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12 Reasons Why You Need A Blog"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 and get your blog up and running first and THEN come back and read this :Reasons #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.Reasons #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.Reasons #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'.Reasons #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 !Reasons #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 !Reasons #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.Reasons #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 !Reasons #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.Reasons #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.Reasons #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.Reasons #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.Reasons #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.Thanks for reading,To Your SuccessWingcent NingSuccess-Biz Marketingwingcent@gmail.comhttp://mysignaturebusiness.blogspot.comSingaporeP.S. : To learn more about Blogging and create your own successful and profitable Blog, just visit Blogger's PayCheck for your Must Learn guide as the offer price was going to end soon. Get it first ...
Literature is the Soul of the Wit
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.
A survey in the United States brought out a startling fact the 30% of the surveyed people read blogs. Also, 52% of the surveyed people advocate equal journalistic rights and freedom for the blogs. And the most striking fact is that 31% of the surveyed people revealed that they found blogs to be more credible than the newspapers.
The growing popularity of blogs can be gauzed from the fact that Yahoo, Google, MSN, Rediff and all the other bigwigs of the cyber world are experimenting with blogs and bloggers. Both free and paid blog hoisting sites have come up which offers a plethora of tools to make blogging a breeze.
MSN has even gone to the extent of making a common 'passport' database across all its services. So now, a MSN user can use his own personal 'id' across MSN messenger, Spaces and hotmail.
Also, MSN has integrated its Spaces with MSN Messenger 7.0. The users of MSN Messenger 7.0 will have a tab labeled 'gleams' which will inform them when their contacts have updated their individual blogs.
Recent statistics from MSN shows that MSN has 170,000 daily blog updates. This number is huge considering the fact that most of the bloggers do not update their blogs on a daily basis.
The Literature of the new era is no longer limited to books. From Poems to Features, from Humor to Short Stories, everything can be found in the blogs ...
Though good blogs are a trifle to find, yet close scrutiny will reveal every blog to be good in its own personal aspect. After all, blogs are a slice of the blogger's life and every one's life is a good source of learning experience.
Thanks for reading,To Your SuccessWingcent NingSuccess-Biz Marketingwingcent@gmail.comhttp://mysignaturebusiness.blogspot.comSingapore
Blog Your BusinessDoes your Business need a Blog ?A blog is a Web log, an online journal. Blogs started out as online diaries, in which diarists shared their everyday lives with the world. From their beginnings as a weird Web fad in 1998, blogs have moved on, and are well on the way to becoming a standard business tool.Why ? Because in February 2003 Google.com bought Pyra Labs, the company which owns the Blogger weblogging tool. Blogger.com, one of the main sites providing blog software and hosting, boasted a million hosted web logs in early 2003.Google.com's interest in blogs indicates that blogs are mainstream. A blog help your business in many ways, depending on whether you create a private or a public blog. Blogs are so useful that you'll want to create both.Your Business - Internal BlogThese days, no one works alone. Even if you're a solo business operator, you have colleagues, partners, contractors, and suppliers with whom you communicate daily. A private blog makes working with a group easier, because you can streamline your interactions, saving time and energy.A private blog can contain notes to yourself, or to colleagues. It's a place to store information and tips that might not warrant a special email message. You can post information like meeting notes, project tasks and summaries, and updated price lists. You can also post links to large files - no need to email, fax, or mail them to and fro.Your blog is more useful than email, because blog postings are dated, and easily searchable. You can post a message you want everyone to read, and the message stays on the blog. With email, you read and delete, or read and forget.If you've worked on a project with someone in another state or on the other side of the world, you've blessed email, because it makes sharing information so easy. Using a blog to share information is even easier than using email.Your Business - Public BlogA business blog is a marketing tool. A blog can add value to your Web site, or it can take the place of a Web site. Look on it as a combination "What's New" Web site page, and an online journal. Because of a blog's freewheeling nature, it's friendly and relaxed.If you don't have a site, your blog's a place to put your online CV, portfolio and client list. You can, and should, use your blog to express your personality and expertise.If you have a Web site, your blog page builds loyalty, because if you provide interesting content, your visitors will return to your site. And because it's a Web page, your blog will appear on search engines, attracting new clients.Google has been treating blogs differently from other Web pages for a couple of years. Whereas it takes a standard Web page/ site a month to be indexed by Google, blogs are indexed daily. This means that your blog is mega-cheap advertising. You can post something on your blog and have it indexed by Google within a day.Will creating a Blog help your Business ? As I suggested in the article : "Get Googled And Build Credibility", because Google.com is so popular and indexes so comprehensively, if you focus some of your marketing and promotion time on getting your name out on the Web, you're building your credibility, both online and offline.To Your Blogging SuccessWingcent NingSuccess-Biz Marketingwingcent@gmail.comhttp://mysignaturebusiness.blogspot.comSingaporeP.S. : To learn more about Blogging and create your own successful and profitable Blog, just visit Blogger's PayCheck for your Must Learn guide as the offer price was going to end soon. Get it first ...
Blogosphere NetworkingBlogosphere 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 ...Here are some questions that they will ask :1. ) Are all blogs the same ?NO. There are many types of blogs are there are different writers. I have categorized them into three types, but I am sure others would have arguments about these areas :A - Corporate BlogsThese are hosted by companies to promote their products and services or to communicate with clients.B - Philosophical / Content BlogsIn 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 ... For example : you may put the "Business Development" / "Networking" blog in this category.C - DiariesIn 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 ).2. ) Why I want to read blogs ?Why reading blog ? These 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.3. ) What have i learned from writing my own blog ?"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.4. ) Should I start a blog ?That is a question every person will have to answer for himself/herself. I would suggest you begin by reading other blogs and getting familiar with what is out there in blog-land. If you believe that you have something to say ... then by all means, start a blog. But remember to be patient and persistent. Like writing a book, it takes time and there is no guarantee that you will become widely read. However if you are dedicated, you will uncover many unexpected benefits from your blogging experience.If you are interested in easily learning about blogs, I suggest you start by learning the basic on blogging and there are guides for you to create your own successful and even profitable blog, that was by one of my best internet blogging friend, John Yeo. His Blogger's PayCheck was the best collection of advice and guides to the experienced and novice blogger.To Your Blogging SuccessWingcent NingSuccess-Biz Marketingwingcent@gmail.comhttp://mysignaturebusiness.blogspot.comSingaporeP.S. : To learn more about Blogging and create your own successful and profitable Blog, just visit Blogger's PayCheck for your Must Learn guide as the offer price was going to end soon. Get it first ...
Ask Yourself Before Starting A Business BlogBlogging 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 Users
Does 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 Readers
Does 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 Users
A 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. 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 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.To Your Blogging SuccessWingcent NingSuccess-Biz Marketingwingcent@gmail.comhttp://mysignaturebusiness.blogspot.comSingaporeP.S. : To learn more about Blogging and create your own successful and profitable Blog, just visit here for your "Must Learn" guide.
How To Boost Traffic To Your BlogLet 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 blog
How 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, "John'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.
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.myblog.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 ! To Your Blogging SuccessWingcent NingSuccess-Biz Marketingwingcent@gmail.comhttp://mysignaturebusiness.blogspot.comSingaporeP.S. : To learn more about Blogging and create your own successful and profitable Blog, just visit here for your "Must Learn" guide.
The Secrets of Corporate BloggingWeb 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 1990sBlogs 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.To Your Blogging SuccessWingcent NingSuccess-Biz Marketingwingcent@gmail.comhttp://mysignaturebusiness.blogspot.comSingaporeP.S. : To learn more about Blogging and create your own successful and profitable Blog, just visit here for your "Must Learn" guide.
Search Engine Optimization For BlogsBlogging 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://mysignaturebusiness.blogspot.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 posts
If 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.comBut 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.comBut 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 putOnce 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.To Your Blogging SuccessWingcent NingSuccess-Biz Marketingwingcent@gmail.comhttp://mysignaturebusiness.blogspot.comSingaporeP.S. : To learn more about Blogging and create your own successful and profitable Blog, just visit here for your "Must Learn" guide.
To Blog or Not To BlogA 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 !To Your Blogging SuccessWingcent NingSuccess-Biz Marketingwingcent@gmail.comhttp://mysignaturebusiness.blogspot.comSingaporeP.S. : To learn more about Blogging and create your own successful and profitable Blog, just visit here for your "Must Learn" guide.
24 Tips and Strategies on How Everyone Can Blog Right and GetBy the end of 2004 blogs had established themselves as a key part of online culture. "Blog readership shoots up 58% in 2004 6 million Americans get news and information fed to them through RSS aggregators. But 62% of online Americans do not know what a blog is." - Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Tip #1 - How and Where to Start ?You should begin your blog with a free blog hosting service such as Blogger ( http://www.blogger.com/ ), or other similar free services such as JournalHome.com, LiveJournal.com or Blog-City.com. The learning curve for using such free services allow you to spend more on developing your content rather than worrying about the advanced areas of scripting, hosting, or programming.
Tip #2 - Decide What to WriteAlthough not a required prerequisite for you in order to write a blog, it is highly recommended to try to find a topic to write about based on your level of interest and knowledge. The higher your level of interest, the easier it is for you to get your quality content posted on your blog. Always try to choose an area which you can enthusiastically write about on a daily basis.Try to pay attention to a niche which suites you well. A niche is basically a targeted product, service, or topic.
Tip #3 - Always Stay on TopicOpinions are generally accepted but the content of the items in the blog should all relate to a general theme. The majority of your readers will be interested in the content that relates to a specific defined theme or loosely defined area of interest. Define a topic and try not to run too far away from it. This will ensure that you create a loyal following of interested readers.
Tip #4 - Information is King - Be InformativeIf you are attempting to create the impression that you are knowledgeable about a specific industry or sector, be sure that you stay current on news. Checking your facts before you're giving out an opinion or a product review is always a good idea, your reputation is at stake. If by any chance you're utilizing other people's articles for you blog content, ensure that you follow the terms of usage defined by the author.
Tip #5 - Old News is Not NewsOld news is not news, but old information can be recycled and made new. While blogging everyday can be strenuous and time consuming, it is important that the information 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 as they're relevant and informative, there's no reason why it's not a good approach.
Tip #6 - Be DisciplinedBe disciplined and stick to a fixed posting schedule. Realizing that blogging requires time and effort, don't create unrealistic expectations and be unable to deliver. If you have worked hard to develop an audience and a community you don't want to lose them due to lack of communication. If time is not on your side, take advantage of tonnes of automatically updating contents which are available for your blog. Looking at the constantly updating nature of RSS feeds, other RSS feeds from similar topic can be inserted within your blogging post.
Tip #7 - Post FrequencyIf your blog content is updated frequently, search engines will tend to spider the pages at regular intervals. 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. 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 2 - 3 or more daily entries, depending on your daily schedule.
Tip #8 - Quantity MattersIn order to attract the attention of search engines, you will need to produce a relevant amount of content and information. A headline or simple sentence is not going to generate the interest of readers or help with search engine ranking. Be sure to archive old blog posts to develop a large portal of similarly-themed content.
Tip #9 - Clarity & Simplicity / Short & ConciseKeep your posts and blog entries clear and easy to understand. Simplicity always produce better results at the end of the day.Aside from the lengthy article a week for syndication and publication your blog entries should be short & concise ( if you can help it ). Should you insist on partaking on the lengthy road, try to maintain a clean paragraphing style, proper spacing, use different size, color and bold for your titles as well as the subtitles. Use bullet points, go straight to the point and never run out of topic. Insert images to spice up things if you're an avid fan of long sposts.
Tip #10 - Utilize the and TagsBeing one of the few most underutilized blogging formatting tags, these 2 items can help you on emphasizing certain points, in the most efficient and striking way. Formatting is simple and straight forward. Just
Hi
World !
.
and your message will apear distinctively different from the rest of your text, thus gets more attention which it deserves. Take note that the formatting for these 2 tags differ from blog to blog depending on how the owner defines the tag in the CSS ( Cascading Style Sheets ).Tip #11 - Keyword RichIf the goal of your blog is to increase your visibility, include related keywords in the title of the blog. Use the title as a headline to attract interest. Each item post should have a title that will attract attention but still be relevant to the post. The title should be no longer than 10-12 words. Experiment with the titles if you must, possibly try to avoid general and ordinary titles. Try to include extraordinary and innovative titles to grab the readers' attention.
Tip #12 - Spell Checking and Proof-ReadingIt only takes a few extra moments and can save you from having to make embarrassing explanations. The hazards of Internet is that if you're too late to correct your mistake, most likely it's already been crawled by the search engines and read by many. It is extremely essential to think / proof read carefully twice or even thrice, about what you post before doing so. Take note of your language and grammar.
Tip #13 - RSS FeedsRSS to a blog is like fuel to cars. Mostly every single free blogs or bloggin software out there will have an automatic RSS feed generating feature. Although it's most unlikely that you'll find one without a RSS feature, simply leave it and find a new one, if you happen to come across one without it.
Tip #14 - The Essence of the Internet - TrafficIt's no secret. You must have traffic to realize the definition of a blog. There are numerous ways to build traffic. Paid and free advertising, viral marketing, search engine marketing, RSS/XML feeds, word-of-mouth, submitting to numerous blog and RSS directories, etc ...RSSBlogsubmit ( http://www.rssblogsubmit.com/ ) provides a submission service for your Blog & RSS feeds. You should always use your blog URL address in the signature of your email, forum discussions, message boards, or any other communication media. 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 sophisticated usually a simple free page counter like StatCounter.com, ActiveMeter.com, Extremetracking.com or Sitemeter.com 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.
Tip #16 - Make Use of your BlogMake use of your Blog's statistical and tracking information. Believe it or not, your visitors' information from your tracking scripts will provide you priceless information on how you can attract more readers. Keep note on the keyword terms used from search engines which bring you traffic. You can identify relevant closely related topics which you can venture into and add more variety into your blog, yet staying very much in topic. Simply put, more topic coverage and more variety = more traffic. You may analyze your tracking information further on how you can strategize your blog's content. You can also apply some keyword optimization strategies here.
Tip #17 - The Essence of your Blog is your AudienceThe essence of your Blog is your Audience, listen to them. Always interact with your readers who post comments on your blog. Reply with a brief thank you note or just simply attend to their questions if they have any. It's a proven fact when there's a direct human interaction and knowing the fact that there's a "real human" at the other end of the blog makes most of them coming back. If your audience provide suggestions, comments or feedbacks, take them constructively and inform them if you have any desires of implementing such ideas on your next update. And of course, don't forget to thank them for their ideas. If it's a great idea, why not throw in a free gift ? Mention their website in your blog ?
Tip #18 - Create and Increase the "Why Must I Return" Value to Your BlogEveryone knows the fact that Blogs get a huge level of returning visitors because of its constantly updated content. Why don't you add more interesting items to that return value by having fixed periodical posts / offers, e.g : * Monday Top 10 Tips* Picture of the Week* Free Bonus of the Month* Free Daily Wallpapersetc ... to give them the absolute excuse to return to your blog. As long as you can efficiently and appropriately increase that Return Value constantly, it is mostly guaranteed that you'll be getting tonnes of repeated visitors, period.An advance notice, prelaunch announcement or anything similar to that also can act as a short term return value strategy. Encourage readers to comment on your such notices / posts. Experiment and play around with this idea.
Tip #19 - Multiple BlogsAs i mention before, its never hurts to use multiple blogging accounts to attract more people. You can even have multiple blogs within Blogger.com itself, but you may also want to try different free blogging services such as JournalHome.com, LiveJournal.com, Blog-City.com, etc ... Should you have the urge to have multiple similar duplicates of your blog just to gain more traffic, it is wise to avoid it as search engines / feed directories might translate that as excessive redundant information which simply brings you trouble, and you're tend to get penalized, banned or even accused of spamming.
Tip #20 - Digital Art, Creative GraphicsDigital Art, Creative Graphics Another proven fact - Monotonous and continous display of text will make your readers run away ! Try to include non- advertising graphics, pictures, photos, and art in your blog entries, but try to keep them at a limit. Too many graphics also mean slower loading time and messy text and graphical combination. You don't want your blog to look messy. Most of the time, graphics can bring your blog to life. Pictures can make boring texts interesting no matter how long it is. Graphical elements are by far the fastest message delivering element available on the net today. It may deliver various messages by a split second of a look.
Tip #21 - Maintain a Personal BlogA 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. Share product reviews and personal endeavors, instead of trying to make it sounds like you're selling.
Tip #22 - Credibility & PopularityAs thing progresses, things need to change in order to cope with the flow and nature of development. If your number of readers are reasonably huge, and still using a free blogging service to get your messages out, you may want to consider getting your own domain name and hosting plan to have a more personalized Blog.Domain names and hosting plans are pretty much straight forward. Research is all what it takes to get the best of all the available options. For the most highly recommended comprehensive listing of Free Blogging software out there, drop by at http://www.opensourcecms.com/ . This is by far the best place to drop by if you want to get your research done about which blogging software to choose. Reviews, ratings, public votes, demos, etc are provided. And the best thing is, all of them are Open Source, which means they are totally free. Try going through the server requirements for each software before purchasing your web hosting.
Tip #23 - Customize the Look of your BlogIf you happen to be using one of the Free blogging services out there, you might notice that most of us are using the same template again and again for our blogs. It is well understood that not everybody has the technical knowledge to change the layout as how they want it to be, but if you have the knowledge, by all means try to customize it and make it look DIFFERENT. You can grab that extra attention, if you're different in certain ways. Create that image for yourself.
Tip #24 - Blog and Make MoneyOnce your blog has gained some real momentum and your blog traffic is increasing then it is time to start thinking if you want to turn your traffic into profit. Some of the recommended income generating sources are as follow :- Google Adsense, Amazon Associate program ( http://www.amazon.com/ ), Blogads.com, Crispads.com, Tagword.com, Affiliate Programs and any advertising related text links can be your place to start off.
Tip #Final - ConclusionFollowing these blogging tips should make your blogging experience much more rewarding. Blogging is generally done out of interest and enthusiasm and sometimes for income generating purposes. The flexibility of blogging will never cease to expand. Through time, dedication, and persistence you will be rewarded with all the royalties of blogging.To Your Blogging SuccessWingcent NingSuccess-Biz Marketingwingcent@gmail.comhttp://mysignaturebusiness.blogspot.comSingaporeP.S. : To learn more about Blogging and create your own successful and profitable Blog, just visit here for your "Must Learn" guide.