Did You Miss What Is A Blog?

You can read the first question, What is a blog? Here.

Now onto the next lesson…

What makes a Blog different from a ‘regular website’?

Assuming that a ‘regular website’ is referring to a static HTML site, it is the database driven content that really sets it apart.

There are many websites that have been built using a similar script/database

(known as a Content Management System or CMS)

These sites have a lot in common with the blog since a blog script is essentially a CMS.

The lines between blogs and other types of websites are blurring as more business owners choose to build their site with a CMS.   While many blogs are designed to look like a web journal, more and more are being designed to look like a regular website.

Because the content you enter into the blog is stored in a database, it can be distributed as a data feed.  RSS is the feed that most blogs employ.

(RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication)

With RSS, your content can be viewed through any RSS reader or aggregator on another website or on a computer or portable device.

Another benefit to being database driven is that the script can accept and display comments on specific posts and can detect when other sites link to one of your blog posts.

A blog (short for web log) is an online area designated for publishing short articles or similar information, within a predefined template.

It is a quick and simple method of creating content on a webpage without having to worry about technical page layouts or formatting.

A blog can be on any subject you choose, and can be updated as often as you wish.  Some people add posts to their blog each day, while others only create a couple of new posts a month.

Personal blogs can often take on the form of a diary, with the author describing what they have been doing since the last posting.

Business blogs tend to be more informative and are used to offer advice to customers, announce new products, promote other related sites, and generate interest in the business.

The following definition of a blog comes from Blogger, a blogging service owned by Google:

“A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.

Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what’s new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.”

Although each blog is individual, they tend to have a few things in common:

• A main posting area with posts, or articles, listed in date order, newest on top.  These posts can be organized into categories, for example you could have one category of personal blog posts and a category of business related blog posts

• An archive containing older posts or articles

• A method for people to leave comments about your blog posts. Your readers will log into your blog with a user name to leave remarks about your articles.

• A number of links to other relevant sites, often known as a ‘blogroll’

• A number of feeds including RSS, Atom or RDF feeds.

When it comes down to it…. It’s whatever you want it to be. 

• It can be an online journal. 
• It can be your web based diary. 
• It can be your monthly web article archive
• Or weekly newsletter repository. 

A blog can include whatever you would like it to include:

………………     words, sound, video, pictures & more!

It can be very personal or it can be quite businesslike. 

It’s up to you!

Why are you holding back in life?

Stop it!

Get EXCITED about your life!

The world needs YOU!

———————-

End Blog Post

With the tough times and in a competitive job market where recent college grads have difficulty finding work, Adylia-Rhenee decided to cut to the chase and create her own job while still in college.

Why did you decide to start your own business?

To be honest, I have never thought about anything else. I never knew exactly what specific field I wanted to go into but I always knew I wanted to be my own boss.

A year ago I wanted to be able to put my passion of philanthropy, inspiring and uplifting people into a business. That is what I did and how I got Yhorlife.com

Were you nervous at all because of your age?

No, because from my schooling I felt completely competent. I went to a prep-school since the age of 4 where the structure was all about taking the students from “dependent to independent learners.” I prepared myself that other people might not receive my age as positively but that is something I could not control or focus on.

Did your family & friends support your decision?

I only told my family members initially that I wanted to start a business. They were very supportive because they knew that if I focus on something I will work hard to achieve what I have set out to achieve.

Please tell us what Yhorlife.com is about.

Yhorlife.com is where people can join together and focus on a positive direction for their lives. It’s for people who imagine a world where intelligence, creativity, and hard work is recognized, celebrated, and rewarded. That reality would uplift everyone to inspire to be better, and be the best that they can be.

To have a life where you are in control and aware of your choices. Yhorlife.com is the answer. We believe it’s your life, take control of it.

We are an online community that celebrates hard work, shared values , and offer sound advice to those searching for a higher standard. As a member you have access to articles, interviews and discussion designed to solve problems, build relationships, empower, and have fun in the process. Industry experts, men and women of all ages provide a variety of perspectives in life, relationships, careers, entrepreneurship, education, parenting, and more.

Tell us about how your company gives back.

Yhorlife.com gives 10% of the membership proceeds to the Dreams of Simon Bolivar Foundation which supports the children and craftsmen of Grenada, Nicaragua. I choose Nicaragua because about 4 years ago I was on vacation with my family in Grenada, Nicaragua.

I was walking around and this boy about 8 years old whittled me a grasshopper from a banana stem. I didn’t have any money to give him but he didn’t care he just wanted me to have the grasshopper. What amazed me was how happy that little boy was with what appeared to be very little.

That’s why I choose to give back to Grenada, Nicaragua so that the young kids can go to school instead of helping their parents. Providing the craftsmen with tools to continue making incredible jewelry.

What are your biggest dreams for your business?

I would say that my business makes a difference and inspires people all over the world.

What would you tell someone about following their passion in life?

I would tell someone that before you follow your passion make sure that you can handle giving up some things you love or getting negative comments etc and if a person wouldn’t be affected by other people’s opinions then I would say go for it. To me business is like show business. You have to believe in yourself and your product/ business 120% before anyone else might jump on board. That’s the beauty of the journey so when you reach your goal you truly appreciate everything.

You can follow Adylia-Rhenee’s Journey Here

About Yhorlife.com

YhorLife.com is an online community that celebrates hard work, shared values, and offers sound advice to those searching for a higher standard. YhorLife.com members gain access to articles, interviews, and forums designed to solve problems and build relationships. Industry experts, and men and women of all ages provide a variety of perspectives on life, relationships, careers, entrepreneurship, health, parenting and more.

Adylia-Rhenee Gutierrez decided to start Yhorlife.com to develop a community of shared ideals – a society comprised of people who want to reward hard-work, determination, intelligence and ethics.

“I wanted to start Yhorlife.com to remind people that there are others who are looking for smart, dynamic content that can impact their lives in a positive way,” says Gutierrez, who was born and raised in Los Angeles and now resides in Philadelphia/ tri-state area, where she studies finance at Temple University.

“When you surf the web or watch television today, you get the sense that our society is being dumbed down. Celebrities who are famous just for being famous are glorified and are now outnumbering the true heroes impacting the world in a positive way.”

I’ll coach you along and hold myself accountable at the same time!

Posting to a blog regularly takes discipline, you truly should enjoy and even love your topic.

So let’s talk strategy!

You need to be strategic with what you do but like I said previously, follow your heart.
Here is an example of estimated traffic ranking of mashable.com.

Below, you can see the average traffic rank worldwide (in green) and in the US (you can customize the data for any country, if you prefer).

The lower the number, the more popular the site.

In this case, Alexa says that mashable.com is the 222nd most popular website on the web.

The ranking is based on users who use the Alexa toolbar and is often skewed in providing website with web savvy audiences higher rankings.

However, any site that ranks in the top 10,000 or so is very likely to have a large volume of traffic.

To get a better picture of the popularity of a site, instead of relying on the single ranking from Alexa, you can compare the ranking to other similar sites.

First, you can click the “Related Links” tab to find related sites:

Because some of these are social networking sites, rather than targeted blogs, that mashable.com tends to write about, we’ll disregard Twitter, Twitpic, Tweetmeme and FriendFeed.

In this case, TechCrunch, Reader/Write/Web, Wired, Search Engine Journal and/or Lifehacker seem to more closely suit our needs for comparison.

TIP: You can compare any related sites that you want. You don’t have to only compare the ones Alexa suggests.

We can compare traffic ranking by clicking the “Traffic Stats” tab.

Then you’ll see a traffic graph and below that, you can enter sites to compare. We have decided to compare Techcrunch, Wired and Lifehacker and clicked “traffic rank.”

From the graph above, we can see that Mashable and TechCrunch have comparable traffic, but Mashable seems to come out the winner more consistently.

Wired and Lifehacker appear to have lower traffic levels.

If you want to see specific numbers of any of the sites you are comparing, you can simply search for that site in the Alexa search box.

Let’s Dig Into Google

A Google search is simple. Enter your topic plus “blog” and browse the results. In the example below, we’ve looked for “basket weaving blog”:

Looking At Technorati

Technorati is a large directory and search engine for blogs.

You can browse through categories, by selecting from the top of the page:

You can also use the search box at the very top of the page to either search for blogs OR posts on certain topics.

In the example below, we are searching for “stamp collecting” blogs:

Technorati lists the blog according to their own ranking algorithm:

Alexa Related Links

When you already have some sites in mind or ones you’ve already submitted to, you may want to find related sites to consider.

We already talk about Alexa’s Related Links feature and it will come in handy for finding additional blogs to potentially submit to.

In this example, we have searched for sites related to comicsalliance.com:

In addition to the list above, if you scroll down a bit, you can search sites by category as well.

Using a Guest Blogging Site

There are sites and communities popping up where you can collaborate with other blog owners.
One such site is MyBlogGuest.com.

It’s a free site where you can connect to find guest blogging opportunities and even to find guest bloggers to write for your site.

Let’s take a quick look at how this site works.

MyBlogGuest

You can sign up for free at MyBlogGuest.com. When you sign up, you will be prompted to complete your profile, including your social networking accounts, a photo of yourself, your websites, your blogging experience and more.

This will make it easier for a potential blog to evaluate whether or not they want to work with you.

Once you’re all set up, you can navigate to the Forum and find the “Looking for a guest for my blog” forum.

There you can find blogs who are looking for people to post.

You can also post your own offers in the “Looking for a blog to guest post,” so other blogs can view your information.

As you can probably see, once you start finding site to guest post for, it becomes even easier to find more.

You can also use your experience on certain blogs as leverage to get other blogs to readily publish your posts.

Finding opportunities isn’t hard, if you know how to look.

It’s the quickest way to do the following:

1) Get into the hearts and minds of others who are on a similiar life journey as you

2) Builds traffic to your site … quickly

3) You build friendships with those that you partner with

4) Your products and services are showcased

5) Your mission is noticed

and that’s just off the top of my head!

I plan to launch a full on guest blog posting (complete crazyness) schedule very soon. It’s something that I know will kick start the year and this blog into some fun friendships and also bring me lots of traffic and sales fast. 

My 2012 Kick Off will be AMAZING!

There are a number of ways to find guest blogging opportunities and I plan to provide you a tour of how you can get great exposure through guest posting.

Whether you search for blogs that publicly accept submissions, approach blogs directly, use a guest blogging site or a combination of all those methods, there are plenty of opportunities to be found.

There are a number of factors to consider when deciding whether or not you want to write for a particular blog.

While you may have other considerations, the factors I’ll cover here will include targeted audience, traffic and community interaction.  It’s up to you which you spend the most time on and depends on what is most important for you.

In the coming days I’m going to share with you exactly how to get your own blog posting schedule going by getting deep into the topic.

Finding The RIGHT Blogs

Before you write your first word, make sure the audience is truly targeted for you. Would they make good readers of your blog and customers for your products? While there may be plenty of blogs who write on the same subject matter as you, they may not be the right fit.

For example, if you write on political subjects, writing for a blog that doesn’t match your ideology may not be the best idea.

Or if you have a cooking site that features “from scratch” recipes, you may not find the opportunity to write for a blog that promotes quick and packaged fixes for meals a good fit for you either.

Ultimately, it’s up to you decide if the target audience is right for you, but do your homework first.

Some blogs you come across may include guest post submission guidelines.

If so, always make sure you follow the guidelines to the letter.

If there is no submission information, don’t let this stop you from submitting a post for consideration.

To find submission guidelines, always look in the website menus (top, side and bottom) of the page or search on Google for “websitename.com submission guidelines”, “websitename.com submit post” etc.

Whatever method or methods you use to find blogs, make sure you do a quality assessment before jumping right in.

Quickly …  here are some sites you can do a good search for some blogs now:

• Google.com
• Technorati.com
• Alexa.com
• MyBlogGuest.com

Next we’ll talk about looking at a sites traffic in order to recognize if it’s a blog you’d like to post at. Most of all follow your heart, it’s important to put your efforts to things that are worthwhile.

Have you tried guest blogging yet? 

I’m so excited you’re reading this….

It has been a crazy, busy, scary, faith filled last few years for me. To know the full story you can read it over at our About Page.

Professionally I gave up my entire online business to focus on what I felt God was calling me to do with my life, and so you now have our new home here.

I actually created this thought for a website about 2 years ago but it looked VERY different and it never sat right with me… I also never wanted to just “whip” anything up.

This had to be the right decision and to be the PURPOSE that I was created for on this earth.

The one thing I know is that my life is not my own…. I realized that so clearly when I stood over my daughter who was sleeping and fighting cancer, I will never forget that moment standing by her bed.

I mostly want to inspire others to live the life the are designed for and then show them how to spread the news of what they are doing for their mission.

Here are some ways to reach us…

You can find us on Facebook

 

Connect with us on Twitter

 

It’s my mission to not only inspire you but to give you access to easy videos, tutorials, and some good ole step-by-step help to help YOU get your website up, running and successful quickly!

…. What are you currently working on?

10 Questions Blogging Basics Series: Blogs Vs. Regular Sites

February 14, 2012

Hope you're getting something out of my new series, I want you to be able to discover the things you can do with blogging and getting the word out about your business. Did You Miss What Is A Blog?...

Read more

10 Questions Blogging Basics Series: What Is A Blog?

February 6, 2012

We're Digging Into Blog Basics! A blog (short for web log) is an online area designated for publishing short articles or similar information, within a predefined template. It is a quick and...

Read more

Why Are You Holding Back?

January 30, 2012

Why are you holding back in business? Why are you holding back in life? Stop it! Get EXCITED about your life! The world needs YOU! ---------------------- End Blog Post

Read more

Interview: Adylia-Rhenee From Yhorlife.com

January 23, 2012

You’re Never Too Young to Start Your Own Business, Says 20-Year-Old CEO With the tough times and in a competitive job market where recent college grads have difficulty finding work, Adylia-Rhene...

Read more

Finding Blogging Opportunities

January 16, 2012

A few days ago I told you how I was going to kick off my own blog by guest blog posting. I hope to show you as much detail as I can so you can see a "blog tour" in action and apply it to your own b...

Read more

• 10 Questions Blogging Basics Series: Blogs Vs. Regular Sites
• 10 Questions Blogging Basics Series: What Is A Blog?
• Why Are You Holding Back?
• Interview: Adylia-Rhenee From Yhorlife.com
• Finding Blogging Opportunities

If it’s done correctly, you can go from obscure to what’s on everyone’s lips in just a few days.

If you’re new to the term, viral marketing is essentially capturing your market with a tool that’s passed from person to person.

YouTube is a perfect example of this as people love to share videos, especially funny or shocking ones. However, other products can be viral as well.

You can capture your market online with these viral marketing tools and tactics:

•  eBooks
•  Reports
•  Workshops, seminars or online course
•  Video or audio

In order to make these tools viral you’ll need to make sure they accomplish a few things.

Viral means that they’re passed from person to person and the more quickly items are passed, the bigger the market you’re able to capture.

So let’s think about what makes someone pass along a bit of information. They’d forward it to a friend if it is:

Entertaining

Humor is a great way to capture a viral market online. People love to laugh and if you can make them laugh and market your business at the same time, you’re golden.

Video is the easiest tool to capture an online audience with humor. Try creating a funny advertisement and posting it on YouTube.

Valuable

Regardless of the fact that there’s an abundance of information available online today, people still hold quality content in high value. If you can create an informative product, people will share it with others.

But how do you use a viral product to promote your mission or business?

When using something like a video or audio, you can market your product or service directly in the content. You can also make sure to incorporate your website URL into the content.

The same holds true for any print product like an eBook or a report.

Simply make sure that you include a link or two back to your website. You can also place an “about the author” type page inside your book and a separate page to promote your products and services.

The choice on how you promote yourself is yours; just make sure to let people know where to go for more information.

To capture your online market you’ll also want to make sure your viral content is placed where your audience hangs out.

Use social networking, advertising and PPC, article marketing and so on to draw attention to your viral product.

Get the word out and then let your viral content do its job.

One of the factors which plays a dominate role in search engine results is the number of links you have coming into your site.

The best kind of links, the ones with the highest value are the one-way links.

When you have hundreds of other relevant websites linking to yours, well that’s a sure way to get to the top of the page rankings quickly.

Here’s how to get more one-way links.

#1  Understand that one-way links are links to your site that are not reciprocated

For example, a reciprocated link is where you link to a friend’s site and they link back to you. This is fine and will help your SEO however it doesn’t hold as much weight as a one-way link.

#2  Create and publish valuable content on your site

People naturally link to quality content.

#3  Directories

Submit your website to directories and list them in the proper category.

#4  Article marketing

Submit articles to article directories and be sure to include links to your site. When people publish your articles on their site, they must keep the links in tact.

#5 Publish Articles

Publish articles on your site and invite other sites to publish them on their sites, as long as they give you credit for the article and link to you.

#6  Post comments on relevant blogs

Many blogs allow your identity to be a link to your website. Use it!

#7 Your Signature

In the same vein, post comments on relevant forums and place your link in your signature.

#8 Free Stuff Works

Give away free ebooks, reports and other valuable content that links to your site.

#9 Business Directories

Get listed in business directories.

#10  Press Releases

Write a press release and submit them to news release sites.

#11 Guest Blog

Become a guest blogger or columnist on a relevant site with the condition that you can link back to your site.

#12  Host a contest or giveaway with a great prize

People love to enter contests and get something for free and other website owners will enjoy telling their audience about the giveaway.

Make it something good, like a Kindle or laptop and you’ll have everyone and their brother linking to you.

#13  Participate in social networking

Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites are great for generating links to your site.

#14 Go viral

Create an entertaining video, audio or other content and make it available on your site. Think about how quickly people spread the word when they see a good video and how many incoming links you can generate.

When it comes to generating one-way links there are many ways to go about it. Begin with good solid content on your website and branch out from there.

Brainstorm the possibilities.

It’s fun and you may generate enough one-way links to shoot to the top of the page results.

Recently I received an email from a subscriber who asked if I’m doing any one-on-one coaching. I mentioned to her that I’m in the process of working on this blog to get it spreading like gangbusters on the internet.

Then I thought… maybe there’s others who need that extra little step-by-step kind of help. Even if you’re starting from scratch, I know I can help you.

I also feel like God is showing me the steps I personally need to take in my own business and I can see there is a need there.

So…

This post is written for subscribers only and I’ve decided to open up to an easy one-on-one private Email Coaching.

Here is the Structure:

1) You get me personally answering your emails to my private email address, no one will see it but me.

2) You can send your questions Monday to Thursday and I will respond 9am – 4pm PST.

3) You can send only ONE question per day, this gives you time to reflect and learn as you go. If you’re spinning off one after the other, it will run us both down.

4) I can help you with pretty much anything when it comes to online business, ecommerce (I did over 40,000 ebay auctions years ago) offline business, branding, marketing etc.

(I was once told by a gal that she has 30 years in marketing experience and she was floored at what I was teaching her!)

So… that all being said, if you want extra help and have been stuck on something for far too long, I’m here to help. I offer a very unique business perspective since I have owned my own business since I was 20 years old, I have MEGA experience offline AND online.

It’s just $97/month and you can email me personally and get your questions asked. Stop being stuck!

Please Note: Just so you know, I will only be taking on 10 people for this coaching since I need to work on my own business too and this is literally going out to thousands of subscribers.

(one spot is already taken)

Life is far too short, the world needs you AND your message!

Join Me Today

$97/Month

 _____________________________

Bill de Groot @ One Epic Journey

Harvey’s Furniture & Appliances Bike Team cannot even begin to express the gratitude that we feel for the incredible website that Vera Raposo designed for our Vancouver To Seattle Ride To Conquer Cancer Events & Fundraising Page.

Her attention to detail, imaginative design and professionalism are more than we could ever ask for.

Thank you Vera!!

Bill de Groot
Team Captain / Harvey’s Furniture & Appliances
www.oneepicjourney.com

Here’s What Bill Said 01/30/12 On His Site About Me…

My dream of riding in honour of my Father and raising a few dollars for a charity in need is now being followed by people all over the world, sponsored by some amazing companies and I have one very special person to thank……..Vera Raposo.

Vera took my dream, my vision, my goal and ran with it.  Even though I tell her every single day how much I appreciate everything she has done for me I feel compelled to tell the rest of you who the deserves the credit for what you see at www.oneepicjourney.com

Thank you Vera