Tennis Guide

Rod Laver

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:51:00 +0000

Rod Laver (born August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is a former tennis player from Australia who arguably was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years.

He is the only tennis player to have twice won all four of tennis' Grand Slam singles titles in the same year — first as an amateur in 1962 and second as a professional in 1969. He is the only male player during the open era to have won a calendar year Grand Slam. Laver has been rated as the greatest male player of all time by several experts and polls.

Playing style

Although of a slightly short stature and medium build (1.72m), Laver developed a technically complete serve-and-volley game, with aggressive groundstrokes to back it up.

As Dan Maskell put it, Rod Laver was "technically faultless, from his richly varied serve to his feather-light touch on drop volleys plus a backhand drive carrying destructive topspin when needed or controlling slice when the situation demanded it." His left-handed serve was well disguised and wide swinging. His wristy groundstrokes on both flanks were hit with topspin, an innovation in the 1960s, as was the attacking topspin lob, which Laver developed into a weapon. His stroke technique was based on quick shoulder turns, true swings, and exquisite timing.

His backhand, often hit on the run, was a point-ender that gave him an advantage. Rod Laver was very quick and mobile and had a gigantic left forearm. Rex Bellamy wrote, "The strength of that wrist and forearm gave him blazing power without loss of control, even when he was on the run and at full stretch. The combination of speed and strength, especially wrist strength, enabled him to hit ferocious winners when way out of court." At the net, he had forcing volleys, often hit as stroke volleys. Especially on the backhand, he could hit sharp underspin angles as well. Julius Heldman pointed out, "He is competent on low balls, handling them with underspin for control, but he will cream any ball at waist level or higher." He was difficult to lob, because of his springing agility, and when forced to retreat, he could come up with a vicious counterpunch.

As an amateur, Rod Laver was a somewhat flashy player, often a late starter. He had to learn to control his adventurous shotmaking and integrate percentage tennis into his game when he turned professional. In his prime, he could adapt his style to all surfaces and to all conditions. Laver had a great record in five-set-matches, often turning things around with subtle changes of tactics or by simply hitting his way out of danger. When he got into the "zone," he went for broke. Then he would, as Heldman explains, "literally jump and throw his racket at the ball with all the force he could muster, wrist and arm snapping over at the hit."

Pete Sampras

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:38:00 +0000

When one talks about the greatest tennis players of all time, only a handful of names come to mind. In terms of sheer number of championships won, perhaps no one is more deserving of the tag "the greatest ever" than Pete Sampras.

Sampras played professional tennis from 1988 to 2003 and left an indelible mark in the history of the game. He won a record 14 Grand Slam men's singles titles and finished the year as No. 1 for a record six consecutive years, from 1993 to 1998. When it came to Grand Slam events, Sampras was always at the top of his game, winning the men's singles title at Wimbledon a record seven times, the US Open five times and the Australian Open twice. He also won 11 ATP Masters Series titles. The one blemish on his record is that he never won the French Open, which is the lone Grand Slam event that eluded the superstar's grasp.

Overall, Sampras won 64 top-level singles titles and two doubles titles. He was ranked the World No. 1 for a record 286 weeks. Aside from his overall court game, he is widely regarded to have one of the best second serves in history.

From an early age, Sampras showed signs of outstanding athletic ability. The young Sampras discovered a tennis racquet in the basement of his home and spent hours hitting balls against the wall. In 1978, the Sampras family moved to
Pensacola, California and joined the Peninsula Racquet Club, where they played a great deal of tennis together. At the age of seven, it did not take long for Pete's ability became apparent. Even at that early stage, Sampras showed the beginnings of a solid serve and volley tactic that would become the hallmark of his game.

Dr. Peter Fisher, a rabid tennis enthusiast, spotted Sampras on the courts and soon became his mentor, overseeing the boy's training and tapping coaches to help him reach the next level.

In 1988, at the age of 17, Sampras had turned pro. By February 1990, he already won his first singles tournament and by August that same year, he captured his first Grand Slam, the US Open. With that victory, Sampras became the youngest-ever champion of the US Open at the age of 19 years and 28 days. The rest, as they say, is history.

Can Roger Federer Be The Best Tennis Player Ever

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:52:00 +0000

Sometimes we like someone or something so much that we want things to happen that are unrealistic. Is this type of group phsycosis happening in tennis today with Roger Federer's feats? Do we all like Roger Federer so much that we want him at all costs to be the best player ever? It's possible.

Nevertheless, as much as I like Roger Federer, his game, his tacticts, his nimbelness around the court, his fantastic eye, his fluid style, the reading of his oponents game and intentions, in spite of all those fantastic assets and all the exploits that Federer has accomplished, I have to accept math and unless math is wrong:

Björn Borg is the undisputed best player ever!

Björn Borg, retired from professional tennis at 25 years and 4 months old and had already won 61 ATP events. Among those wins are 6 Major Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon on grass, 5 of them consecutive and 6 titles at Roland Garros on clay, 4 of those titles were consecutive, which is unanimously considered as the hardest surface to win in any Grand Slam!

Borg is the only player to have won in three consecutive years both Wimbledon and the French Open. An accomplishment considered by many experts as "the most difficult double in tennis". Besides that superb feat, Borg seriously handicapped his record because, unlike most top players of the last 25 years, Borg chose not to make the journey to the Australian Open, except only once in 1974 at 18 years old!

Imagine what would have happened to the book of records, if Bjorn Borg had chosen to make the journey to the Australian Open more often or had played until the ripe old age of 32 or 34 years old like Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi did!

"23.Oct.2006

MADRID, Spain (Associated Press) - Roger Federer called himself the best player in tennis.

Nobody can argue with that.

"Well, I am the best right now," Federer said after beating 10th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez 7-5, 6-1, 6-0. "But in history, I guess we'll never know except if I break all the records there are, but there's still a long way to go."

Roger Federer certainly does not know, because:

Today 23.Oct.2006 Roger Federer who many mistakenly claim to be the best player ever, at 25 and 3 months, one month short of Björn Borg's retirement age, has won "only" 43 ATP events and is rapidly running out of time!

If we do the math Roger Federer would have to win 18 ATP events in the next 5 weeks until he reaches 25 years and 4 months, or otherwise Bjorn Borg will remain the best player ever!

Björn Borg's last serious ATP tournament attempt was Tokyo Open 26.10.81 at age 25 and 4 months. Borg played half-heartedly non ATP, WCT Monte Carlo 1982 and 1983 events, perhaps just to please the Monaco crowd since he was a resident there at the time. Björn Borg won 61 professional tournaments!

Today Roger Federer at age 25 and 3 months has won 43 ATP events!

In my mind from the best players of all time, only Rod Laver can share the honor of the best player ever with Borg. Laver is the only player ever to win twice "The Grand Slam" by winning in singles all four majors (Australian Open, French Open/Roland Garros, Wimbledon, US Open) in the same calendar year in 1962 and 1969. It ranks up at the top of tennis dominance with Björn Borg's performances.

After all I might be wrong and perhaps there is still hope for Roger Federer to be the best ever by winning "The Grand Slam" twice in the next few years! I for one believe he can.

Top 10 Places to Find the Most Popular Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:43:00 +0000

Top 10 Places to Find the Most Popular Blogs

by: Andy Wibbels

The easiest way to get acquainted with the conventions of the blog format is to start reading them. The more blogs you read, the more you'll get a feel for the depth and breadth of style and subject matter they have to offer.

Here are a few sources:

Blog Monitors

- Blogdex (http://blogdex.com/)
- Daypop (http://daypop.com/)
- Technorati (http://technorati.com/)

These three sites monitor millions of blogs every minute of every day, searching for the top key words being mentioned in blog posts or in the most popular links and sites. It's like being in a huge convention hall eavesdropping on billions of conversations at the same time. This is a fantastic way to do market research and to see what everybody is buzzing about. The collective 'hive' of blogs is often called the blogosphere. Often, links and news bubble up in the blogosphere first, even before they reach your evening television news program.

Blog Search Engines and Directories

- Blogarama (http://blogarama.com/)
- Globe of Blogs (http://globeofblogs.com/)
- The Open Directory (http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Weblogs/)

Just like web sites, there are also directories and search engines devoted to cataloging the ever-growing global network of blogs. Try searching by topic or geographic location.

Search Engines

- Google (http://google.com/)
- Yahoo! (http://yahoo.com/)
- A9 (http://a9.com/)

As usual, Google and friends to the rescue! These are the more traditional and widely known search engines. Type in some topic and the word 'blogs' and see what results come up. The more specific keywords, the more likely you are to find bloggers talking about what you're interested in.

Blogrolls

And number ten is the blogroll. Most blogs have a blogroll, which is a list of a blogger's favorite blogs and websites. If you find a blog you like, try checking out the other sites that the blogger likes. You might find other valuable sites and blogs to read. The more your read blogs, the more you'll catch the nuances and conventions that have made them the fastest, easiest, cheapest way to publish online.

Attractive Enhancements For Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:40:00 +0000

Attractive Enhancements For Your Blog
by Ken Stevenson

Deciding on a blog design solution and implementing it is certainly a sound business decision and should reward the online web site owner with a vast amount of traffic as well as paying customers. Creating a blog is simple, painless, and easy to maintain. Popular blogging sites like WordPress and Blogger offer personalized services, numerous template designs, friendly search engine rankings, and helpful tutorials. Taking advantage of these opportunistic offerings should be a component of any successful online business venture. However, there is more to a blog than simply setting it up, performing routine maintenance, and providing periodic entries. Potential customers and visitors need to have good reasons for visiting your blog and remain as regular loyalists. Several enhancements to a blog can entice and deliver more web surfers when used effectively.
One enhancement that should be seriously considered is the use of video clips. Written text is obviously important and it's the cornerstone of any blog, but adding the occasional video clip can only serve to magnify an online web site's existence. Stephanie Collen, an online business marketer for a major clothing firm, describes the changes when video was introduced to the retailer's site. "Our site was text driven with many pictures and it seemed to be working effectively. When we added video clips to the mix, the results were amazing. A thirty-seven percent increase in traffic and sales rose by twenty-one percent. Video clips are here to stay at our site". Video supplies and software can be found at many places on the internet.
Another blogging business tip involves the use of audio clips and should be another feature for your blog. Collen also suggests using audio as an enhancement for your blog. "When we added video to the site, audio clips were phased out. Many customers complained and the audio section was restored much to their delight. We quickly learned that sound bites sell and never go out of style. It will continue to be a part of our marketing". Adding a few audio clips at opportune spaces on your blog will increase traffic flow and yield new customers. Audio equipment, supplies, and software can also be found at many places on the internet.
If the aforementioned enhancements are too much for your budget at this time, consider using pictures as a tool for driving more visitors to your site. Visual enhancements can sell far better than text only and is appealing to virtually every visitor. Also, if you have a blogging site such as 360 Blog Yahoo, Blogger, or WordPress, you can insert custom-made graphics . Graphics and photo editing software can easily be found with an internet search. Be sure to use the tools that meet your standards.
A blog design solution that incorporates stunning enhancements will make every blogging experience a rewarding endeavor. By using video, audio, and graphical improvements, your online business blog will witness a surge in visitors and customers.

About the Author
About the author: Ken Stevenson is a charter member of Earners Guild. For more information about a blog design solution, visit Earners Guild, where you'll find step-by-step video training for anyone interested in starting or growing an online business.

Paid Blogging: Is This A Scam?

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 23:53:00 +0000

Paid Blogging: Is This A Scam?
By Daniel McGonagle

For those of you who are new, this is the time to start making money through blogging. Profiting from paid blogging is rewarding not only for bloggers, but for advertisers as well. The controversy with paid blogging is more of an issue of the trust a reader has in the blog they read. One of the great things about paid blogging is that the offers/opps give you some great writing prompts. Well there is no doubt in my mind that paid blogging is here to stay and it will definitely have the potential to create many future bloggers who are paid for their writing. Blogging has becoming a way for regular “Joes” to generate an income. Profiting from paid blogging is rewarding not only for bloggers, but for advertisers as well.
Blogging
A new form of online advertising has emerged in the form of paid blogging. The three most important websites associated with paid blogging are ReviewMe, PayPerPost and SponsoredReviews. Thus, while in the case of ReviewMe, advertisers select and contact bloggers, in case of PayPerPost, bloggers themselves make their offers to advertisers after selecting from the posted blogging opportunities on PayPerPost website. If they meet advertiser's conditions they are awarded blogging reviews. But if you're going to make a career outof blogging, you've got to earn money -- enough to live on -- doing it.
Here, paid blogging is a respected job and many rewrite 10-15 posts daily to make ends meet. Like it or not, paid blogging is here to stay.
Tired of failing at making money online? Visit my blog to get a free email course and report http://firsthandmarketingreviews.blogspot.com

Make Money Blogging; Blogging to the Bank 2.0 Review

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:59:00 +0000

Make Money Blogging; Blogging to the Bank 2.0 Review
by CL Talbert

Affiliate marketing has become a lot tougher as advertising costs keep going up. One can easily go broke using pay per click search engine marketing sites such as Google AdWords and Yahoo. When these costs get too high you need a solution. How can you find an easy and low cost way to promote your products with out a website? Blogging is a great way to do just that.
Rob Benwell, the author of Blogging to the Bank 2.0, knows what it is like to nearly go broke advertising other people's products. He decided to ignore what all the gurus were saying and do things his own way using a low cost blog. What he calls his "underground techniques" resulted in $1,000 a day in sales. He is now sharing these techniques with affiliate marketers in his latest EBook, Blogging to the Bank 2.0.
This EBook will teach you several different ways to make money blogging such as, how to create cash on demand without a product or a website. He also explains why you should make sure you own your own blog and which hosting company you should use if you are just starting out. He has laid out the most successful step by step blueprint for long term blogging success like, how you can tap into the hottest new niches that have little or no decent competition and which key phrases to target to generate the most money in as fast a time as possible.
Benwell does an amazing job explaining in simple steps how anyone can make money blogging. The information in Blogging to the Bank 2.0 has helped me learn more about blogging and what it can do for my business. If you are searching for a less expensive way to promote other people's products I suggest that you purchase this EBook. Mr. Benwell offers a 100% risk free guarantee. If you do not see a profit within the next 8 weeks he will personally refund you cost for the book.
Blogging to the Bank 2.0 is a great resource for the experienced affiliate marketer as well as the advanced. This will show you how you can save money and earn more promoting other people's products through blogging. Anyone trying to earn a living online should add this to their EBook library. For more information please visit: http://www.bttb.12w.net/

About the Author
Ms. Talbert has been an online marketer since 2003. She has sold on eBay, has been involved with SFI and numerous other Affiliate programs. Currently she writes reviews of marketing and advertising products to aid affiliate marketers and webmasters. To subscribe to her free newsletter visit: http://www.freeinformation.12w.net/. Or visit her blog at: http://cltsmarketingresources.blogsavy.com/

Major Search Engine Submission

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 19:56:00 +0000

Major Search Engine Submission
by Rose DesRochers

Bloggers often ask how to get their blog listed in the major search engines.
Here's how:
1. Submit Directly: Submit your blog via Google's free submitting form. http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
2. Submit your sitemap to Google. http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/
3. Submit your site to DMOZ, the Open Directory Project. Keep in mind that DMOZ is run by volunteers; therefore it may take some time before you are listed and a submission does not guarantee listing.
4. Get a Qualified Backlink: Get linked from a website that search engines crawl regularly and add your link to forum signatures. Google states, "Google's robots jump from page to page on the web via hyperlinks, so the more sites that link to your pages, the more likely it is that we'll find them quickly."
5. If your blog isn't already listed in Google's Blog search engine, you can submit it manually. Add your blog to Google's Blog Search. http://blogsearch.google.com/ping
It usually takes a new website about a month before it's fully indexed by Google. Google Blog Search indexes blogs by their site feeds, so be sure that you publish a site feed.
Keep in mind that, while Google dominates the web, it isn't the only search engine on the web.
Yahoo Search is one of the major search engines and directories online as well, so you are going to want to submit your blog to Yahoo's Directory. http://add.yahoo.com/fast/add?17051064
It could take eight to ten weeks before you are listed in Yahoo.
Yahoo Site Explorer allows you to explore all the web pages indexed by Yahoo Search. siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com
Submit your blog to Yahoo Site Explorer. siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit
Submit Your Feed to the Yahoo! RSS Browse-by-Topic Directory. http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/my/cgi_rss_submission
Submit your Media RSS Feed to Yahoo! Search -http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/submit?
You can submit your blog to Msn at http://search.msn.com.sg/docs/submit.aspx?FORM=WSDD
SubmitExpress.com will submit your blog free to the top 20 + Search engines.
If you don't already have a Technorati account, sign up for one at Technorati.com and claim your blog at Technorati. Technorati is a popular weblog search engine.
Bloggertalk.net offers a list of blog directories where you can also submit your blog to increase your exposure online. http://www.bloggertalk.net/blog_resources-cat-369.html
When submitting to directories, be sure to take the time to read the submission guidelines provided by each blog directory.
Getting listed in the major search engines alone doesn't guarantee traffic. Your blog content guarantees that. Update regularly, provide interesting content and the visitors will come, as will the spider bots.
About the Author
Rose DesRochers is the founder of Blogger Talk Blog Community http://www.bloggertalk.net, a friendly fast growing blogging portal, offering bloggers support, advice, tools, tips and information about blogs and blogging. Visit her blog at Rose DesRochers- World Outside My Window. http://rosedesrochers.todays-woman.net

Secrets Your Competition Does Not Want You To Know About Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:02:00 +0000

Secrets Your Competition Does Not Want You To Know About Blogs
by Karen Cook

There's just no stopping the blog! Whether you have a blog for personal reasons or for business, the blog is here to stay.
If you visit a website looking for information, chances are good there will be a blog on the site. Actually, we've been spoiled. The websites that don't have blogs look like they're missing an appendage.
The reason for this is that websites are known as being static. Updating them can be a hassle. If an online marketer doesn't have a webmaster to turn to, the prospect of getting around to doing it themselves is a little daunting.
Blogs, on the other hand are anything but static. This is why the search engines love them. Search engines love great and constant content.
Of course, the be-all-and-end-all of the great blog is that updating it is downright EASY! Who doesn't want less hassle and headaches while going about your business?
Many marketers just have blogs instead of websites. Yes, it can be done. Especially starting out.
The fastest way to get an internet marketing business up and running is to create a blog to promote your product.
Blogging about your own product or one in which you are affiliated with gets easier all the time. The blogging software is constantly changing. Users are listened to. Their concerns are noted and developers come up with new ways to make the blogging experience even better.
For free blogging platforms:
"Blogger" at https://www.blogger.com/start
"Wordpress" at http://wordpress.org/
Try working with both. It's the only way to find out which one meets your needs. And causes you to do your dance of joy.
When you have your blog set up, you'll begin writing your posts. Don't get all frazzled. Just write as if you were talking with a friend. Visitors will like you better.
What should you be paying strict attention to if you want your blog to be found anytime soon?
KEYWORDS! There isn't anything more important than keywords. You should name your child "Keyword". That's how crucial they are to online marketing.
If you choose, you can purchase superior keyword software to help you with your mission. You can find the software by putting "keyword software" in your search browser.
If the word "Free" causes your eyes to tear up, then check out:
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
http://www.goodkeywords.com/
And...never, ever stop researching keywords. It will take time but it's time well spent. You have to research what words your potential buyers are using when they are looking for information online. Single words, phrases and questions. Put yourself in their shoes. What are they thinking?
Then you will put your research to work in creating your blog.
Highly important is the title. Your keyword or phrase MUST be in your title! This is what you want the search engines to notice. When you write your post, you will use them throughout. Not so many times you come off as a raving lunatic. It has to make sense. Read everything aloud. Any glitches will catch on your tongue. It has to sound natural. If not, change it.
When you have your post written as best you can, you'll want to "ping". Yes, there are free services for your "pinging" pleasure.
http://www.technorati.com/
http://pingoat.com/
When you get to these sites, you'll find out what "pinging" is if you don't already know. Briefly, it's a way that sends a message "out there" that you have updated your blog with fresh content. Much better than smoke signals. And the search engine spiders are happy too. So you have a higher ranking.
So if you want to excel at blogging for business, there is a way to do it. And, the only way to do anything is the right way!

About the Author
To get the only information you'll ever need about creating sure-fire money-magnetizing blogs, head to http://www.clickaudit.com/goto/?62855
Karen Cook works in a Public Library where she loves helping her patrons with their blogging requests.

Blogging For Business - Great Reasons For Every Business To

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:49:00 +0000

Blogging For Business - Great Reasons For Every Business To
by: John Jantsch

If Howard Dean’s failed political campaign accomplished anything, I would say that it brought to the mainstream the use of something called a weblog or “blog” as it known in cyberspace.
A blog is really nothing more than a diary uploaded to the Internet and until about the last 12 months was the realm of the individual who saw it as a way to publish there random (and sometimes disturbed) thoughts. The great thing about weblogs, and the growing set of software that is being created to publish them, is that they are a tremendous business tool.
Weblogs allow you to create content and contact…and that is what your clients crave more than anything.
I use a program (there is a free trial version) called PMachine to publish my weblog at DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php. This program allows me to simply make many entries and updates and also allows readers to add comments. Better still, now seemingly random articles can be sorted and searched by content or subject. My weblog is more like a content management system and my readers seem to love it.
Another great reason to explore the use of weblogs is that search engines seem to love them. Within 30 days of launching my weblog it became the most visited page on my fairly high traffic website.
So what is it about blogs that those little spiders love so much?
Here’s a little secret, search engines crave content. Okay so maybe that’s not such a secret but to look at many websites you would think it so. The fact is that too many websites just sit there doing nothing that the search engines admire. Providing content, not to mention fresh content, is one of the toughest chores of anyone who maintains a website. But when it comes to generating traffic it is the most important job.
Blogs, by their very nature, are all about content. In a commercial environment every blog entry is fresh content. Get in the habit of making two, three, even four entries a week and you’ve got a content building bonanza on your hands. Everyone knows you need new content to give visitors a reason to come back; blogs just make the task so much easier.
Another advantage that blogs seem to currently possess over traditional web pages and sites is lack of competition. While the number of bloggers grows daily, there are still relatively few commercial blog sites. When I created my blog I found that it showed up in the number 3 spot in Google for the term “Marketing Weblog” within about 3 weeks of launch. Not bad considering I did nothing to make it happen.
There are a couple of other things you should do to make your weblog a traffic magnet. They aren’t really that different than tradition SEO tactics but the names and faces are unique to the blogging world.
Use targeted keywords in your entry titles
No rocket science here but this tip can’t be stated enough. Forget cute…go for titles that fit your targeted keywords and phrases…even if they seem a bit awkward. (You do have targeted keywords and phrases don’t you?)
Register with Blog Search Engines – Search engines that specialize in blogs
http://www.daypop.com/
http://www.blogvision.com/
http://www.blogsearchengine.com/
Register with Tracking Services – These services note when a blog has been updated and publish an ongoing list. They even keep track of the most updated and most visited weblogs. Plus you get to learn what pinging is.
http://blo.gs/
http://www.weblogs.com/
Trade Some Links
You don’t need to get out of control on this one but a few “relevant” swapped links to related blogs can boost your traffic.
Syndicate your content
This one is way to technical to cover here but do some research on the term RSS and you may discover ways to have your content and entries fed to sites that are hungry for the type of stuff you write. Many of the popular weblog software packages have this capability built right in.
http://www.feedster.com/
Copyright 2004 John Jantsch
John Jantsch is a marketing consultant based in Kansas City, Mo. He writes frequently on real world small business marketing tactics and is the creator of “Duct Tape Marketing” a turn-key small business marketing system. Check out his blog at http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php

Why Blog?

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 23:14:00 +0000

Why Blog?
by: Jill Hart

It seems everyone these days is talking about blogging. Everywhere I go, I find articles and forums devoted to this craze. I also have heard from many moms who are trying to figure out what a blog is and how they can use one to their benefit.The term “blog” is short for “weblog”, which just means an online journal or “log”. You can jot down personal thoughts and notes, post articles you’ve written or keep track of interesting websites you find. The sky is the limit, it seems, when it comes to blogging. A blog is something entirely of your own creation and you can use it to share your thoughts with the world, well….with anyone you can get to read it anyway.One of the main debates going on about blogs is whether blogging can be done to improve Search Engine rankings for businesses or to create a buzz about business websites. Both of these can be true if the blog is used correctly. Many resources show that once a blog is created, many times it is listed in Search Engines within 48 hours. This was true of the blog I created for Christian Work at Home Moms.These are many ways to create a blog. The easiest by far is to use one of the free tools available online, such as Google’s Blogger. You can create your blog for free using their online tools and templates(nothing to download). After you have created the blog, you can then publish your blog through them and “Wa-La” – your blog is posted online for the world to see. Once you’ve created your blog, you will need to decide how you will use it. Will it be a personal blog, full of thoughts and comments for yourself alone or maybe your family? Or will it be a business blog, with articles and tips for potential customers? If you want your blog to be found by others, blogging experts recommend that you begin by setting the title and descriptions for your blog. These are similar to the the title and descriptions you set for your website. Try to make them meaningful because they are what people will see when your blog is returned in a Search Engine. If your description is simply “my blog”, you may not draw the attention you’d like.If you are blogging in the hopes of attracting customers, make sure to use wise use of words and links in your blogs. Try to avoid the “click here” link. Instead, opt for links within descriptive sentences. Add the HTML link within the sentence and attach it to the words that are closely related to the page or site you are linking to. For example, to link to my website I would not use “click here” as my link. I would say, “Please visit Christian Work at Home Moms for home-based work resources” with the link within the text.There are many ways to get your blog noticed outside of optimizing them for Search Engines. For instance, there are entire websites devoted to listing blogs dedicated to any topic that you can think of. One of the best such websites devoted to women-created blogs, is BlogDaisy.com. You can also use free tools such a FeedBurner.com to track the traffic on your blog and to create a dynamic title box that can be used to display your blog headlines on your website or even in your email signature. Each time you update your blog, these headlines are instantly updated.There are many ways to use a blog for either personal or business use. If used correctly, a blog can be a terrific tool to inform potential customers of your business. Be sure to update your blog at least once a week so that the content remains fresh and you remain in the Search Engines.

About the Author
Jill Hart is the author/editor of Christian Work at Home Moms, http://www.CWAHM.com.

12 Reasons Why You Need A Blog

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 00:54:00 +0000

12 Reasons Why You Need A Blog
by: Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian

"Why Should I Blog? I Simply Don't Get It"This post on a popular discussion forum set me thinking - and I came up with 12 reasons you should blog.Read them and get started on your blog. Or better still, go get your blog up and running and THEN come back and read this :)

#1 - You Do Not Need To Know HTMLOne of the biggest hurdles many hopeful website creators face is they don't know to design a webpage. Blogs overcome this - all you do is type into a box, and the blog software automatically converts it into a webpage and publishes it on the World Wide Web for anyone to see.

#2 - You Are 'Forced' To Keep Your Content FreshBlogs are essentially online diaries. It doesn't make sense to write in your diary every month or two. Similarly, running a blog itself 'forces' you to update it often. And refreshing your blog often makes it more useful to readers and consumers - and by extension, to search engines who are in the business of presenting *their* clients with valuable resources.

#3 - Your Blog Is AUTOMATICALLY Optimized For Search EnginesSearch engines love fresh content. But that's not the only way blogs are powerful tools to rank high. Indeed, most blogs are structured to offer a high degree of search engine optimization. All sections of your blog are linked together. The terms used as link 'anchors' are keyword-optimized. Categories can be created to host themed content. Navigating through your blog is intuitive. Archives can be customized, and generate hundreds of pages of content that act as 'search engine spider bait'.

#4 - You Get A Built-In Linking StructureWith very few exceptions, most blogs are structured to be a tightly integrated network of links - to other sections of your blog! It's quite easy for a visitor to get 'lost' within your blog... without ever leaving it.Calendars link to posts on specific dates. 'Recent Post' listings point to your freshest content. Archives connect all your earlier posts. Search boxes let browsers look for certain kinds of content. And it all happens automatically, without you spending hours on creating a link structure or sitemap!

#5 - You Generate Multiple Content-Rich PagesEvery post you make on your blog is content. And by intelligently setting up your archiving preferences, you can turn each post into many different forms of content, each on a page of its own. Blog regularly for a few months, and you could end up having a 100+ page website - all filled with relevant, keyword-optimized, themed content!

#6 - You Can Keyword-Optimize Your Blog ExtensivelyAll parts of your blog's template can be customized. And a very powerful way to do it is by inserting relevant keywords. It's a do-it-once job that will give you ongoing benefits for as the life of your blog. You can include keywords in your blog title, description, blog post headings, trackback links, comment invitations, archive titles, and category names.

#7 - You Create An Online CommunityIf your blog is on a specific theme, you can build a loyal readership and develop an online community. You can even take it a notch higher by tying it in with a forum or membership site. Ask for comments, suggestions, ideas and feedback, or invite reader participation. Pretty soon, your blog will be growing organically - even if you don't write a lot!

#8 - You Initiate Conversations With ReadersOf course, the first step is yours - to initiate a dialog with readers. You could do it with your blog post, asking a question or by inviting comments and interaction. Your blog will be read by an audience that's already interested in your subject or theme. This conversation will be priceless to you, the blog owner.

#9 - Your 'Inbound Link' Process - TrackbacksBlogging is about distributed conversations online. Links are an integral part of such an informal network. Trackbacks are a kind of blog technology that make it possible - and simple! Your blog will benefit from the inbound links a trackback will bring, and you'll also get extra traffic from other sources.

#10 - You Can Syndicate Your Content EasilyGetting readers for your content is good. Getting your content out where many more readers can see it is GREAT! Syndication (via RSS feeds) is built in to most blogging platforms, giving you a quick and easy way to get a wide readership for your blog posts.

#11 - You're Creating Stuff Search Engines LOVESearch engines exist to offer their audience a compilation of the best resources on a subject or keyword. Your blog is the answer to a search engine's prayers! By sticking to a theme and presenting the content in an organized, structured, intuitively connected pattern, your blog will be appealing to search engines in a way only a very professionally planned and designed website can ever hope to be.

#12 - You Get 'Alternate' Traffic SourcesRemember what we saw about blogs being linked and networked together? Bloggers like to share opinions with others. And when they 'talk' about you, they are going to point to your site, or a post on your blog, to show their readers what they mean. They become 'alternate' traffic sources - for YOU! Other tools like blog rolls, furls, favorite bloggers and more can drive sporadic - but sometimes big floods - of traffic your way. And best of all, it's effortless and costs you nothing!Not yet convinced? Well, then maybe blogging isn't quite your cup of tea. But if you trust me, try it - you just might be pleasantly surprised.

About the Author
Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian is author of 'Blog Profit Ideas Exposed - 33 Ways To Profit From Blogs" - http://www.BlogProfits.com - and 'How To Profit From RSS Feeds" - http://www.RSS-Marketing.com and publishes 8 different 'niche' blogs and has been reporting on marketing with blogs and RSS feeds since 2001.

A Person Is Known By the Blog He Keeps

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 08:29:00 +0000

A Person Is Known By the Blog He Keeps
by: Abhishek Sarkar

Literature is the soul of the wit. The best source of literature can be now found in blogs. The growing trend of ‘blogmania’ is slowly sweeping the netizens. Every person aspires to have a blog as a platform to publish his thoughts and be heard and read.General surveys undertaken on blogs and bloggers shows a rising trend in blogging. A parallel platform for literary endeavor, the blogs are overthrowing the traditional journalistic norms. Publishing of news and views no longer remains the privilege of an elite minority. Anybody and everybody is free to get in touch and explore the writer within himself. The anamorphic nature of the human soul is best reflected in the blogs.http://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/2005_20_03_alphablog_archive.htmlA survey in the United States brought out a startling fact the 30% of the surveyed people read blogs. Also, 52% of the surveyed people advocate equal journalistic rights and freedom for the blogs. And the most striking fact is that 31% of the surveyed people revealed that they found blogs to be more credible than the newspapers.The growing popularity of blogs can be gauzed from the fact that Yahoo, Google, MSN, Rediff and all the other bigwigs of the cyber world are experimenting with blogs and bloggers. Both free and paid blog hoisting sites have come up which offers a plethora of tools to make blogging a breeze.MSN has even gone to the extent of making a common 'passport' database across all its services. So now, a MSN user can use his own personal 'id' across MSN messenger, Spaces and hotmail. Also, MSN has integrated its Spaces with MSN Messenger 7.0. The users of MSN Messenger 7.0 will have a tab labeled 'gleams' which will inform them when their contacts have updated their individual blogs.Recent statistics from MSN shows that MSN has 170,000 daily blog updates. This number is huge considering the fact that most of the bloggers do not update their blogs on a daily basis.The Literature of the new era is no longer limited to books. From Poems to Features, from Humor to Short Stories, everything can be found in the blogs.http://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/2005_27_03_alphablog_archive.htmlhttp://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/2005_03_04_alphablog_archive.htmlThough good blogs are a trifle to find, yet close scrutiny will reveal every blog to be good in its own personal aspect. After all, blogs are a slice of the blogger's life and every one's life is a good source of learning experience.http://alphablog.rediffblogs.com/This also opens up the teaching value of blogs. Blogs can be a mirror of life, culture and society. What can be a better teacher than one with a plethora of experiences to offer on a silver platter?
About the Author
Abhishek Sarkar works as an Executive Content Developer and Analyst. He is currently associated with Alpha Blog.

Blog Your Business

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Sat, 26 May 2007 16:25:00 +0000

Blog Your Business
by: Angela Booth

Does your business need a blog?A blog is a Web log, an online journal. Blogs started out asonline diaries, in which diarists shared their everyday liveswith the world. From their beginnings as a weird Web fad in 1998,blogs have moved on, and are well on the way to becoming astandard business tool.Why? Because in February 2003 Google.com bought Pyra Labs, thecompany which owns the Blogger weblogging tool. Blogger.com, one of the main sites providing blog software and hosting, boasted amillion hosted web logs in early 2003. Google.com's interest in blogs indicates that blogs aremainstream. A blog help your business in many ways, depending onwhether you create a private or a public blog. Blogs are souseful that you'll want to create both.=> Your business's private, internal blogThese days, no one works alone. Even if you're a solo businessoperator, you have colleagues --- partners, contractors, andsuppliers with whom you communicate daily. A private blog makesworking with a group easier, because you can streamline yourinteractions, saving time and energy.A private blog can contain notes to yourself, or to colleagues.It's a place to store information and tips that might not warranta special email message. You can post information like meetingnotes, project tasks and summaries, and updated price lists. Youcan also post links to large files --- no need to email, fax, ormail them to and fro.Your blog is more useful than email, because blog postings aredated, and easily searchable. You can post a message you wanteveryone to read, and the message stays on the blog. With email,you read and delete, or read and forget.If you've worked on a project with someone in another state or onthe other side of the world, you've blessed email, because itmakes sharing information so easy. Using a blog to shareinformation is even easier than using email. => Your business's public blogA business blog is a marketing tool. A blog can add value to yourWeb site, or it can take the place of a Web site. Look on it as acombination "What's New" Web site page, and an online journal.Because of a blog's freewheeling nature, it's friendly andrelaxed.If you don't have a site, your blog's a place to put your onlineCV, portfolio and client list. You can, and should, use your blogto express your personality and expertise. If you have a Web site, your blog page builds loyalty, becauseif you provide interesting content, your visitors will return toyour site. And because it's a Web page, your blog will appear onsearch engines, attracting new clients.Google has been treating blogs differently from other Web pagesfor a couple of years. Whereas it takes a standard Web page/ sitea month to be indexed by Google, blogs are indexed daily. Thismeans that your blog is mega-cheap advertising. You can postsomething on your blog and have it indexed by Google within aday. Will creating a blog help your business? As I suggested in thearticle: "Get Googled And Build Credibility", because Google.comis so popular and indexes so comprehensively, if you focus someof your marketing and promotion time on getting your name out onthe Web, you're building your credibility, both online andoffline.(You can read the complete article in the newsletter archives at: http://www.digital-e.biz/newsletter.html --click the Archive button on the Newsletter page.)So go ahead, blog your business!=> Blog resources <= Blogger -create your own free blog(s) www.blogger.com Bloggerprovides a template for your blog, and makes adding to your blogas easy as writing an email message. The "Post" and "Publish"buttons on the interface update your blog.Weblog.com --- recently updated blogs: http://www.weblogs.com/w.bloggar --- http://wbloggar.com/ A clever and useful littlefreebie to write and format your blog posts offline, thenautomatically post them when you go online. Angela Booth's Digital-e Blog: http://www.digital-e.biz/blogger.html ***Resource box: if using, please include*** Veteran multi-published author and copywriter Angela Booth craftswords for your business --- words to sell, educate or persuade.E-books and e-courses on Web site. FREE ezines for writers andsmall biz: http://www.digital-e.biz/

About the Author
Writer, journalist and author Angela Booth has been writing for print and online venues for over 25 years. She also writes copy for businesses.

Blogosphere Networking

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Tue, 22 May 2007 05:12:00 +0000

Blogosphere Networking
by: Thom Singer

Blogosphere Networking Blogging seems to be taking over the world, or at least everyone seems to be talking about blogs. However, there are a surprisingly large number of people who have no idea of blogs, blawgs, blogsphere, etc....I was recently at a social gathering with some very educated and sophisticated individuals. In the conversation I mentioned my new book (“Some Assembly Required: How to Make, Keep and Grow Your Business Relationships” and my blog (“The Business Development / Networking Blog”). Everyone immediately understood the concept of a book.....but the idea of a blog created many a puzzled face.I was asked a lot of questions (some folks had heard of blogging, others had not). The following are the top questions, and my feeble attempt to answer them:1. Why did you start your blog?I started it as an experiment to help educate myself about blogs. My company is interested in having an industry focused blog, and I decided to take it upon myself to jump into the blogosphere and get my feet wet. In addition, I write a recurring column for Professional Marketing Magazine, and I thought that regularly writing a blog would give me some good practice and help me uncover themes for future articles. I also felt I could use it to help promote my new book.2. Has it been worth it?Yes!!! On all three of the above reasons I have exceeded my goals. I now understand the commitment involved if we create an industry blog. I have already created a lot of positive material that can later be turned into articles for my marketing column. AND.....I have sold a bunch of copies of my new book .....even before it is released.3. Are all blogs the same?NO. There are as many types of blogs are there are writers. I have categorized them into three types, but I am sure others would have arguments about these areas:A. Corporate Blogs. These are hosted by companies to promote their products and services or to communicate with clients.B. Philosophical / Content Blogs. In this type, an individual (or group of individuals) writes on a specific topic and shares their opinions with the readers. Topics can range from business to sports to politics to religion, etc.... I would put The Business Development / Networking Blog in this category. The blogs from which I learn the most are philosophical/content blogs.C. Diaries. In these blogs people record their daily experiences the way one would write in a diary. Some of these can be quite entertaining, as they allow the voyeur in each of us to look into someone else's private world. However, reader beware...some of these can reveal a bit more than you want to read (or see).4. Why would I want to read blogs?They are a great way to discover information on any particular topic or variety of ideas. Many bloggers have very good sources of information and they certainly have opinions. As with any media source, you need to beware of the authors intent and ulterior motives. Also, blogs can just be interesting to read.5. What have you learned from writing your blog?Like the term "World Wide Web" only a decade ago, "Blogs, blogging and the blogosphere" are the new new thing, and are not just a "fad". If people are not yet aware of blogs, they will be soon. More and more blogs are created every day and blogs will soon touch everyone who surf the internet. Having your own blog, however, is not for everyone. You must be committed to writing on a regular basis, and not shy about sharing your opinions. I have learned that a blog can go stale if you do not make posts on a regular basis.I also learned that when you blog, you are actually networking. At first it seemed like this was one sided, until I began to hear from people who were regularly reading my blog. I have developed new friendships with many bloggers who write about similar topics. Often one blogger will email another with a compliment or suggestion, and they will begin to correspond regularly. Just like any other type of business friendship, the relationship grows over time. This blog-networking leads to mutual understanding and respect between the bloggers and then can lead to business relationships and referrals.6. Should I start a blog?That is a question every person will have to answer for himself/herself. Iwould suggest you begin by reading other blogs and getting familiar with what is out there in blog-land. If you believe that you have something to say...then by all means, start a blog. But remember to be patient and persistent. Like writing a book, it takes time and there is no guarantee that you will become widely read. However if you are dedicated, you will uncover many unexpected benefits from your blogging experience.If you are interested in easily learning about blogs, I suggest you start by reading the posts and links in the series called “31 Days to Better Blogs" at www.problogger.net, hosted by Darren Rowse. This is the best collection of advice to the experienced and novice blogger.Don’t forget to read my blog at www.thomsinger.blogspot.com.
About the Author
Thom Singer is the author of "Some Assembly Required: How to Make, Keep and Grow Your Business Relationships" (www.thomsinger.com ), and write "The Business Development / Networking Blog" (www.thomsinger.blogspot.com )

The Secrets of Corporate Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:15:00 +0000

The Secrets of Corporate Blogging
by: Karoline White

Web logs, popularly known as blogs, have become one of the hottest communication tools on the Web. Offering the opportunity for anyone to create their own free Web site, encouraging opinions and interaction, blogs provide forums for individuals to create their own highly personal presentations to the Web audience, and for consortia of all types to experience the sort of online community feeling that was pioneered by early newsgroups and by the phenomenal success of AOL in the 1990s.Blogs have reached into the corporate and government sectors as well. A prominent federal magazine suggests that some company employees spend more time blogging than on personal e-mail, an average of over an hour a day. What started out as an outlet for teenage expression and grassroots journalism has turned into a lucrative communications tool for small and large businesses alike. General Motors’ Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, turned to the company’s blog when rumors surfaced about the discontinuation of the Pontiac and Buick brands. It became a means for a direct response, a way to talk to their consumers unfiltered. Other companies such as Sun Microsystems and Microsoft are also recognizing the impact of blogging in their relationships with their customers and employees. In an article dated June 5, 2005, The Washington Post proposed that there were more than 100 official corporate blogs in existence, with hundreds more on the horizon.Although the a major newspaper called blogging “ephemeral, fast-paced and scathingly opinionated,” blogs continue to grow steadily in the corporate world and companies are realizing their value.Corporate BloggingInternal CommunicationCorporate Blogging refers to a company producing or supporting a blog that it uses to accomplish business objectives. A blog can serve many purposes in a corporate setting. Internally, a blog can be a forum for discussion about work-related issues. The informal atmosphere is encouraging to internal corporate communication. From small-scale discussions to virtual “town meetings,” in which employees at all levels feel that they can be heard, blogs promote collaboration and knowledge sharing.Blogging can help establish a company or employee as an expert in their field. By posting information about a certain topic, a person exhibits their knowledge of the subject matter, setting himself up as an authority. People will come to equate the site and the author with that topic. This reputation for subject mastery and expertise can boost your sales and consumer opinion.A blog can be an interactive addition to an intranet or e-mail newsletters. Since automatic update notification is possible on blogs, people are more likely to stay on top of the latest postings.Public CommunicationBlogs can be used to communicate to prospects, clients, employees and the media. Press releases and project updates can be posted, as well as job opportunities or information that the company wants to distribute outside of the normal news channels.A blog can strengthen the bonds between the company and its customers. When a company presents itself honestly and transparently, it not only builds trust, but instills loyalty as well. Customers are more likely to work with a company they feel they know better than another. Blogs allow for that informal communication. They create good word-of-mouth among customers who don’t read the trade magazines or business pages. The nature of a blog fosters that image of transparency and openness for a company. Most people prefer companies who are honest in their dealings and frank about their issues. As seen in the media with the Dan Rather case, a blog can illuminate the truth through encouraging people to share what they know. Blogging also reflects forward thinking. By staying current with the technological trends, you give your company a fresh image.A blog can serve as a recruiting method. Interested job seekers can examine the company by reading its blog.When testing a new product or service, a blog is an excellent place to give more detailed instructions or receive feedback.Although, comments can be negative. Not everyone will agree with what is said on a blog. Instead of preventing them, welcome the constructive criticism and edit comments only to remove profanity and personal attacks.The Down SideThere are some drawbacks to blogging. It is not a magic solution to your business needs. Many people feel that blogging popularity is much like the Internet in the 90's, a promise of money, but not necessarily delivery.Blogging can lead to legal issues as well. Companies have real concerns about liability, exclusions and limitations, and indemnity. Although there are laws that protect against libel, misappropriations and other injuries suffered as a result of posts on the Web, companies can be held vicariously responsible for statements made by employees that are harmful to others.In any medium where an employee is sharing information, there is the possibility of leaking trade secrets or financial information. Former Google employee Mark Jen was famously fired for gabbing about life at the company on his personal blog, not sanctioned by Google.Like all essentially unfiltered communication, blogs can get personal. Many bloggers feel the need to discuss their personal lives as well as their professional ones. Companies must be careful not to stifle communications by keeping personal lives out of the workplace. By doing this, they risk closing down the lines of communication entirely.Inevitably, a disgruntled employee may use this as an opportunity to badmouth the company. This is not limited to blogs, since an unhappy employee has a variety of mediums through which to vent his disapproval. Blogs just make it easy. The content may not have enough substance to warrant or hold an audience. Some companies fill their blog with marketing fluff. People can see right through this and will most likely ignore the site. Blogs should be used for transparency, not shameless self-promotion.Best PracticesFine Print. Since there are so many legal issues surrounding blogs, it is imperative that the site has some sort of disclaimer and limitation of liability.Know What You’re Doing. Senior management should be educated by the corporate communications and legal department about what blogs are and how they might affect business.Create blogging policies. A company should have a list of policies regarding blogging to ensure that trade secrets are kept secret and personal lives do not become public. Policies may include keeping financial information from being posted, as well as severe consequences for anyone using the blog for negative publicity. Avoid the Marketing Blog. Making your blog into a blatant marketing campaign is a bad idea. Customers are looking for real answers and honest opinions. They will pick up on insincerity instantly.Keep It Fresh. Make content relevant and timely. Update the blog as often as possible with the most worthwhile news. This will encourage people to come back.Reinforce the company’s core values. Then, make sure the content fits these values and supports the business strategy.Encourage employees to use it, but remind them of the ramifications of their actions.Free versus Paid ProductsWhen creating a blog, there are hundreds of services and software from which to choose. The first decision to make is whether to go with a free service or pay for one. For paid services, the cost varies depending on the features used. The basic hosting fee for a domain is anywhere from $5 to $15 a month. The domain name will need to be registered yearly, which can cost $5 to $35. This does not include the software, which may also have to be purchased.While free services offer the basic necessities of blogging, paid services are usually more desirable since they have more to offer. With a free service, the company offers a free site, but it may contain advertisements to offset the cost of maintenance. A paid site will not have any advertisements. Most free services have a variety of templates to choose from for the look of the site, but paid services offer highly customizable designs.In addition to the basic functions, paid blogs offer the ability to upload photos and images and tailor links on the site. They also offer better security and allow the creator to censor or control comments. Paid sites normally lead to a higher search engine ranking. They enable the creator to configure search output and there are fewer restrictions placed on paid sites.Paid news aggregators will often keep a list of recently updated blogs and will rank them, showing new sites and newly added photo albums.For a simple blog, any free service will do, but to get a truly customized and highly functioning product, it will take paying something for it.RSS FeedsWith the rising popularity of blogs, it has become increasingly time-consuming to keep track of ones that are of interest. No one has time to check each and every favorite blog every day to search for new content. RSS feeds have become the solution. RSS feeds are small XML files that contain a headline, date/time and description and link to information published on a blog. When used along with a feed reader, or news aggregator, they give an update on the newest content that has been added to a blogging site to a subscribed user.RSS was developed in several different versions, each with a different meaning. RSS can stand for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary, depending on the version used. All versions do the same thing, though. They provide a summary of information. They send a blog’s highlights to subscribers instantly upon publication. RSS feeds save the user from having to visit the site for updates.To receive RSS feed, a user must have a feed reader, also commonly referred to as a news aggregator. This can be software, a Web-based service, extension or built into a browser. It essentially takes the XML code and translates it into readable information. When the “update” button on the feed reader is clicked, it searches all of the subscribed sites’ RSS feed for new information.Having a RSS feed greatly increases the traffic to a blogging site because it provides an easy way to keep an audience abreast of the latest developments. Once someone is a subscriber, he will continue to be involved in the site. RSS also makes it easier for someone to add a site as a link onto their own site.Blogging inherently encourages communication and the transfer of ideas. Blogging lets businesses extend their reach and strengthen consumer loyalty, as well as get people talking about their product. It's a matter of perception, encouraging integrity and strengthing relationships in the corporate world. Blogging has become the trademark of forward thinking companies, willing to suffer a few stings in order to get to the benefits it has to offer. About the author:Karoline White is a Content Developer at Brook Group, a Web site design firm near Washington, DC. For more articles, visit . For more information about the author, visit .

7 Questions To Ask Yourself BEFORE Starting A Business Blog

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Sun, 13 May 2007 08:09:00 +0000

7 Questions To Ask Yourself BEFORE Starting A Business Blog
by: Priya Shah

Blogging is the latest buzzword in online marketing and PR.
But with so many marketers jumping on the blogging bandwagon, few people are giving a thought to whether blogs are really up their alley, or taking the time to consider the best ways of going about it.If you are planning to start a business blog, ask yourself these questions before you take the final plunge.1. Do you really need a blog?Writing and maintaining a blog takes a certain degree of commitment, as well as a passion (or at least a liking) for stringing words into a decent sentence. If you don't enjoy writing that much, you could always create an audio or video blog.But would your business objectives really be served by starting a blog? Or could other methods of online marketing - like SEO, ezine advertising or newsletter publishing work just as well, if not better?2. Whom do you want to reach with your blog?The first step to reaching your audience is understanding where they go to find information about your products.If your audience largely consists of people who live in your town or use products that they search for in the newspapers, offline advertising might be more suited to your purpose.If however, your target audience belongs to one or more of these segments, a blog might be just the thing to boost your business.- Internet usersDoes your target audience really use the internet? If not, then starting a blog (or any online activity, for that matter) will just be a huge waste of time and effort.- Blog readersDoes your target audience read blogs? Or do they prefer to get their information in their inbox? If the latter is true, then an email newsletter might be a better option than a blog.- Search engine usersA blog is an excellent way to boost your search engine rankings and get listed for a lot of your target keywords. If you know that your audience uses search engines to find information, a blog will increase your chances of getting their attention.3. What do you want to achieve with your blog?There are a lot of things that a blog can do for your business. Blogs can help you -- Increase your visibility and search engine rankings- Brand yourself, your products, your services, your company- Build a community and network with people who have similar interests- Expand your reach to those outside your current sphere of influence- Establish your credibility as an expert or thought-leader in your field - Put a human face on your business- Reach out to potential customers and stakeholdersDeciding exactly what you want to achieve with your blog can help you get focused, so that you can spend your time and effort in activities that help, not hinder your business objectives.4. How much time can you spend on your blog?Serious business bloggers not only spend time writing their own blogs, but also spend a great deal of time reading up on current events and browsing other blogs in their field for information.If you are prepared to put in the time and effort required to do that sort of research, your blog will serve as a good branding tool for your business.If not, you should either hire someone to do the research or seriously rethink your decision to start a blog.5. What blogging platform will serve your needs best?Deciding your blogging platform is an important step that you should take only after becoming familiar with the features and benefits of each option.The reason it is so crucial is because it can be extremely difficult to migrate an established blog to a new platform once you have started it. Moving your blog can result in you losing your data, search engine listings and readers, so don't take this decision lightly.Decide which platform will best meet your marketing objectives, time constraints and personal preferences before you make your first post.According to T.L. Pakii Pierce who writes at "How to Blog for Fun & Profits!" http://blogforfunandprofit.blogware.com, if you are short of time, and want to spend more time writing, then a hosted solution like Blogger, Blogware, Squarespace or Typepad might serve your purpose better.This might also prove a better option if you want to get started as soon as possible, are new to the internet, or are unfamiliar with scripts or code.If, on the other hand, you're a control freak (like me) and don't mind spending some time and effort to customize your blog, then a server-installed software, like Wordpress, b2Evolution or Movable Type might be just right for you.If you don't want to install the scripts yourself, choose a hosting solution with Fantastico, which comes with a one-click install of a number of blogging software.6. How do you plan to promote your blog?Why is it good to know this before you start your blog? Because it will help you decide where best to invest your time and effort when you need to build traffic to your blog.You'll learn more about the methods to promote your blog when you subscribe to the email course below. Some of these tasks can be outsourced, while others you would have to do yourself.Decide what you want to take on and look out for service providers to handle the other functions so you can start building traffic to your blog as soon as possible.7. How will you assess the success of your blog?To determine how successful your blog is in boosting your profile or profits you will have to measure your blog traffic and track sales or leads that have come through it.Planning this in advance will help you take more informed decisions about your blogging metrics, choice of blogging platform and degree of customization you require on your blog.Understand that blogging is not for everyone. It's just another form of communication.Don't get so hung up on the technology that you end up ignoring more appropriate ways of communicating your message.Some things may be easier to communicate face to face, in a conference room, or even through the good old telephone.But if you asked yourself all the questions above and decided that blogging meets all your objectives, then a blog may be just what the doctor ordered for your business.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Priya Shah is a former journalist who writes on business blogging and publishes an internet marketing newsletter. Subscribe to her free eCourse on Blogging for Marketers

Should Bloggers be Helping Google Fix Their PageRank System?

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Wed, 09 May 2007 21:19:00 +0000

Should Bloggers be Helping Google Fix Their PageRank System?
by: Linda J Bruton

By now, most bloggers have heard the announcement that the Big 3 search engines - Google, Yahoo, and MSN - have united in support of a new tag that will supposedly combat comment spam. The new tag is a nofollow attribute that can be added to links. When added to links in comment tags, the search engines will ignore them.
An excellent discussion of this new tag and how it works can be found at Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Watch: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050118-204728
Google announced the new tag in a 1/18/2005 post to their own blog: http://www.google.com/googleblog/
And Microsoft added their support to the new tag in this post: http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch/archive/2005/01/18/nofollow_tags.aspx
At first blush, anything that can help cut down the comment spam that most bloggers are daily subjected to would seem to be a good thing. It can be pretty upsetting to access your blog in the morning and find 50 junk comments with links to casino, adult, and pharmacy sites. If your blog has any PageRank, you can expect to find more of this garbage polluting your site every day. Fighting the spread of comment spam has become a necessity.
But after first cheering the proactiveness of the search engines, many bloggers have stepped back and taken a closer look and they don't like what they see. You can read a sampling of their thoughts at Search Engine Watch Forum: http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=3797
Brian Turner's incisive article "New Nofollow Tag Cheers Bloggers but Fails Blogs" discusses some of the potential abuses of the new nofollow tag: http://www.platinax.co.uk/news/archives/2005/01/new_nofollow_ta.html
And Jim Pryke's article "Bloggers Cheer Google As Their Search Rankings Plummet" makes it very clear that not only will this NOT stop comment spam. But it will actually hurt bloggers as a community: http://netinstitute.com/archives/2005/01/20/bloggers-cheer-google-as-their-search-rankings-plummet
For an hilarious take on the new tag and how it will get abused, be sure to take a look at Link Condom: http://www.linkcondom.com
I have to agree with these bloggers that the nofollow tag won't even put a dent in the problem of comment spam. You have to realize that the comment spammers who cause the most problems are the ones who use automated bots to spread their spam onto every blog they find. The fact that they find a blog using the nofollow tag won't stop the bot from posting. If you have a popular blog, you'll still wake up every morning to find 50 casino/pharmacy/adult ads on your blog. You'll still have to spend the time deleting those posts to clean up your blog.
You see, the problem to bloggers isn't that those comment links pass PR. It's the fact that those spam posts make your blog look like garbage. Whether the links pass PR or not isn't the big issue for bloggers. It's the time it takes to get rid of unwanted comments and the detraction to their sites. The nofollow tag won't do a thing about that problem. You'll still have the problems, even if you use the tag.
Think about this: how effective have email filters been in stopping email spam? As most of us know, they've hardly done any good at all. Email spam becomes a bigger problem every day. Spammers really don't care if some of their emails are blocked. They just send more of it to compensate. The same will be true of the automated comment spam bots.
The fact of the matter is, there are already much better tools in most blogging software to fight comment spam AND save the time and effort of the blogger at the same time. There are already a number of plugins for WordPress, Moveable Type, and other blogs. There will undoubtedly be more in the future. These tools are already more effective at fighting comment spam than this nofollow tag will ever be.
What is unfortunate is that the people the nofollow tag will really hurt is bloggers themselves. Traditionally, bloggers have read and commented in each other's blogs. And these comments have added value. When I write an article for my blog, I love it when other bloggers take the time to add their insights on the topic I'm discussing. These comments add content to my site and continue the discussion. This is one of the reasons blogs are so easy to grow into topic-specific information-rich sites that are popular with readers. Unlike static sites, they offer two-way communication between reader and blogger. They become communities.
When someone adds this kind of value to my blog, I am more than happy to give them a link to their blog that passes PR. That will help them build the readership of their own blog, grow the community even larger, and add to the richness of the discussion. These are exactly the kinds of links that any webmaster should want on their site!
Adding a nofollow tag to comments can only quash this discussion. It can only discourage commenters with the most to contribute from taking the time to add to the discussion. After all, if the time I spend on another blog doesn't contribute to the growth of the blogging community as a whole or aid in the visibility of my own blog, am I going to spend as much time and effort doing it?
Anything that decreases the open flow of discussion currently enjoyed in the blogging community is a bad deal for bloggers.
The question that should be asked is this: why is comment spam so profitable? After all, if it weren't profitable, so many people wouldn't be going to such ridiculous lengths to do it.
The answer to this is obviously Google's link-heavy PageRank algorithm that forces webmasters to get every link they can to get their site's indexed and ranked. Most webmasters know that in order to get ranked in Google, they had better have a ton of links to their site.
That's the problem with PageRank as an algorithm. It encourages artificial linking between sites that no longer has any relevance whatsoever to the goal of providing good resources to visitors. Do we really believe that most reciprocal link directories provide a resource to our visitors? Not likely! If websites are real estate, reciprocal link directories are the slums, the seedy bars and tattoo parlors on the edges of polite society.
Whole businesses have sprung up as a reaction to PageRank. I'm talking about the link auction and link selling sites. Under the PageRank system, sites aren't being ranked by who provides the best content, but by who has the deepest pockets to buy the most links. Or, in the case of comment spammers, whoever wants to spread their bots all over the internet spamming blogs. This system has over time totally skewed the natural linking between sites that once dominated the internet - the very thing that Google's PageRank system is supposed to reward.
Ironically, blogs are one of the few places left on the web where linking is actually about providing good content to visitors and rewarding value provided on other sites. Bloggers as a group are the most likely to link to sites because of the content value to their visitors. Their links are very likely to be very topic specific. You don't find that on other sites. These are the kinds of links that I would assume Google would want to encourage through their PageRank system, not those junky reciprocal link directories or purchased links.
It would seem to me that the only effective way to cut down on comment spam and all the artificial linking techniques Google purportedly wants to thwart is not by making life harder for bloggers - the very people who link in the most relevant fashion. But at taking a second look at their own PageRank system and whether it is really serving the usefulness of their own search engine and the whole web in 2005.
About The Author
For more tips and ideas on how to make money blogging, be sure to visit my "Why Marketers Should Blog" weblog at (what else) http://www.WhyMarketersShouldBlog.com.

Making Money With Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Sun, 06 May 2007 08:50:00 +0000

Making Money With Your Blog
by: Nell Taliercio

I’ve sure you’ve heard before that it’s a possibility to make money with your blog and you may be wondering how this is possible. And were they really meant for making money or just for journaling your personal thoughts? I’m not sure what they were intended for but they are great ways to make money. I have a personal blog which is just my own private little place to go online and jot down my thoughts, but I also have my business blogs. Back In The Beginning Now to be honest with you in the beginning of my blogging experience I really wasn't sure what I should do with my blog. I knew I wanted to make money with it, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know what I could do to not only be a value to others so they would come back to my blog, but that I would still enjoy writing it. So it was really important to me that I find a topic in which I would be excited about, and have enough to offer so that I could blog every week or so. After starting a blog that was meant to just be an add on to my business at MommysPlace.net and struggling with the direction of that blog, I came across one of Alice Seba’s blogs. Which she used to write about her experience through a traffic product. Every couple of weeks or so she would update her progress through this course. She would tell us all about her successes with this product and how great it was for her business. And it made me think of how I could do something similar. Product/Service Focused Blog This is when the light bulb moment went off in my head. This is when I realized what I should have been doing all along. I have been a member of a exclusive coaching program for mothers in business. Since joining this program my business has seen great success. My income has increased more then five times what it was before I joined and my traffic has increased even more then that. I enjoy and believe in this coaching program and it happens to have an affiliate program. I often got email from other work at home mothers who wanted to know my thoughts on this program. Taking a cue from Alice’s blog I decided to start my own such blog. And named it http://MomMastermindsJourney.blogspot.com - okay, not a catchy title, but I'm no good with picking names I used this blog for the purpose of documenting my successes with my business. My projects, new content added to my website, keyword phrases I was ranking for…etc. Basically anything that had to do with my business, that was directly or indirectly because of my joining Mom Masterminds, I jotted down. Not only was this the best move I could have made for my promoting this affiliate link it also served as a great way to really see for myself the successes my business was achieving and also to keep me on track. This is one way you could make money with a blog. There are other ways you could make money with a blog if you don’t want to devote a blog to one service or product you’re promoting. Side Kick Blog For instance, my blog at http://www.mommyworkingvirtually.com is a side kick to MommysPlace.net and my forums. This is a blog in which I update my members on additions to the website, newsletter and forums. Updating any important telecommuting or business news and can promote my adsense and any other affiliate programs. So this blog serves more then one purpose. My main goal with this blog is to get traffic to certain sections of my website. I have a large website and it’s not always easy for people to find my information. So this is a great way for me to keep certain new pages or sections of my website in the public eye and get traffic to those pages. It also serves as a way to make money with adsense and affiliate programs. And lastly it gives exposure to my forum and my newsletter. There can be many ways and many topics in which you can make money and gain exposure to other businesses you may have or can help in creating you as an expert in a certain field. Just take the time to really think about what you could be writing about and then how you can make money with that as well. You can take a look at others blogs to get an idea and see what other people are looking for. Making Money With Your Blog - Resources: Blogs to Riches- is an ebook that details ways you can make your blog profitable. And the really cool thing with this is if you list the publishers link on your blog for 45 days he will give you this ebook for free! If you don't want to wait that long you can also purchase it for a low price. Read more about Blogs to Riches - www.blogstoriches.com Increasing Adsense - is an ebook about how to increase your adsense revenue. This ebook isn't specifically geared towards blogs, but the information you will learn you can use with your blogs. (As well as websites and forums...anywhere you have adsense.) www.adsense-secrets.com * Don't know what adsense is? Go to www.google.com/adsense to learn more. Ready To Blog? Are you ready to take the leap into a blog? If so, it’s really very easy to set up a blog. The one resource I have used for all my blogs has been blogger.com. This is free, easy, and fun. There are many templates to chose from and you can customize yours if you would like. I have used the general template for my mom masterminds blog and I have customized my http://www.mommysworkingvirtually.com blog with different colors and fonts then what it came with. I also have that hosted on my own domain, but you certainly don’t have to do that. Submit Your Blog After you create your blog you will want to submit it to blog directories to help get your blog out in front of the public. Some of the directories you can try are: BlogWise - http://www.blogwise.com Blog Search Engine - http://www.blogsearchengine.com Blog Hub - http://www.bloghub.com Blog Daisey - http://www.blogdaisey.com Get Blogs - http://www.getblogs.com Is Blogs - http://www.lsblogs.com Feeds Next, you need to add feeds to your blog. What is a feed? Good question. I don’t know the exact way to describe a feed nor do I have a lot of valuable information on this subject. This is still very new to me, but I can tell you briefly what a feed does. You add a little graphic to your blog. It can be for someone's yahoo page, msn page and other ways. When they click on that they can add your blog to their personal yahoo page. Then every time you add a new post they are alerted on their yahoo page that you have posted AND it even shows the topic of the post and how long ago it was posted. This is one of the best resources I’ve found in keeping people coming back to your blog. They can subscribe to it so easily and they will be automatically updated whenever you have posted. It’s pretty easy to add an RSS feed to your blog. The resource I personally use is at www.feedburner.com Watch Out Blogging World - Here I Come! Now, see how simple this really can be? You can make money with a blog, gain exposure for another business or websites, can create yourself as an expert on a certain topic, can create a blog for free, get it listed for free and start an RSS feed for free! Now get out there and start blogging.
About the Author
Nell Taliercio is the publisher of a weekly telecommuting newsletter that helps moms and dads work at home. Read more about the newsletter and get your free listing of job links at http://www.telecommutinganswerlady.com - and for more telecommuting and home based business information head over to http://www.mommysplace.net

Search Engine Optimization For Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Wed, 02 May 2007 05:16:00 +0000

Search Engine Optimization For Blogs
by: Priya Shah (Copyright © 2004 Priya Shahhttp://www.priyashah.com)
Blogging software is really a simple Content Management System (CMS) that easily adds new pages and integrates them into your site's navigational structure and linkage.Blogs and blog posts are naturally search engine friendly because they are text-rich, link-rich, frequently-updated webpages that use stylesheets or CSS, and have very little extraneous HTML.Optimizing a blog is very similar to optimizing a website, and optimizing a blog post similar to optimizing a web page. But depending on the blogging service or software you use, the results may look somewhat different.If you follow some simple rules for search engine optimization, your blog can rank much higher than static website pages in the search engine results pages. Here are the most important rules to follow to get your posts listed for keywords of your choice.
1. Use your primary keyword in your blog domainWhether you purchase a separate domain (recommended) for your blog, or host it on a blogging service or a subdomain of your own site, try to ensure that your URL contains the primary keyword you want to optimize for.For example, if you want your blog to get found for the keyword "rss" get a domain with the keyword "rss", or use the keyword in a subdomain as in http://ebizwhiz-publishing.com/rssnews/Getting a domain name with your own name might make for good branding, especially if yours is a personal blog.But if you're doing it for business and want the targeted traffic to flow your way, keywords in the domain or subdomain are a move in the right direction.
2. Use your primary key phrase in your blog header tags and the title of your postsIf your primary key phrase is "business blogging" make sure that the word business, or blogging, or both, appear in your blog headers (the H1 or H2 tags) as well as the title of each of your posts.Most blogging software will take the keywords in your post title and put them into the file name of the permalink posts it creates.For example, if you have a blog on Blogger and title your post "Search Engine Optimization For Blogs", Blogger will automatically create a page with your post and name the file "search-engine-optimization-for-blogs.html" or something similar.With other server-side software like Wordpress and Movable Type, you may require the mod_rewrite command to save the title of your entries as a permalink.
3. Use your secondary keywords in the body of your postIf you want to get listed for secondary keywords use them infrequently in the body of your post and pepper your blog titles or links with them appropriately. Don't overdo this or your posts will end up sounding unnatural and spammy to readers.
4. Use your keywords in the anchor text of linksKeyword in links have more importance than simple text.Use your primary and secondary keywords in the anchor text of links when linking to other blog posts or to other pages on your main site.Link keywords where they naturally appear in the body text, but again, don't overdo it, or you'll end up with spammy looking pages.
5. Make sure search engines can spider your blog easilySet up your blog so that the side navigation bar is present on all pages. Make sure your archives and previous posts are accessible from all pages of your blog so they get spidered easily.
6. Get backlinks from other blogs or websitesLinks pointing to your blog or posts are essential to build pagerank and make your blog rank higher in the search engine listings.I've seen many people recommend Blogrolling as one method of building links to your blog. BlogRolling is a one-stop linklist manager for your blog or journal. http://www.blogrolling.com But all this service actually does is give you a bit of javascript code that "calls" the links. As far as search engine rankings go, this method of linking is of little use, because spiders can't read external javascript code.Instead I recommend that you focus your linking efforts on the methods here.* Submitting to Blog Search Engines and Directories: Submitting your blog and RSS feed to blog search engines and directories is essential for getting high-quality links back to your blog. Here is the best list I've found of places to submit your feed or blog. Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/* Link Exchanges: Many similarly-themed blogs are often willing to exchange links with other blogs and form richly interlinked networks or communities. Link exchanges with other blogs are easy to implement with most blogging software.* Trackbacks: You can also get links back to your blog using trackbacks. One of the disadvantages of using Blogger is that it does not automatically create trackback urls that others can use to link back to your posts. Haloscan is a free service that will automatically add comments and trackbacks to your Blogger blog. http://www.haloscan.com But if trackbacks are an important component of your linking strategy, I would advise using another software or system that adds this feature automatically.* Comments: You can also get back links to your blog by posting legitimate comments in response to posts on other blogs.
7. Update frequentlyThere's no better food for search engine spiders than fresh content. Post and update your blog frequently using all the rules outlined above and there's no reason why your blog will not get you top rankings in a short period of time.8. Stay put Once you create your blog, try to stick to the same domain and blog host or system for as long as you continue to publish. You could end up losing a lot of your traffic, your readers and all your search engine listings if you decide to move.For more ways of building traffic to your blog, read the article "How To Build Traffic To Your Blog."http://www.blog-maniac.com/build-blog-traffic.htm

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Priya Shah publishes an internet marketing ezine at http://ebizwhiz-publishing.com by day and doubles as a Blog Maniac by night http://www.blog-maniac.com Blog Brandz http://www.blogbrandz.com is the legitimate offspring of her affair with the blogosphere.

Small Business: To Blog or Not To Blog

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 01:13:00 +0000

Small Business: To Blog or Not To Blog
by: Michele Schermerhorn

A weblog, or "blog" started out as a personal journal on the Web. They have evolved far beyond that initial concept. Now, weblogs cover as many different topics as there are people writing them. Some blogs are highly influential and have readership which exceeds most traditional newspapers, while others are mainly intended as personal journals to be shared with only family and friends. So, should you consider blogging?The power of weblogs is that they allow millions of people to easily publish their ideas, and millions more to comment on them. Increasingly people write, read and comment on blogs. Many people mistakenly believe that blogs are only personal diaries. More and more, blogs are being used by businesses to attract customers. Since blogs now come in all flavors, let’s look at the basics of blogging.A blogger is someone who writes a blog. The “Blogosphere” is a word used to describe the online community of bloggers and their writings. A blog differs from a website only because it is a website that is updated frequently, most often displaying its material in journal-like entries. An entry, a post, or a posting, are the terms often used to refer to a specific article or commentary written by the blogger on his or her blog. Many weblogs allow readers to write a reaction to what was written in the blog entry. These comments can often be found directly following the blog entry. For millions of people, blogging is a hobby. For some, like journalists, writers, business leaders and political leaders, writing blogs enhances their professional careers. A blog gives the voice a broader audience and allows more direct and interactive contact with the readers. Some bloggers have readership numbers approaching that of big media and are able to earn income from their blogs. But potential profit should not be the primary motivation for blogging.Why should a blog be part of your business’ marketing strategy? The blogging movement is picking up speed, particularly for businesses. Blogging is one arena where the size of your company won’t matter. A blog is NOT the place to promote your product or company. It is a place to promote your ideas, provide tips, and express yourself in the hopes of building an audience. That audience may , in turn, become customers.There are two key concepts to keep in mind when deciding whether you will launch a blog or not; providing quality content and blogging regularly. These are critical to creating an audience for your blog.A successful blog is written with a distinct audience in mind. In this way, you can provide content that is unique to your audience’s issues, needs, or desires. If you create content they like and wish to return to read, you will produce quality content. Successful bloggers have a focused topic and a unique personality.Both your topic and unique style will cause your audience to return to your blog. When they return, it is critical to stay true to your audience and tone of your blog. If people are reading your blog, it’s because they like your topic and tone. Try not to stray from your typical topics and style too much. This will give your readers a reason to link back to your blog on an ongoing basis. But your content and tone are just one element to consider. Also critical to your ongoing blogging success is how frequently you update your blog.If you don't update your blog often enough, blog readers will move on to other blogs. There are too many blogs out there competing for your reader’s attention. Blog readers will go where the content is. Successful blogging takes a commitment of your time. When you begin blogging and wish to capture an audience, you should be prepared to blog every day. In this way, you can develop an audience who counts on you to help them begin or end their day. This means you should also try to post at the same time each day. Your readers will get accustomed to your schedule and check your blog at the appropriate time. The time of day is not as crucial as the consistency in your posting. So, is a blog right for you? You tell me. Do you have a distinct topic in mind? Do you have a strong opinion or passion for the topic? Do you know what audience you are writing for? Do you have the time to commit to regular postings on your blog? If so, see you in the blogosphere!
About the Author
Michele Schermerhorn calls herself a “Corporate Freedom Fighter” dedicated to freeing cubicle prisoners. She has over 30 years experience in the business world. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. (www.obinstitute.com), authors a sassy marketing blog (www.imarketblog.com), and regularly conducts free online seminars. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to “Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time”.

How To Boost Traffic To Your Blog: SEO for Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 02:42:00 +0000

How To Boost Traffic To Your Blog: SEO for Bloggers
by: Ryen Kim

Let search engine index your blog and let people come to your fresh blog. Though you're in World Wide Web, nobody knows you're there. You need to pull kindly those who are potentially waiting for you but don't know where your are. This objective is related to generally known as search engine optimization (SEO). It's too broad to address all. But the most important things will I talk about. Though they're not all but more than enough will be covered. They are about...
How to use keywords as a SEO technique
What to consider when you choose blog templates
How to construct your blog search engine friendly
Ping your blogHow to use keywords as a SEO technique?As long as SEO is concerned, the keyword comes at front line. You have to find the target keyword/keywords or niche keywords.What to do with the keyword/keywords? Please read on.....
Enter keywords in your blog name: If you named your blog for example, "Ryen's blog", it's not a good idea in the view of SEO. Instead name your blog something like "keyword blog". You need to substitute "keyword" with your "target keyword", for example "mountain bike blog", if your blog is about mountain bike.
Enter keywords of your post in title tag: Actually most of bloggers don't need to concern about "title tag" because most of blog hosting applications such as blogger, typepad, wordpress, movable type, drupal, etc... care this for you. But you have to use the keyword in your title and then they will include it in the title tag for you.
Enter keywords in meta description tag, if possible: This may be difficult for most of bloggers because most of blog hosting system don't support this. If this is your case, don't bother with this. To make it possible is almost impossible for the people like me who are not techie at all. But don't worry there is other solution: care your first sentence of the first paragraph.
Enter keywords in the first sentence: Nowadays many SEO experts say that most of search engines don't look meta description tag. Instead they look for the few words in the first sentence. So care your first sentence to include the keywords, make it fit to describe your whole post and attractive.
Repeat your keywords in your post: With this an English grammar teacher may not be happy. But as long as SEO is concerned, it's necessary: frankly to say, you have to. General rule says the keyword density should be about 2-3% of whole words in your post.You may complain "heck, how do I know keyword density." Well, you don't need to count it manually. There is a free tool to check the keyword density. And actually I don't even check it all the time. I just keep in mind 2-3% and check only for some posts that I think worth checking. Having this in mind, the free tool is here. Type the URL of your post, keyword and click "analyze" button. It'll return you the keyword density of your post. If the keyword density is too low, consider repeat the keyword more but don't repeat too much (more than 3%)
Use your keyword in your blog domain: This improves the ranking of your blog and hence more traffic come to you. If your blog is about "anniversary gift", for example, include it in your domain name so that your blog domain looks like "anniversary-gift.yourhost.com"
Use your keyword in the link title: Many blogger don't know about this!Which one do you think better, "anniversary gift" or "anniversary-gift.your host.com" as your link title? The former is better. The reason? Because search engines value more. So keep in mind that whenever you get link try to enter your keywords in the link title.
Enter keywords in your file name: When you save your blog, use your keyword.Which one is better, "mypost98.html" or "anniversary-gift-how-to-choose.html"? This time the latter is better because it includes keywords and hence get better chance to be listed in high rank in search engine.
Enter keyword in alt tag: If you use images in your post, don't forget to put your keyword in alt tag. A 2 cent-tip related to this is that if your Google Adsense doesn't seem to show matching ads with your content, check your alt tag. Maybe it's because you put unrelated words in alt tag.What to consider when you choose blog templates?Certainly there is a search engine friendly blog templates. To know whether your blog template is search engine friendly designed, go to Crawler simulation (It's free.) Enter your blog URL and then it'll show you how it looks like when a search engine spider visits your blog site. If you see a lot of html code or java scripts before you see main content, it means your blog is not well designed in the point of search engine optimization. There is a way to hide unnecessary code from spiders, using CSS or div class "hide". Try to make your title tag immediately after head tag and to show up your body content as near to head tag as possible.How to construct your blog search engine friendly?Make your blog site structure as simple as possible. This may not be a big issue for bloggers because unless a blogger can design her/his blog system, they have to use a default system. What I mean by this is that most of blog system make permalink be for example, "www.blogcom.com/user/archive/year/month/date/apost.html". See how far the final "apost.html" is from root. It's 5 step further. This is not so good in terms of search engine optimization. You can reduce those steps but you only can do so one or two step because database recognition is concerned behind this story. So the bottom line is that try to make your blog simple but if it's not possible, focus on writing good content. I observed many top bloggers have a bit complicated permalink system yet have lots of traffic.But if you can make your blog structure simpler without problem, please do so because it is much better for the reader and search engine as well.Ping your blogDo you ping? Many pongs will come,then. :-) This may not be an issue if you're using Movable Type, WordPress, Typepad, or Drupal 4.6.0. But consider pinging to Ping-o-Matic!, if your system is not configured to do so. Because it pings to most of important blog search engines and directories in one spot. If your blog application doesn't support to ping automatically to "Ping-o-Matic!", you can do so manually by visiting Ping-o-Matic! Once you type your blog name, blog URL, check where to ping and click "submit ping" button, and don't forget to bookmark. It gives you a convenience because you don't need to type blog name, URL and check where to ping again.By pinging you make search engine spider crawl you more frequently and make your reader notified faster.So far you have the most important SEO techniques for your blog. Say, how to use your keywords and where to enter, search engine friendly blog template design, structure and finally ping to "Ping-o-Matic!"But one thing is missing!Get inbound links!Probably it is as important as your blog itself! You can read about this at Traffic to Blog: Part 4
About the Author
Ryen Kim is an MBA, specialized in marketing research and analysis. His current focus is blogging and home based affiliate business as a work-at-home scheme. He is a founder of Blog Sites and running Hom Based Affiliate Business web site.

24 Tips and Strategies on How Everyone Can Blog Right andGet

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:16:00 +0000

24 Tips and Strategies on How Everyone Can Blog Right andGet
by: John Teh

By the end of 2004 blogs had established themselves as a keypart of online culture. "Blog readership shoots up 58% in2004 6 million Americans get news and information fed tothem through RSS aggregators But 62% of online Americans donot know what a blog is." - Pew Internet & American LifeProjectTip #1 - How and Where Should I Start?You should begin your blog with a free blog hosting servicesuch as Blogger (http://www.blogger.com), or other similarfree services such as JournalHome.com, LiveJournal.com orBlog-City.com. The learning curve for using such freeservices allow you to spend more on developing your contentrather than worrying about the advanced areas of scripting,hosting, or programming.Tip #2 - The Things You Should Decide to Write AboutAlthough not a required prerequisite for you in order towrite a blog, it is highly recommended to try to find atopic to write about based on your level of interest andknowledge. The higher your level of interest, the easier itis for you to get your quality content posted on your blog.Always try to choose an area which you can enthusiasticallywrite about on a daily basis.Try to pay attention to a nichewhich suites you well. A niche is basically a targetedproduct, service, or topic.Tip #3 - Always stay on topic.Opinions are generally accepted but the content of the itemsin the blog should all relate to a general theme. Themajority of your readers will be interested in the contentthat relates to a specific defined theme or loosely definedarea of interest. Define a topic and try not to run too faraway from it. This will ensure that you create a loyalfollowing of interested readers.Tip #4 - Information is king, be informative.If you are attempting to create the impression that you areknowledgeable about a specific industry or sector, be surethat you stay current on news. Checking your facts beforeyou're giving out an opinion or a product review is always agood idea, your reputation is at stake. If by any chanceyou're utilizing other people's articles for you blogcontent, ensure that you follow the terms of usage definedby the author.Tip #5 - Old news is not news, but old information can berecycled and made new. While blogging everyday can bestrenuous and time consuming, it is important that theinformation presented is current and accurate. Information,articles or any other archived resources can be recycled /modified to add more substance to your content. As long asthey're relevant and informative, there's no reason why it'snot a good approach.Tip #6 - Be disciplined and stick to a fixed postingschedule. Realizing that blogging requires time and effort,don't create unrealistic expectations and be unable todeliver. If you have worked hard to develop an audience anda community you don't want to lose them due to lack ofcommunication. If time is not on your side, take advantageof tonnes of automatically updating contents which areavailable for your blog. Looking at the constantly updatingnature of RSS feeds, other RSS feeds from similar topic canbe inserted within your blogging post.Tip #7 - Posting FrequencyIf your blog content is updated frequently, search engineswill tend to spider the pages at regular intervals. Updatingyour blog daily not only keeps your blog more interesting toreaders, but it also gives your blog fresh content on a dayto day making it more appealing to search engines. To keepyour blog traffic and retain your visitors interest it is amust to update your blog daily with multiple entries. Youshould try to update your blog everyday with at least 2 - 3or more daily entries, depending on your daily schedule.Tip #8 - Quantity matters.In order to attract the attention of search engines, youwill need to produce a relevant amount of content andinformation. A headline or simple sentence is not going togenerate the interest of readers or help with search engineranking. Be sure to archive old blog posts to develop alarge portal of similarly-themed content.Tip #9 - Clarity & simplicity / Short & ConciseKeep your posts and blog entries clear and easy tounderstand. Simplicity always produce better results at theend of the day.Aside from the lengthy article a week for syndication andpublication your blog entries should be short & concise (ifyou can help it). Should you insist on partaking on thelengthy road, try to maintain a clean paragraphing style,proper spacing, use different size, color and bold for yourtitles as well as the subtitles. Use bullet points, gostraight to the point and never run out of topic. Insertimages to spice up things if you're an avid fan of longposts.Tip #10 - Utilize the
and tagsBeing one of the few most underutilized blogging formattingtags, these 2 items can help you on emphasizing certainpoints, in the most efficient and striking way. Formattingis simple and straightforward. Just
HiWorld!and your message will apeardistinctively different from the rest of your text, thusgets more attention which it deserves. Take note that theformatting for these 2 tags differ from blog to blogdepending on how the owner defines the tag in the CSS(Cascading Style Sheets).Click the below link if you want to read more about CSS.==>http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.aspTip #11 - Keyword-rich.If the goal of your blog is to increase your visibility,include related keywords in the title of the blog. Use thetitle as a headline to attract interest. Each item postshould have a title that will attract attention but still berelevant to the post. The title should be no longer than10-12 words. Experiment with the titles if you must,possibly try to avoid general and ordinary titles. Try toinclude extraordinary and innovative titles to grab thereaders' attention.Tip #12 - Spell checking and proof-reading.It only takes a few extra moments and can save you fromhaving to make embarrassing explanations. The hazards ofInternet is that if you're too late to correct your mistake,most likely it's already been crawled by the search enginesand read by many. It is extremely essential to think / proofread carefully twice or even thrice, about what you postbefore doing so. Take note of your language and grammar.Tip #13 - RSS FeedsRSS to a blog is like fuel to cars. Mostly every single freeblogs or bloggin software out there will have an automaticRSS feed generating feature. Although it's most unlikelythat you'll find one without a RSS feature, simply leave itand find a new one, if you happen to come across one withoutit.Tip #14 - The essence of the Internet - Traffic. It's nosecret. You must have traffic to realize the definition of ablog.. There are numerous ways to build traffic. Paid andfree advertising, viral marketing, search engine marketing,RSS/XML feeds, word-of-mouth, submitting to numerous blogand RSS directories, etc. RSSBlogsubmit (http://www.rssblogsubmit.com) provides a submission servicefor your Blog & RSS feeds. You should always use your blogURL address in the signature of your email, forumdiscussions, message boards, or any other communicationmedia. Never forget to share your blog to your friends,colleagues, and any other invidious that you know of.Tip #15 - Track Your BlogTracking your blog does not have to be overly sophisticatedusually a simple free page counter like StatCounter.com,ActiveMeter.com, Extremetracking.com or Sitemeter.com willdo the trick. Install (copy/paste) the code into the html ofyour blog template and start tracking your visitors. Itsbetter to use a service which gives you advanced trafficanalysis, such as keyword tracking information, referralinformation, and search engine information. Visitors,returning visitors, and unique visitors should be standardfor any page counter service you choose.Tip #16 - Make use of your Blog's statistical and trackinginformation. Believe it or not, your visitors' informationfrom your tracking scripts will provide you pricelessinformation on how you can attract more readers. Keep noteon the keyword terms used from search engines which bringyou traffic. You can identify relevant closely relatedtopics which you can venture into and add more variety intoyour blog, yet staying very much in topic. Simply put, moretopic coverage and more variety = more traffic. You mayanalyze your tracking information further on how you canstrategize your blog's content. You can also apply somekeyword optimization strategies here.Tip #17 - The essence of your Blog is your Audience, listento them. Always interact with your readers who post commentson your blog. Reply with a brief thank you note or justsimply attend to their questions if they have any. It's aproven fact when there's a direct human interaction andknowing the fact that there's a "real human" at the otherend of the blog makes most of them coming back. If youraudience provide suggestions, comments or feedbacks, takethem constructively and inform them if you have any desiresof implementing such ideas on your next update. And ofcourse, don't forget to thank them for their ideas. If it'sa great idea, why not throw in a free gift? Mention theirwebsite in your blog?Tip #18 - Create and increase the "Why Must I Return" Valueto Your BlogEveryone knows the fact that Blogs get a huge level ofreturning visitors because of its constantly updatedcontent. Why don't you add more interesting items to thatreturn value by having fixed periodical posts / offers, e.g.Monday Top 10 Tips, Picture of the Week, Free Bonus of theMonth, Free Daily Wallpapers, etc. to give them the absoluteexcuse to return to your blog. As long as you canefficiently and appropriately increase that Return Valueconstantly, it is mostly guaranteed that you'll be gettingtonnes of repeated visitors, period.An advance notice, prelaunch announcement or anythingsimilar to that also can act as a short term return valuestrategy. Encourage readers to comment on your such notices/ posts. Experiment and play around with this idea.Tip #19 - Multiple blogsIt never hurts to use multiple blogging accounts to attractmore people. You can even have multiple blogs withinBlogger.com itself, but you may also want to try differentfree blogging services such as JournalHome.com,LiveJournal.com, Blog-City.com, etc. Should you have theurge to have multiple similar duplicates of your blog justto gain more traffic, it is wise to avoid it as searchengines / feed directories might translate that as excessiveredundant information which simply brings you trouble, andyou're tend to get penalized, banned or even accused ofspamming.Tip #20 - Digital Art, Creative Graphics Another proven fact- Monotonous and continous display of text will make yourreaders run away! Try to include non- advertising graphics,pictures, photos, and art in your blog entries, but try tokeep them at a limit. Too many graphics also mean slowerloading time and messy text and graphical combination. Youdon't want your blog to look messy. Most of the time,graphics can bring your blog to life. Pictures can makeboring texts interesting no matter how long it is. Graphicalelements are by far the fastest message delivering elementavailable on the net today. It may deliver various messagesby a split second of a look.Tip #21 - Maintain a Personal BlogA blog is most successful when it is kept personal. Try toinclude personal experiences which relates to the topic ofyour blog entry. Stay away from the business style ofwriting. Write with a more personal style and use first-person narratives. Share product reviews and personalendeavors, instead of trying to make it sounds like you'reselling.Tip #22 - Credibility & PopularityAs thing progresses, things need to change in order to copewith the flow and nature of development. If your number ofreaders are reasonably huge, and still using a free bloggingservice to get your messages out, you may want to considergetting your own domain name and hosting plan to have a morepersonalized Blog.Domain names and hosting plans are pretty muchstraightforward. Research is all what it takes to get thebest of all the available options. For the most highlyrecommended comprehensive listing of Free Blogging softwareout there, drop by at http://www.opensourcecms.com/. This isby far the best place to drop by if you want to get yourresearch done about which blogging software to choose.Reviews, ratings, public votes, demos, etc are provided. Andthe best thing is, all of them are Open Source, which meansthey are totally free. Try going through the serverrequirements for each software before purchasing yourweb hosting.Tip 23# - Customize the look of your BlogIf you happen to be using one of the Free blogging servicesout there, you might notice that most of us are using thesame template again and again for our blogs. It is wellunderstood that not everybody has the technical knowledge tochange the layout as how they want it to be, but if you havethe knowledge, by all means try to customize it and make itlook DIFFERENT. You can grab that extra attention, if you'redifferent in certain ways. Create that image for yourself.Tip #24 - Blog and Make MoneyOnce your blog has gained some real momentum and your blogtraffic is increasing then it is time to start thinkingif you want to turn your traffic into profit. Some of therecommended income generating sources are as follow :-Google Adsense, Amazon Associate program (www.amazon.com),Blogads.com, Crispads.com, Tagword.com, Affiliate Programsand any advertising related text links can be your place tostart off.Final #Tip - Conclusion.Following these blogging tips should make your bloggingexperience much more rewarding. Blogging is generally doneout of interest and enthusiasm and sometimes for incomegenerating purposes. The flexibility of blogging will nevercease to expand. Through time, dedication, and persistenceyou will be rewarded with all the royalties of blogging.
About the Author
About the AuthorJohn Teh is an internet blogger enthusiast, exposed to thefun and possibilities of blogging on the net.http://www.rssblogsubmit.com

13 Steps to Successful Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:29:00 +0000

13 Steps to Successful Blogging
by: Ant Onaf
Blogs can be a very marketable and very profitable tool if used correctly. Profiting from blogs is just a matter of grabbing the attention of an audience and not doing any actual salesmen selling. In this article you will learn the 13 most essential steps to successful blogging.1) Where to start?You should begin your blog with a free blog hosting service such as Journal Home or Blogger. Starting with a free blog hosting service allows you to begin blogging instantly without having any advance knowledge of scripts, hosting, or programming. It allows you to focus on your content and not the internal maintenance of the blog. The best benefit of starting with a free service is, in the case your blog doesn't become successful you do not lose any money or are you left holding the bill. The great thing about a blog is that they are organized in chronological order, your latest entry is displayed first. When your blog traffic grows greatly and you are ready to upgrade to your own domain then you can simply make your last blog entry the announcement of your "move". Simply add a last entry stating that your blog has "moved" and type the new blog URL address. Which directs visitors to your new blog site, keeping your following, without a major inconvenience to anyone. Upgrade as you need to...but only when you need to!2) NicheA niche is a targeted product, service, or topic. You should first decide on a product, service, or topic which interest you. Choose an area which you can enthusiastically write about on a daily basis. You can use keyword research services like Google Zeitgeist or Yahoo! Buzz Index to find popular searched topics. It does NOT matter if your topic is popular as long as there is a audience for your topic and the topic is precisely focused then your blog should be successful. Anything can be considered a niche as long as it has a target audience no matter how large or how small the audience is. A blog about your cat can be a niche or a blog about the species of the cat family can be a larger niche market, if there are people who are interested in hearing about your cat or the species of the cat family...you can even choose to build your audience for a market which an audience does not exist, but first you must build your blog.3) Update Daily (nothing less)This step is a must and not a suggestion. Updating your blog daily not only keeps your blog more interesting to readers, but it also gives your blog fresh content on a day to day making it more appealing to search engines. Not updating your blog on an occasional holiday or one day here and there is understandable to most, but missing days at a time or weeks is unacceptable and will most likely result in your blog being unsuccessful. To keep your blog traffic and retain your visitors interest it is a must to update your blog daily with multiple entries. You should try to update your blog everyday with at least 3 or more daily entries. The best way to accomplish this is to set aside 1-2 hours a day for tending to your blog and adding new entries. It may even be wise to schedule a set time which you dedicate to your blog each day. Give yourself work hours and treat your blog as a job, what happens if you don't come to work for days or weeks...you lose money or worse you get fired! Same applies here...if you don't update your blog for days or weeks you'll lose visitors. 4) TrafficIt's no secret. You must have traffic to profit from blogs. There are numerous ways to build traffic. Paid advertising, free advertising, viral marketing, search engine marketing, RSS/XML feeds, and word-of-mouth. You should always use your blog URL address in the signature of your email, forum discussions, message boards, or any other communication media. You should submit your blog URL address to search engines and blog directories. You should submit your RSS/XML URL feed to blog ping services like Technorati, Ping-O-Matic, and Blogdigger. You should confidently share your blog with family, friends, co-workers, associates, and business professionals when it relates. Many blogs can be considered as a collection of articles, for this purpose you should submit your blog entries (those that are valuable and lengthy articles) to content syndicators like GoArticles.com or ArticleCity.com. Once submitted your articles can be picked up and published by others. The trick is to make sure you include your Blog URL address in the "About the Author" passage. What this does is create link popularity and backlinks for your blog, when someone picks up your article from the syndication then publish the article on their website the "About the Author" passage is included with each publication and the link you included is followed, crawled, and indexed by search engines. Imagine if your article is popular enough or controversial enough to produce 10,000 publications across the web. The search engines is bound to find your site in no time with that many publications and credit you a authority on the topic, in return increasing your rank on search engines. The small effort of writing a well written article is rewarding. You should try to write at least 1 full length article every week for syndication and submit your article to at least 10 article syndicators.5) Track Your BlogHow do you know if your blog has traffic? Just because no one is leaving comments doesn't mean your blog isn't growing. Many visitors do not leave comments but they are returning visitors. I know it sounds crazy but with blogs people are more interested in what "you" have to say! Many visitors do not comment their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd time. Some do not comment at all, but are active daily visitors. Tracking your blog does not have to be overly sophisticated usually a simple free page counter like StatCounter.com or Active Meter will do the trick. Install (copy/paste) the code into the html of your blog template and start tracking your visitors. Its better to use a service which gives you advanced traffic analysis, such as keyword tracking information, referral information, and search engine information. Visitors, returning visitors, and unique visitors should be standard for any page counter service you choose. 6) Listen to Your AudienceWhen using the proper page counter you should begin to see how others are finding your blog and if through search engines then which keywords are being used to find your blog. If constantly your blog is being found by 1 or more keywords then focus your blog around those keywords to make it even more powerful. When writing entry titles and entries use the keywords as often as possible while keeping the blog legible and interesting.7) Multiple blogsUse multiple blogging accounts to attract more people. This means you should have a blog with JournalHome.com, Blogger.com, LiveJournal.com, Blog-City.com, tBlogs.com, etc. The more blog accounts the better. You can copy/paste from 1 blog to all others. Having different blog accounts is like having a publication in different newspapers. This enables you to attract more visitors and this also increases the chance that 1 of your blogs will be in the search engine results for your focused keywords.8) Short & Concise Aside from the lengthy article a week for syndication and publication your blog entries should be short & concise (if you can help it). Sometimes there are exceptions to the rule and you have no choice but to blog lengthy entries, but try to avoid this as much as possible. You do not want your blog entries to become hours of reading. Visitors like to easily find information and skim through your entries. It is good to be detailed and provide useful information, but do not include useless information or run away sentences that veer away from your topic.9) Digital ArtTry to include non-advertising graphics, pictures, photos, and art in your blog entries. Not too much. Once a week is fine. Graphics can sometimes bring your blog to life. Of course, the content of the blog is the most important aspect and you do not want to overshadow your content with graphics, but displaying graphics can add a bit of spice to the blog. Be choosy about your graphics and make sure they fit your entry topic. You should add content with the graphic, at least a caption. Original graphics, photos, pictures, and art is recommended.10) Keep it PersonalA blog is most successful when it is kept personal. Try to include personal experiences which relates to the topic of your blog entry. Stay away from the business style of writing. Write with a more personal style and use first-person narratives. Do not write any of your entries as sales letters, instead share product reviews and personal endeavors.11) Interact With Your VisitorsYou now have the traffic you deserve. You should begin interacting with your visitors. Create a regular theme such as: "Monday Money Tip" or "Picture of the Week" which entices your readers to look forward to each week. Give your readers advance notice about a product, service, or topic which you are going to review and then talk about later. If the President was scheduled to give a speech then in your blog you should state that you "will discuss the speech and give your opinion after the speech airs. Comments will be appreciated".Try your best to find exclusive information that not many have. Do not disclose any confidential or secret information which is deemed illegal or can potentially get you into trouble, but try to get the scoop before everyone else does. Such as: If your blog was about Paris Hilton (the socialite) and you had a blog entry about "Paris Hilton Getting Married" then it would be interesting to your readers if you had a actual picture of Paris Hilton engagement ring. Give your best effort to dig and search the internet for exclusive information and you will possibly come up with something useful. Your readers will appreciate this and they show their appreciation through word-of-mouth referrals. Imagine how many readers will tell their friends, family, and others about information they only can find at your blog.12) Make Money Once your blog has gained some real momentum and your blog traffic is increasing then it is time to start thinking about turning your traffic into profit. You should use contextual advertising, like Google Adsense or Chitika. Contextual advertising is usually text links which use the content of your blog to publish targeted ads on your blog. The payout is usually based on a pay-per-click model, meaning for ever click an ad receives you are paid a small percentage of the profits. In addition to contextual advertising it is good to also use graphical advertising such as: BlogAds.com, Amazon.com, MammaMedia, or General Sponsored Advertising.13) You're a ProfessionalYou're a professional now! What are you still doing with that free blog hosting service? It is time to upgrade to a domain hosted solution. You need to get a web host and choose a domain name for your blog then check its availability. Select the blogging software you wish to use, such as: Squarespace.com, WordPress.org, MovableType.org, etc. When you have your new blog domain setup and ready for traffic then it is time for you to announce your move on all your previous blog accounts. Your last entry to the blog should be a "move" announcement. The title should be "Moved" and the blog entry should state something like "Old Blog has been moved to New Blog please follow and bookmark this link for future reference: http://www.YourNewBlogDomainName.com". This way all returning visitors and new readers should not have any problem finding your new blog domain.At the level of a professional blogger you may want to team up with 1 or more other bloggers. This will create a more interesting and more powerful blog. The old saying "two heads is better than one", more authors mean more advertising and exposure because each author will have a vested interest in the blog. The idea of a team blog is to make it profitable and rewarding for all authors, while continuing to target the blog topic and keeping the blog interesting for visitors.Following these blogging techniques should make your blogging experience much more rewarding. There is no guarantee that your blog will become popular or a household name, but the effort should at least put you one step closer. Making money online is not an overnight experience like many may think, but making money online is definitely a foreseeable possibility. As well, growing popularity on the web is not an overnight experience, but through time, dedication, and persistence you will be rewarded with all the royalties of blogging.
About the Author
Ant Onaf is the owner and founder of www.JournalHome.com He is an online internet marketer, content writer, and IT consultant. Ant Onaf has years of IT-related experience and Internet-related experience. His ingenuity, dedication, and passion for technology, internet marketing, & writing have made him a monumental icon in the World Wide Web. His blog can be visited at http://www.journalhome.com/AntOnaf

Writing Good Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (tutorial) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:16:00 +0000

Writing Good Blogs
There's a lot of blogs out there on the Web, most of which don't entice one to go back regularly to read updates. What is missing from these on-line journals that would essentially make them 'good' blogs? Well, the answers in life usually come down to simplicities. So let's look at the problem like we were children. Children don't complicate life with miscellaneous information, and when they speak they tell you straight to the point exactly how they feel and think about a subject.
First of all, we should ask the questions," Why do blogs exist? And what are they here for?" Well, in an ideal world 'good' blogs would help people connect, sharing knowledge and feelings about issues in life. As they are journals written by individuals we would hope that they'd be readable and open to comment by all other people, not just a select group of friends. The key is speaking in a way that is understandable by the masses, get rid of acronyms and local slang that only few will comprehend. Keep the sentences grammatically simple and generally short and concise. Try to write in your blog as often as possible because if people enjoy reading your thoughts and ideas they'll want to communicate or at least be filled in regularly on 'your world'. Ask questions, comment on other blogs of similar content, start communities with others you've never met, based on your interests. Keep focused; if your blog is about thoughts on war and peace, keep your thoughts on the latest movie and how hungry you are for somewhere else. The idea is to incite intelligent communication so that in time our collective stockpile of knowledge and wisdom will gradually grow like a tree in fertile soil. I think of most importance is the fact that you want this journal to be 'good' reading. Of course we all have ideas about what genres and styles we like, but writing from your heart and soul is imperative for the connection with others that you're looking for. Share yourself; don't hide behind walls of fear of ridicule and judgment. In real life relationships trust, respect, intimacy, and unity are all necessary for a bond to form. It's the same in the 'virtual' world; people want to hear from real people-not just one-sided, highly opinionated arguments from egos that don't want to hear the 'other side of the coin'. Now, in my last article I really tore apart most writers out there, and here I'm giving some pretty complex ideas on how to fix the problem of 'bad' writing. In my next article I'll attempt to go back to the simple basics of how to write for beginners. I hope I haven't come across as too judgmental, I just truly believe the 'blog world' could become a real asset to humanity, and at the moment it's missing the mark. Ideas about sentence structure, grammar, paragraphing, using a thesaurus (varying terms used so as not to sound repetitive), whether or not your blog is suitable for a personal or professional approach, are all important to creating a simple and enjoyable read for the blogging visitor. If you are a beginner, please check out my next article on the basics.
Jesse S. SomerM6.Nethttp://www.m6.net/Jesse S. Somer is a writer hoping to help potential bloggers to write interesting and informative on-line journals.