WHAT IS A BLOG?

A Blog is short for Web Log which basically means an online journal. They can be set up at minimal cost, and can be used for a versatile range of things.

WHAT IS BLOGGING?

Now we know what a blog is, we can answer the question, "What is blogging?" As you might have imagined, blogging is simply the act of using a blog. Specifically, the term blogging refers to the act of publishing content via a blog on a regular basis so that others may read it.

What kind of content, you may ask? Well, that depends mainly on the subject matter of the blog itself. These days, there are blogs based on all kinds of subjects. Business blogs, political blogs, educational blogs, religious blogs, personal blogs ... you name it. If there's a topic embraced by more than one person, there's probably somebody blogging about it.

USAGE:

The following are just a few ways blogs can be used:

1) Updates

Keep customers/clients up to date on changes to your website and also for new service announcement and new related websites.

2) Reviews

You can present opinions, advice and personal references on specific products or services related to your field.

3) Personal and Business related application

Blogs are a great way to keep track of your objectives and plans.

4) Stress Reliever

Give proper time to plan your vents, gripes, thoughts. Some also come across general writing as beneficial.

5) Search Engine Optimization

Search Engines adore fresh text and content. You can also include links to your website which are identical to backward links which in turn equals high ranking.

6) Business strategy Yes, you can even accumulate money with your blog by providing readers with quality resources and a few affiliate links.

Blogging and Site Development

2008-02-18T01:07:00.000-08:00

Before you begin to blog, it is a good idea to go look at some blogs that are out there in your area of expertise. Look at them with a critical eye and decide:

1. What do you like about the lay-out and design of the blog?
2. What would you do differently?
3. What makes their blog appeal to you?
4. What is it they have that makes you say, "Yuck!"
5. How do they present their information, ideas, etc?

Once you have a firm idea in your mind about what you dislike, form an opinion about what might work for you and your blog. Take into consideration what you will write about and what are the goals for your blog.

You will have to determine the size, structure and culture of your blog. All good blogs have a purpose...even if it is to discuss Aunt Marge's Apple Pie. So, carefully determine the focused purpose of your blog, what will be your passion that you will be able to write about over the long haul.

• What will your blog accomplish?
• What results are you looking to get?
• Who is your audience?

Start by identifying your specific audience and the community of readers you want to appeal to and pull into your web log.

How will you determine your audience? What are their goals? What do they need to know? Figure out your target market and do a little research. Find how they like to read, what format, and then generate material that will engage them.

If you start with your audience in mind and write about topics they are interested in and use a layout that engages them, you can't help but hook them. Popularity is not a requirement for blogging successfully. Focused, pertinent content that is written with a specific audience in mind attracts readers.

History And Basics of Blogging

2008-02-14T01:09:00.000-08:00

As christened by Jorn Barger with its name in December 1997, Web Logs, originally were link-driven, opinion sites. At the beginning of the year 1999, a Web Log was published by Cameron Barret on Camworld. It composed of a list accumulated by Jesse James Garrett, Infosoft editor, of web pages resembling the theme of his own site. From then on, communities of readers were gathered and almost everybody wanted a ride at the bandwagon.

Blog is a condensed term for Web Logs. This refers to web sites that have a regular maintenance of information that are chronologically arranged. Most started out personal online diaries and soon evolved into money making tools providing commentary on a specific niche or a whole range of topics.

Typically, blogs are textual with links to other sites or blogs, but as time with its technological advancements grow, the materials contained have included images, videos, audios and other media related to the subject at hand.

In general, blogs have these page elements in common, these are:

• The main area that contains regularly updated content or articles arranged in sequence, newest on top.

• A comment field, where viewers or readers can leave messages. Commenting can be set at a limitation to avoid spamming. The blogger may choose to have anyone comment, or only a group/groups of people to have access to this feature.

• An archive of older articles is often organized into timeframes or is clustered into various categories.

• A blogroll or a list of links to related blog sites. This is common but not necessary. This element may be considered more of a socializing tool than that boosting SEO as, realistically, it does not result to a very large amount of traffic, unless the sites included in the roll are popular.

• One or more of the following: RDF files, Atom, or RSS. To boost page rank, these files are primarily submitted to feed burner and pinging sites that enhances your blog's chances to getting crawled by spiders or search engine robots.

Video Blogging Is Attracting More Readers

2008-02-14T01:08:00.000-08:00

Video blogging is better than text written blog. It is easier to express through picture or video rather than just audio and text.

But video blogging needs more resources and infrastructure. You need a larger disc space, faster server and new whole program to support it. But it is really worth it.

Imagine if you want to promote your company's products, you can actually put up your catalogue or photographs of your range of products on your blog online. Your prospects can have the chance to understand your product more easily by looking at the photograph rather than your lengthy explanation. A picture worth a thousand word.

People like to be able to see by their eyes on the products they are going to buy. If they are able to look at the pictures, they don't need to use their imagination to paint out the products. You can create your videoblog right at your footstep. You just need to have a web camera, microphone, video software and lights.

Invest in a good camera with high resolution and output. Capture the picture and go online. Lights are very crucial in creating videoblog. It must be bright enough to shine on the area of the viewing. The image will be sharp and crispy enough.

You have to choose a video editing software to do your video blogging. You can add sounds and picture as you like and delete whatever you do not want. Some of the programs are user friendly and can be use without any professional knowledge. One of the easy one is camtasia. Select your background properly, make sure the colour theme is align with your whole presentation.

The more creative you are in creating or presenting your blog, the easier and faster you will succeed. Videoblog is very effective to grab the attention of the web surfers and due to its dynamic content, they are more easily get excited.

But of course there are also negative side of it as i told you before. Beside using a larger disc space and faster server, it also takes more time to process and upload a video file than it does on a text file. It means it takes more work to run and update a video blog. If the loading times is very slow, web surfers may get frustrated and give up on your blog.

How To Build A Blog

2008-02-13T01:38:00.000-08:00

A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary or guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.

Blogging used to be the province of the technically inclined but it's getting a lot easier.

The most popular blogging service that almost anyone can use is Blogger.com

First, go to Blogger.com, then click on the orange arrow that says "Create your blog now". Then you want to enter your user name and password, along with the name of your blog and your email address. After that, click continue.

Next, enter a title for your blog such as "My First Blog" and a blog address. The address will be part of the web address for your blog. For example, if you type "MyFirstBlog" your blog address would be MyFirstBlog.blogspot.com. That's the address you'll give to anyone who wants to visit your blog.

Then, you will be asked to choose which template you want to use for your blog, which will determine the basic look and feel of your blog. Whatever you select, you can easily change it later without losing any content.

Tada.. Then, you can start posting to your blog. If you can use the keyboard and mouse, you will have no problem at all to start posting. It's very easy to write your post in the blog.

Make Money Blogging - Choosing The Right Platform

2008-02-13T01:37:00.000-08:00

Blogging for profits usually involve a blogging tool or platform. Blogger and Wordpress are two of the most popular ones. This article focus on using the former and why I do not think it is an ideal tool to use if you plan to make money blogging for the long term.

No doubt Blogger.com is a popular blogging platform which attracts thousands of people who want to start making blogs and post them on the net. However, for business savvy people, blogger may prove to be a liability instead of a tool for making money. For one, if you apply for a blogger account and use it to post affiliate links, sometimes blogger will detect these links as malicious, spam, or porn links and will automatically shut down your account. Blogger also posts your blogs to certain blog directories such as Blogspot, where you cannot sell your blog or receive any earnings easily.

Google bought Blogger.com in 2003 in an anticipation of the rush of bloggers and blog posts and creation of new content. As such, Google created a different search tool called blog search. This search tool screens all blogs to its search domain, leaving other non-blog sites to be picked up by the normal Google search. In short, this means that you cannot create good back links and have a high ranking for your blogs in Google. Ultimately, blogger is not a reliable tool for search engine optimization.

Aside from these, blogger has limited plug-ins, themes, and add-ons compared to the likes of Wordpress. These perks improve your blogging experience and sometimes come in handy when posting blogs depending on your preference. Blogger may be free, but there are cases where Wordpress seems to surpass Blogger.com when you really want to earn money. Most blogging veterans do not recommend Blogger.com if earning money is the concern and would rather endorse Wordpress.

Another concern most bloggers have is the lack of control or rather the ownership of the blog. Since it is hosted on Blogger.com, you are basically building someone else's website by adding unique content regularly. Yes, Blogger does allow you to redirect a domain to your blog but still you don't own it.

That's why Wordpress is much preferred because you can host it on your own server and as you build it up and attract more targeted traffic, your earnings potential will soar accordingly.

What is Blogging? Videos Reveal How to Use Blogs to Make Bundles of Cold, Hard Cash!

2008-02-12T00:06:00.001-08:00

Everyone who blogs, or everyone who is seriously considering blogging, has a very different reason for doing so. Before you dive in head first into blogging, you should first determine what blogging means to you. Once you have a personal definition for blogging, one which fits your situation and circumstances, you are better able to determine what you intend to accomplish as a blogger, and which market to target. Having crystallized your goal in this manner, you'll be better prepared to accomplish it; hint, you'll know where you are headed.

Here are some common reasons why people start blogging, see whether any one of these describes you:

1. There are those who blog for the heck of it or, Just For Fun

If this defines you, it may well be that you have an unsatisfied need to express that personal side of you which sets you apart from the rest of us. You may be bursting at the seams to tell the world about your adorable Shih Tzu puppy, the one who makes your life more about sharing and loving, instead of about conflict. Needless to say, the puppy mentioned above can be substituted for with any one else who makes your life more fulfilling, and who makes you able to express love to the world around you.

2. There are those who Blog For Money

Such a goal in neither far fetched, nor ridiculous. There are many, so called, pro bloggers raking in $20,000 a month, or more. So, such a goal is possible and justifiable, if you define blogging in terms of profits. By reading the next two sections, you'll get a glimpse at a few methods used by some bloggers in order to profit from them handsomely.

3, There are those who blog to Attain Expert Status

You may be fortunate enough to have a good deal of specialized knowledge in a particular field that is, also, popular online. Some of these include, pet grooming and training, making wine, ethnic cooking, car repair, or pc repair and maintenance. By deciding to use your blog in order to share your expertise with the world in your field of specialization, you can attain the status of an expert in that field, and build a devoted following online, otherwise known as a mailing list or, my term, a 'goose egg'.

You can then leverage this expert status into a profit generating home business simply by emailing your list with affiliate products which are appropriate and pertinent to their needs.

4. There are those who blog For Networking

It may well be that, your interest in blogging is based on being able to persuade others to assist you in your business ventures, this assistance being either financial, as from investors, or purely technical.

With this goal in mind, your blog can become the platform that catapults mere business ideas and concepts into a viable, profitable business entity. Your words can be the funnel that brings in the needed capital to take you from dream to reality, or they can help you drum up new customers and business, also with the same effect.

We've covered the most common, but not the only, reasons why people blog. There are probably as many different reasons for blogging as there are folks blogging. But, it's likely your own reason for blogging falls somewhere within these parameters we have discussed. As you can see, there's no hard and fast definition of what is blogging.

In the end, you'll have to define blogging for yourself.

If you're ready to go from 'wannabe blogger' to 'pro blogger', but think the road ahead is full of pitfalls, don't worry. It's not as hard as you think. Get started right by visiting the video website I've put together for you.

How Blogging Gives Small Businesses The Competitive Edge

2008-02-12T00:03:00.000-08:00

Blogging produced a revolution in the business of online marketing. While blogging is a great Web 2.0 marketing tool for any business, it has become, especially for new, shoestring budget start-ups, a vital means to getting website traffic.

The following are ways blogging has helped level the playing field between well established, corporate giants and small businesses just starting out.

Setting up a Blog is Fast, Free & Easy

There was a time when setting up a business online wasn't free. Many businesses were at the mercy of the technologically savvy - the "gurus" who knew design. Then the concept of "free" became synonymous with blogging. Now, it's incomprehensible to think otherwise.

For startup businesses, blogs provide a great alternative to quickly and affordably setting up an online presence. There's no technical knowledge required other than basic internet skills.

With so many blog building tools and software freely available, creating a blog is faster and easier than setting up a web site. There's no need to send yourself, or staff, to expensive training programs or seminars. Once you've decided which software and tools you'd like to use, it will usually take less than ten minutes to beup and running.

Maintaining a Blog is Fast, Free & Easy

Content is good but unique content is the key to your success. Carefully crafting timely and relevant information potential customers can identify with is essential.

If you're passionate about your business, you shouldn't have trouble creating the content your blog needs to keep rolling. On the other hand, the excitement of launching a blog can give way to dread as a small business owner realizes that a blog, by nature, isn't static.

Planning ahead with an editorial outline will greatly reduce the stress of trying to figure out what content to post next. It doesn't take a lot of content to be successful. It just takes consistent effort.

Marketing a Blog is Fast, Free & Easy

If done correctly, publishing your ideas, articles, sales pitches and assorted web page links on your blog can be just as effective as advertising anywhere else online only without the excessive costs. A blog is real time, which means you can communicate with your customers and your customers can communicate with you 24/7.

The upside to blogs is that they're fast, easy, and free. The downside to blogs is that...they're fast, easy and free. Blogging removes the technological barriers to small businesses. But, it also requires a small business to focus on content.

Blogging Tips - Blogging Is Not Always About Writing

2008-02-11T02:32:00.001-08:00

I frequently come across blogging tips on writing as if writing a post is all that matters in a blog. While writing is an important element of blogging, there's more to Blogging than writing.

One of my mistakes when I was new to blogging was to spend so much time writing my next post. I was worried that if my next post wasn't interesting enough or wasn't well written enough that somehow it might alienate my blog readers.

When writing my post, a usual problem that keeps recurring is the lack or absence of an idea for me to work with. To solve this problem, I resort to 'Blog Scanning' hopeful that I'll be able to pick a topic or get ideas from other blogs. This method wasn't always effective and helpful. In fact, the posts I wrote resulting from blog scanning were mediocre.

As an ardent and fervent believer that "Quality Content is King", I started to worry that my blog will soon die out if I don't come up with good contents to offer my blog readers. I found out a simple solution to this problem as I continue blogging... TO READ SOME MORE!

The Benefits of Reading

Since blogging thrives from valuable information, a blogger must first be well informed to be able to write informative posts. Hence, the need to read arises. Here are some of the benefits of reading according to research.

* Read better, write better and concentrate better.

* See subtleties quicker.

* Easier time processing new information.

* Better chance for a successful, fulfilling adult life.

* Have many interests and do well in a wide variety of subjects.

* Develop an ability to understand how other people think and feel.

* Acquire the ability to sift information and to understand how unrelated facts can fit into a whole.

* Tend to be more flexible in their thinking and more open to new ideas.

* Weather personal problems better without their schoolwork being affected.

There's no doubt. READING, makes bloggers better in blogging.

Useful Reading Tips

Here are some useful reading tips that has helped me make use of my time efficiently.

* Subscribe to Feeds of other blogs. Don't just subscribe to their feeds, make sure that you'll read them and that you're interested of their topics.

* Read a wide variety of blogs. Don't just limit yourself to blogs about SEO, try to check out blogs on technology, world news, etc. This will broaden your knowledge and will give you more ideas for your blog.

* Avoid "Blog Scanning". Read.

* Don't overwhelm yourself with reading assignments. Take one article at a time. And don't be in a hurry to finish them, make sure you're learning something.

* Take a rest after reading an article.

* Reading materials are not only available online. Read newspaper and magazines.

* Sometimes, it's better to print an article from the net than read it online. This is convenient when you want to change your reading environment.

* Make reading a habbit. Make it the first thing you do before you write your post for the day.

* Bookmark blogs you've found useful for an easier access next time.

At the moment, I find myself reading and networking for most of the times I spent online. While I still spend time to write my post, it wasn't like before. I have long underrated the power of reading and it won't happen again.

7 Pitfalls to Avoid When Blogging for Cash!

2008-02-11T02:30:00.000-08:00

While many blogs exist,it is sad to know that not all are successful.Some are total failures.

So what is it that makes a blog fail? Several things do but here are 7.

1) Not having a goal for blogging.Before you start a blog,ask yourself,what do I want to achieve with this blog? I believe answering that question objectively will assist you stay on focus.

2)Content isn't updated regularly.With a blog, you need to post at least once a week to keep the search engines interested and sending you traffic.I make posts almost on a daily basis and if you must succeed as a blogger,you need to update your blog frequently.

3) The content isn't targeted. If your content isn't targeted and is too broad, no one will read your content; stay on your blog or return. Focus on the focus of your blog and I tell you, you will make good money sooner than you can ever imagine.I see people make this mistake often.Posting articles on internet marketing on a mother care blog.Please avoid this if you want to suceed as a blogger.

4)Another mistake is to write about a topic you don't care about just for money. You have to be able to sustain your own interest over the long term, or blogging about the topic will be too much of a chore to keep up.

5)Giving up too easily and too early. Our expectations of instant gratification in the internet age make us impatient for results. Sure there are bloggers who get instant success, getting 2,000 readers a day within 2 weeks of launching a blog. But that kind of success is the exception, not the norm. A successful blogger said that blogging is not a sprint but a long distance marathon. The ones with consistency and perserverance will triumph ultimately simply because the others have given up too soon.

6)Expecting people to visit
Most of us make this mistake when we begin blogging.When I first started out I had no idea how to attract new readers, commenters, interaction etc. I had the impression that if I published new content I'd automatically find readers in my niche.

How wrong I was.Successful blogging involves time, effort, and reaching out to fellow bloggers / publishers / authors (whatever you prefer).

7)Underestimating the time commitment.Blogging is not for lazy people,it is for people who are serious about making a living online,so,don't underestimate the time commitment.It requires time to research your articles,write them and publish them.

Blogging Made Easy For You

2008-02-08T01:28:00.000-08:00

Free blogs are all the rage these days, but how do you keep up to date with your postings?

Hopefully these few words of advice will encourage you to keep posting new content to your blog.

The easiest way to keep your blog up to date is to post every day. Yes this may sound like a chore but it is quick and easy. If you don't know what to write then just surf the net and write about any thing that interested you while you surfed.

The importance of keeping your blog updated cannot be stressed enough. The search engines love sites with fresh content and if you allow your blog to stagnate then it will soon be at the bottom of the Google pile.

Another way to seek inspiration is to read other peoples blogs. These can be a valuable resource for ideas and you may come across one with the same subject matter as yours. Eventually people will visit your blog and contact you regarding articles and even offer to exchange links with you (you have a link to thier blog and they link to yours).

Other content for your blog can be gleaned from rewriting private label articles. This is a method a lot of people use when they are stuck for ideas.

Blogging can be fun and if used correctly they can also be profitable. Lets say a freelance photographer had a blog, they could showcase some of thier work, provide contact details, provide sales of photographs.

As you can see blogging does take daily work, but this work can be done in a few minutes.

Blogging For Newbies

2008-02-08T01:27:00.000-08:00

A blog is an online journal which you can publish your thought, ideas, opinions, feeling, photos, special events, experiences, comments on current issues and anything you want people to read. You can insert link, video or audio into your blog page.

If you use video in your blog, it is called video blogging. If you use spoken voice, it is called audio blogging.

Blogging normally contains some of the important parts including

a) Title - this is where you put down your headlines of your article
b) Body - this is where you write out the actual content of the article
c) Comments - this section is for your reader to post their comments about your articles on the blog, this can create a platform for you to share with the reader to discuss and talk about the topic. It helps to build a personal relationship for a long term. For business blog, this section can allows customer to provide feedback on companies activities. It also promote loyalty and trust.
d) Backlink -you can have other website to link to your blog especially if your blog is very popular. You can have thousands of link back to your blog on the online community.
e) Categories - each of the blog are categorize into specific subject matter such as business, real estate, travel and etc. This make the searching process easier.
f) Tag - helps in classification especially using search engine Technorati. Prospects can locate blog of certain topics by just clicking the tag.
g) RSS feed - it is the feed from your blog that is sent out over the internet, and collected through the various newsreaders.

But there is actually no specific rules about blogging, you can set your own themes and rules and write in whatever format that you like. You can publish any of your thoughts, feeling, photos, experiences and just about any topics that you can think of.

Blog should not be very formal. It should be done in a very direct fashion. The tone you should use is like you are talking to a close friend in a letter. Always use " first person" tone. In short, Blogging allows you to :
Networking
Advertise products or services
Search engine optimization
Gauging public opinion on products and services
Useful tools for internal communication

Video Blogging - Shaping the Future of Your Website

2008-02-07T01:04:00.000-08:00

Blogs are very efficient way to get external links to your website. When you publish article, blog or PR, it should show up on your media partner portal as well as on its syndicating subscribers. The best way to get maximal number of links is article, which is by nature new knowledge or contribution to the knowledge base of humanity, while press release is rather advertisement of the product. Blog is somewhere in the middle, as it typically is based on human perception and impression. For the purpose of this article we will categorize as blog all three news genres:

1. Why linking to your side is good? This is the mechanism of search engines. They will give you higher page rank if you have more external links. You should read graduation paper of google concept authors, where the fundamentals of internet rating are described in general

2. Now why video blogs are better than text blogs? The answer on this question is relying on the staking on the future trends, which are seen now, but are not really confirmed. Video news are ranked as in separate category and in parallel with text, at least by google, so you can expect your video news to be ranked relatively high, if you are writing on the topic where text blogging competition is very high and you could not expect to take to take high position

3. Blogs with Picture images. If you add photo to your article, you may expect being ranked on the level of newspaper news, where photos are common. Article and PR publication sites with pictures are getting a bit lower ranking than newspaper pages, however in some cases you see exceptions from this rule

4. Rank by your relevance. If you already decided on your keywords, you can write blogs with your keywords in the title and introduction. This is much better to have a lot of relevant blogs to be targeting back to you than twice the number of non-relevant ones

Blogging and SEO - A Perfect Small Business Internet Marketer Match

2008-02-07T01:03:00.000-08:00

The Power of Blogging

2008-02-06T01:22:00.000-08:00

Blogging is an activity that has changed our landscape on the internet so dramatically that millions of blogs are floating in the blogosphere right now. How do we view blogging and the outcomes of indulging in it like a drug addict is to drug? How much do we know about and to what extent the power of blogging can impact upon our online business?

Even in the mortar-and-brick business, we need to look at certain factors to put our business into trim and fit shape. We often look at good ideas for our product or service, the greatness of the product or service itself, how visible is our product or service, and what comprises support to achieve our goals.

Let's look at each factor individually:-

* Good Ideas

It is beneficial to our online business if we often have good ideas to further improve it. We have to give our ideas the space to grow, besides nurturing them and bring them to fruition through their implementation. We will see the power of blogging in action if we allow our blogs to be truly transparent and peer reviews to be permitted. For the sake of internal blogs, such strategies will remove the obstacles in idea generation and vetting. There will also be interaction from your customers if you provide the necessary space for them on your blog.

* Greatness of product or service

We have good ideas to be turned into product or service for our online business. We can churn out them out according to our plans. One thing is crucial. The product or service may be great but may under-perform when facing stiff competition. We need to talk and find out from our customers to get feedback, primarily to study the buying patterns of our customers. Blogging helps us unselfishly in this problem area. Through your blog, you are able to obtain answers from your readers at least. Not only locally, but globally, as your blog transcends boundaries on the web. We will definitely know the truth.

* Visibility of our product or service

It is obvious that to market our product or service, it needs to be visible to the world. The right customer will come along at the right time to buy the right product or service. We are in reality talking about the global reach, when your blog has the capacity to touch readers effectively through various programs such as contests and press releases. Interaction with the readers is important. Mindshare, which reveals how many people are really aware of your product or service, is even more significant. The power of blogging brings your online business to a global audience, who must be given an appreciable amount of mindspace. They will of course decide how and when to engage and build a relationship with you. Here, we can actually notice viral marketing in action too. Blogging, with its intrinsic characteristics, will surely bring about the formation of a community of reading participants, large enough to positively affect your online business.

* Support

Through your blog, internal communication is greatly enhanced. Information can be viewed through the blog, similarly minded people can share exchange of views and interests through the blog. The power of blogging brings out the beauty of the blog - it keeps your team informed and motivated at all times. Great ideas can be easily archived and viewed any time. There is common ground to work with passion. The blog does it all in rendering support for better internal communication.

Blogging requires a voice from you. It is the new platform from which you will provide information to meet the needs of your customers and to build relationships with them. Along the way, you will immerse yourself in the culture of blogging. Well, that's indeed the power of blogging!

The Power of Blogging

2008-02-05T01:14:00.000-08:00

Blogging For Business

2008-02-05T01:13:00.000-08:00

Blogs, or weblogs, are websites featuring diary-type entries displayed in chronological order, often providing commentary or news on a particular subject. Blogs may combine text, images, and links to other sites related to the subject matter. Many blogs also have features that allow readers to comment on them. Though most are primarily text-based, some blogs focus on art, photos, music, video, or audio as part of a larger network. Many people are also loyal blog-readers who read a certain blog everyday.

Blogs can also be used as a successful promotional tool for your internet business. Blogs provide an easy way to bring search engine traffic -by far the most powerful way of securing traffic online - to your site through intelligent, liberal use of keywords within the blog. You can upload a blog program to your site that will allow even the least web-savvy businessman to easily publish content. It's fast, easy and inexpensive, as you don't have to wait for or pay someone to do it for you.

Search engines seem to have an affinity for blogs. Bloggers have discovered that their blog entries get faster inclusion and higher rankings in search engines. As proof of this, Google actually purchased Blogger - one of the most widely-used blogging programs available. The leading search engine on the planet saw this technology as important enough to own - why not use it to your advantage? You can get fast and free marketing for your internet business campaign that has the possibility of reaching thousands and even millions.

Blogs provide an excellent way to make your internet business seem less impersonal to your customers. It's no secret that businesses have to woo customers. Blogging your site makes you look like "just one of the guys", if you will. You can portray your internet business however you wish with blogs: innovative, superior, playful, charitable, environmentally conscious - the sky is the limit. You can give people a solid reason for wanting to buy your internet business.

Blogs convert visitors into sales and profits - those companies who blog as part of their internet business have discovered that blogs bring in more visitors and that a high percentage of those who visit a blog, if properly influenced through that blog's content, will actually buy from their company. Blogs also work in business-to-business relationships. People respond positively to blogging, whether they are buying for themselves or for their business.

Blogs are also a great way to get your company's content onto others' sites, even your competitor's. Many blogs have a syndication feature that makes it easy for others to include your content on their websites. A portion of the blog (usually the headline and the first few words of the copy) can be picked up and shown on other sites. When that site's visitor clicks the link for more information, they are transferred to your site. Most business bloggers have discovered that this feature is bringing in a substantial amount of additional traffic to their sites.

How Blogging Is The Best Work From Home Income Opportunity

2008-02-04T00:15:00.001-08:00

One of the best work from home income opportunities today used to just be a hobby for many people. What I'm talking about, is blogging for profit, and in this article we will look at a few ways you can earn money by blogging at home.

One of the first ways to make money blogging is to start a blog of your own. They are very easy to setup and you can do so for free at Blogger.com or WordPress.com. You can monetize your blog by adding affiliate programs such as Google Adsense, Yahoo Marketing, and pay per lead or pay per sale programs.

Another thing you can do is join affiliate programs such as Clickbank.com or others and put links to their products in the various blog posts that you make. These blog articles are archived and can bring you future traffic and sales for years to come.

If you are willing to write on a consistent basis you can create a loyal following of readers, who then can be customers of yours. You can take this a step further and actually put an opt in e-mail marketing form on your website and capture customer contact information for future followed by email.

If you write reports or publish a newsletter online you can follow up with your customers and make sales via email marketing as well.

If you like to write, and our good at it, there are other bloggers who will pay you to blog for them. You can charge $10-$15 for every four to 600 word article that you write. These can be posted as one blog post or broken into a couple of smaller ones as well.

As more and more people struggle to come up with content for their blogs this market is only going to increase.

If you will take the initiative to start contacting every blogger that you come across you can quickly build up a customer base of people who will pay you to write for them.

Other companies such as PayPerPost.com are websites you can get paid for blogging. You can write about products, services, web sites, and companies, and get paid for doing it.

Starting a home business is not what many people wanting to work from home are willing to do.

They want to work for other people. Fresh content on the Internet is one thing that will never die.

If you can write you can quickly build up a clientele of people willing to pay you to write for them. Blogging is a perfect example of this and what we consider to be one of the best work from home income opportunities available.

Blog Marketing - Introduction

2008-02-04T00:13:00.000-08:00

How To Make Money By Blogging With Three Simple Steps

2008-02-02T01:54:00.000-08:00

All a blog is is your own journal. Well, this is what blogs were meant to be for. Now, people use blogs for more than just their own journal. They use them to make money by blogging. This technique has been proven to be very effective in several different ways. To have an effective blog you need to use these three tips in order to make money by blogging.

First, you need to invest in time and effort. Blogging is just something that you will be successful at over night, it takes time. You also need to write good, quality content as well. This will insure that your readers will keep reading your blog. Another idea would be to find blogs on the same niche and comment on them. This, in return, will give you a back link and help you in the search engines. These all take considerable time if you want to do them effectively.

Your blog should also have one main niche. You don't want to read a blog that talks about weight loss and then brings up monkeys. Your blog needs to stay on one particular topic. It could be one of your hobbies or even something you are just interested in, whatever it is it should only be one thing.

You also must tell people about your blog. No one will find your blog if they don't know it's out there. You have to advertise to get readers to your blog. You should also submit your blog to search engines as well as blog directories. This will ensure that your blog will get indexed.

These are three very simple steps that go a long way. Once you have mastered these three things there should be no reason why you can't start to make money online by blogging. Although blogging is both fun and lucrative it takes hard work and commitment to achieve success.

Where to Find Unlimited Blogging Topics

2008-02-02T01:53:00.000-08:00

When you begin blogging about a topic that you really enjoy, it is somewhat easy to have a wide variety of topics to write about. However, many blogs fail because after awhile, the authors burn out from lack of generating new blog topics. A blog's success is based primarily on original content. There are several resources you can utilize to generate blogging topics when you are feeling burned out.

Google Trends and Yahoo! Buzz
Trends have been known to bring in massive bursts of traffic. I have had thousands of visitors in one day after blogging about a "trend" that was being searched for at the time. Google Trends and Yahoo! Buzz are two resources that can keep you up to date on the latest search trends.

Google Suggest
Once you are at Google Suggest you can begin typing in phrases combined with keywords based around your blog's theme to find out what people are searching for. You can use phrases such as:

* How to
* How to fix
* What is
* Tips for
* Help with

Yahoo! Answers
What better way to find topics then to find out exactly what people are asking for? That is why this resource is so valuable. You can choose from several categories related to your topic and see tons of questions that you can write solutions to on your blog.

Forums
Forums are one of my favorite resources. If there are forums related to your blog's theme then you can read through past and present forum topics to generate ideas. I have written some of my best blog posts because of topics I've found in forums.

Magazines
I subscribe to various magazines related to my topics and use their articles as inspiration. If you don't want to subscribe to magazines just visit their Web sites. Most of them will post the same print articles on their sites for free.

You no longer need to feel frustrated when it comes to finding new blogging topics. Begin utilizing the resources above as well as news sites, social networking sites, and reading other related blogs. You should have no problem generating topics. Pretty soon, you may even realize you don't have enough time to write about all of them!

Zone Defense - The Super Bowl of Blogging

2008-02-01T01:40:00.000-08:00

Taking your winning team to the Super Bowl of blogging will require a bit of time and every day consistency, not by every member of your blog squad, but by one or two team players taking action everyday.

Identify your assembled group of bloggers, and assign days of the week to each person. A one on one defense could never begin to be effective on the Internet because of the sheer size of the opposing team. Each blogger on your team will create a "niche" blog to cover their zone and then spend an hour or two each week promoting their individual site.

Methods of advertising your site would be to use free ad sites, posting positive comments on others blog sites, submitting your site to a traffic exchange, linking your site on a link list with every other team member, and including your site url as a part of your signature file on forums and in your outgoing email.

Each member of your zone defense covers his zone by posting positive comments that add a contribution on the other members sites and then posts on other blogs on his topic outside the team using his signature file.

The team member then visits forum sites in his zone niche and makes new posts, comments, and answers others questions. Playing a zone requires less personal time because of the team. Many hands make lighter work is very relevant here.

Defining the "captain" early in the plan is a must. This is the hub blog site where everyone's blog is listed without fail, this is the site everyone will be attached to, then attach this site to heavy hitter sites. A heavy hitter site is one where many posts are made daily and many, many visitors come through. Being responsible for a certain area of the "playing field", your team will be counting on you.

Using zone defense in the Super Bowl of blogging reduces the amount of individual time spent on advertising one site. Work independently together and the ring will be yours.

Amateur Blogs and Blogging for Profit

2008-02-01T01:39:00.000-08:00

How To Make Money Blogging

2008-01-31T02:06:00.001-08:00

People start blogging for literally hundreds of different reasons. Some are simply looking to share their daily lives with loved ones, talk about one of their interests, or, in many cases, just claim their small piece of internet real estate. For others, however, blogging is a business endeavor, which, when done correctly, can yield thousands of dollars in returns relatively quickly.

In the current state of the blogging "scene", there are thousands of monetization options. From direct advertising to affiliate offers, the possibilities are endless. However, none of these monetization options will succeed without "The Big T", or traffic. The bottom line is, if no one sees your advertisements, they will not generate revenue of any sort. For the purposes of this article, however, we will assume that you have built adequate traffic to support a monetization model of some sort. With that said, let's take a look at some options bloggers have to make money blogging.

The first option for relatively new bloggers is to utilize a service such as ReviewMe or PayPerPost. The beauty of these programs is that they are not directly related to traffic, click-through-rate, or other similar metrics. Basically, advertisers can purchase a review on your website, which you will be required to research, write, and maintain. For busy bloggers, this is a great option, as the reviews that you write are also a source of content for your blog, as well as direct revenue producers. It is important, however, to not allow these paid posts to take over your normal posting routine. Too many sponsored posts can lead readers away, lower your credibility, and make your site less attractive to advertisers, so be sure to only accept reviews that are related to your blog's content.

For revenue based on your readership's participation, actions, and purchases, the options are much more vast. Affiliate offers are very effective for some niches, given the ability to inject your existing content with offers that make you money. For example, if you run a blog about credit repair, providing links and advertisement to affiliate offers for credit reports, credit repair services, or other related products and services could yield outstanding returns. Some of the key players in the affiliate network industry include Commission Junction, Share-A-Sale, AzoogleAds, and NeverBlueAds. They all offer lucrative offers from hundreds of niches, and have excellent histories.

The last option is slightly less invasive, and involves placing content based advertising throughout your website's pages. The ads that are displayed are automatically generated based on each page's content, which allows targeted advertisements to each user. Google Adsense and Yahoo! Publisher Network are the larger players in this arena, and provide outstanding results. Making these ads a part of your site increase your chances of making money from each visitor to your blog, and also provides additional related content and options to each page.

3 Simple Steps to Increase Your Blog Readership

2008-01-31T02:04:00.000-08:00

Blogs are an integral part of Web 2.0. Companies who were once skeptical about the effectiveness of web 2.0 are quickly acknowledging the value of blogging on the internet.

While setting up a blog is relatively easy, many companies struggle with ideas on how to make their blogs grow.

Here are three simple steps that will help you increase your blog readership:

Post regularly - Post unique

Giving your readers new and interesting content to read everyday is the best way to convert occasional visitors into regulars. Though simple in word, it's not so simple to make the commitment. You must get into a regular pattern of writing unique content and posting it regularly.

Ideally, your blog should have at least three posts a week, if not more. Don't make the mistake of posting three on one day and then none the next week. Most visitors will skim for new content and then move on. They don't have time to determine if you've posted new content. You either did or you didn't.

With the explosion of existing blogs and new ones being created everyday, readers have an endless selection of articles to choose from. If you don't stand out from the crowd, your viewers will go elsewhere. Keep your readership growing by giving them content they are unlikely to find anywhere else. Breaking news prior to a major release will lead to more readers, more comments, and more links to your blog.

Encourage comments - Discourage abuse

While comments are a core blog feature, it is important to carefully consider what your company policy is concerning comments. Allowing comments to be posted un-moderated can generate increased participation but it could also lead to increased chances of offensive remarks and spam comments.

The best way to balance the interaction with your readers with the need to have control over comments is to add a verification tool such as CAPTCHA.

If you choose to moderate comments, make sure you have the resources to regularly approve comments, or note, in a timely manner. Readers hate to be kept waiting and will lose interest and if it takes too long for them to be heard.

Acknowledge Comments - Reply to those who comment

If your reader has taken the time to leave a comment on your post, it is common courtesy to reply, especially to questions. If several comments drift around a single topic, address them all in a single reply.

Starting a blog is easy. Maintaining a blog is much harder. Take the time to develop a complete blog policy and structure before starting. Make sure you can dedicated the time to both posting regular content and for replying to comments.

On Blogging for Search Engine Marketing

2008-01-30T01:56:00.001-08:00

Success in Blogging Through Relationships

2008-01-30T01:42:00.000-08:00

We all know that blogging is basically founded upon the relationship between the blogger and readers. A voice is required in blogging. The blogger speaks and the reader listens. A kind of relationship is formed at that instant. Whether that relationship will materialize or not cannot be confirmed though at that very point in time. It's even more difficult to predict if it will bring any success in blogging for the blogger.

Talking about a relationship, let's be honest about it - every blogger loves to blog and it's always because of this factor that to establish this relationship with other bloggers , we can safely confirm that this is the key reason and is an important strategy for success in blogging.

When we get to know other bloggers during blogging time, we'll be able to get feedback through comments. They will be glad to provide us with their honest and unbiased thoughts about our presentation, content or even the blog as a whole. From such feedback which will always be ever so readily provided, we will be able to fine-tune the design of the blog or put in more effort to post more fresh content. The blogger must be willing to share views or ask questions if unsure about blog matters. Other bloggers are always ready to give a helping hand; they will have no problem helping out with the problem blog.

We should be aware that not all bloggers are well-known personalities who are publicly recognizable. Of course, there is also no need to be alarmed, simply because individual bloggers do possess some extent of influence. Through building the relationships with these bloggers, we will be able to enhance our positive experiences, and they too will be more than willing to offer us help using the influence that they have. We know that a friend in need is a friend indeed; most bloggers fall into this category.

Building the relationships with other bloggers is always progressive. It comes naturally and over some period of time. It doesn't not follow any standard pattern or single process.

I'm sure we know that the blog is really a good opening to knowing someone who reads it, that is, your blog. The reader will be able to know a little more about you through the feed. From your blog, it is always possible to form an opinion about you, the blogger. The reader will be able to think about the passions that you have, or even your personality traits.

Comments left by the reader on your blog will always influence you to read them. This is because you will surely be able to recognize the name of the reader who leaves the comment on your blog. There is this opportunity for a relationship to start between you and the reader.

One point worth mentioning and admiring is this - the blog builds mutual respect between blogger and reader. We must know that links actually are a measure of respect. This stems from the fact that the reader has been actively reading your blog and not just about an isolated item. That said, the more links the better.

The relationships can be brought up another level. With the benefit of links, it is time to further strengthen the relationship through email. We know that bloggers love links, but they also love to email. From the comments that are posted, it is good to continue to make progess in the relationship building by extending the conversation from the comments.

From blogging, it is fairly noticeable that bloggers really love to talk and contribute in blog conversations with other bloggers sharing same interests. With advanced technology, it is the right time to bring the relationship another level higher by engaging in conversation over the phone , or even Skype, a new real-time talk technology.

It is best if bloggers can meet up personally. This will consolidate the relationship that they are trying to build. The time spent face-to-face can be about any topic, not necessarily to be about blogging. In fact, this is the golden opportunity to cement the relationship between two bloggers who are trying to find value.

If we seriously want success in blogging, we have no choice but to build a real and caring relationship with the blogger on the other side. It's still the human touch that is important.

Blogging Success

2008-01-29T01:08:00.000-08:00

Links in to your website play a major role in how your site ranks in search engines. In Google, you can find out who links to your site. In the Google search field, type: "links: yoursite.com." (You put the name of your website where it says "yoursite.")

The second most important thing for your website ranking, is relevant text that is kept up to date.

One way to add both text and relevance to your website is to add a Blog to your digital arsenal. A Blog is an on-line public journal where you can comment on any topic you wish, post photos and link to other similar blogs.

The Price is Right

Getting your own blog is both fast and easy. Select one of the free services* and you can't beat the price. Blogger and LiveJournal are two of the most popular services offering blogs.

You don't need to know any html or website design to build a blog. Most blogging services offer a wide variety of templates that are easy to use and personalize.

The most difficult thing about blogging is to limit yourself in what you "blog" about. Remember that your blog might be read by your clients. Don't blog about anything too personal, avoid politics and religion if you think that your views can adversely affect your relationships with your clients. Limit your blogging to "safe" topics. Avoid coming across as whiny or antagonistic.

It is perfectly OK to blog about your camera equipment. Write about topics that interest you. The more people that read your blog, the more people will link to it. The more valid links you have coming in to your blog, the higher rating you'll receive from the search engines. And, the higher rating you have, the better chance your blog will come up on the first page of a web search by Google, Yahoo, MSN, or other search engines.

Search the blogging services for topics that interest you, to see samples of what other people are blogging about.

Don't forget to link to your own website from your blog.

How often you update your blog is entirely up to you, but a minimum of once every few weeks is a good measurement to work by. If a blog is left unattended, it will sink lower in the search engine ratings.

Here's to your blogging success!

Blog Or Relegate Your Internet Business To Slow Death

2008-01-29T01:07:00.000-08:00

If you have an internet business, or some form of online home business which doesn't currently support a blog then you are losing a lot of ground to your competitors and quietly signing the death warrant of your online money making ventures.

Blogging Is The Future Of Online Activity

Actually to be honest blogging isn't the future of online activity Blogging Is The Now of Online Activity and has been for some time. Everything and everybody is leaning towards web 2.0 based sites such as blogs and when I mean everyone and everybody I'm talking about the people who count and search engines. That's right search engines...remember those pesky not-so-trivial online dictators that we just can't seem to do without but fervently wish we could?

SURE...a lot of savvy internet marketers are harping on how the golden era of the search engine has been one-upped by social media sites and is for all intent and purposes over; truth be told that's a pile of steaming hogwash. Why? Well let's look at some figures...you can't go wrong with figures and stats; just as long as they are right I guess:

Search Stats End of 2007

* Google: 63.98% (The bigboy has muscled up)

* Yahoo: 22.87% (Retained the same balanced diet)

* MSN: 7.98% (Looks like Microsoft's search is on a slimfast diet)

* Ask.com: 3.49% (The toddler of the pack...must be doing good because it won a PC World Nomination for 25 Most Innovative Products of The Year)

Fine And Dandy But What Has Mainstream Search Got To Do With Web 2.0?

Hmmm,wasn't the whole point of social media websites and the explosion of new refined niche-category search engines supposed to circumvent bigboy online mainstream search? After all Google is no longer the darling of the people it once was and doesn't seem to abide by its "Do No Evil" motto anymore. Be that as it may Google ain't going anywhere anytime soon no matter how loud disillusioned acolytes may chant. Google is making sure of that by strengthening its grip on search and its influence in the social media theater...that's why it bought Youtube for $1.65 billion dollars despite having its own Google Video platform which however, in comparison, performed dismally.

What was the real driving force behind the Google buy up of Youtube? How about the fact that Youtube has over 100 million videos viewed a day and well over 72 million unique visitors each and every month!

But this is happenstance digression, time to get back to the point!

Mainstream Search Engine Web Traffic vs. Social Media Traffic

If you think of mainstream search as enormous relatively unrefined web traffic and that of social media websites as more niche-oriented or refined web traffic you wouldn't be far wrong. But that is not the complete story because conversely search-engine based web traffic is more valuable to you as an internet marketer or if you have an online home business. Catch is, it ain't easy to get to the top of the search engines where it really matters! Luckily this is where social media sites and web 2.0 truly shine.

It is a lot easier to get a good flow of web traffic from web 2.0 and social media sites than it is from the search engines, most especially if your website/blog is spankin' brand new! However getting internet traffic from social media sites also requires a level of input from you (Yup! What one-time big-hair advocate and internationally recognized hairstylist Vidal Sassoon quipped stands ever strong today as the day he uttered it: "The Only Place Where Success Comes Before Work Is In The Dictionary").

Social Media And Web 2.0 Is All About Community

Much as we like to think of ourselves as unique creatures and largely independent-minded the truth is we humans are little more than herd animals. We tend to appreciate and hangout with like-minded individuals, people who mirror our thoughts and ideas. In other words people gravitate towards people who share the same interests. True there is some time-whipped saying which states that opposites attract but that's best left to the field of love not the frenzied amphitheater of social media.

Social Medialites are all about the community and friends!

If you wish to capitalize and make any headway using social media sites you need to become part of the community; a task that involves active participation and not merely flagrant self-promotion! Blatant self-promotion without community service is the quickest and most assured way to get banned from a social media site (oh did I mention that most social media sites loathe internet marketers with a venom that Cleopatra's Asp would've envied, though there are a few good ones solely devoted to internet marketing and online business).

Participation in this context means:

* voting for posts

* reading posts (and not just wanton voting)

* making comments

* joining and inviting friends to lists

* writing your own posts

If you're new to this whole social media thing a good point to begin is read the TOS (Terms Of Service and conduct of behavior) then start making friends by voting for articles or posts you actually like (leaving a comment tends to warm even the coldest of hearts...assuming the comment is positive; social media afficionados tend to favor positive affirmation, much like what goes on in the real world) which will in turn make it easier to get votes for your own posts. The whole point of votes is that that the more of them you have the greater the exposure of your post which translates into more web traffic.

Mainstream Search And Social Media Sites Feed Off One Another

Undoubtedly building up a quantifiable list of friends and fellow voters can take time but when all is said and done that time spent on amassing friends is time well spent indeed! A well-written, intriguing, controversy-juiced post (otherwise commonly known as a linkbait piece) could send anywhere from 1000s to 100,000s of visitors to your site in next to no time.

Web traffic to your blog or website translates into greater love from the search engines which means better positioning in the SERPs (search engine index pages). The bottom line is your social media and web 2.0 efforts will draw web traffic far quicker to your fledgling website than the bigboy search engines, plus that web traffic will push your website further up the search engines.

A good linkbait post helps your seo efforts not only through the links garnered from your amazing penmanship (post) but also for the fact that the search engines these days ascribe greater rank and influence to such links that are heavily and often trafficked! Many heavy-weight links of yesterday that largely exist today as shadowy relics of their former selves (one-time high PR links that now boast little to no movement across their borders) are being consistently and all too frequently downgraded with each passing Google update.

If Content Is Still King; Fresh Content Is His Queen

No denying it, original content is still, as ever, the engine that powers the internet as well as being the enviable darlingest of darlings of the search engines. And you don't have to be a genius here to figure out that in this respect static sites just cannot compete with mobile platforms such as blogs. King Content's queen (HRH Fresh Content) is the driving force behind your site being crawled by the search engine bots on a regular basis. With a blog any new content automatically gets inserted on the homepage and pings (notifies) the search engines almost instantaneously. This means even a short post is going to bring the search engines sniffing to your site within hours (sometimes minutes) like a panting beast hot with lust. Just try and get that response with a static website even with a totally original, lengthy article in play!

Behind Every Successful eBay Seller, There's a Blog

2008-01-22T04:04:00.000-08:00

If you are a serious eBay seller who wants to boost his eBay sales figures, let me tell you, the only way to do it is to increase the traffic to your auction listings.

Registered users and frequent visitors of eBay must be aware of the recent addition on their website popularly known as eBay blogs. But, how many of you have actually tired it to enhance your web traffic and subsequently your sale on the most visited eBay website. If you have been one of those who underestimate the potential of blogging on eBay, I think it's about time you wake up and take a hard look at what it is and the incredible ways in which it can help you. If you are an active member of eBay, you can sign up for your own free blog and open the doors for more traffic, more business, and naturally, more profits.

How to start blogging on eBay?

Blogging on eBay is easy, and providing great content to worldwide eBay users will keep them coming back for more. Through a platform as influential as eBay blogs, you can communicate with you loyal patrons and inform them about the latest developments pertaining to your forte. When you visit the following URL http://blogs.ebay.com/, you will see an option that says "Start Blogging" and all you need to do is click on it to begin your blogging expedition.

What are blogs?

For those who do not know what a blog is, let me explain… A blog is nothing but an online journal and through your blogs, you convey news and views about yourself and of course, your auction sales on a regular basis. Many people these days are taking up blogging to publish their opinions on the Internet and get closer to the outside world.

What should my blog contain?

Now that you have understood what blogging is all about, let me quickly tell you what you should include in your blogs to make it an absorbing reading material. Blogging can be very addictive and as you start blogging, it won't take you long to figure out what appeals to your customers. Enlighten your customers about the kind of products you sell, a bit about your auctions and some stuff that can throw light on the nature of your business. For instance, if you sell computers and that's your specialization, you can provide lot of info regarding computer maintenance, upgrading computers, price comparison, best deals, and so on. What's important here is that your customers must be satisfied with your information and guidance and should be eager to read your next blog.

Although its okay once in a while to write a blog to introduce a new item you have included in your auction, more emphasis should be laid on providing lots and lots of authentic information about your area of expertise. Commenting on other people's blogs and using blog tags (these are keywords to enable people find you easily) can also help you increase your web traffic.

Profitable Blogging - Latest 6 Fast Blogging Tips

2008-01-22T04:02:00.000-08:00

In the 21st century, an ever growing number of people can be found taking up blogging. There are 6 fast profitable blogging tips that you will want to come to understand and to implement. By following these useful tips and pointers, you will be well on your way to establishing your own profitable blogging efforts.

First, it is important for you to become associated with a blogging site that is popular and that attracts a great deal of traffic. By becoming associated with such a site, you will have a better chance of your website gaining an audience.

Second, it also is important for you to write about topics and subjects that are interesting and entertaining to readers. By making sure that you write about interesting and entertaining topics and subjects, you will be on your way to profitable blogging.

Third, you can also use profitable blogging techniques to promote other professional or business efforts that you are involved with at this point in time.

Fourth, of course, you need to make certain that you stay ahead of current trends that are occurring in the brick and mortar world and on the Internet and World Wide Web. Keeping current is vital to profitable blogging operations.

Fifth, consistency is also important. In other words, it is important that you add to your blog regularly. Indeed, some people actually spend time on their blog each and every day.

Sixth, you can learn from mistakes and successes that these other people have experienced through their own blogging efforts.

Sean Ray is an accomplished internet article writer, and uses articles to drive online traffic. Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

News Search Is Influencing Internet Marketing

2008-01-18T03:26:00.000-08:00

The search landscape is changing so fast that half of what we knew a year ago about search engine optimization and marketing is now obsolete, reports Greg Jarboe in his SEO-PR Newsblog. Jarboe is a regular presenter at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference and web search versus vertical search (in search areas like news) was one of the new search trends featured at the San Jose SES.

The growth of the news search has only come about in the last few years. According to Nielsen/Net ratings, in June 2004 CNN.com was still the #1 online news source with Yahoo not too far behind. By January 2005 Yahoo rose to #1 with 23 million readers a month and by June 2005 they were pulling out in front with 29 million readers a month, dominating the online news ratings.

News search is playing a bigger and bigger role in online marketing. Google has a news search section, as does AOL, MSN and Alta Vista. Sites like Topix are drawing viewers looking for great local news. Recent studies show that 77 percent of Internet users get their news online and it’s the number one choice for news in the 18 - 54 year old age group. People go online and search the news engines by topic and keyword. The LA Times reported on the trend, saying that veteran journalists are looking to the PR field for work, now that so many readers are reading their news online.

When there is a relevant and timely article in Google News, Google will serve you up that news item in the Google 'One-Box' above the #1 position when you do a web search on a keyword or phrase. Yahoo News now indexes blog posts in response to the clear trend that early adopters look to blogs for news. Getting your message out in the news search has emerged as an essential part of your search engine optimization and marketing strategy.

Optimizing press releases and news articles is no longer a 'nice-to-do one day' idea or 'something we should try.' It’s a proven strategy you should be implementing right now. Put these articles into an RSS feed and you'll start to show up in the most unexpected places!

Sally Falkow has created effective internal and external communication strategies for both large and medium sized enterprises for 25 years. Since 1999 Ms. Falkow has translated her extensive experience in communication to the Internet and is now one of the leading web site and Internet marketing strategists in the U.S. Her web reviews and internet marketing strategies using RSS feeds, blogs and optimized press releases have kept our clients on the forefront of technology.

Money in Blogging

2008-01-18T03:09:00.000-08:00

To get started blogging, small businesses can save money by purchasing a reseller web hosting account, such as that from HostGator. That is also the end to my Making Money Blogging Series - keep tuned for more money-making opportunities. If you apply to a number of different blogging network companies, or have a number of different blogs - you can make a fair bit of money (for example - you may get 3 blogs at $5 each from blogitive, and another 5 blogs at $7 each from pay per post, and another blog from blogsvertise at $10) - so you have 9 blogs to write, and make $US 60 doing it).

Make Money Blogging by turning your products into another way in which you can make money blogging is to repackage your Blog contents into an e-book or an audio product and sell it. This, however, will cost some money and is not advisable if you have just started blogging. Again, blogging will make you money if you go toward this goal as a business, not a hobby.

Do this by swapping blogs you've heard of ad swapping when it comes to e-zine publishing, where publishers publish each other's ads in their own e-zines. Since the popularity of web logs or 'blogs' some years ago, bloggers have been looking for ways to cover some of the costs and even earn some money for themselves through blogging. Here are 3 reasons why you should stop leaving money on the table and start blogging instead: It's the quickest way to build a website, blogging expands your marketing reach dramatically, you can increase delivery rates for your newsletter.

Establishing your web presence in minutes and slowly but surely building an empire: Publishing a blog is the easiest, quickest way to establish an online presence.

Do it by turning your Blog content into RSS feeds and sell it as premium feeds your blog contents can be turned into an RSS feed. Webmasters can make extra money blogging through AdSense, sponsorships, ad programs, and affiliate marketing.

Blogging for Business to Achieve Pleasurable Success Part I

2008-01-11T05:31:00.000-08:00

Aside being popular by teens and adult alike for their personal use, blog is becoming the tool of choice of many internet based businesses in positioning themselves in the market. Even the biggest companies and veteran Internet business people are creating their own corporate and business blogs. Businesses are discovering the numerous ways of using blogs to their advantage. Some use it to have a presence in the web while others treat it comprehensively to address their various business needs like marketing, advertising, customer support and communication, and as an online product catalog. If you are serious in making money on the internet and want to succeed through online ventures, then you should create a blog and start your own profitable blogging.

It is a fact that blogging has become so important for online businesses. It could mean instant success and wide recognition for your products, services, and reputation. It crossed over from being a simple Internet fad used by angst-driven teenagers and computer geeks to a reliable business tool utilized even by the most successful online business strategist and gurus.

The importance of blogging lies in its ability to engage a wide network of readers, which could be potential customers, in highly interactive communication. And as we all know, communication is the key to success of every business enterprise.

Blogs provide readers a way to send instant comments to publishers. It works with everyone whether the blog is about hobbies, politics, advocacies, and businesses. If you open your blog for comments, suggestions, and inquiries, it can really boost your readership and in business. This then is what you called as customer base.

Blogging is also important if you want to generate massive free traffic to your site. A high volume of traffic will open numerous opportunities for your online business. Through active blogging, meaning you are regularly updating your content, you can attract a lot of bloggers to share views and information with you.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to blogging success, 'Secrets of Blogging for Profit'

Work At Home Blogging Mommies - Affiliate Internet Network Marketing Online Profits Trigger Question

2008-01-11T05:29:00.000-08:00

I have been a member of the internet blogging mommies fraternity since August, 2004. That's when I first beheld the phenomenon of internet blogging. I fell instantly in love and to this day, can't do without blogging for more than a week without experiencing withdrawal symptoms!

Recently I have been thinking about monetizing my blogs to make an extra income stream online. My main blog has gone through a lot of changes recently and I've had to start it all over again from scratch within the past week and a half! ;-(

Thinking about how best to monetize this 'new' blog got me thinking about the positive personal and business results that could unfold if more women start to blog for profits. The following questions came up and you can use them to trigger your own insights and fun adventure into increasing your internet blogging for profits journey:

** What are you and other blogging mommies talking about in your Mommy Blogs?

** As a member of the internet blogging Mommy fraternity, are you also a Work At Home Mom/Work From Home Mom?

** If you are, do you use your blog to build your work at home business?

** How often do you do business blogging as against personal, life blogging?

** If you do run a work at home Mom business, is it a straight internet home business or an offline or combo home based business?

** Do you make regular business blogging income every month that can help you pay your internet marketing and home bills, plus contribute to paying you a monthly internet salary?

** Do you do affiliate network marketing via your business blog?

** If the answer is "No" to the previous two questions, have you ever considered blogging as home Mom work or a work from home Mom job?

** What percentage of blogging mommies do you think also build work at home internet Mommy businesses?

** Do blogging Mommies blog for just mommies? Do you feel we blogging Mommies should target other blogging Mommies and just Mommies as our special internet home based business niche, instead of trying to reach the entire internet population?

** Finally, for now... what blogging platform do you personally prefer: Google/Blogger, WordPress or another? If other, please say which.

If you would like to give your feedback, I'd love to hear from you at my Internet Network Marketing Success Home Business Blog below. Please share your thoughts, feelings and insights... And this includes blogging daddies/work at home dads and any blogger or internet marketer who isn't a Mom or Dad!

How to Make Money Off Blog Advertising

2008-01-03T02:39:00.000-08:00

As more and more people begin to recognize the revenue potential within the world of blogging, even the smallest bloggers are looking for ways to capitalize on their blogs reach. The most obvious way is to incorporate blog advertising into their site. But not all advertising opportunities are the same. Here is a review of the most popular formats, and the pros and cons associated with each one.

Google Adsense

Almost everyone is familiar with the small contextual ad blocks you see on the sidebars of many websites. They list offers that are directly relevant to the content of the website o which they are featured. In return for posting these ads, webmasters are rewarded with a small compensation each time a visitor clicks on the ads. While this is certainly one of the easiest ways to make money from your blog, the relatively low payouts per click can take time to accrue. On the flip side, because they are easy to integrate and track, they can be the preferred solution for bloggers with limited time to devote to research and testing.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing offers provide bloggers with a way to earn commissions on each sale they generate for a third-party website through the posting of banners and websites. Some the best programs can generate impressive returns when creatively integrated into your blog. The key to success in affiliate marketing is to test a number of different advertisers and experiment with creative ways to present their products to your readers. Although this can involve a significant amount of testing, the returns are normally much higher than with Adsense-type advertising.

Direct Advertising

For bloggers seeking a reliable and consistent revenue stream, direct advertising offers the best opportunity. A high-traffic blog can charge upwards of a $100 per month for dedicating a small banner space to a particular client. Multiply this by five or six available slots and you can build an impressive income that is not affected by the tendencies of traffic numbers and reader interests. Of course you will first have to build a stable reader base that can offer good exposure for the advertiser, and it will take some time to find interested parties. For these reasons, direct advertising is not suitable for everyone.

Making money off blog advertising is not incredibly difficult, but it does require a bit of strategy to maximize its potential. Using the points listed here you can determine which outlet is best suited for your blog. No matter which direction you choose however, it is important to experiment with all of them. You don't want to leave revenue on table only because you were too lazy to try something new.

Copywriter As Blogger - Add Blogging To Your Copywriting Income Stream

2008-01-03T02:38:00.000-08:00

If you're a copywriter and blogger, you'll know that creating a blog, and updating it regularly, is just about the easiest way ever to promote yourself and your copywriting services. The search engines love blogs, and you'll find that within 24 hours of adding a post to your blog, the post will be indexed and gathering attention for you.

Blogs also work for your clients - a blog is a fantastic way to promote their business at minimal expense. Unlike advertising the blog stays online, and gets business for your clients for years to come.

So how do you get blogging gigs?

Pro Blogging Under Contract: Get Blogging Gigs From Your Current Copywriting Clients

The easiest way is to get blogging gigs from your current clients. Most will have heard of "blogging", so it will be an easy sell. Many will ask you to create a blog for them, and others will jump at the chance of a blog as soon as you mention it. I've been blogging since 2001, and like most copywriters, I offer a blog-creation and development service to my clients.

Send a letter to your current copywriting client list - or an email message - to advise them that you're now offering blogging services.

Promote Your Blogging Services On Your Copywriting Blog

To attract new blogging clients, either create a copywriting blog - or add a blogging category to your current business blog, so you can get new blogging clients. That's about all you have to do, and you'll soon get more blogging gigs that you can handle.

Make sure that you add a small advertisement to your blog's sidebar, stating that you're available to write blogs. And of course, work out a price structure for your blogging activities, so you're prepared when a client asks you: "How much do you charge?"

How to Become a Professional Career Blogger in your PJs

2008-01-03T02:35:00.000-08:00

You've heard the come-ons from dozens of sales sites: "Make Money Online NOW", "The Easy Way to Riches", "Work From Home And Make Big Bucks!", and thought, yeah, right.

But what if I told you that yes, indeed, you can make a very comfortable income, in just a couple of hours a day, from your cozy home office? Further, what if I told you that some of the biggest companies in the world are slavering at the mouth to have you do just that? Career bloggers are in great demand.

What's a career blogger?

A career blogger is a person who is hired to blog for a company, on a contract, usually for three to six month periods. A career blogger can also be a blogging entrepreneur, someone who sets up a number of blogs and monetizes them in various ways. In this article, we discuss becoming a blogger-for-hire, a blogging mercenary, if you will.

You can become a career blogger

I started working as a career blogger around a year ago. Businesses have realized the benefits of a blog: great content for their sites, wonderful customer relationship benefits, plus taking charge of their reputation management online.

How to get started as a career blogger

The first step in your career blogging venture is to create a blog. This "starter" blog will act as your blogging resume, or portfolio. You can set up your blog in a couple of minutes at Blogger.com at http://www.blogger.com/start

Do a little planning first. Decide what your blog's topic will be. As a career blogger, you'll be blogging for businesses as a blogger-for-hire, so if you have business smarts, your blog is the place to show it. If you're a marketer, for example, your blog's topic could be in the area of marketing, sales, branding -- any topic that you feel comfortable writing about every week.

On the other hand, if your marketing job bores you silly, choose an area about which you'd like to know more. Perhaps you're interested in investments, or in real estate. Both areas have companies which want and need bloggers, so choose one of those topics -- your blog will be interesting to your readers, because you're learning about your topic, and your enthusiasm for it will shine through.

Choosing a name for your blog

You can choose a name for your blog in various ways:

* For branding purposes . Companies like Yahoo!, Nike, and Google all chose their names so they could build a recognizable brand).

* To get found more easily

* To raise your profile online

Get hired!

You've got your blog, now you need a blogging job. How will you find one? Via your blog, of course. All blog platforms create an About, or Profile page. Just reveal your availability on the page.

Don't want to wait for them to hire you? Type "blogger job" into Google's search query box, without the quotes. You'll find dozens of jobs. You can also explore job-search venues like Monster.com at http://www.monster.com/

Good luck. You'll find career blogging great fun, satisfying and lucrative. Get started career blogging now. Many bloggers start off moonlighting their blogging, before they go full-time, and you can too.

Not too many weeks from now, you'll be thinking: "Make Money Online NOW", "The Easy Way to Riches", "Work From Home And Make Big Bucks!": OH YEAH!

Make Money on Blog Traffic

2007-12-19T21:45:00.000-08:00

Finding success with your blog is usually determined by the amount of traffic you can achieve over time. As readership grows, your messages reach more people and the growth of your blog can begin to take off. Of course one of the best benefits of increased traffic is the ability to earn more revenue from your site. This can be done in a number of different ways.

Affiliate Offers

Affiliate marketing is used by webmasters to earn commissions on products sold by a third party website. This can be done by displaying banner ads or text links to the third party site. Bloggers can capitalize on the traffic their blog generates by promoting products or companies that are attractive to the reader base. But beyond just displaying links, some bloggers find more success by making recommendations directly in their blog posts through reviews and featured products. No matter how you decide to promote affiliate offers, they are a great way to earn income from your traffic.

Pay Per Post

Once you have established a steady flow of blog traffic, there are many companies that will be willing to pay you a one-time fee to simply mention their product or service. This is typically done through a short blog post, and the transaction itself is handled through a pay per post service. By signing up with one of these services you will receive email notifications in your account when someone is interested in gaining exposure from your blog. You will have the opportunity to review their request and approve or reject it.

Direct Advertising

For most bloggers, the preferred method of earning blog revenue is through direct advertising. However this is not always easy because typically you have to hunt down advertisers and spend precious time selling them on your opportunities for exposure. But a high-traffic site can simplify this process by posting an advertising information page. Since marketing departments are always scouring the web looking for cheap ad space, they may well come across your blog, creating an easy sale. Be sure to compare your prices with other blogs in the same niche to keep your rates competitive.

The hardest part of maintaining any success in blogging is traffic generation. Once you have achieved a steady flow of visitors, your opportunities to make money on blog traffic will grow tremendously. The key to maximizing this revenue potential is to become familiar with all of the outlets available to you. Once you have done your research you can test which ones produce the best results.

How to Make Money Off Blog Advertising

2007-12-19T21:43:00.000-08:00

Easy How To Do Blog Work At Home

2007-12-15T02:30:00.000-08:00

Here are a few easy step-by-step methods of starting a blog:

Blogger is the by far the "easiest" best website you would need. Also if you have a Google account you can automatically sign into Blogger. The second would be Press Release. These sites will enable you to drive large amounts of traffic to your blog. Again, it is quite easy to do. You do not have to know anything about HTML in order to do this, especially from the comforts of home.

Next, you want to think about a subject that you are going to write about because your are going to need a catch title for your blog. Now just don't think of any subject, you're going to have to do a teeny bit of research to find the great subjects. Google Keyword Tool is a great place to first check on you're subject to see if there is a demand for that and if you know your stuff about that subject then even better! The more passionate you are about that subject, the better your writing will be. And trust me that is where your bucks are going to come from. You don't have to be an expert English major, or journalist, you just need to know your stuff. Write it like you would talk to your best friend. Like how I am doing now (smile) friend. If you need more help, you might have to start by studying what the experts are doing. Look at their writing style. Don't copy them unless you are going to put all their content on your blog. If you do, then you must make sure that the authors name and resource is located on the article, otherwise you will be hit for "plagiarism". And lets just say that is not good.... However if you think writing is fun, then I say go for it!

Back to the subject part, your writing should be of reviews about products or services, or telling people that a certain product is a great tool to get started on the subject. Very Important: Make sure that you have tried the product or service yourself. It sounds so much better and believable when you yourself have experienced it or are involved in it. And not to mention, if it is truthful then you will gain a lot of reader's trusts and will continue to generate income.

The next step is to get paid for your blog. After you have written your blog and it is ready to go for viewers, by registering and using Google Adsense you can start earning some money. When people click on those ads, that is your cash register. As your readers start to increase, your income will steadily rise. I says RISE, my friend, RISE!!!

If you would to learn more about working at home, then please visit my blog for further valuable information or if you just want to share your input.

Chewy Ine is an entrepreneur who writes about work at home and home business related issues and opportunities. To read more tips and techniques like the ones in this article, you can learn more by visiting my blog, Benefits of Home Based Businesses

Money Making Blogging Tips You Must Have

2007-12-15T02:29:00.000-08:00

If you are new to writing a blog, let me first explain the types of blogs available on the Internet. In general there are only two types of blogs, commercial and non commercial blogs.

Commercials blogs are like Trump University blog where it professional writers post regularly with tons of advertisements or products and services of their own, mostly created by companies not individuals. The most common type of blogs are the non commercial blogs, where people like me and you normally write on.

In non commercial blogs it can further break down into 2 different types of blogs. The first one is blogging for leisure, which means you only blog for the purpose like a personnel online diary. The second type of blog would be business blogs. Business blogs are like blogs like mine where I write this blog and update it regularly to make a living out of it.

If you are wondering can people take blogging as a profession, yes you can. And I have search on the internet there are many others just like us making money from blogging. The reason before I go into some tips to blog right, you need to understand the main role of your blog and what type of blog do you have. Different blogs have different functions to them.

Some people use blogs as a tool to get attention to their main page, some people use blogs just to talk about their personnel lifestyle and there will be some who are serious, lan and structure their post when they write in their blogs which create dollars.

Like in any business, you need to first map out what you want out of your blog before you even start posting your first post. This is very important especially at the start point of your blog when it is very new. You need to give the best impression as you can within the 1st 10 seconds of your visitors to allow them to stay longer.

A great tool that I use that is in build in almost all web hosting package is the Awstats in your cpanel.

webstats

The longer you can keep a reader on your site, you know that your site is of some use for them. During your process when you blog, it is always good to search around for ways to get traffic and publish your blog URL.

Ways get traffic to your blog:

- Offline Marketing (Give out namecards at events)

- Forum Marketing

- PPC Marketing

- Article Marketing

- SEO Marketing

and so much more

From my experience, the best types of traffic you want to get is exchange links from other people who are in the same trade of business as you. Example, my niche is about blogging so what I would do is a Google search blogging and search for the top blogs on the Internet.

When searching a potential link exchange or Joint venture with the bloggers you would want to find two types of blogger. Let say your blog has about 500 hits a day, you can find a blog whose traffic is about the same as yours and you write an email to him to ask for a link exchange. Most likely he will be happy to help as all you need to do is post an article about his website.

The other method would be you can find those popular bloggers who know nuts about traffic and you know they have a lot so what you do you ask them for an exclusive interview with them. Remember this rule in Joint Venture, always think in the way "What is it in for him, not for you". When you write your email make sure when the person reads it, it has to benefit him all the time! The reason why, because people don't care how much you care unless you show them how much you care for them trust me this works.

Once you have managed to build a relationship via email, you would want to try to get other ways to communicate like Skype, MSN or Yahoo. To tell you the truth, many websites in fact get tons and tons of traffic FAST not from using Internet Marketing methods but from Viral Marketing or Joint Ventures!

Some great examples would be

- Do a press release (cost US$80 one time) and get published on newspaper to and create a story that is so unique it will viral itself. Have you wonder how those Gurus always get interview out of no where, it because of press release.

- Joint venture with someone very famous or has tons of traffic, if he or she likes you and your website is on the main page of his site. Expect to see a growth of traffic to your website the next day!

- Another great tip would be, buy your way to get traffic. You can go to my review me site here and what ReviewMe does is you can pay me a fix amount and I will do a review about your blog. If you really understood what I am trying to say, this is the cheapest and most effective way of getting traffic if you want to pay for it.

Why I say this is because, imagine the owner of the website itself has already build so much creditability for his own readers on this website. Would an article post review drive more traffic to your website or a banner advertisement? Think about that for a moment. I personally have tried it and on top of the traffic I get I also get tons of emails for joint ventures because the blog I advertise in was about Internet Marketing too. Even until today although it cost US$250 , there is still traffic coming in until today because the website has a PR 5 which people searching for some phrases actually still goes to that review page.

6 Ways To Load Your Blog Faster!

2007-12-12T01:44:00.000-08:00

As a programmer myself, sometimes I can really Geek in adding more stuff on my blog until the blog loads super slow! So I have recently done many new changes to my blog the past 3 days. If you have reading my blog for sometimes you will noticed the blog now loads faster then before.

Why Fast Loading is Important?

On the Internet and Blogsphere you will only have 4 seconds to proof that your blog has really good content so if your page loads really slow do you think the viewer will stay on your blog? The answer is obviously NO.

Getting your content right in front of your viewers is very important as it will grab their attention on things you load on your blog.

6 Pointers to Load Your Blog Faster

1. Reduce all your blog images to file size 60% resolution quality, each image should not bigger then 20 to 50k size. Note the more images you have on your blog the longer it takes to load.

2. Reduce the number of post to display on your main page, I just reduce mine from 10 to 5 and I felt a major different in speed loading on my blog.

3. Move all your tracking scripts to your footer.php area, those scripts should be the last thing you want to load on your blog so that it will stop the loading of images on your blog.

4. Move all sidebar widgets like mybloglog to the end of your sidebar so that loading of your sidebar will run smooth.

5. Increase font size of your blog to allow easy viewing, I have recently increase the body font from 12 to size 14.

6. Increase Title text to bigger font to attract attention with a h1 tag on the title

That's about it, you should noticed your blog loading much faster after you did these changes.

I Want To Blog - Where Do I Start And Why Should I Use WordPress?

2007-12-12T01:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, so you want to start your own blog. So where exactly do you start? Basically there are two options open to you:

1. You sign up with a free blogging service like WordPress (not to be confused with the blogging software). It's free and it only takes a few minutes to sign up. Once that's done you can blog away. The only problem with this is that you can't have your own domain name - you can but it will cost you $15 a year. So if you're happy with that then get blogging.

2. You have a domain name and a hosted account, which supports MySQL, and PHP and you want total control over your blog. In this case then,there is no question but to use WordPress (the software), it is simply the best.

What is WordPress?

It "...is a powerful personal publishing platform,and it comes with a great set of features designed to make your experience as a publisher on the Internet as easy, pleasant and appealing as possible.We are proud to offer you a freely distributed, standards-compliant, fast,light and free personal publishing platform, with sensible default settings and features,and an extremely customizable core."

So what can it do and why should you use it? Here are just a few reasons why you should use WordPress:

1. If you're into programming, it's licensed under the GPL so you can mess with the code and contribute to it's development. Also, it runs under the PHP and MySQL platform - both open source and popular so there's no problem with stability and support.

2. You have complete control over WordPress as it is designed to be installed on a web server or shared hosting account. You can even install it on a desktop pc or intranet.

3. It is easy to install and upgrade, taking just 5minutes!

4. It's easy for readers of your blog to keep track of any new posts as the RSS 1.0 (aka RDF), RSS 2.0 and ATOM specifications are fully supported.

5. The URLs for all the pages in your weblog can be made to conform to a standard with all the links being understandable to humans and search engines alike, which is essential for search engine optimization.

6. It is PingBack and TrackBack ready, which is useful for connecting to other weblogs.

7. It manages users by controlling their user-levels so you can control who can create and modify content.

8. Each user can create a personal profile and decide whether or not their profile is displayed.

9. It uses templates to generate the pages dynamically.This means that you can control the presentation of content by editing the templates.

10. It has its own template and file editor so that you can edit within your browser without having to download any files.

11. It uses readily available themes, which you can use to style your blog. You're welcome to edit these or create and share you own theme.

12. There are a great number of plugins (which extends the basic functionality of your blog) available to allow you to do just about anything you want with your blog. You can also create you own plugins.

13. It gives you total control over your blog, right down to password protecting a post.

14. You can upload pictures or files and either link to them or have them display within your blog.

15. You can email your posts and have them appear in your blog.

16. It allows you to keep in touch with your audience through the use of comments, trackbacks and pingbacks.

17. It prevents spamming through allowing you to moderate any comments and can also notify you via email as soon as a comment appears.

18. It allows you to manage links with ease via its Links manager.

In summary then, WordPress is easy to install and use with you in total control. The themes enable you to quickly and easily change the look and style of your blog while the plugins give you the flexibility to do just about anything with your blog. Go get it.

Blogging For Profit Or Blogging For Fun?

2007-12-05T02:57:00.001-08:00

As we enter into December with Christmas and the New Year just around the corner, whilst I was putting up the Christmas tree and decorations it seemed a good time to reflect on an article I had written earlier this year about my own personal experience of Blogging

I started to Blog back in April this year as a bit of fun and a hobby that I could mess around with once a week while my twin daughters were sleeping and my wife was working her night shift. I chose the name "In Between the Tapas and Tantrums" for my first Blog because I thought it best summed up how the Blog was born. Living in the "Campo" on the Costa del Sol with a lovely little family bar just down our lane, allows us the privileged position of being able to enjoy a cold beer and some nice Tapas with the girls at the weekends. The tantrums part comes from the temper tantrums that go hand in hand with bringing up 23 month old twin daughters hence this Blog is written "In between the Tapas and tantrums" Not a name that was going to get me on the front pages of any search engines was it?

It all started off very light-hearted and I was really enjoying posting the ups and downs of parenthood and even thought what a great thing this will be later on in life for my daughters to be able to read about their lives and the different stages of their growing up. I even started writing articles and submitting them to EzineArticles and was really proud when they were accepted and I could see other people enjoying my ramblings as well.

Then it happened. As I'm sure it happens to loads of other ordinary folk just like me in very much the same way.

I started reading articles about the dreaded SEO! And about how the dot com moguls and all those professional Bloggers had given up their jobs and were making embarrassing amounts of money from their laptops in the comfort of their spare bedrooms and I was hooked!

I studied SEO at every opportunity I had. When I thought that I knew enough to start making money from my Blog I set up a new Blog called "Timeshare Sales And Marketing Techniques"

After all I've been in Timeshare sales and Training practically all my life. Sales Training and Timeshare were high on the search terms it had to be a winner!

I became so obsessed I would turn on my laptop as soon as I woke up before I'd even had a coffee, just to see how many people had visited my site and if anyone had clicked on my adverts or not.

I changed the name of my Blog nearly every two days to try to get a better placing on Google's search pages to get more traffic. I even put "In Between The Tapas And Tantrums" on hold while I concentrated on building up my Timeshare sales training site. I did everything that I'd read the professional Bloggers were doing to make money and lost endless hours of sleep trying to come up with the perfect domain name to keep me on the first pages of Google's search engines.

Guess what? I had become so obsessed and serious about making money from my Blog that I'd stopped enjoying Blogging. Of course I was starting to get on the first pages of Google's search but I wasn't making any real money. I think you really need to be established at least 12 to 18 months before you have enough traffic to earn any real money from affiliates and Google's adsense.

The moral of my lesson is: If you cease to enjoy what you're doing. You might as well stop doing it.

I'd started what was supposed to be a light hearted fun Blog, full of my ramblings about day to day real life happenings for my daughters to read later on in life and ended up with an obsession about making money.

Luckily I've seen my mistake before it devoured me. Don't let it happen to you. If I make enough money to pay for the monthly internet it's a bonus. What's important to me now is that other people get a little bit of enjoyment from my ramblings, and my two little girls have something worthwhile to read to their children when they become parents!

Learn How To Make Quick Money From Online Internet Blogging

2007-12-05T02:55:00.000-08:00

I have just attended a course on how to generate internet traffic onto your website. I have attended other courses before on internet blogging but this course which I just attended is unique. I learned the basic steps and the importance of traffic generation tips that are extremely useful and not easily made known to the public.

My trainer came from a background as a programmer and trainer. With his IT background, his tips and guides provide me every "unfair" advantage I need to gain an upper-hand against my competition and simply crush the rest with little effort!

Instead of the normal or usual way people create blogs and submit articles to different Web 2.0 sites to attract swarms of traffic, my trainer shows me a solution which enables posting of articles on any blogs and update them with all major Web 2.0 sites -- right away!

What's more important is that the trainer shows me a step-by-step guide on how to drive massive, targeted-visitors to my blogs. I was surprised to be stuffed with so much information on the secrets of how to generate internet traffic onto your website. It is amazing!!

Not many people know that internet blogging when done correctly could turn into a money making business. I happen to discover it by accident while reading a local newspaper advertisement. Initially, I was skeptical about the advertisement but after attending the course, I just couldn't believe that making money through blogging is possible.

My next challenge is to piece together what I have learned during the course and apply them to make it happen. My initial thought was that it should be easy but when I started applying what I learned, I begin to realize that I have to dig deep into my notes and spend many hours to digest my notes.

Quick Blogging - 3 Top Ways to Excel At Blogging

2007-12-02T08:55:00.000-08:00

Blogging has captured the hearts of millions of online users because it provides venue where everyone can voice out their thoughts and ideas. Later on, blogging has evolved from merely an online diary to a powerful traffic-generating tool. Because of its ability to attract both traffic and search engines, most website owners have seriously utilized this method to market their products and services. If you are currently blogging but you are not satisfied with the outcome in terms of traffic and profits, these 3 top ways can help you excel in this field:

1. Never ignore your reader's comments. People who are frequent visitors to your site will most likely to leave a comment/suggestion about your recent posts or about your blog in general. Never take these for granted. Acknowledge your reader's comments and make them feel how much you appreciate them taking time to give you something that can help you improve your blogging. By doing this, you do not only make your readers happy but you encourage them to return to your blog over and over again.

2. Never discuss more than one topic on your blog. People visit your blog for one good reason. To get more information about your central topic. So, it is crucial that you stick to it. Your readers will not be impressed to visit a blog that discusses 10 different topics all at the same time. If you have more than one topic in mind, create a blog for each.

3. Eliminate spam. Spammers have widened their scope. Now, they do not only send us email to our mailbox, but they are also posting comments on various blogs. This can be very annoying to your readers. To counteract this, place a verification box where your readers must enter a series of letters and numbers before they can post comments.

Useful Tips That May Increase Traffic On Your Blog Or Site

2007-12-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

Well, there are many ways of increasing traffic, but the most recognized one is of course the content you have on your site. You will find few tips that would assist you in increasing traffic to your site or blogs.

So, the most important tip that you need to know is fresh content, the more fresh content you add to your site on a frequently basis that offers value to your customers. Not only it keeps your site fresh with new content it also brings back customers. Customers are always looking for something new, if you can offer that feature that is in itself is a great USP. It works and it always work, offer fresh content by updating your site regularly.

If you have really worked hard on the design of the site, then it is time to work even harder on the content of the site. Try to make your site interactive by asking your customers opinions, feedback or even comment or review your products. Information such as these assists others in decision making.

Write quality articles about your products and then submit them to article directories. This would bring traffic to your site and does not cost a penny. Article directories is a popular tool used to generate traffic on your site and there are always some one starting them up. When these sites add your articles or link them, these increases back links to your sites and thus increasing traffic. If you want your visitors to return to your site, you need to offer them something unique or a reason to return to you. Give them something of value which can be used and incentive that if they return they get something more next time. This can be in form of free downloads, ringtones, themes, videos, wallpaper or audio. If you run a social networking site then donate something to charity or offer a referral program or hold a contest.

You will find several sites talking about this stuff, this is useful when you commit yourself in adding fresh blog or articles. You may even hire any SEO firm to do this for you. It is not that expensive these days as it use to be. Though, beware of using only professionals who know their stuff. As there are companies that have been charging on promising of getting customers on page 1 of search engines.

The Most Important Element A Blog Must Have

2007-11-30T01:02:00.000-08:00

If you have a blog and wondering to yourself why aren't you making money? Then you better read every word I got to say in this article as I am about to review to you how I made my income from just one simple tactic but strangely out of 20 blogs I seen only 3 or 4 blogs use them. In fact, this element is so important that you cannot share the resource of it and it's call opt-ins.

Why Opt-Ins Are So Important?

Just think about it, you can sent all your efforts to drive traffic to your blogs but if you do not bother to collect their first and email address would you be able to be in constant contact with your clients or readers?

Building a list for your blog is the single most important element that your blog would need. Another way of calling them are auto responders. However, because not many are willing to invest in good Auto responser and tend to use the free ones which are sometimes really unreliable.

The bad thing about using those simple scripted auto responders is that once your database get really huge you will have a hard time trying to figure why aren't your emails been sent out correctly.

I am currently using GetResponse myself and the great thing about them is that if you are on budget and do not have extra cash you can try out the service for a FREE Trial. Although there are limitations to the FREE trial version, it's actually good enough to start with.

So How Do You Collect Leads?

First, you have to understand that people only will give you a name and email address provided you offer something for FREE. Here are 3 things you can do to get people's email address:

1. Create a free newsletter as an incentive to opt-in

2. Give out a free gift as an incentive to opt-in

3. Subscribing to your blog

A comfortable range if you are thinking of earning a full income online would be a list size of about 1000 to 2000. It would be able to help you earn at least $500 to $2,000 depending how quality your list is. Building list is seriously important so if you do not have one start making one today!

4 Ways You Can Make Money Online With Your Blog Post

2007-11-30T00:59:00.000-08:00

When you blog online, it is really important to be not shy about promoting products on your blog. In the past I used to think that if I pitched too much my viewers wont like it. But the fact is that the blogger also have to make a living from his efforts so once in a while it's good to have a pitch on your blog but not too much.

Here's are 4 ways I normally do it on my blog which I found great success with:

1. Direct Pitch Post

This style of writing may offend new readers if they just visited your blog but it does show a point and direct message to tell them to buy something. Although everyone do not like reading a sales pitch post, but if you not pitch to your viewers, your customers will never know directly what you are trying to sell them.

2. In Direct Pitch Post

I love doing this the most because the pitch is so hidden that you will never noticed it's a pitch link. However I realized although you may have a high click through for the link. But the chances of them closing the browser after they click on the link would also be higher depending what the person offer on the sales page.

Some sales page would offer a free gift which I felt is a good way of generating leads and sales. But there are also some that only hard sell to you. There are pros on and cons to each type of sales copy but you should try a mix of both and test.

3. Review Products Post

A very innocent way to sell a product on your blog would be by reviewing people's product. However you would not want your WHOLE blog to be about just reviews. You need a good mix of both quality information and reviews. Most blogger made a mistake of just providing information but do not offer any products or recommendations.

4. Put Your Affiliate Links To Keywords of Your Other Post

You can also promote affiliate links using hidden words or parts of your blog post on your blog. I had seen many bloggers do that quite often with great success and proof to convert also pretty well. There are also plug-ins you can buy to replace all words on your blog or some of the keywords to always point to your affiliate links too.

Blogging: The New Frontier for your AUP

2007-11-22T02:16:00.000-08:00

Building an acceptable use policy for blogging can be one of the tougher jobs for a company’s human resources and internal security divisions to develop. Blogging is a rapidly growing mode of communication that provides readers with material on everything from the day-to-day comments of authors, movie stars, characters on soap operas to hard-hitting news articles and columns. The growth of blogging has given rise to a multitude of programs and tools designed to help everyone from the personal blogger to corporate users.

But how does blogging affect an organization’s Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP)? In order to address blogging accurately in an AUP, you must first define what constitutes a blog. The word “blog” is actually a shortened version of “web log” and is similar to a message board in that one can post thoughts and opinions to be read by others. A blog can be viewed by the public or accessible only via password depending on how the owners have set it up. Blogs can provide in-depth information about specific topics or they can be a place for writers to vent their feelings, but their ultimate goal is to bring readers together and then encourage interaction among them.

Blogging can be a harmless and interesting way to communicate with like-minded others but, like any unmanaged activity, the opportunity for abuse is always there. If an organization’s AUP addresses their Instant Messaging, Peer-to-Peer, email and other Web-based communications, they need to consider blogging as an important technology to include. Organizations should decide of they want their employees to be able to read blogs or post to them as part of an overall communications policy.

What are the ramifications of no AUP where blogs are concerned? The rapid growth rate of blogs in the country means that entire services like MyFamily.com and MyPlace.com are hosting communities of bloggers. A criminal utilized personal data posted in some blogs to stalk and attack young high-school girls.

Employees that post their identities and information to a response on a blog can influence decisions. For example, if an employee of a major computer corporation responded to a technical blog with advice about avoiding a new product line because of a lot of known ‘bugs’ the company is leaving itself open to legal exposure. Corporations require employees to sign non-disclosure agreements for a reason, the threat of exposure where company confidential information and intellectual property is concerned could have devastating financial consequences.

This is only one example, there are many others. If a person severely disagrees with the content of a blog and starts what is known as a ‘flame’ war with the blogger through the comments section, the corporation may be held liable for the harassment if the employee is posting the responses through the corporation’s computers. What happens on company computers, whether permissible or not, is the responsibility of the company. They are considered legally culpable.

There are legal and financial reasons to be very clear in the AUP with regards to blogging. Some corporations, although only a small percentage, employ software that screens where and how an employee can browse the web. If there are filters preventing an employee from viewing a pornographic website, then there can be filters that prevent the viewing of political or day trading blogs. Blogs that focus on financial and business issues are growing more popular every day. These blogs may be a source of entertainment and information, but it is up to the corporation to decide the level of involvement that an employee may have.

It’s worth mentioning that anonymous guests can read most blogs, although they may not be able to post comments or responses. Blogs can be enormous resources for students, educators and other individuals for discussion, debate and the sharing of experiences. However, they need to be controlled and monitored. Blogs are an excellent marketing tool, hooking visitors into the site by providing them with financial advice or credit building tips, for example. The marketing a blog can provide can translate into tens of thousands of hits a day for a site. It’s also important for some companies to get their message out there; blogs can put a human face on a company that seems only to be a corporate entity. That human face can improve customer relations, invite consumer contact and increase company visibility. However, employees should be educated about the type of information they are allowed to post if they are allowed to respond.

8 Steps to Excel at Blogging

2007-11-22T02:14:00.000-08:00

Everybody wants to step out of the crowd and say his heart out. This necessity of people was well understood and to simplify things bogs were introduced. Earlier one has to make a website for showing his or her cause which cost something in one way or the other. But now the blogs are very famous. Here are eight steps to lucrative Blogging.

First, register at a website that offers facility for blog publishing. The website should be well known and good reader turns over.

Second step for lucrative Blogging is to select the subject of the blog. You should write on something that you are familiar of and can justice to the topic.

Third step is to give it an attractive title that will attract the readers. People just judge their way out of blogs just from the tittles. So, to be in the race, make the title impressive.

Fourth, thing is the choice of the language. The language will decide the targeted readers for your blog.

Fifth, step is to write the blog. The blog writing should be a pleasure and same should be the feeling while reading it. Make your blog very interesting.

Sixth, once you have done with your blog make it updated so that people can come back to your blog and come to your blog regularly.

Seventh, step is to make your blog promote your product or website. Provide with links on your blogs that lead to similar blogs or websites. And ask for same in return

Eighth step for lucrative blog is to make your blog your blog search engine friendly.

What is Blogging and How You Can Benefit

2007-11-17T05:18:00.001-08:00

How blogging works

Blogging can be described as an online journal in which you share your thoughts about specific topics for others to read online. You can write posts as often as you want and any time of the day. Blog posts are displayed in reverse chronological order with the latest blog post displaying first.

Blogs can be written from a personal perspective such as what you do on a daily basis. Many popular blogs are written like a magazine informing readers of the latest trends. There is a blog for almost any topic you can imagine as well as a variety of authors. You can find blogs written by stay-at-home moms to blogs maintained by large corporations.

Benefits of blogging

There are several benefits of blogging, one of the most popular being monetary benefits. Many personal bloggers find it is very therapeutic while others blog specifically to earn income. If you are the latter, there are several ways to earn income from blogging. It isn't as easy as it seems or else everyone would be doing it, however, with a little guidance everyone has the opportunity to earn a study income from blogging.

You can have a blog up and running withing minutes thanks to free blogging services such as Wordpress and Blogger. It is wise to purchase your own domain name and host your blog with a web hosting provider. This way you will have full control over your blog and aren't under the restrictions of the free services. However, if you are just starting out, the free blogging services will work just fine until you learn the ropes. You can still earn income with those types of blogs until you can set-up a blog on your own.

Quick blogging tips

It is fine to have a personal blog where you write about your own personal experiences. In order to earn a decent income, you should definitely look into running multiple blogs on various topics. It is difficult to earn income from a personal blog unless your writing and topics are really compelling. As noted earlier, try to set-up your own blog with a web hosting provider as well as using your own domain name.

Blogging - Discover 6 Popular Secrets to Accelerate Your Blogging

2007-11-17T05:16:00.000-08:00

Anyone can virtually write a blog as long as they have access to the Internet. It could be any commentary or news about anything and everything, from politics to more personal entries like online diaries. If you happen to be good with blogging, then you would develop loyal readerships that would always visit your site. But if you are just a newbie at it, here are some secrets on how to accelerate your blogging:

1. Maintain quality. The quality of your blog will determine its success. Post highly relevant information on your site and back up your claims with studies and researches. Also, pay attention to your content, it should be free from grammar and spelling errors. This will make you appear more professional.

2. Be consistent. Stick to your topic. Avoid discussing several topics on your blog to avoid confusion among your readers. Also, do not post statements that counteract your previous posts or you'll lose your readers.

3. Pick a catchy blog name. Your blog name should include keywords and keyphrases that effectively describe what your blog is all about. A combination of two or three keywords should be enough as you need to keep your blog name as short as possible for better recall.

4. Be interesting. Your blog should contain information that will catch your readers' attention. Blogging about cooking? Write about common mistakes new cooks commit and how they can easily avoid it.

5. Create visuals. Make your site more visually appealing when you do your blogging. Blogging about travelling? Post pictures of white sand beaches, nice accommodation, great food and friendly people.

6. Use blog software. There are several free applications you can use to create and maintain your blog. Using such software or blogware is helpful in the editing process, which in turn could accelerate your blogging.

Who is Blogging Betty Boomer?

2007-11-16T02:23:00.000-08:00

Blogging Betty Boomer was created by artist, Ray Horner Jr.to characterize the many blogging boomers who may not realize their full impact on the blogging world. She is so busy creating and sharing ideas that she is not fully tapping into her richness as a blogger who happens to be a boomer.

Yet many boomers do not blog because they feel it is for “young folks. They shy away from the computer and the social marketing power of the internet for their business or non-profit interests.

Blogging Betty Boomer is a woman who is so involved in her mission and reasons for blogging that she does not focus on the mental limitations that many other boomers may allow themselves to experience. She has chosen not to sabotage her efforts by telling herself she is too old. She will learn as she goes and share her frustrations and sometimes steep learning curves but she will not stop.

Why Does Blogging Betty Blog?

The reasons why Blogging Betty Boomer blogs can include the following:

Before you start blogging decide on WHY YOU ARE BLOGGING! What is your objective? There are so many reasons why people blog. Some of them I have run across are listed below.

* To be seen as an expert in her niche by current and potential customers.

* To systematically write a book or booklet with a series of postings

* To rant about issues.

* To be the "go to person" for the latest updates. (For example, news commentaries, reviews on books and movies, etc)

* To provide a platform for others to discuss common interests.

* To share information gained on a new area of interest.

* To earn money via ads, affiliates, product sales, memberships, coaching,etc

* To direct traffic to a static website.

* Because non-boomers are blogging she does want to be left out.

7 Best Ways to Create More Money in Blogging

2007-11-16T02:21:00.000-08:00

Blogging is becoming so popular lately that it’s almost a competitive sport. If you evern wondered how you can make more money for your business with blogs, you have come to the right place. Here are 7 of the best ways to use blogging to increase your income.

1. Links and Domain Names

Find a blog site where you can add links to your website, or at least write your domain name in your signature line.

2. Make It Count

Blogging about anything and everything is not going to do your business much good—your best blogging efforts will be mostly about your business and related subjects.

3. Give Your Readers Something

You can always just offer up opinions, but if you give people help or information they will appreciate it and consider it somewhat of a gift. That may make them more inclined to click on your web link.

4. Marketing

Use marketing ideas whenever possible in your blog, but when you put in your link tell people to click on it and they will be more likely to do so. This is a very popular marketing principle and you should use it in your best blogging.

5. Clarity

Be clear and concise or people will not click on your link. You need to be understood.

6. Photos and Graphics

Always use visual elements wherever possible. People are very visual and are attracted to artwork of various kinds, even if it’s just a logo.

7. Be Consistent

5 Quick And Easy Steps To Obscene Profits With Blogging

2007-11-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

Many marketers have tapped into the power of blogging. Indeed, blogging has become a hot medium for publishing on the Internet. But marketers have started to realize that it is also a great weapon for generating profits. Blogging is not only a great way to generate traffic, but also a tool for creating a whole business by itself. Here are 5 quick and easy steps to get into the 'money zone' with blogging:

Step 1 - Discover your niche

Find your niche in blogging. Perhaps it's dog training or crafts. Write about a topic you are interested about. Niches like the ones just mentioned will always have a huge market so you can't lose with them.

Step 2 - Write your content

Write a few articles to enter your first few posts in your blog. This is simply to fill it up with some useful content in the beginning. You can reuse posts you have written in forums, or articles you have written before to get you started in record time.

Step 3 - Include advertising in your blog

This is where your income comes from. You can place advertising links in your blog from Google Adsense, where you earn every time someone clicks on you ad. Simply sign up at Adsense.com for further instructions.

Step 4 - Ping your blog

'Pinging' is the process of alerting the various blog directories that your blog has been updated. This has been termed 'blog and ping' in Internet marketing circles. It's a way of getting your blog publicized each time there is a new post. Some places to ping your blog are Technorati.com and Pingoat.com.

Step 5 - Market your blog

Advertise your blog wherever you can: your email signature file, your forum signature file, your business cards etc. Market your blog extensively to give it massive exposure so you'll generate maximum profits.

How To Start a Blog - Earn Blog Money While You Work At Home

2007-11-12T02:53:00.000-08:00

So, you want to know how to start a blog and earn money while you work at home. The good news is that you don’t have to know much, at all, about the blogging industry to cash in on the huge profit potential that a blog can create.

You probably have a million thoughts and ideas racing through your mind about how to make extra money. You can forget most of them, because none of them are easier that earning money from your blog. It’s easy, simple for newcomers and it will continue to grow, even while you sleep. Here are some very simple tips and tools that will get you on the instant path to making blog money.

How To Start a Blog -

Creating a blog income, or just starting a blog in general, is extremely fast and easy. The only blog websites that you really need to know about are WordPress and Blogger. Both of these blogging websites are abosultely loved by Google. They come up very high on search engine results, which you will need to drive quality traffic to your blog. You don’t have to know anything about Graphic Design or Programming to create your own blog. Both of these blog sites make it very easy for you to start your blog. It’s almost as simple as picking a blog template and typing away.

Once you have picked out your blog site, you will want to pick a name for your blog. Do yourself a huge favor and use Google’s keyword tool to pull up dozens and dozens of keywords that people are searching for. For instance: You are starting a blog on Fantasy Football. Use those two keywords in Google’s keyword tool to see a huge list of other common keywords that people are using to search for related topics.

When choosing the subject of your blog, you will want to pick a topic that you are pretty passionate about, especially if you are new to blogging. The reason you want to pick a subject that you are passionate about is because thoughts and ideas will flow to you much more easily. Once you are an expert at blogging, which can be done in a matter of a week if you want, you can then branch out into other subject that you think are profitable. If you sound like an expert to your readers, they will want to come back to your blog on a consistent basis, which you will need in order to make the big bucks. This is what you ultimately want, right? Of course you do.

Writing can be very fun, but it can also be a frustrating chore if you don’t know how to do it. Don’t worry, though, because this can be easily fixed. The easiest way to get over this hump is to study what the experts are doing. Look at their writing style. Peek at how they come across in their blog posts. Do they come off like a best friend? Do they type with excitement? Basically, you will want to copy their style until you develop your own. This is a foolproof and easy way to make you blog money skyrocket in no time.

The easiest way to make fast blog money is by using Google Adsense on your blog. The more competitive the market, the more money you will receive when people click on those ads. As your readers start to stack up, your blog income will keep climbing. The next step in creating a blog income has to do with advertising products on your blog. This is done by writing reviews about products or services, or telling people that a certain product is a great tool to get started on the subject you are blogging about. One thing to you will need to do is actually try to product or service out first. This will do two things. First, it will make your product review sound like it is coming from a true expert. Secondly, it will give your readers incentive to always come back to your blog, because you are showing them exactly how to do what they want to do and where to get it. If your product review is truthful, then you will gain a lot of readers trust for a very long time, increasing your blog income at the same time. That is your ultimate goal, right?

None of these techniques are rocket science, but they are very crucial to you making blog money. If you are a newcomer or even a seasoned blogger who hasn’t yet cashed in on their blog, now is the time to creat the blog money that will give your wallet the cash it needs, fast.

How to Sell Products and Services Through Your Blog Part II

2007-11-12T02:51:00.000-08:00

So how does this work? When you include the company's ads in your blog, you will have commission or a referral fee every time a visitor clicks on these ads. The earnings and the fees you will receive may vary from one company to another. There is also another scheme where you can use blogs to earn money. All you need to do is to look for a company which hires article marketers and writers.

But make sure that the company you will work with is legal and is trustworthy enough. There are scammers on the net and they are already in large numbers. These sites should be avoided. You don't want to end up being fooled by them, right? So be sure to check out the company's records and credentials. You can search the internet to obtain information about the company. Search for their background and you can also ask your friends and relatives what they think about the business.

Once you have already chosen a good company, it is time you talk with them and ask them of the scheme. You may be asked to write blogs about their products and endorsing them to those who are surfing the net. Moreover, you must also know about using the right keywords for your blog. They might be the one to decide which keywords are the best appropriate but if they don't give you that; you can look for the best keywords by searching them and by knowing the techniques to keyword optimization.

If you want to sell things from your blog, you should know much about the products you endorse. You can personally try it so you would know the advantages and the disadvantages of the product. However, you should think of a way to write in such a manner that will best interest your readers.

Food for the Spiders - Blogging for the Search Engines Part II

2007-11-06T00:17:00.000-08:00

Your blog can also be recognized by search engines especially Google and Technocrati, based on the number of useful links to and from your site. If you have lots of inbound and outbound links in your blog, Google can give your site high page ranking.

Your blog can have all the links it could want if you open it for comments by the general web public. You can also post your links in other sites by posting comments on other blogs.

Useful content and links are very important for search engine recognition. But this is not the be all and end all of a good page rank for your site and for your blogs. Some factors need to be considered if you really want search engines to place your site at the top of their list.

For search engine recognition, good choices of key words and key word phrases for your blog and posts are necessary. Search engines favor sites that use key words so that their search results can display pages which have names and content similar to those typed by searchers on their browsers.

In blogging, you should also consider key word density in your posts and articles so that search engines can rank your blog favorably. You must limit your posts to one article per day but be sure to optimize that article by inserting key words and key word phrases. The right density can be very beneficial to your blogs' search engine ranking.

Blogging to gain search engine recognition can bring lots of productive traffic to your site. It should be fairly easy to do provided you follow the established standards used by veteran web masters and internet marketers in order to achieve high recognition by search engines.

Dangers Of Blogging - Choosing the Right Ping Services Part I

2007-11-06T00:15:00.000-08:00

Everybody is blogging today, because blogging and earning money has been heavily rumored by the online and offline community. But not so many bloggers are ready to dig into the details of blogging. And one of the big dangers of blogging is that most of the bloggers rely on a pack of ping services and hope to get big reward from them.

In some of the articles published by me here you could see the information about ping services and their big problem - your blogs that are spamming them. Yes, your blogs! Simple and harmless things that most of the bloggers are doing every day are nothing but a ping spam (this is clicking "Save and Continue Editing" or "Saving" the published post, etc.)

Now imagine what happens with the ping service businesses. They invested money into purchasing the "ping reading technology", they purchased servers, they started promotion, they pay salaries to the support - all this needs a nice investment.

Usually very quickly ping services become very popular: as all blogs need more ping services, an extra one is always welcomed. Within quite a short amount of time, an avalanche of blogs is plugged to this new ping service. And instead of pinging the blogs when new content is added, they are pinging any time you and other bloggers click "Save and Continue Editing" or any time you edit the previously published post. When I am working with a post I am clicking (used to click) "Save and Continue Editing" button 5-10 times, so that I don't lose the typed info before it is published. Generally we can say that only 20% and even less pings are useless for the ping service, they are not bringing any new content, just very tiny amendments.

80% of Ping Service Job = "Waste" Info!

This makes the picture very clear. Ping services have been expecting to handle a nice amount of blogs with their server capacities. But in reality they need to process 4-5 times more. And this 80% is the useless info that gives nothing very useful to them. No wonder some businesses on this market got closed. And, who knows, maybe some of the ping service businesses are on the verge to get closed shortly.

How are these Dangers of Blogging Affecting Me?

This is very serious, because from a pack of ping services that you are relying on, a big portion can be a hole into blackness, that is being drowned under your ping spam attacks. You should know how to choose the services that learned how to "avoid" your unplanned ping spam and still index your posts. 5 ping services of this kind are better than 100s of others.

Blogging and Business - How Blogs Can Help Your Web-Based Company Part I

2007-11-03T01:17:00.001-07:00

Even though most web businesses nowadays have a multitude of functions it is still somewhat necessary to integrate a blog in your site in order to improve your business and generate more traffic to your site. Imagine the upsurge in productivity as you maintain both a website and a weblog - without the hassles of going back and forth between the two. Thanks to technology, it is quite easy to navigate the functions of both without so much hassle and difficulty.

In essence, a blog works as a website but has some special functions on its own. One good thing about blogs is the wide range of sites that offer blog spaces for free on the Internet. Usually, the basic blog with the simplest services can be used by yourself at no cost (only your own personal Internet time charges) but for a small fee you can be given access to an entire host of functionally productive tools. For only a couple of bucks a pop per year, you can definitely consider that as money well spent! The thing with sites that offer free blog space, however, is the condition that they will have to include display ads all around your site page.

That is unless you opt to go for an upgrade and charge that card in order to have a paid account option. When shopping around for the best blog that can offer much to your online web business, do try out the blog host for several weeks. Fiddle around with the different tools available and take as much time as you need in order to familiarize yourself with the platform and determine if you really want to stay there. If you are satisfied with your blog of choice, decide if the free service that comes with predetermined ads is enough to meet the demands of your online web business or you would rather consider shelling out a couple extra dollars per year as a way of investing in an upgraded blog account that provides better service and has a whole host of productive and customizable tools.

Profitable Blogging - Web Logging Made Easy

2007-11-03T01:16:00.000-07:00

Web logging has always been a fun activity to do - to generally of people who love to express their thoughts and ideas in the online area. However, when web logging becomes a commercialized thing and competitive, the fun and excitement to have it done and made becomes a bit anxious to realize. But, since because this is a reaction that all web loggers should deal with, better yet make it a little less burdensome for web loggers by having these simple steps to do in order to web log.

a. There are more and more web log sites that you can choose from that makes it easier for you to customize your design and web log entries. If you happen to have a very complicated and hard to use web log designer, then it is time for you to re-think about using it and have your web log made or created on a much better and a lot easier form. All you need to do is to make sure that you have all the options to choose from and choose the better one.

b. Plan your layout and design based on your targeted market. The design may be a little less significant to think about on your perspective but I am telling you, there are a cluster of people who basically are mesmerized by the design that it magnets them to keep on coming back to visit the web log site. Another equally important is the layout plan of your web log site. You need to make sure that all aspects of your web log site are strategically positioned. I am basically talking about where to place your contents, your graphics, your banner ads, your comment boxes and all sorts.

There are yet so much to discover about how to web log and the ideas are just so overwhelming. Nonetheless, it is important to remember that web logging is about you and yourself. If you know this by heart, all else will follow.

Get Your Business Noticed with Blogging

2007-11-01T01:04:00.000-07:00

Blogging has become an incredible online marketing tool for businesses of all sizes. A business can save thousands of dollars in paid advertising expenses while gaining valuable exposure and traffic. Blogs are a user-friendly, customizable and flexible medium for effective positioning of your products in the market. Businesses using blogs to promote their business have a definite edge over their competitors and are seeing a number of advantages. To get that advantage, however, they do require careful planning and effective marketing.

Blog postings are appearing in search engine results faster than other website content. Post submitted through blogging tools like Blogger and WordPress are being fast tracked to search engine results. This means more backlinks for your business website and quicker, more up to date search engine placement for your business' marketing message.

Blogs support and even encourage word of mouth viral marketing. According to a recent survey, there are currently 90 million blogs with 80,000 more being added each day and 30 percent of internet users are blog readers. The very nature of the blogging space with sites such as Technorati and Digg, quickly spread blog posts to the widest audience. Posts that become popular can quickly spread across hundreds or thousands of other blogs and social interaction sites.

Customer awareness and loyalty are enhanced. Having a open dialogue with your customers creates trust and loyalty among them. The ability to respond, almost in real time, to customer questions and comments makes them all the more willing to try your products and services.

Feedback can be instantaneous. Businesses can use blogs and their related comments for product research and to solicit reviews. This rapid feedback mechanism could allow a business to make product decisions based on almost real time observations of their customers' thinking and behavioral patterns.

Businesses can gain a halo-effect because the 'blogosphere' has the reputation of being a place for reasonable, friendly, helpful and most importantly, personal interactions. Businesses that can embrace the culture of the environment can help assign the same characteristics to their products and services.

Notwithstanding the benefits, like any other business website, it is important that the content be well planned and thought out. Even with the informal nature of many blogs, it is important to remember that they still reflect on the business' image, positively or negatively. The blog should reflect the values and objectives of the business as well as be reflective of the overall marketing efforts of the business.

Blogging is relatively straightforward, but to be done correctly does take effort and learning. There are several blogs dedicated to teaching people the do's and don'ts of blogging. Be aware that blogs may have themes or be community based so make sure you aware of these before putting your business name out there. The easiest way, of course, to become familiar with the tone of the blog or social community is to spend time reading posts.

Like any website there are a number of things to keep in mind. Testing, testing and testing are important to make sure the blog meets business objectives. The tone of blogs may be more subtle to detect than standard websites, requiring frequent tweaks to get it right.

Be prepared in advance for a much higher level of content posting than normal with a more static website. Blogs, to be effective, need regular, even daily, infusions of fresh content to stay relevant and keep visitors' attention.

As with a standard website, be aware of legal issues, disclaimers, notifications, copyright issues or other issues relevant to the business. The informal nature of blogs, as well as the higher volume of updates can create compliance issues if not carefully monitored.

Finally, once a business decides to invest in blogging, there are great ways to spread the word about the new blog. To get the best marketing results, it is essential to actively promote your business blogs through blog search sites and directories. Promotion and submissions should be consistent with your products, services or the theme of the blog to be most effective. Adding exclusive or member's only information can also increase the likelihood that casual browsers will invest the time to follow the business' postings.

Promotion of the blog can be almost automatic be creating and promoting Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds in conjunction with the blogs. Individuals and other, related, websites can view and display blog postings directly from their own websites or personal news readers. This allows the blog poster to essentially push posts to reader's desktops instead of relying on them to visit the originating blog site.

Since search engine placement is essential for traffic volume the blog should make effective use of keyword phrases. Blogs are by definition very content heavy website, which afford amble opportunity to generate keyword rich copy. Keywords should be selected to ensure that relevant traffic is directed to the business blog.

Japanese "Kaizen" Principles for Blogging

2007-11-01T01:02:00.001-07:00

In the world of Japanese management style, Kaizen means “change for the better” or “improvement”. Kaizen refers to the workplace strategy calls for never-ending efforts for improvement involving everyone in the organization – managers and workers alike. Generally, a Japanese management Kaizen team has two major components - maintenance and improvement. Each component has its specific functions. The maintenance function is to maintain current technological, managerial, and operating standards while the improvement function is aimed at improving current standards. These same principles can be applied to blogging. Here are ways you can apply “Kaizen” principles to blogging.

Let’s analyze Kaizen for blogging in terms of the Management and Improvement functions.

1. Management

For Kaizen, normally you should concentrate at improving the process rather than at achieving certain results. It is also a process that, when done correctly, it helps to eliminate overly hard work (both mental and physical), and teaches people on how to learn to spot and eliminate wasteful processes. A good blogger should possess the following management skills:

# Time Management
Time management helps you to work on the most worthy tasks and to get through them quickly. Time management is not some obscure notion but an important blogging strategy that can be followed to gather a huge amount of success. Many bloggers have failed because they are inefficient and time management can increase that efficiently. Knowing how to manage your time effectively will help you achieve the goals you want with the least amount of effort.

# Maximize Blogging Effectiveness
Every blogger puts a lot of effort in creating a blog and then posting content regularly but then its even more important that the content is read by many people.

# Keywords
Always try to build an understanding of the keywords used in your blog. You should also understand how your blog’s unique characteristics and how your blog can fit in with the current concerns of your audience. This understanding will help you to develop content and also target conversations.

2. Improvement

Under the improvement function, a blogger should work continuously towards revising the current standards, once they have been mastered, and establishing higher ones. Improvement can be broken down between innovation and Kaizen. Innovation involves a drastic improvement in the existing process and requires large investments. Kaizen signifies small improvements as a result of coordinated continuous efforts. Areas that require constant improvement for a blog are:

*Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via search results. A blog that is ranked higher in a search engine result page, will have more searchers visit the blog. A good blogger should always pay attention to the latest SEO techniques in order to fully optimize one’s blog for search engines. A high search engine ranking is also essential for better blog revenues.

*Writing Skills

Blogging is about writing. In order for you to publicize your blog content, you should always strive to improve your writing skills. While most people think of writers as infinitely talented, living in some rarified air denied to the rest of us, writing is a learned skill. While some people are indeed born more talented with the written word than others, most people can become better writers simply through practice. Blogging is as good a practice field as any.

*Internet Marketing

Your blog does not serve a good function if it is not marketed properly. Without the proper marketing, you may end up having limited number of readers. You should learn some basic marketing tips for your blog. Some of the basic marketing techniques are like joining a blog network e.g., mybloglog, 9rules etc, submit your blog to directories, have a contest, create links and trackbacks and many more.

Japanese "Kaizen" Principles for Blogging

2007-11-01T01:02:00.000-07:00

Fast Blogging - Tune Up Your Blog in 1-2-3 Steps

2007-10-30T03:34:00.000-07:00

When was the last time have you actually checked your web log for possible modification? Or have you realized as to when was the last time a link was added on your web log? Have you really thought about the importance or the relevance that updating has on your web log? Or you basically do not care at all?

Well, just like any machine or a gadget, your web log needs to breath and relax at times. You need to sort out and remove all the things that do not matter anymore on it that all it does is basically consume space on your web log. At times, you will need to periodically check your web log and make the necessary changes that you can on it to make it more suitable. This is an essential element that a web logger must learn to do and appreciate should he wants to have a long lasting web log. Below are some of the components on your web log that need proper tuning up from time to time:

a. Your web log interface. You need to make sure that you make a periodic change on your interface to give your visitors mesmerized every time that they make a visit on it. You may include some photos and videos to basically animate it. You can also re-design some of the background watermarks that you have and get involved with a specific theme every quarter of the year, probably.

b. Your web log content. You need to make sure that you frequently update the contents of your web log because these are the fundamental reasons that drive your potential visitors on your web log site. You can also engage into adding more links on it that discusses specific topics.

c. Your hue and color. The colors and hues on your web log say a lot about it. When the hues and colors are too dark, it may be interpreted as sadness and depression. So, if your mood is something melancholic, you can basically express that with the right hue modification.

Work From Home Through Professional Blogging

2007-10-30T03:33:00.000-07:00

Blogging is the way of the world right now. People seem to find it necessary to express their thoughts and opinions to the world. As blogging created a following, it was expected that a money making venture was to be found out of the trend. Sure enough, not just one, but plenty of ways to make money was created with the rise of blogging. Now, it’s not just about blogging. It’s about professional blogging. Learn how to make money through blogging and join the thousands who have decided to work from home through professional blogging.

PRESS RELEASE

If you have been in the blogging industry for quite some time and have attracted quite a wide network of readers, what you write in your blog will have a greater impact on your readers. When you’ve created quite a stir in Blogosphere, you can expect more opportunities to open up to you. Some companies may start approaching you to ask for “press releases” wherein you simply have to write something about their products or their company. It can be a review, an introductory post, or a story or testimonial of your personal experience with the company or their products. This would mean that your word matters to your readers that you’ve now become an advertising medium in your own right. This would also mean more money making opportunities as you work from home.

FREELANCE BLOGGING

Freelance blogging is another way to earn money as you work from home. Becoming a freelance blogger may take time, because you would have to earn credibility and built a reputation in the blogging world before your blogging services will make an impact enough to make buyers interested in you. When starting out, you can expect the pay to be small, but as you start to become known among readers, your rate as a freelance blogger will definitely skyrocket. If you think you’ve got what it takes to be a freelance blogger whose opinions readers will value, then start now! Advertise yourself on your blog and in blogging forums to let people know you’re available for hire.

AD SPACE

Offering ad space on your blog is an easy and effortless way to keep the cash streaming in as you work from home. Sign up with Google AdSense and other web advertising sites. If you think ads may clutter up your blog, then offer spaces for links. Make the most out of your site. You’ve got nothing to lose, anyway, so put up some ads and get paid per click the ads get from your visitors. The extra cash will make your work from home experience even better.

NETREPRENEURSHIP

Your blog is your space. You can do with it whatever you please. If you have some items up for sale, sell it through your blog. You can post pictures and videos of whatever it is you’re selling, and even create your own ads. You never know, you’re blogging and netrepreneurship efforts may just become a giant money making online business. Now, that’s a pretty rewarding way to work from home.

BLOG FLIPPING

Now, if your blog is so effective, you can even sell it. This venture is called “blog flipping”. You can make a lot of money from blog flipping. The more impact your blog makes, and the more readers you have, the higher the value of your blog is.

There are many other ways how to make money through professional blogging. With all these opportunities, there is no excuse not to work from home. Through professional blogging, even as you work from home, you can make your name known in the World Wide Web. A promotion certainly can’t beat that! Work from home now, and welcome to Blogosphere!

Blogging Platforms Boomers Should Know About - Pt 1

2007-10-29T04:34:00.000-07:00

What is Wordpress.com?

Wordpress with the .com is a FREE hosted blogging platform. It is built on the Worpress with the .org software (Which will be discussed in a future post). T he very important thing to remember is that if you have a domain name in this platform it will always have suffix "*.wordpress with the .com". For example, I have a couple of blogs that I have set up to stay in touch with workshop participants after a training session is completed. I find it a great advantage to have a place I can post pictures, PowerPoint slides, and word documents.

My most recent site is prevention presenters.wordpress with the .com. I am using this site to maintain helpful presentation skills tips and issues for people who are doing health prevention presentations. The site is open to the web and easy to upload pictures and handouts from past presentations I have conducted. This works well if you do not want to use a list service. However, always check with clients who are on networks to insure that they have not blocked wordpress with the .com. There are a few of my list participants who are blocked from using it. However, more are blocked using blogger.com than using wordpress with the .com.

As a result I maintain the list service and will repeat information on the blog with the bonus of adding pictures and other goodies with the widgets available and uploads you can do so easy with this powerful and easy blog platform.

Pros
1. It's FREE AND EASY
2. You do not have to find a hosting service or set up the Wordpress software on your own.
3. Word press will take care of the blog set up, backup, security and upgrades. Thus, you do not need to have any technical knowledge.
4. You can
5. You can put up to 50 mgs of photos, powerPoints, etc.
6. You can post videos from YouTube, Google, and VodPod(beta)
7. They have one of the most boomer-friendly help documentation I have ever read.

Cons
1. You are not able, at this writing, to monetize your wordpress.com blog.
2. You don't have many themes to choose from for your blog
3. Your blog url will always contains the *.wordpress.com suffix. i.e, prevention presenters.wordpress with the.com

So if you want to quickly create a blog and you are not concerned about putting adsense ads on it wordpress can work for you. I strongly suggest however that since you must use the wordpress with the.com suffix that your create links for folks to click on rather than verbalizing the name to someone and expecting them to remember.

3 Things Myspace Taught Me About Blogging

2007-10-29T04:33:00.000-07:00

1. You won't get comments unless you comment others

So many people on MySpace complain that the never get any comments, and whine and moan about how unpopular they are. Maybe if they spent their time commenting other people's profiles and pictures they would get some their self. It is the same with blogging, if you are a valuable commenter of blogs, then you will find that your blog starts to get filled with valuable comments.

2. Image is important - Fake it if you don't have it!

Why do there seem to be so many cool people on MySpace, and not in real life? Because on MySpace you can portray yourself in your best light, and even lie about who you are - who is ever going to find out, except the people that know you in real life?

Now I am not saying lie about who you are when you blogging - don't go posting phony Adsense checks or anything. But portray yourself in your best light, if you are good at something than focus your blog on that, and if people start to think you are better than you know you are -let them believe it!

3. Titles Are Important

The more friends you have on MySpace, the more bulletin entries that you get. You can't read them all - so what do you do? Well the only thing you can base them on is the title, you so read the ones with the creative titles

I Can't Believe She Did This To Me... Don't Read My Bulletin or You will Die

It is exactly the same with blogging, especially for your rss feed readers. A lot of them have many blogs that they read - so make your titles catchy, so that they cannot help but visit your blog. But then make sure you deliver with your content!

Lucrative Blogging - Essential Elements of an Effective Blog

2007-10-27T05:22:00.000-07:00

In this day of modernized method to communicate and with the propelling and rampant development of ultra modern based methodologies to communicate your ideas and opinions, the use of web logging for one is fast becoming an outlet of a person to unleash and express out their feelings and emotions. Web logging or blogging to generally of net users is not only becoming a conduit to channel their thoughts and concepts, but more productively, web logging is now becoming a better means to earn and generate income. This is the pivotal reason as to why a lot of web loggers or bloggers (the colloquial term given to people who do web logging) are enticed to do better and a lot better more to create the most effective web log. Below are some of the essential elements of an effective web log:

a. Write what is coming from your heart and deal good with it. The thoughts that you have are best conveyed when you are true and honest with what you want to write about. If you are able to speak out your mind thru your words, the inner soul to write passionately is being unleashed. It is better that as a web logger, you consolidate your ideas and write from what you think is true to you.

b. You will need some help from people to allow for your web log to generate the right exposure and popularity. You may ask your friends and your relatives to visit and check out your web log site because every click and open that your friends are doing, shall greatly affect the ranking of your web log. Besides, it is your relatives and your friends that make up the bulk source of your traffic, so why not take advantage of it and benefit from these.

Blogging Can Be Both Fun And Profitable

2007-10-27T05:17:00.000-07:00

The latest craze is blogging, which is done by many all over the internet, some for private purposes, while others use them for generating income. Blogs are often used as a tool for marketing of businesses or even individuals, and if you are one that is blogging then you probably have one goal: get people to read it. The following are three secrets to turning your blog into a popular and successful one.

Choose only the most interesting topics and present them in a uniquely creative way. Your choice of topics will greatly affect the number of people you will attract into your site. Make sure that you only write quality content into your blog. The more informative and useful your blog entries are, the more readers you draw in. Some would even bookmark you if you write well enough. Of course, you should write about topics that are related to the actual content of your website or the product or service that you are endorsing.

Learning about SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a good way to utilize the search engines which are used by most internet users to find information. If you want your blog to rank high on a search engine then you need to know how to make your entries work optimally for search engine use. The use of keywords in your entries will increase the likelihood that your entries will be discovered by a search engine user. As your entries become more search engine optimized they will draw more traffic, making your blog more and more productive.

Since search engines like new subject matter, be certain to keep your blog up to date. This will allow you to steadily scale the search engine rankings. Not to mention the fact that people will frequent your blog more if it is kept up to date. If you don't update your blog often, people might not come back to view your site. You can ensure a steady stream of readers by creating new subject matter.