The other day I got to thinking about blogging and if there is ever a time when a blogger should just call it quits. Specifically, I started something of an internal dialogue about what would happen if there comes a time when everything has been said already and any future publications would just be redundant.

I’ll take a hypothetical situation here and expand a little on it.  Let’s suppose that Jane decided to start a blog about cats.  She publishes a few articles a week and covers topics such as feeding, health issues, behavior problems, etc.  Eventually she notices that all her knowledge and experience on this subject has been published on her blog, any related news stories have been covered, and she has nothing new to add.  What now?

Some may say to maybe  revisit older posts and touch on them again.  But even if you do this, how long would you want to continue in the pattern of repeating information that is already on your site?

With the exception of perhaps tech blogs, I am leaning towards the opinion that any topical blog really does have what could be termed as a lifespan.  You may have an incredible blog that is a virtual encyclopedia of information, but eventually your blog will become an exhaustive authority on the subject where nothing new of value can be added.  It would be a bittersweet moment if and when a dedicated blogger reaches this point.

What do you think?  Do you think that a blog can continue to provide new and relevant topical content indefinitely, or do you think that eventually they can become “complete” and maybe should be shelved?

First off, let me apologize for my absence the past few weeks and for the dreary appearance of this blog.  It’s in a state of hiatus, but hopefully things should return to normal in the next week or two.

I know that there are a lot of blogs that are started that focus on very competitive topics.  Getting noticed in a field of thousands of other blogs or websites can be a very daunting task, especially if your blog is brand new to the field.  So what can a person do to help get a little exposure?

Try using social media, particularly Twitter.  Twitter is fast becoming one of the most popular forms of social media out there and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if it became the social media leader in the very near future.

Using this blog as an example, if it weren’t for using services such as Twitter then the amount of visitors would be drastically reduced.  This site is centered on blogging with a focus on business blogging.  There are many, many other sites out there that are geared towards this topic.  These industry giants dominate the search engine results and so I would have to pursue ways other than search engines to attract visitors.  I chose Twitter.

Posting a blog update with a link in your Twitter stream can do wonders for your blog traffic.  Your new blog may be invisible in Google, but you can get the word out easily in the “twittersphere”.  As an added bonus, if other people like what you published, they may “retweet” your link which exposes your blog to even more people.

I have to add a word of caution to this: Don’t overdo it!  Promoting your website occasionally through Twitter is fine, but it turns people off when someone is tooting their own horn a bit too much.  Keep it in moderation and you should be fine.

So if you’re swimming in a sea of anonymity, look into using forms of social media like Twitter to get a little attention.

I’ve mentioned blog themes a few times already and I can’t really overemphasize the importance of using the right theme for your blog.  How you present your blog to others is much the same as how you would present a brick and mortar store to your public; appearances mean a lot.

Many businesses invest in a quality layout and design for their commerce websites but leave little consideration for their blogs.  They may just grab any free theme available that catches their eye.  Sometimes the color schemes match up with their business site, but most often they don’t.

What these business bloggers may not realize is that almost every website design can be converted into a blog theme for use by Wordpress.  For someone who knows a little web coding, it’s not too difficult to create a Wordpress theme that mirrors the look of your business site.  Some designers charge more than others, so it pays to shop around for this kind of service.  (Feel free to contact me for a quote if you’re in the market for a custom blog theme.)

I don’t know about you, but every time I’m on a nice looking website and click to their onsite blog and see the “Kubrick” theme I die a little on the inside.  When they mix up the site and blog themes like that they lose the overall seamless nature their website once had.

Even if your blog is hosted on a separate domain I would push for it to be branded with the same theme as the main site.  This creates continuity between related business sites and lessens the chance of any visitor not knowing who you are.

When it comes to your business blog, don’t settle for a theme that doesn’t match your company; get a theme that brands your blog to your business.

With any blog that I own or operate there are just a few things I want to know about the people who come to visit.  There are many, many different items of statistical data that I could analyze about blog visitors, but for the most part it really boils down to just 3 questions:

• Who are you?
• What are you looking at?
• How did you get here?

That’s it.  That’s all I really want to know.  I think you’ll find that these 3 questions cover the most important areas of visitor tracking and they also provide a good ruler to measure how well your blog is doing.

Let me break down these questions and explain what they mean to me:

• Who are you? – When I ask this I’m not after a visitor’s name or what they do for a living.  I want to know if you are a new visitor, a returning visitor, a search engine spider, etc.  User agents, IP addresses and browser cookies do a pretty good job of separating this info out, and this info can then be broken down into their individual parts.
• What are you looking at? – When someone is browsing through a blog of mine, I am interested in knowing which post they are reading.  Tracking this data for enough time will tell me what posts are more valuable or relevant to what people want.
• How did you get here? – I am always interested in knowing how people found their way to my blog.  Did they run a search on Google?  Direct visit?  Click on a link at another site?  Did someone email a post? This kind of information is invaluable in determining where my blog is being mentioned and how well known it is.

These 3 questions tell me almost everything I want to know that can help me provide a better blog for my visitors.  If I know how many visitors, what they’re looking for and where they’re finding me, I can better prepare my blog to provide blog visitors with what they’re looking for.

If you look at the answers to these questions for a while you will probably start looking into another important area, and that is why your visitors are leaving your site.  Looking at exit pages and the duration of visits can also be vital information in determining the health of your blog.

What things do you want to know about your blog visitors?  What do you use to help keep track of this information?

When you are choosing the layout and look of your Wordpress blog, you will most undoubtedly come across hundreds of themes to choose from.  Nearly all of them can be downloaded free of charge, but you will probably find a few that come with a price tag.  When you see something that normally is free, you may wonder if the “premium” themes are actually worth the money.

There are many different themes you can pay for, but one theme I see mentioned quite often is Semiologic Pro.  I have a good amount of experience with this theme and will tell you what I think about this theme and premium themes in general.

I have used Semiologic for a long time.  It is what I originally used to start this site and many of the sites I’ve started for others.  It is simplistic, SEO optimized, and built for marketing and Adsense sites.  The strength behind Semiologic Pro is split between the theme and the selection of plugins that come with the package.  My experience with using this theme for a blog has been positive.  After installing, it is very easy to customize your site to add features you want, and delete the ones you don’t.

Using Semiologic Pro as your theme will give you the ability to simplify your blogging.  With less to fiddle with, you can post your articles knowing that your site will be presented to the search engines in the most flattering way possible.  My past experience has shown that any articles I published using this software has ranked higher than it would have if I had used a different theme setup.

Semiologic Pro has a price tag of about $300 and this allows for a year of updates.  As Wordpress updates their software and Semiologic updates their theme, you can keep an up to date version as long as your subscription is current.  Is paying $300 a year for your blog theme worth it to have an optimized blog that attacks the search engines with fierceness?

It was for me, and a lot of other people as well.  But I have also come to the conclusion that you can get the same benefits by using the free Semiologic theme and a good selection of plugins.  There are a few plugins that come with the Pro version that you can’t get unless you’re a subscriber, but the lack of those plugins will not hinder your progress in a major way.

If you want to experience what Semiologic can do for you and your blog, I would first try out the free version of the theme before committing to purchasing the Pro package.  If you like what you see with it, then you can take it a small step further by becomming a paid subscriber at their site.

Have you ever fired a shotgun before?  Even if you haven’t you are probably aware of the differences between a shotgun and a rifle.  While a rifle fires a single shot that can be accurate at long distances a shotgun fires multiple shots in a spray pattern that gets bigger as it travels further.  It is easy to compare this pattern to blogs as well.

Many bloggers, myself included, have “sprayed” content out from their blogs that imitates a shotgun pattern.  Having no clear focus or plan, the material being presented becomes somewhat broad and erratic.  While a shotgun approach can be effective for short range goals (just like a real shotgun), it becomes less and less effective for long range goals (also like a shotgun).

A shotgun approach can easily blast away at your short term blogging goals, but long range goals require something with more of a rifle like precision.  The way to blog with accuracy is to have a clear blogging plan with goals.

What are your goals with blogging?  Are you after more traffic or higher rankings?  Are you looking to connect with people on a different level?

Whatever your goals are with blogging you have to have a clear and concise plan of attack.  If your goal is to bring about more exposure to your main site through your blog then you have to plot out the steps you want to take to acheive this.  Some of the steps you take may include keyword targeted posts that provide relevant information, outbound links to your site, and possibly information on how your business compares with the alternatives.

Whatever your reasons for blogging, you will be able to target your goals a lot better if you use a rifle instead of a shotgun.  Keep your focus on your blogging goals and soon you will become a blogging marksman!

Earlier today I found myself in a doctor’s waiting room.  Having nothing else to do I did what most people do; read their magazines.  I was reading an interesting article on sharks and how they are able to locate their prey with these “super” sensors that are capable of sensing minute electrical charges.  These electrical sensors that are located on their head are so powerful that their perception was likened to dropping a AA battery in the ocean in New Jersey and sensing the electrical charge in Florida.  That is one intense sixth sense!

The article reminded me of how some of the most successful blogs are created.  Unless you have a monopoly in your market, you will have other people competing for the same business (or visitors, readers, etc.) that you are.  The most successful bloggers are the ones who can “sniff” out what others can’t.

Think about that for a minute.  If you are trying to promote your business online you can be certain that most of your competitors are doing the same.  And chances are that most of these people are doing similar things with their blogs to gain visitors.  So what does a “blogging shark” do?

The answer is as simple as it is vague: they can sniff out what non-sharks can’t smell.  Their blogs offer people something a little different or maybe they’re offering just a little more value.  The sharks can see when certain waters are unproductive so they head out in a different direction.

Any blogger would be wise to study the blogging methods of the sharks in their field.  What are they doing with their blog that you aren’t?  What are they doing different?  And most importantly, can you apply their successful techniques to your blog?

Not every tool that a blogging shark uses may be applicable to your blog, but you’ll probably find that most of them are.  By applying their tricks to what you’re doing, your blog will improve and become an even better addition to your business.

Some people that are new to blogging may have a misunderstanding when it comes to backing up their blog.  They might backup their database and think they are covered.  This only leaves you partially protected in case you experience a loss of data.

The database stores all your blog posts, comments, settings, etc. but it does not contain everything your blog may hold.  Any images you use in your blog, all of your plugins and theme files, and any scripts or additional pages are not included in the database backup.

A complete backup of your Wordpress blog will contain your database file and every other blog file on your server.  If you have a copy of all these files then you will always be able to restore your blog in case a disaster strikes.

There are plugins available that make backing up your database a breeze.  Wordpress Database Backup creates a quality backup of your blog database and is easy to use.  In Wordpress 2.7, simply navigate to Tools > Backup and download a copy of your database to your computer.

After that, you should download a copy of all the files on your blog to your computer as well.  I use my favorite FTP program to connect to my server and do this.  Most, if not all, of the files you want to backup can be found in your “wp-content” folder and if you are knowledgeable in what you’re doing then this may be all that needs to be saved.  But for purposes of simplicity and to ensure that all necessary files are backed up you may just as well download all blog files from your server.

By making a complete backup of your blog you will never find yourself in the situation where your blog or parts of your blog are lost forever.  Just always remember that your blog backups consist of more than just the words that you publish!

Many people who start separate blogs to help increase the traffic and search engine rankings of their main site often have questions about linking to their main site.  These questions range from how often to “link out” and whether they should have site-wide links as opposed to links in their content.

I want to tackle the question of how often a person should create links to their main site from within their blog.  For the remainder of this article, when I refer to linking to your main site, I mean linking to your main site’s home page specifically.

First, if you have created a site-wide link to your main site either from a navigation bar or in the sidebar of your blog, then you will automatically be creating an outbound link to your main site with each and every blog post or page you create.  My experience has shown that site-wide links appear to help your rank in MSN, and somewhat in Yahoo, but little in Google.  If you’re looking to boost your rankings in Google, then I would probably avoid setting up a site-wide link to your main site and instead focus on content links.

So now that we’ve somewhat settled on just using links in the content, how often should you (or can you!) link to your main site from it?  I am of the school of thought that says less is more.

You could link to your site several times in every post, but what good would that do?  Every visitor to your blog should be able to figure out pretty quick which business your blog represents, so why not do yourself and your visitors a favor and only link to your main site when it is relevant and helpful?

I have seen more than my fair share of business bloggers that feel the need to link out to their main site in each and every 2 paragraph post that they publish.  This is excessive, and I have yet to see a blog that does this become successful.

It is much, much better to only link out to your site when the content dictates to do so.  If your business has just launched a new service then by all means link out to the relevant page on your main site when you announce it on your blog.  But if you are just publishing general information about your business is there really a purpose in plopping in a link to your site other than self-serving interests?  If you blog with your reader’s interests in mind, then the SEO benefits will follow.

I have found that a beneficial linking rate to your site is around 15%.  That means you should link out to your main site in about 15% of your posts.  If you publish 1 post a day for your business blog then that means once a week your posts will include a link to your main site.  If you post every 2-3 days, then only 1 or 2 posts a month should contain a link to your main site.

Vary your anchor text with these links and eventually your main site will feel the effects from proper linking.  You will have more traffic to your main site and the PR juice transferred from your blog should be much higher than if you linked to your blog way too frequently.

If you are considering adding a blog to help your business out you may be considering starting an account at a free blogging service such as Blogger or Wordpress as opposed to hosting your own blog.  There are advantages and disadvantages to using free blogging services and it helps to know what those differences are.

Let me quickly list some of obvious benefits of using a free blog service.

As the name implies, free blog services are free.  “Free” as in it does not cost you any money to have a blog hosted through them.  You do not have to pay for the domain name of your blog nor do you pay for any hosting fees.  All you have to do is set it up to your liking and you’re good to go.  Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, you will incur no costs for operating a blog through these services.  And they are generally hosted on servers that are capable of handling a lot of traffic.  But there are a few things you should know before you decide to take this route.

First, and most importantly, if you use a free blog service you must remember that you do not have total control or ownership of your blog.  You are limited in the scope of what you are capable of doing with your blog and you must abide by the Terms of Service agreement with your free blog service.  For many people, some of the limits free blog services impose prove to be too restrictive for their needs.

Secondly, you may want to consider what kind of image you are projecting if your business chooses to use a free blog service instead of hosting your own.  Many people know that you can pick up a domain name for $10 and hosting for less than $10 a month.  If you go with a free blog service you have to consider the image it may portray of you.  Do you want any potential customers to think that you can’t afford to pay about $10 a month to have a blog?

Now before anyone attacks my last statement let me say that I do know of some people that are running successful business blogs with free services.  They are using Blogger and they have been able to increase their sales and drive more traffic to their main site.  But I consider them to be special cases and not an example for most people to follow.

If you are serious about your business blogging then I would recommend that you invest in purchasing a domain name that is related to your company or industry and host it on a different server.  The small investment you make now for a privately hosted blog can turn into huge profits in the future.