Building Your Own Website In Minutes Is Now Easy.
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Problogging: Making Money From Blogs Starting Now.
A weblog (or simply blog) is a website that 'publishes' or
features articles (which are called 'blog posts', 'posts', or
'entries'), written by an individual or a group that make use
of any or a combination of the following:
· Straight texts
· Photographs or images (photoblog)
· Video (videoblog)
· Audio files (audioblog)
· Hyperlinks
Usually presented and arranged in reverse chronological order,
blogs are essentially used for the following purposes:
· Online journal or a web diary
· Content managament system
· Online publishing platform
A typical blog has the following components:
· Post date -the date and time of the blog entry
· Category - the category that the blog belongs to
· Title - the title of the blog
· Main body - the main content of the blog
· RSS and trackback - links the blog back from other sites
· Comments - commentaries that are added by readers
· Permalinks - the URL of the full article
· Other optional items - calendar, archives, blogrolls, and
add-ons or plug-ins
A blog can also have a footer, usually found at the bottom of
the blog, that shows the post date, the author, the category,
and the 'stats' (the nubmer of comments or trackbacks).
There are numerous types of blogs. Some of them are the
following:
1. Political blog - on news, politics, activism, and other
issue based blogs (such as campaigning).
2. Personal blog - also known as online diary that may include
an individual's day-to-day experience, complaints, poems, and
illicit thoughts, and communications between friends.
3. Topical blog - with focus either on a particular niche
(function or position) that is usually technical in nature or a
local information.
4. Health blog - on specific health issues. Medical blog is a
major category of health blog that features medical news from
health care professionals and/or actual patient cases.
5. Literary blog - also known as litblog.
6. Travel blog - with focus on a traveler's stories on a
particular journey.
7. Research blog - on academic issues such as research notes.
8. Legal blog - on law (technical areas) and legal affairs;
also known as 'blawgs'.
9. Media blog - focus on falsehoods or inconsistencies in mass
media; usually exclusive for a newspaper or a television
network.
10. Religious blog - on religious topics
11. Educational blog - on educational applications, usually
written by students and teachers.
12. Collaborative or collective blog - a specific topic written
by a group of people.
13. Directory blog - contains a collection of numerous web
sites.
14. Business blog - used by entrepreneurs and corporate
employees to promote their businesses or talk about their work.
15. Personification blog - focus on non-human being or objects
(such as dogs).
16. Spam blogs - used for promoting affiliated websites; also
known as 'splogs'.
Blogging is typically done on a regular (almost daily) basis.
The term "blogging" refers to the act of authoring,
maintaining, or adding an article to an existing blog, while
the term "blogger" refers to a person or a group who keeps a
blog.
Today, more than 3 million blogs can be found in the Internet.
This figure is continuously growing, as the availability of
various blog software, tools, and other applications make it
easier for just about anyone to update or maintain the blog
(even those with little or no technical background). Because of
this trend, bloggers can now be categorized into 4 main types:
· Personal bloggers - people who focus on a diary or on any
topic that an individual feels strongly about.
· Business bloggers - people who focus on promoting products
and services.
· Organizational bloggers - people who focus on internal or
external communication in an organization or a community.
· Professional bloggers - people who are hired or paid to do
blogging.
Problogging (professional blogging) refers to blogging for a
profit. Probloggers (professional bloggers) are people who make
money from blogging (as an individual blog publisher or a hired
blogger).
Below are just some of the many money-making opportunities for
probloggers:
· Advertising programs
· RSS advertising
· Sponsorship
· Affiliate Programs
· Digital assets
· Blog network writing gigs
· Business blog writing gigs
· Non blogging writing gigs
· Donations
· Flipping blogs
· Merchandising
· Consulting and speaking
The following are a few things that you need to consider if you
want to be successful in problogging:
1. Be patient. Problogging requires a lot of time and effort,
not to mention a long-term vision.
2. Know your audience. Targeting a specific audience or group
is a key to building a readership.
3. Be an 'expert'. Focus on a specific niche topic and strive
to be the "go-to" blogger on that topic.
4. Diversify. Experiment with various add and affiliate
programs that enable you to make money online (aside from
blogging).
5. Do not bore your readers. Focus on the layout. White spaces,
line spacings, and bigger fonts make a blog welcoming to read.
Certainly, it is possible to earn money from blogs. One just
needs to take risks, the passion, and the right attitude in
order to be a successful problogger.
About The Author: The 12 Month Millionaire Will Show You
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Blogging Bliss: Bloggers & News Sites to Marry Web Content
Web content for newspapers online has been limited to
repeating what paid staff writes for the print editions of
their papers or material coming from whichever wire service
the parent organization subscribes to.
We're all familiar with seeing Associated Press or Reuters
stories running in our local paper and posted online at
various news organizations, but a new service called
BlogBurst has emerged to help bring blogging and news
together on the web sites of major media.
http://www.blogburst.com/
Blogburst makes the writings of a select group of bloggers
available to news organizations by aggregating the musings of
selected blog writers into a feed made available to major
papers. The news organizations can apparently choose from
among the topic areas and bloggers offered via the BlogBurst
feed.
Some bloggers have launched news commentary blogs with groups
of bloggers commenting on news. There already exist several
attempts to popularize what has become known as "Citizen
Journalism" by such notable groups as "We the Media and Dan
Gillmore's Bayosphere which seems to have been taken over by
BackFence. Relevant links below:
http://wethemedia.oreilly.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism
http://www.bayosphere.com/blog/dan_gillmor/
http://sf.backfence.com/bayarea/index.cfm?mycomm=BA
What is often lacking for bloggers in an audience.
Struggling to gain readers is the bane of blogging, since
people can't read what they don't know exists.
Some well known bloggers have found their audience through
writing compelling content and being discovered by major
media when they break their own news stories. Others gain
that audience through connections or through fame, but most
bloggers toil away daily for the pure love of a topic while
gathering small and loyal followings.
BlogBurst promises to make web content from the blogosphere
discoverable by the media by limiting the availability and
vetting the sources, so accuracy and truthfullness is
maintained and the blog can be trusted. It's an interesting
experiment and may be the route to bloggers earning a living
from their blogs by gaining an audience they previously had
little access to - major newspaper web site visitors.
Since unknown bloggers appear to need the media in order to
spread the word (becoming well known in the process) and
newspaper web sites appear to want blogs associated with
their site, BlogBurst is filling that need. Since a lack of income
is what haunts many bloggers hoping to earn from their
commentary, BlogBurst will allow those bloggers to both reach
an audience and capitalize on their own traffic via their own
advertising, whether that is Google Adsense, Blogads, or some
other agreement with individual advertisers.
News sites have launched blogs written by volunteers, some
have offered staff journalists a blog, others have tried
allowing "Comments" from readers. But volunteers appear
unreliable, staffers have little incentive to blog without
pay and comment sections are subject to abuse by comment
spam. ZDNet is currently offering bloggers in popular
technology topic areas and is apparently providing payment
from advertising revenue generated by those blogs.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/
BlogBurst is taking an interesting approach by offering
online news organizations filtered and verified news
commentary from bloggers. Presumably, this content will be
available directly on the news sites, such as the
Washington Post, Gannet News sites, San Francisco
Chronicle and Houston Chronicle news sites.
BlogBurst is reviewing proposed blogs currently and will
announce the engagement in a live trial with major news sites
in May. Will the love of blogs by major media result in a
spring wedding? BlogBurst appears to be offering to serve as
minister to a marriage made in heaven. Stay tuned, to see
if this will be a longlasting marriage.Mike Banks Valentine blogs on web content developments at
http://weblogs.publish101.com and has been accepted as a
BlogBurst blogger on web content and on privacy issues
for privacy blog http://PrivacyNotes.com/privacy_blog/
He runs web content distribution site http://Publish101.com
Blogging - Developing A Readership
You've finally created a blog and you've made your first post.
Now how do you get people to actually read what you're blogging
about?
Here are some tips on promoting your blog.
1) Quality Content - Interesting content will keep your
readership returning. Update your blog regularly.
Googlebot, which is Google's web-crawling robot loves content.
The more you update your blog, the more frequent the search
engine spiders will return to it.
2) Take part in forums that are related to blogging. Ask other
bloggers for their opinion on your blog and take their
suggestions to heart.
Ask other bloggers for their opinion on your blog and take
their suggestions to heart.
3) Publish an RSS/Atom/XML feed. If you're using Blogger, you
can turn on RSS feed by clicking on settings in your dashboard
and then clicking on site feed and make sure that your settings
are set to yes.
4) Carefully choose your subject titles, taking into
consideration what other internet users may be searching for.
Use keywords in your title. I suggest subscribing to Word
Tracker. Their report of the most popular searches is published
each Tuesday and distributed to over 30,000 subscribers.
Technorati.com , is a blog search engine that also lists the
top search words. The more targeted your keywords are, the
greater your return in search engines will be.
5) Involve yourself in commenting on other blogs. You can gain
a loyal readership just by offering feedback to your fellow
bloggers. The comment feature allows you to add a link back to
your blog as well.
6) Be sure to include your blog address in forum signatures and
in your email signature.
7) Submit your blog to directories.
Submit your blog's url to Technorati, Daypop, Blogdex and
Popdex.
8) Write articles. Include a resource box in your article and
submit it to article directories such as http://iSnare.com
9) If you're using blogging software such as Blogger, there is
an option to notify the central blog update services (such as
http://weblogs.com) whenever you've made a new entry to your
blog. Make sure that this option is turned on! In blogger,
click on publish in your dashboard and make sure that your
settings are set to yes under notify weblogs. Alternatively,
you can go to http://ping-o-matic.com and send out a ping each
time you update your blog. This lets everyone know that you've
just updated your blog.
10) Link to other blogs. Use services like blogrolling, which
is similar to linking. Blogrolling allows you to maintain an
updated list of your favorite blogs. But, don't build a long
blog roll of sites that you have no intention of returning to.
There is nothing more annoying then visiting a blog that has a
humongous blogroll.
Be patient, traffic doesn't happen overnight. The best way that
I've found to increase traffic is by getting to know people.
Spend what free time that you have, reading blogs, leaving
feedback and building friendships. Try to leave comments on the
blogs that you visit as often as you can. While you are waiting
for the traffic to come, just enjoy blogging. You'll be
improving your writing in the process.
Eventually you'll build a network of not just readers, but
friends and loyal supporters. Blogging is not just about
marketing; it's about creating lasting relationships.
About The Author: Rose DesRochers is a published poet and
freelance writer. Rose has been writing poetry for more than 20
years. She is also the founder of http://www.todays-woman.net, a
supportive online writing community for men and women over 18.
She is also the Assistant Administrator of
http://www.invision-graphics.com
How Blogging Can Help Your Business
Wikipedia says:
The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz. He broke the word weblog into the phrase "we blog" in the sidebar of his weblog in April or May of 1999.
Basically a blog is a website where a blogger enters "posts" in reverse chronological order ( meaning that the newest "posts" are displayed first ) using some sort of blogging software that allows readers to comment on posts, effectively adding new content to the blog.
Initially blogs were generally private affairs with bloggers using them to keep online diaries. These days blogs have expanded to a virtually unlimited number of uses, including helping to build businesses. While a number of unscrupulous business men have resorted to publishing "splogs" or spam blogs, we will focus on how you can utilize blogging to help build your business while contributing to the blogosphere.
The blogosphere ( the community of blogs or the social network of blogs ) has a certain set of rules that have to be followed in order to publish a successful blog. The first rule is that your blog must contribute to the blogosphere - that is you must actually publish real content and not advertisements. A sure way to produce a blog that flops is to pump it full of advertisements disguised as content.
While the goal of a business-type blog is to build interest in your product or service, there is a right way to go about it and a way that is sure to fail. Instead of trying to sell products in each of your posts, think about trying to open a dialogue with your customers. That brings up another point - if you are not 100% confident in your product or service then a blog is not for you.
With the way that the blogosphere works if you are not willing to get behind your products and services completely. then you are going to have problems. When your customers or clients post comments to original posts, there are bound to be some problems or issues exposed - it is just the nature of the beast. If these issues are not addressed satisfactorily ( or even worse if comments are not followed up on or even allowed to be posted at all ), then your company is not going to have a very good reputation in the blogosphere. If you are not willing to have an open discussion of your business with the readers of your blog, don't blog.
The goal is to build up a reputation for your blog that reflects positively on your company. If you can do this, you are well on your way to building a successful blog. If a potential customer comes to your blog and notices your clients that had a problem were satisfactorily appeased, then they will view your company in a better light than they would without that information.
And that brings up a huge advantage to having a blog for your business - you can out flank the media, your competitors and all of the other traditional information outlets with your blog. If you successfully optimize your pages and build up a reputation for your blog ( think Google pagerank ), your posts stand a good chance of coming up first in search results for a particular product or service. Obviously if that page reflects well on your product or service this is preferable to your clients getting their information from a different source.
Another advantage of creating a blog about your industry is that you can set yourself up as an expert on the topic. While this only works if you have substantial knowledge of a given subject, most business owners are well versed about their industry - at least more so then the average reader of their blog. So capitalize on this knowledge by posting "insider" information about your industry - and where appropriate highlight your company's, products or services strengths.
You have to remember however that your blog is not a press release. If the readers don't feel like you are posting in the true spirit of blogging, then your blog is doomed to failure. So don't let your PR guys write the blog; take the opportunity to make real connections with the readers of your blog. Blogging done the right way is one of the best ways to truly achieve 1 to 1 marketing.
Your blog will have to be integrated into your whole net strategy - for example in your online catalog you can have links to posts that discuss that product. If customers contact support, they should be sent links to blog pages discussing the information they are looking for as well as the product pages or the FAQ. And don't forget to include your blog in your marketing strategies, new product launches, etc.
The bottom line is that if your are confident in your company and its services and/or products, then blogging is an important piece of the online puzzle. If you are not blogging your company, you may be losing out to your competitors who are.
James Kendall has been developing websites for over a decade and has founded and co-founded several companies concerned with web development since 1994. Currently he runs http://www.jtkconsulting.com and focuses on one on one interaction with select clients.
HOW BLOGGING MAY BE HARMFUL FOR YOUR CAREER
Blogging is one of the latest online crazes. Just about
anyone with access as a basic knowledge of navigating a web
browser can set one up in mere moments. I myself have two
active blogs of my own (one for personal thoughts and
expression, the other one being this one used for my
personal business pursuits) and I manage a blog for my
radio station crew in my day job.
But just because you can, doesn't mean you should. The time
you spend on your right of self expression could be hurting
your career.
Starting with the basics, a blog is slang for a Web log,
which is a website with diary-like entries about anything
that a person could thing of: personal life issues,
hobbies, the progression of a project, and increasingly,
the ins and outs of a company's dealing.
The line usually gets blurred when one takes their personal
blog and starts to speak negatively about their work life
or the company they work for. Under the myth of 'internet
anonymity,' a person can get bold in just what they say,
and not think about just who could be reading their
exploits. These are still private citizens observing free
speech and expression, but people easily find themselves
stepping into grey areas of just what type of information
about their profession and their professional lives should
be out there for display to the general public.
Or they do something worse. They talk about a private or
alternative lifestyle they lead, and link some of their
exploits to their companies or professional organizations,
possibly on purpose, that the more professional types would
rather not have to associate with. This may not be fair,
but it is what it is.
People are now having to deal with the consequences of a
little internet fame. Many cases are occurring of firings
and IT personnel are now finding themselves spending more
time with the HR personnel as they add blogging policies to
every growing list of no-no's for office computer systems.
Should you blog? If you have a passion for a subject, or
just want to show your friends just how crazy your life is,
then go for it. Check out you company handbook or a very
understanding HR person and see if your company has a
policy in place that covers what you can discuss about it,
and if they have a specific blog policy. If you find you
are in the clear, my suggestion is that you always take a
half of second to consider digression, don't discuss
negative or confidential information about your company or
the products or services they provide. And never spend time
on the clock updating info to your blog.About the Author:
JC Payne is a business professional and consultant. His
writings have been featured in numerous business
newsletters and magazines. He will soon be launching the
online magazine/blog hybrid site Cool Corporate dot COM
(
http://www.coolcorporate.com), which will offer business
life and lifestyle information geared toward younger
professionals. You can contact JC at
coolcorporate@sbcglobal.net
Real World Blogs: Reality
As one become more and more engrossed with blogs, real world blog issues surfaced. Blog sites that we update and frequent do not necessarily reflect the reality that hounds us daily.
Some were far from the realities that I dealt with at work. Things that appear to be great but do not apply in the real world. Topics that are subject to discussion were not exactly pratical or were not “real” enough. The need to let theory and practice work and hand in order for the blogs to be effective, paved the way for the term ‘real world blog’ came to existence.
As times change, this “real” aspect in blogs is beginning to show. More and more topics are discussed and dealt with realistically. And the need for blogs that cover what is truly happening in the real world grew.
Real world blog, for it to be effective must have certain qualities. Among these are:
- Defined goals. Real world blogs must be established due to a desired end or goal. It is difficult to understand something which does not focus on a specific thing. Real world blogs must have a clear purpose in mind and it reflects in the content of the blog site.
- User-friendly. Real world blogs should be designed for the comfort of visitors in mind.
- Is accessible. Real wold blog sites should allow easy access for the visitors.
- Is not perfect. Real world blogs could be excellent but it is not possibe to be perfect. Allow for some flaws. But always aim for the best real world blog site.
- Maintains balance. In real world blog, form must go and in hand with function. The same way for style and substance, content and design in a real world blog.
- Is simple. Real world blog sites should not be filled with graphics or music or texts.
Real world blog must start from a blog theory then add to this theory the Web best practices. Then stick to a clear purpose and create user-friendly designs. It’s ‘walking the talk’ so to speak to create a real world blog.
The blogs we create exist for a reason. That is one thing we need to ponder and keep in mind. Often it is easy to lose sight of that reason and abandon our goals. But we need to redirect to find that path again so real world blogs do not lose its essence.About the Author: Anthony Santiago owns and writes for MyBlog.com. Get started on his free blog hosting service at
http://www.MyBlog.com
Great Blogging Resources – How to Find Information and Ideas
When you are thinking about your blog entry, you may be faced with writer’s block. This is common for most writers – even bloggers. Don’t panic. The good news is that writer’s block always passes. There are a number of great blogging resources that will help you come up with ideas or find information to write your blog entries.
In some cases, it is a good idea to make a list of future blog entries. You should keep a pad of paper and a pen handy at all times. Pay attention to the world around you. When you are surfing the net, be on the lookout for topics that you can blog about. When you are standing in line at the grocery store, again, be on the lookout for blog topics. Make sure you jot these ideas down, or they may be lost forever.
Determine how often you will blog. If you will blog once a week that is 52 blog entries that you will need to write. If you will blog daily, that comes to 365. Try to write that number of topics for future blog entries on your list. That way, when you are stumped, you can refer to your list to find something to write about.
Another common practice for getting ideas for blog entries is to visit other blogs that are related to yours in some way. You aren’t there to copy information, but your blog entry can be based on one of theirs, as long as you provide a Trackback to the other person’s blog entry. This is what makes the blogging community so great! All of the information works together and is connected – allowing us to pass information around at the speed of light! You can also visit websites that are related to your overall blog topic to get ideas.
Of course news websites, such as http://www.cnn.com , http://www.headlinenews.com , http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ , and other such sites are great resources for information and ideas for your blog entries as well. Many bloggers incorporate the daily events of the world into their blogs, and there is no better source than a news website for this information.
Other sites such as Yahoo at http://www.yahoo.com may also give you ideas for your blog entries. Even doing a search on the most popular keywords that have been searched for recently can give you ideas that you can write about.
Once you’ve chosen your topic for your entry, you may need to do some research to find specific facts. There are numerous resources for all kinds of information available for free online. Typically, you can go to any search engine and simply type in a keyword or keyword phrase and find what you are looking for. If you need specific statistics on a given topic, type in the topic followed by the word statistics, and you will find what you are looking for.
Just try to make sure that the information you are writing in your blog is accurate. If you are unsure, simply say that you are unsure. If you are using estimates, make sure that it is clear that it is just an estimate. If you are stating your opinion, make sure that people will understand that this is your opinion, as opposed to actual facts. Nobody wants to be flamed, and we all hate it when we are wrong and somebody points it out! Avoid this by checking your facts, and distinguishing between fact and opinion!Jason frequently gives tips like this to the subscribers to his newsletter. Visit his blog at
Adventures In Internet Marketing and subscribe to his newsletter today!
Google Blog Search: What You Should Know
Google is moving in so many directions, it can be somewhat difficult to keep track of all the services and tools offered by this premium search engine. For the seasoned webmaster as well as the ordinary surfer, keeping a clear picture of what Google is offering is sometimes a little overwhelming.
Recently, there has been a deluge of new products from Google. If you hit the 'more' button on the Google Home page, you will see a smattering of Google services and tools. Including Desktop 2, Print, Maps, Google Earth... you can even search and browse mail-order catalogs.
Now comes Blog Search - where Internet users can now search blogs for their information. This is a welcomed service, especially for bloggers. Google's embracing of blogs started with the purchase of Blogger.com and got sidetracked with the 'costly' argument over which syndication standard to use. Most favored RSS while Google promoted the Atom standard for its blog feeds.
Blogs are online journals where ordinary people give opinions, information and links on topics that matter to them. These topics can be anything under the sun: from politics to needlepoint to corporate blogs to your local school's basketball team. Blogs give a real insight into what ordinary surfers believe and feel about a subject.
It's an instant snapshot of our world in words and pictures -- but mostly words.
Blogs are often associated with RSS because RSS is the syndication standard that sends out the blog's content in little snippets to all interested parties. Subscribers to these blogs can read these headlines in News Readers or Aggregators and then click on the links to get more information. Keep in mind, the original acronym for RSS is 'Rich Site Summary', but that meaning has been somewhat replaced by the major benefit of RSS which is 'Really Simple Syndication'.
Many browsers are now coming with an RSS reader already built-in, such as the popular Mozilla's Firefox browser. Microsoft's new Longhorn version of Windows will have RSS built into its operating system.
Recently Google has embraced RSS in its Desktop 2 program and in the XML powered Google Sitemaps. Now comes Blog Search, a way to search all the information in these blogs. In the past, most bloggers have used the Technorati site to search blogs as well as RSS search offered by MSN and Yahoo.
Some things you should know about Google Blog Search:
1. How to access it? You can use the blog Search site www.blogsearch.google.com or www.search.blogger.com You may also use the Navigational Bar on any BlogSpot blog, plus you will also be able to access it from your Blogger Dashboard. The Blogger Navbar gives you the option of searching within the current blog or searching all blogs.
Major criticism -- Google has not placed a link on its home (front) page of Google search; as blogs and blogging becomes even more popular maybe this error will be fixed.
2. Who's included? It should be noted that Google will index all blogs using a site feed (RSS or Atom) and you can get your Blog indexed just by using an automatic pinging service offered by such sites as www.weblogs.com
Please Note -- Your older posts may not be present in search results, Google started indexing feeds around June, 2005. Older posts may be included at a later date.
3. What search operators or query words are supported? You can use these standard Google Search modifiers and Google will restrict your results -- link:, site:, intitle: plus new ones for Blog Search -- inblogtitle:, inposttitle:, inpostauthor:, and blogurl:
4. Can I subscribe to search results? Yes, just use the News Aggregator of your choice and subscribe to the feeds at the bottom of the results page, then you can be automatically updated as new posts come online.
5. Can I use Safesearch? Yes, Google lets you filter out any unwanted sites.
More information on Blog Search click here: http://www.google.com/help/about_blogsearch.html
Blog Search is a great extension to the Google Search Empire, it will give surfers access to a greater range of material. No doubt, this is not the end of what Google has to offer to its loyal followers. Persistent speculation and rumors abound, it just won't go away, rumors that Google is NOT only designing its own browser (it owns the domain gbrowser.com) but its own operating system.
But why stop there -- if you're dreaming of the perfect search -- you must go further. Google must go further!
And since we're dreaming...
How about a Google delivered Instant Search embedded in a Google RSS Powered Operating System on a Google designed ultra-portable notebook computer with a wireless cell phone modem, accessible anywhere in the world...
...wake me up when it arrives!The author is a self-admitted Google addict and user! You can find
his main Internet Marketing Site here:
Google Cash FileCopyright © 2005 Titus Hoskins.
Get a Free Desktop Calendar & Planner compliments of the Author and DATEwise.
Blogging Schmogging: 6 Ways to Pump Up Your Posting Prowess
It’s the most important part of the Internet today. It’s a highly controversial issue in the area of free speech. It’s the reason anybody in the world – businessperson, grad student, church pastor, pilot or teenager - can have a voice. It’s a blog. And if you don’t know what that word means, prepare to be enlightened. Let’s start with the facts. The following list will give you a crash course on blogging basics:
A blog is a journal that is available on the web, short for the word “weblog”
Blogs generally represent the personality of an individual or website
A blog is a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links
The activity of updating a blog is "blogging," someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger," and all the blogs in the world represent the “blogosphere”
Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog
A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people
People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com
The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly—from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction."
Ok. Now that you’re up to speed on the term, let’s explore six ways to pump up your posting prowess.
TIP #1: Consistency
Technorati is THE authority on what's going on in the world of blogs. According to their website, they currently track 20.8 million blogs. Sadly, many of them lack consistency. And too many people create a blog simply for the sake of creating a blog. In other words, they’re not updated regularly. The blogger posts a dozen or so posts initially, and then forgets all about it.
Therein lies the first key point: if you’re going to blog, blog often. After all, it IS a marketing tool. You wouldn’t run one newspaper ad on a random Tuesday and never advertise again. You’d do it consistently. So at the least, post more than twice a week.
TIP #2: Audience
If you post on a blog, you must talk directly to the reader. Keep it personal. Ask questions. Write conversationally. And don’t be afraid to change your writing style to a more informal nature. Your readers will feel more comfortable posting their own comments after each of your posts. After all, that’s the whole point of a blog: to create community. To create fans. And if you want to do that effectively, you must do so on a one-on-one basis.
TIP #3: Theme
All posts on your blog need to maintain consistency with your theme. So, before you even begin a blog, ask yourself the following question: If everybody who read my blog did exactly what I said, what would their world look like? Once you’ve answered that question, you’ll have a foundation – a school of thought – to which all of your future blog posts will adhere.
Most blogs will have sections in which you can both name and explain what your blog is about. So, once you’ve uncovered your theme, you can easily come up with a pithy title and concise explanation. This will assure that every person who comes to your blog will know exactly what it’s about as soon as they arrive.
TIP #4: Resource
Blogs aren’t just for ranting, complaining, telling stores, asking questions and facilitating discussion. They’re also resources. And each of your posts should contain at least one link to another blog or website that connects with your idea. This not only gives value to the reader, but creates internetworking opportunities as well. Because every time you connect your blog with someone else’s, it’s an opportunity to meet a fellow blogger with whom you can develop a mutually valuable relationship.
TIP #5: Visual
We live in a visual culture. People need stimulation. And when it comes to blogs, readers expect to see pictures, graphics, diagrams and other visuals to help accentuate your points. Use pictures from your own library, download free images that connect with your post, or even use picture links from other blogs. Whatever you do, just be sure to have something visual other than your words. After all, newspapers wouldn’t sell very well without images, would they?
TIP #6: Sales
Many bloggers use their posts to help drive sales for their products or services which are consistent with the theme of the blog. The key to doing so successfully is accessibility and subtlety. So, make your products visible to your readers at all times. Scroll images of your items down one side of the page with links to your website. But keep the selling to a minimum. Readers of your blog don’t want to be bombarded with ads. The average person already is exposed to 3000 ads a day, according to a 2003 UCLA study! So don’t worry – informational, interesting and creative posts will do the selling for you.
With these six tips, you should have no trouble pumping up your posting prowess. So, start a blog today. And start reading other blogs today too. Because bloggers didn’t get voted “Time Magazine’s People of the Year 2004” for nothing!Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, "The World's Foremost Expert on Nametags" and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He helps people MAXIMIZE their approachability and become UNFORGETTABLE communicators - one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions at
http://www.hellomynameisscott.com.
