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Make Money Blogging Using These Nine Powerful Strategies

Make Money Blogging Using These Nine Powerful Strategies
I'm sure there are more creative ways to make money blogging, the ideas below are meant as a resource pool for you to draw from, and a launchpad to kickstart the thinking process of making money from blogging....The question "How to make money blogging" sits high on every blogger's mind.In fact I received many questions on "How to make money blogging" when I conducted my first webcast to answer my subscribers' most pressing questions on Blogs and Rss.You can make money Blogging in a number of ways, and in this article I share with you up to nine ways in which you can make money blogging.1. Make Money Blogging by Selling Advertising SpaceBefore the advent of Blogs, we have e-zines and selling advertising space on ezines was a popular way to earn extra money. If you run your own Blog, you can let others advertise in your Blogs with banner ads, solo ads, sponsor ads, classifieds and so on.Now that we have Blogs, you can repeat the same business model that e-zine publishers do, that of selling advertising space.One popular advertising company that helps Bloggers look for advertisers is Blogads (www.Blogads.com).Besides placing advertisers ads on your Blog, you can also make money Blogging by placing Google Adsense into your Blog.In my "Marketing Rampage with Blogs and RSS" Videos, I show you how you can customize your Blog template to include the Google Adsense into your Blog template so that you can make money blogging.2. How to Make Money Blogging by providing technical services such as Blog hosting or setting up BlogYou can also earn money blogging by providing technical services such as helping people to set up their Blogs or providing your own Blog hosting service.One example of this is www.typepad.com . This is a Blog hosting service provider that charges a monthly fee. Typepad lets you create your Blog and they will host your Blog for you, and provide you with a number of Blog features.3. Make Money Blogging by setttin up joint venture marketingJoint Venture marketing is a powerful marketing strategy employed by many top online marketers.Basically how joint venture works is this:You promote person B's products to your subscriber and customer list, and you get a cut from whatever sale that follows from this promotion.You can apply the principle of joint venture marketing to Blogs as well. If you have a substantial readership to your Blog, you can also promote or endorse certain products to your Blog readers and this way, and split the profits from the sales generated.This is another way to make money blogging.4. How to Make Money Blogging from using the Membership modelOver time, if your blog has lots of postings and provide good quality content, you can consider turning it into a membership site and charge access for it, again giving you another avenu5. Make Money Blogging by turning your Blog contents into products Another way in which you can make money blogging is to repackage your Blog contents into an e-book or an audio product and sell it. For example, if you run your own Podcasting show or an 'online radio show', you can easily compile your podcast recordings into a CD compiliation and sell it.6. How to make money blogging by swapping blogsYou've heard of ad swapping when it comes to e-zine publishing, where publishers publish each other's ads in their own e-zines. This way, you save on adveritising costs.You can repeat the same model to Blogs, as swap ads on Blogs as well. So instead of paying up front, you get to save, which means more money for you to spend!7. Make money blogging by turning blog contents into RSS feeds and sell it as premium feedsYour blog contents can be turned into an RSS feed. If the content is good, you can look for web businesses that are looking for good content for related topics and sell their feed to them.8. How to Make Money Blogging by well, asking!Hey, who's stopping you from putting a PayPal donation jar or button on your Blog? After all, there are lots of generous people out there you know.9. Make Money Blogging as an Affiliate MarketerAnother way you can make money blogging is by promoting other people's products on your Blog. This is also known as affiliate marketing.In affiliate marketing, you get paid a commission when someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase. Depending on the subject of your Blog, you can recommend products that solve people's problems.For example, I had a subscriber who asked me how she can blog about cats and make money from blogging about cats.I shared with her that firstly, perhaps she might want to go niche instead of targeting the broad category of "cats", and using the example of a Persian cat, which is a niche by itself, she can start a blog on Persian cats, providing valuable information as well as recommended solutions and products to the upkeep and maintenance of Persian cats.

Marketing Revolution with Blogs and RSS

Marketing Revolution with Blogs and RSS
Do you know that there is a marketing revolution happening online this very moment?Before that, let's go back in time and take a look at the major revolution or 'waves' that has occured when the Internet became a business or marketplace.First there was the Search Engine revolution, with Alta Vista, Yahoo and now Google coming onto the scene and with webmasters busy tweaking their pages for high ranking on these search engines which means more traffic.Then there was the email marketing revolution, when people discovered the use of email as a means for follow up selling and is still being widely used today.Finally, there was the affiliate marketing wave, popularised perhaps by Amazon, and with most businesses following using this model to distribute and sell their products.And today, we have blogs and rss feeds being used as a new form of marketing for businesses. Blogs appeared few years back, and in a way was similar to a forum, except that with blogs, you call the shots and can write and talk about anything under the Sun.When it first appeared, blogs were thought of nothing more than just a tool for people to express their rants, feelings, emotions and so forth. However, soon savvy marketers recognized the use of blogs as another channel of marketing - be it branding, selling, promotion etc.Today, blogs have taken on a whole new meaning and become sophisticated in look and content to the extent that it has become a powerful way to market products and services. There are so many ways you can earn money with blogs, which is discussed in my multimedia e-book.RSS Feeds are basically a way of distributing/circulating/syndicating your contents, which can come from your blogs, your newsletters, and so forth. In my multimedia e-book, "Marketing Rampage with Blogs and RSS" I show you in video how easy it is to create a feed in under 10 minutes!Think of a giant sea octopus. Imagine its long tentacles with suction pods all over reaching out to grab food. RSS Feeds is like a giant octopus, with UNLIMITED tentacles and UNLIMITED REACH for you to "grab" your prospects.Does that send shiver down your spine?

How to Cash In on Blogs

How to Cash In on Blogs
Over the past year or so, more and more webmasters have been creating their own blogs (web-logs). If you don't already know, a blog is sort of an online diary which is updated at regular intervals by the author(s), and can be viewed by the public.Blogs can have a wide variety of topics, including personal thoughts, news, sports, politics, technology, or virtually anything else you can think of. And like any other website, a blog can be used to make money.The most popular way make money with your blog is to put some sort of pay-per-click text ads on it. Some companies that will pay you for doing this are Google Adsense (http://www.google.com/adsense) and BidClix (http://www.bidclix.com). Depending on the topic that you choose to write about, your ads might make anywhere from $0.05 to $1.00 per click.

Make Money Blogging

Make Money Blogging
You have created a blog and your blog is dedicated to a niche industry. Have you ever thought that the blog could make money for you? We would look here in this article, ways and means, to make money blogging. Lets first have a look at what are the prerequisites for a blog needed to make money:1. Blog needs to be dedicated to a niche market.2. Updated regularly.3. Enough back links (Don't worry for it. Directory submission would be enough to begin with)4. Good blog host or application (blogger, Xanga or typepad recommended), and5. High quality articles or news items supported with images.Get the above criteria in place and Hurrah... You are ready to Make Money Blogging.Top 5 Ways to Make Money BloggingLets now take a look at top 5 ways using which you could make money blogging:1. Google AdsenseGoogle Adsense delivers text and image ads to the authorized websites/blogs depending on the content of the website. Small code is required to be pasted at proper locations on a webpage and Google automatically recognizes the page. Google shares the revenue it gets from the advertisers whenever a visitor clicks on these ads. Google bills advertisers on price per click basis (PPC). Advertisers are required to pay only when any visitor clicks on their ads. They bid against each other for the keywords in order to receive better placement and thus prices for each keyword differ from one another. It is better to choose keywords for your blog which pays high $ per click.2. AmazonAmazon Associate program is another important way to make money blogging. The Amazon Associate program gives opportunity to website/blog publishers to promote any product from its inventory by adding a predefined code to their website/blog, which, when clicked by a visitor, takes them to the relevant product page. Once the visitor buys the product, the blog owner will be compensated with a commission.3. BlogadsYou can use Blogads as an effective tool to have a better control over the advertisers in your blogs. You can analyze and compare your profits with any one of your online agencies. Blogads can be simply specified as an advertising service used for the web logs or blogs. From the total money generated by Blogads, it retains 20% of it and the remaining money is paid to you through PayPal or checks. Alternative Services:• Crispads is another useful network focused on the blogs. You can put your advertisements in their blogs using Crispads. You can move through their RSS/ATOM feeds that help in generating revenues. • Tagword – It is similar to Blogads. It makes you select the ads and their price.Users can place their text-based ads in the site within minutes and the ads will be displayed instantly on the website. 4. Affiliate ProgramsYour affiliate programs can help you earn a lot of money for selected products and services. Lot of websites offers you to become affiliate members. These affiliate programs can provide a better reach and an in-depth exposure to the products. The commissions for the sales differ according to the quality of the product, sales and marketing strategy involved. You can gather information related to the commissions by looking into the catalogues of Link Share and Commission junctions. 5. Text Links Text links has emerged out to be the best form of moneymaking source that you can use instead of cluttering or crowding the page with ads. You don’t have to make these text links prominent within your website. This link can act as an extra value to your site and will also help to promote the rankings of other sites. In most of the cases you will find these text links placed in the bottom of the web pages. The best part of this strategy is that the publishers send and accept links as the market continues to grow.

The Huge Marketing Potential Of A Simple Blog

The Huge Marketing Potential Of A Simple Blog
A Blog (also known as Weblog) is traditionally a webpage where pre-surfer or a blogger "logs" all pages he/she finds interesting. In other words, it is a Web page that contains brief, chronologically arranged items of information. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.Weblogs provide a series of annotated links to items such as news stories, and often include personal rants. They are maintained by one person, most commonly someone who is involved in Web design or some other tech-related field.A blog is often a mixture of what is happening on a particular website 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. Blogs can be used to introduce products to potential customers.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. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process.Blog as a marketing tool:Blogs offer huge marketing potential. They are highly strategic tools that can strengthen relationships, share knowledge, increase collaboration, and improve branding. Besides, blogs can represent the real voice of the website.A weblog can take the form of a diary, a news service (or summaries of and links to current news items on a topic), a collection of links to other Web sites, a series of book reviews or products, reports of activity on a project, the journal of an expedition, and much more. Businesses can use this tool to effectively advertise their products or services.One of the most interesting ways to use a weblog is by allowing it to function as a discussion forum for customers of your products or services. In this case, the webmaster can give posting rights to other people – visitors and customers, and their posts may or may not be reviewed before they are published to the Web page. Customers, in such a way can post favorable comments about the websites offerings. Some weblogs are set up in such a way that only the owner or the owner and certain other people have posting rights, but anyone else can add comments to the posts.Weblogs when used with newsletters present immense marketing opportunities:- Articles within newsletters can be linked to a blog, extending life and creating a massive conversation.- You can offer a bidirectional forum to customers to get true, personal opinions on your products and services.- Company experts can start a blog and become industry experts, helping your company edge out competition and, through this interactive forum, draw customers into another exchange of information and thoughts.- The beauty of this interplay is you can layer your blog with editorial controls.How to create a Weblog?The majority of weblogs are now created using software or services designed specifically for this purpose. Some of the software is free - and some of the organizations that provide weblog software will also provide free server space to house a weblog so that it is publicly accessible on the Internet.There are also commercial versions of some of the free software; these commercial versions often provide more features. Some weblog software is available only as commercial software. Alternatively, bloggers can create and maintain their weblog using free software or a free weblog service, but use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to load the resulting weblog to their own Website.There are many blogging softwares available easily on the Internet. One of the most popular weblogger is "Blogger" which can be used for free at http://www.blogger.com. Most webloggers simplify the process of Website creation. However, they do require basic knowledge of FTP, Website structures and a few technical terms. Besides, creating an advanced weblog requires knowledge of HTML.So get out there and start your own Blog…it's free, easy and can work seamlessly with the rest of your website or newsletter.

Interactive Content - Blogs, Forums and Feedback - what does

Interactive Content - Blogs, Forums and Feedback - what does

Both search engines and customers love fresh, updated information. Nothing promotes a business online better than staying in touch with prospects. The more interactive the continued contact, the better the relationship that is built with a potential client. But there's no need to groan at the thought of having to work hard at adding new content to your web site, it's not as complicated as you might think.For more information about how to get interactive with your customers, take a look at our guide "Building Online Relationships" available here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_4.html The business principle of continued contact and online relationship building has given rise to the popularity of online business blogs, forums and feedback opportunities. Interactive online communication define the web site owners as experts in the eyes of visitors, and serve as a promotional vehicle for other products and services that the business seeks to sell. Continued, interactive contact can bring many benefits, such as:·You'll find out what type of content visitors want to see at your web site. This will attract your visitors to revisit and read the content.·You'll find out how to improve existing products or services. This will attract new customers to buy from your business.·You'll find out which products or services your customers would like to see you sell in the future. This will increase your back end product sales.·You'll find out how to improve your customer service. This will cut down on customer complaints and how to better resolve problems.·You'll find out how to improve your sales letters or adverts. This will increase your sales, traffic or subscribers.·You'll find out how to design your web site to fit your visitors' needs and wants. This will increase the time your visitors spend on your web site.·You'll find out what kind of non-related products or services your customers would buy. This will help your business easily move into a different market.·You'll find out how to better price your products. This will help you sell your products or services at a price that will pull the most orders.·You'll find out the interests of your potential customers. This will inform you where to market and promote your products.Getting Started So where do you start? Do you need a blog, a forum, or a feedback form? All have different uses and your selection will depend on the needs of your particular business and your limitation with regard to time and/or budget. Below are some of the options and some ideas for adding interactive and fresh content to your web site.For more information about how to establish and maintain online relationships with your viewers and customers, get a copy of our guide "Building Online Relationships" available here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_4.htmlWeblogs or Blogs A blog is basically a series of posts that appear by the date posted like an online journal. Setup is minimal and the interface is easy to learn- if you can use a word processing package, you can write a blog! Services like Moveable Type and Blogger make it incredibly easy for anyone to publish on the web. Blogs can be integrated seamlessly into your site so that they have the same look and feel. You can use a blog to publish an events calendar or comment on developments and news from your industry. A blog can be strictly professional, announcing special offers or new product info or it can be casual and create a "personality" for your company. What can a blog do for your business? Think about what your customers want to know.To add interactivity, several blog programs come with a "comment" ability built in. This allows general users to create an account and post their comments to your blog. This is something to be careful of as you can get negative comments along with the positive.Forums While online forums are popular and the perfect method of relationship building, starting a forum and maintaining one can be challenging, especially in the beginning when members can be few and far between. The challenge for most new forum owners is to get beyond the initial start up phase and move onto a phase where the forum members themselves promote the forum simply by posting.Forums have become a common feature in many websites. With good free scripts available, and paid scripts being relatively cheap, it seems that every new website has its own forum(s).But is it wise to add forums to your website? On the pro side, large, active forums generate content for your website. They add a "sticky" element as most people come back, at least to monitor developments on their threads. Some forum software allows members to opt to receive an email whenever someone replies to their thread. Most people use it and that automated email sends them right back to the forum and therefore, your web site.However, forums can take a long time to pick up and an empty forum can actually drive new visitors away. You need to constantly monitor your forums to make sure that they are clean of spam, troll posts, and just keep everything in order. In addition, forums are database-type applications that generate web pages on the fly. Every time a user views a page, it's being created from scratch. As the forums become more active, this can take a heavy load on the web server's resources and ultimately increase your hosting costs. A forum is an incredible tool for building content and a community but it's not a task to be undertaken lightly; it requires a lot of time and energy and some technical knowledge (or a tech budget!) If your industry has a need, or your product has a loyal following, a forum is a great tool to build content while drawing like-minded individuals together. A forum is great for market research, technical support, building a fan base, trading ideas and knowledge, and many, many other benefits. Try to get a base of people from similar business or industry experts to post at your forum. It's exposure for them and helps to build a solid foundation for your information. If you decide to start a forum, be sure to use one that is search-friendly, such as www.InvisionBoard.com or www.phpbb.com, and set aside a good chunk of time to promote it and administer it. For more information about how to establish and maintain online relationships with your viewers and customers, get a copy of our guide "Building Online Relationships" available here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_4.htmlFeedback Unsolicited feedback is a powerful and convincing tool! Let your customers tell other customers why they love you. It's much more compelling than your own claims. Unfortunately, customers normally need to be asked for their opinion. You can ask for feedback on any area of your business, your web site, your ordering process, your levels of customer service, your delivery service, etc. The easiest way is to simply set up a form to allow customers to submit their feedback. Keep it fairly brief and allow a space for comments. You can then use the information provided to improve your customer experience, and with permission, publish the ones you choose. Often other web site owners that are also customers of users of your web site can be enticed to write a review or testimonial for your site in return for a link back to theirs. This helps them with link popularity but it helps your site as well it shows a real person wrote that review. Ask The Expert This is a great way of not only interacting with potential customers but also establishing your business as an expert in its field. Using a simple question form or forum software, users submit questions and someone at your company answers them. The Q&A are both published on the site for users to read once they are answered in a "knowledge database" or "FAQ" section. This is less time-intensive than a full-blown forum but a great way to keep a finger on the pulse of what customers want to know while still adding content on a regular basis. Summary If you are interested in building loyalty and interest in your company as well as repeat business and you want to get increased traffic from the editorial or free listings in search engines, you have to offer more than just sales information to your users. If you create a plan for content that offers value and interest to your customers, you can have a site that is built to sell AND drive repeat business

How to Boost Traffic to Your Blog:Keyword Research

How to Boost Traffic to Your Blog:Keyword Research
If you are serious to make money from blog, you must think about keyword before you write. And use that keyword repeatedly (more frequently than your high school English grammar teacher would say "it's a good English.") in your blog. Why you have to use a keyword?Using keyword in your blog is one of powerful ways to bring traffic to your blog. Why? It's simple. People search using keywords to look for information. If your blog includes those keywords, they will find your blog from the search engine result page and will come to you to find the information they were looking for. But is that really simple like that? Not exactly. Two things must be considered.
The keyword you're using must be related to your blog topic. When you're blogging about 'racing car' for example, if you use 'basketball' as a keyword, it won't help you bring the traffic. Moreover, if the visitor came to you to find information about 'basketball', he will leave your blog having bad impression on you because he couldn't get any relevant information from your blog.So, the rule number 1 is to use the keyword related to your topic.
Suppose you discovered high demand keyword (a keyword many people uses) related to your blog topic, does using that keyword guarantee you a lot of traffic? What if many bloggers are talking about similar topic using that keyword? If so, although many searchers use that keyword, probably they'll go to other bloggers who are ranked more highly in the search engine than you.The point is that you have to find the keyword that has high demand but a few supply. In other word, you have to find 'niche keyword.'How to find the 'niche keyword'?It's two fold. First, find the demand and then the supply.How to find the demand of the keyword?
Use a keyword search tool. I found Search It is handy and best of it's free. A con is that an additional promotion page provided by SBI (Site Build It) will be open. But you can close it and that doesn't harm you from using search tool, Search It. Here is a short introduction on how to use "Search It!"Once you get through Search It, you will see Search It! window which has 4 boxes. Suppose you want to talk about 'car',
choose 'Brainstorming' at step 1 box in the "Search It" window,
choose 'overture suggestion' at step 2 box
type 'car' (without quote) at step 3 box
click 'Search It!' button (you may notice that there is step 4, but you don't need to fill it at this stage. If you try write something the program will tell you that you don't need to choose at this time.)
then a leading page will be open, which explains the technique you are using. Click 'Please .....results.' link to see the result.
the resulting page looks something like,Count SearchTerm3467549 car1914166 car insurance
You see the number in Count column? That's the demand of the keyword.
You also notice that other search terms are shown in the result page. Save this keywords and count somewhere, in case you have to refer it later.How to know the supply of the keyword?
For this end, you don't need any other tools. Just go to Google, Yahoo or whatever search engine you like and type car in the search box.
Look upper right bar of the search result page and you can find something like "Results 1 - 10 of about 301,000,000 for ''car". The number '301,000,000' is the approximated number of supply. For sure, not all of them are blog, but realize that if you talk about car you're just 1 out of 301,000,000. This means that you may not pick up "car" as your keyword and choose other topic if you want many visitors to find your blog from the search engine. This is why you need to save above demand table somewhere.
Now that you know the topic "car" is too competitive, the next thing you can do is to find the number of supply for other keywords from the table you saved. Continue this step until you find less competitive keywords.You may choose several keywords and use them in your blog. But remember that if you post a short blog, it's better to focus on only one keyword. If it's long, you may choose primary and secondary keyword.To sum up,
Use Search It to find reasonable demand of the keyword related to your blog.
Check the number of supply from a search engine, for example, Google.
Choose the keywords that have high demand and low supply.
Finally use that keyword in your blog repeatedly with the frequency of a bit more than your high school English teacher would tell you.

Small Business: To Blog or Not To Blog

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

Should Bloggers be Helping Google Fix Their PageRank System?

Should Bloggers be Helping Google Fix Their PageRank System?

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

Jump on Blogging and RSS Feeds or be Left Behind!

Jump on Blogging and RSS Feeds or be Left Behind!
Viruses and the deluge of the cyberspace version of junk mail, spam, has forced marketers to look for new ways to get back into the surfer’s eye. Spam filters hinder many of today’s marketers. That ezine you spent hours producing is often routed to the garbage bin without your intended audience ever seeing it. Now that’s not nice, but overwhelming piles of unsolicited emails are thrown into virtual mailboxes around the globe. Do you read your spam mail?The wise and prudent are jumping on a trend that was relegated to personal use until about a year ago - blogging and RSS Feeds. These new tools have become the latest marketing craze to hit the Internet. Why? The advantages they present are amazing, cost effective, and can get your site indexed in the blink of an eye. No wonder marketing gurus are smiling like the Cheshire cat!Andrew logged onto his usual My Yahoo! page early in September 2004, and was startled to see that it had had a make-over. Really, he thought only women did that! What was this RSS feed information blaring across the screen anyway? It took a little bit of investigation, but Andrew soon discovered that this news could mean extra money in his pocket.He nearly spilled his lukewarm coffee on the keyboard when he realized that he could get his website in front of more than 20 million viewers with such amazing ease! People everywhere were touting RSS feeds and blogs as the backdoor to Yahoo! - and what a place to be! He’d spent endless hours trying to implement search engine optimization techniques in order to do this very thing. Andrew is still shaking his head in wonder - even after several months of high web traffic and amazing profits. “Such a simple way to get your product in front of people, save money, and escape spam filters should have a catch!” he constantly says to himself. But so far, he only has extra money in his account to show for jumping on the blog and RSS band wagon.(For a How to Guide Click Here> http://www.effective-info.com/blogs4.htmlWhat techniques have you employed to get your site listed? The great lengths people will go to amaze me. I recently wrote fifty search engine optimization articles about baby strollers for a gentleman desperately attempting to get his website noticed. How much can you say about baby strollers, and how many ways can you say it without becoming buggy yourself? RSS feeds and blogging take the hard work, sweat and tears out of marketing. The current search engine optimization techniques are now becoming a relic of the past.We all know that the virtual world is constantly changing. Anyone who is going anywhere on the Net has to be on the ball, and ready to get in on the first level of these new changes. Are you going to be left behind in the marketing realm?

News Blogs

News Blogs
Who needs T.V. News, Newspapers and Radio News? “Not I!” says the happy human living in the New World.T.V. and radio News got you down? On-line current events and News blogs make being informed a much more enjoyable experience. For many the News on television has become a trying time of the day. Focused mainly on negative events, you may have to wait through the whole program just to hear the one story you were waiting for. If you miss the 6:00 p.m. show, waiting until the late night segment can be a real drag, especially if you’ve got a lot to do, or have to wake up early the next morning.My friends, there is an answer to this problem: News blogs or on-line current events. You can find all of your favorite broadcasters (E.g.: CNN, BBC) on the Internet, getting up-to-date information at any time of the day or night. You can even read personal journal entries written by multiple correspondents out in the field reporting on several different stories down to the current minute. Instead of hearing all News from one voice (often an irritating one), now you can read different human opinions straight from the scene of interest.Often News on-line has a section called “themes” which allows the reader to only hear about the specific areas that interest them. No more waiting through several wars to get to the positive story about the current medical breakthrough that could mean a cure for disease, or the technological idea that might mean the end to extreme pollution levels. Like a newspaper, you can go straight to the “jobs” theme and search through all the current employment vacancies available. If you are obsessed with the negative, themes such as “Disaster and Tragedy” and “Crime and Punishment are still readily accessible.As the News is now on the Internet it has also become an interactive experience in numerous ways. First of all now you can send News stories straight to the News companies yourself! If the story is deemed worthwhile and verifiable, you may even be published. This is also the case with photographers who have pictures of important events. It really means anyone can become a part of the action as a freelance consultant. Some News on-line have “witness” sections where you can tell your story if you happen to have been in the right place at the right time. This option means that we can hear many different views on contentious issues giving a wider perspective to the ‘big picture’.Some News sites also have interactive sites within. For example, on the BBC News Blog there is a learning site (BBCi Learning) that involves interactive activities and over half a million pages of factual information and resources available for children, adolescents, and adults. There are competitions and all sorts of games to help educate people in any and every area of interest imaginable.Another great aspect of these on-line News sites is the ability to access archival information. You can watch video and listen to audio recordings of famous historical stories right on the computer. If the day is Feb.3, you can read articles from Feb.3’s from fifty years ago. Looking up any date and year recorded is as easy as pushing a few buttons.Some services have subscriptions where instead of looking up the website, the News you want is sent straight to your email. Being in the know, and being in the now, has never been such an objective, enjoyable, and simplistic experience as in the 21st century. Partaking in a new perspective on life is what on-line current events and News Blogs are all about.

How To Create Your Own Blog Using Blogger

How To Create Your Own Blog Using Blogger
It takes only a few minutes and is easy to setup your own weblog using the Blogger weblog system. By completing only three simple steps, creating an account, naming your blog and choosing a template, you too can join the thousands of people now blogging on the web. Here's a detailed step-by-step guide to help to get you started using Blogger1. Go to Blogger.com and click on the arrow that says “Create Your Blog Now.” You'll be asked to create a username and choose a password that you'll use to access your Blogger account; choose a display name that will be used to sign your posts (e.g., moody mom, bloggerx, etc.) and provide an email address. You'll also be asked to check a box indicating that you accept Blogger's Terms of Service . Then click on “Continue” to go the next screen.2. On the next screen to name your blog (e.g., The Blog Report, Myrah's Insanity Report, etc.) You can choose any name you wish. After you choose your blog title, you need to choose your URL address. This is the web address that people can click to access your blog. Again, as long as it's not taken, you can choose any address you want. Remember, the shorter and easier to spell the better it will be for people to remember. Also remember, that many thousands of people use Blogger to host their weblog and it may take you a while to find a web address that hasn't already been taken. Finally, for security purposes, you'll need to provide word verification by typing in the box the word that is displayed above the box on the screen. Then, click “Continue” to move to next screen.3. On the next screen, you'll need to choose a template for your blog. This is the design of your blog, what your blog will look like to visitors. Blogger provides 12 different templates to choose from. Pick your favorite. You can change the look of your blog at a later time by choosing a different Blogger template or using of the hundreds of free templates that are available across the Internet. After you choose your template, click “Continue.” Blogger will begin creating your blog.4. Once it's created, click on “Start Posting” and write your first post for the world to see. Click on “Publish Post” and Blogger will tell you it is publishing your post. Then click on the “View Blog” tab and you'll find that you're officially a member of the blogging world.

News Blogs: Escape TV News, Newspapers and Radios

News Blogs: Escape TV News, Newspapers and Radios
Who needs T.V. News, Newspapers and Radio News? “Not I!” says the happy human living in the New World.T.V. and radio News got you down? On-line current events and News blogs make being informed a much more enjoyable experience. For many the News on television has become a trying time of the day. Focused mainly on negative events, you may have to wait through the whole program just to hear the one story you were waiting for. If you miss the 6:00 p.m. show, waiting until the late night segment can be a real drag, especially if you’ve got a lot to do, or have to wake up early the next morning.My friends, there is an answer to this problem: News blogs or on-line current events. You can find all of your favorite broadcasters (E.g.: CNN, BBC) on the Internet, getting up-to-date information at any time of the day or night. You can even read personal journal entries written by multiple correspondents out in the field reporting on several different stories down to the current minute. Instead of hearing all News from one voice (often an irritating one), now you can read different human opinions straight from the scene of interest.Often News on-line has a section called “themes” which allows the reader to only hear about the specific areas that interest them. No more waiting through several wars to get to the positive story about the current medical breakthrough that could mean a cure for disease, or the technological idea that might mean the end to extreme pollution levels. Like a newspaper, you can go straight to the “jobs” theme and search through all the current employment vacancies available. If you are obsessed with the negative, themes such as “Disaster and Tragedy” and “Crime and Punishment are still readily accessible.As the News is now on the Internet it has also become an interactive experience in numerous ways. First of all now you can send News stories straight to the News companies yourself! If the story is deemed worthwhile and verifiable, you may even be published. This is also the case with photographers who have pictures of important events. It really means anyone can become a part of the action as a freelance consultant. Some News on-line have “witness” sections where you can tell your story if you happen to have been in the right place at the right time. This option means that we can hear many different views on contentious issues giving a wider perspective to the ‘big picture’.Some News sites also have interactive sites within. For example, on the BBC News Blog there is a learning site (BBCi Learning) that involves interactive activities and over half a million pages of factual information and resources available for children, adolescents, and adults. There are competitions and all sorts of games to help educate people in any and every area of interest imaginable.Another great aspect of these on-line News sites is the ability to access archival information. You can watch video and listen to audio recordings of famous historical stories right on the computer. If the day is Feb.3, you can read articles from Feb.3’s from fifty years ago. Looking up any date and year recorded is as easy as pushing a few buttons.Some services have subscriptions where instead of looking up the website, the News you want is sent straight to your email. Being in the know, and being in the now, has never been such an objective, enjoyable, and simplistic experience as in the 21st century. Partaking in a new perspective on life is what on-line current events and News Blogs are all about.

The Future Of Next Generation Weblogs

The Future Of Next Generation Weblogs

In the earlier days having a blog was an instant hit. People who embraced writing web logs from the beginning, did get a lot of extra exposure. Now the mass is jumping on a train which already left the station some time ago.
The success of the first blogs explained
The first blogs on the web were non commercial and that was the first ingredient for their success. Second, web logs are quality content and can be made really easy. As we all know search engines like Google really love good content. The first blogs could be on top of search results in mayor search engines like Google in a matter of days, where other (big) websites struggled to get the same result in years. This could happen because web logs contain loads of text which is related to quality content. Other traditional websites tweaked their sites with tricks that did not compete with the awesome power of blogs: honest quality content.
These days loads of people have their own blog and I must say 90% is not even worth reading. Because the amount of people having a blog is exploding, search engines which finally were able to find some good content related websites, now have to struggle with the millions of blogs with absolutely no good content at all. Many blogs are not updated on a regular basis, they are often made to sell products or used for marketing the thousands “get rich quick schemes” around on the internet. They really lack the power a good blog can have.
Next generation blogs
But there are really good blogs around and web logs will definitely stay around for a while. Beside that there is a new generation blogs on their way. Blog techniques are changing fast, many people start to put photos and pictures on their blogs. This caused a very interesting phenomenon. The first pictures of the London bombings where spread by blogs so fast, that they did beat the big television networks and news agencies. People actually submitted their pictures made from the scene with their mobile phones on their blogs. Other blogs picked up the news with the photo material in minutes and spread them around with lighting speed. I think this is the evidence that blog are really powerful things and earned their place on the internet. With the implementation of video on blogs their importance and popularity is even growing. This makes us consumers of news and multimedia much more independent from big commercial TV and news agencies. Those guys have other interests to consider then provide us with objective news, quality TV and radio programs.These advertisers and investors want everything to be a commercial success, rather then not so commercial quality content.
If you want to start your blog then here are some tips.
These days you can’t make any money from having a blog. You are way too late to do that at this stage. Use web logs for their own purpose e.g. provide quality content. This is the only way to attract people to you web log.
Pick a quality blog hosting provider on the internet where to host your blog. There are free providers like blogger.com and Bloxster.net, both of them are free and provide features for your blog you really need. There is no reason why you should go for a paid service. The bigger the blog community not always means this is the best choice, because the servers of these providers often can’t handle the hughe amount of traffic and need to be shut down for maintenance very often. So bloxster.net would be a good pick
Post pictures with your articles to enhance your blog. If you have a startup band or you want to be the new rising pop star on the block, place a link to your demo (make one in mp3 format), and place it on your blog. This is called pod casting. While traveling submit travel stories and photo’s to inform people at home or fellow travelers about your adventures. You can even stream video on you blog!
Most important write and provide quality content and update your weblog on a regular basis. Also take the time to promote your blog and rss feed to web blog directories because the competition of other blogs is fierce!

Creating An Effective Corporate Blog

Creating An Effective Corporate Blog
The terms “blog” and “blogging” have become part of the new economy dictionary and are an extremely cheap and efficient way of disseminating information through the web. A blog is best described as an online diary that readers can also post their thoughts. Many subject experts and academics have created open blogs (free access) that are read by thousands of readers and futurists are predicting that these blogs will emerge as the new mega magazines. Which leads to the question about why companies are slow to create corporate blogs in order to promote their organizational goals and ideals. The reason for this lax attitude is that corporate blogs can be misinterpreted for techies and the employment of full-time blog administrators as too costly. Before creating a corporate blog, determine some guidelines. Here are some tips:Clear Organisational MessageBefore starting a corporate blog, you have to be very clear about the organizational message and direction. The reason is that your blog will be read by the public who may also be potential customers who have different global perceptions. You do not want your blog to convey negative perceptions of your organizational values.Determine Success TargetsThe setting up of a corporate blog is not just an opportunity for people to ventilate or post their comments online. There must be clear success targets. Feasible short term targets are the generation of new sales leads and increase in customer database. In contrast, a medium term target can be the creation of new alliances. Promote Your AllianceYour corporate blog can be used to highlight your current alliances and give your customers a better understanding about your global reach. You can invite representatives of these organizations to either be guest bloggers or have a separate blog within your main corporate blog. With enough online exposure, your corporate blog can also evolve into a dynamic networking online community. Great Feedback ChannelInvite your customers to post their comments in the corporate blog and get your blog administrator to act on the feedback as soon as possible. This will give the image that your organization is very serious about all feedback and you can also rectify the problem before it escalates. The more advanced blogs can also provide immediate sms to blog administrators once a feedback has been posted too.Value-add to Your Print NewsletterA corporate blog can value-add to your current monthly print newsletter. One way is that some online postings can provide article-ideas for future newsletter issues. Blog visitors can also request for print newsletters to be posted to their homes.Test Out New ProductsYour organizational engineers and sales team can use the corporate blog to test out new products and ideas. This is an effective and cheap solution as your blog readers should already have a good idea about how these ideas should co-exist with your other products.Security MeasuresEnsure that your corporate blog has security measures that prevents spamming to your blog readers. This will ensure that spamming will not create a definite negative image about your company. Your blog administrator should also ensure that there is no flaming and that all potential debates should not be a battle of personalities.Not Infringe Intellectual PropertySome blog posters may introduce other websites which may have beta versions of new products. To some blog readers, this may be purely educational but the implication for your organization is that it may infringe intellectual property

Creating An Effective Corporate Blog

Creating An Effective Corporate Blog
The terms “blog” and “blogging” have become part of the new economy dictionary and are an extremely cheap and efficient way of disseminating information through the web. A blog is best described as an online diary that readers can also post their thoughts. Many subject experts and academics have created open blogs (free access) that are read by thousands of readers and futurists are predicting that these blogs will emerge as the new mega magazines. Which leads to the question about why companies are slow to create corporate blogs in order to promote their organizational goals and ideals. The reason for this lax attitude is that corporate blogs can be misinterpreted for techies and the employment of full-time blog administrators as too costly. Before creating a corporate blog, determine some guidelines. Here are some tips:Clear Organisational MessageBefore starting a corporate blog, you have to be very clear about the organizational message and direction. The reason is that your blog will be read by the public who may also be potential customers who have different global perceptions. You do not want your blog to convey negative perceptions of your organizational values.Determine Success TargetsThe setting up of a corporate blog is not just an opportunity for people to ventilate or post their comments online. There must be clear success targets. Feasible short term targets are the generation of new sales leads and increase in customer database. In contrast, a medium term target can be the creation of new alliances. Promote Your AllianceYour corporate blog can be used to highlight your current alliances and give your customers a better understanding about your global reach. You can invite representatives of these organizations to either be guest bloggers or have a separate blog within your main corporate blog. With enough online exposure, your corporate blog can also evolve into a dynamic networking online community. Great Feedback ChannelInvite your customers to post their comments in the corporate blog and get your blog administrator to act on the feedback as soon as possible. This will give the image that your organization is very serious about all feedback and you can also rectify the problem before it escalates. The more advanced blogs can also provide immediate sms to blog administrators once a feedback has been posted too.Value-add to Your Print NewsletterA corporate blog can value-add to your current monthly print newsletter. One way is that some online postings can provide article-ideas for future newsletter issues. Blog visitors can also request for print newsletters to be posted to their homes.Test Out New ProductsYour organizational engineers and sales team can use the corporate blog to test out new products and ideas. This is an effective and cheap solution as your blog readers should already have a good idea about how these ideas should co-exist with your other products.Security MeasuresEnsure that your corporate blog has security measures that prevents spamming to your blog readers. This will ensure that spamming will not create a definite negative image about your company. Your blog administrator should also ensure that there is no flaming and that all potential debates should not be a battle of personalities.Not Infringe Intellectual PropertySome blog posters may introduce other websites which may have beta versions of new products. To some blog readers, this may be purely educational but the implication for your organization is that it may infringe intellectual property

MrThe Biggest Reason To Start A Blog...(and it's not what you)

MrThe Biggest Reason To Start A Blog...(and it's not what you)
Even people who don't own a computer know what blogging is. Everyone is talking about it. Heck, even the Doonesbury comic strip ran a few panels on the subject. Anna Kournikova even has a blog for crying out loud!But did you know that there is a secret benefit to blogging that has NOTHING to do with the subject matter? In fact, you could blog on about the sex life of the Tasmanian fruit fly and still reap big rewards.Yep, just like nearly everything else on the Internet, there's money to be made with blogging IF you know the secret..OK, OK. I'll tell you, but first let's take a quick ride in the wayback machine and see how blogging came to be as popular as it is today.Back at the dawn of the World Wide Web, new web sites were a rarity. Geekie guys and girls struggled with the new technology and the launch of a new page, let alone a new web site, was practically a media event.In the early days of the Internet, each new page was a cause for celebration. In 1992, Tim Berners-Lee, the scientist generally credit with inventing the World Wide Web (and you thought it was Al Gore I'll bet), created the first What’s New page; later, another Internet legend, Marc Andreesen, put up his own page. Both of these men created hot links to all of the new pages springing that appeared on the 'net.As the World Wide Web came into its own, a new breed of programmer, called a Web Master (because they had mastered the World Wide Web) created their own pages that contained suggestions on cool web sites to visit. Because they didn't list every single new web sites, just the ones that they thought were interesting, they were said to have “filtered” the 'net. In 1998, Jorn Barger, a bit of an odd duck even by Internet pioneer standards, first used the term “weblog” to describe his blog called Robot Wisdom.As bloggers banded together to form communities, people sought easier and faster ways to create blogs. As a result, automated and easy to use blogging programs such as Blog-In-A-Box were developed so that even a half-dazed wallabie can put up a blog in between munching on stalks of grass.But why in the world would you WANT to run a blog if you have an income-generating site?Surely your customer isn't interested in reading about your trials and tribulations of the daily business grind, right? Probably not. However, if you can build a blog that catches their attention, such as where the fish are biting if you sell fishing supplies, they WILL come. And so will the surprise that I mentioned earlier.You see, among your visitors to your blog will be a software program known as a spider. Not just any spider, mind you, but the granddaddy of all search engine spiders -- the Google spider. You see, Google LOVES to index blogs. Yep, it's true. And that, as soon-to-be inmate Martha would say, is a good thing.In a nutshell, Google loves pages that have links to other pages. Blogs link to all kinds of stuff. Google loves pages that are linked FROM other pages. A good blog gets lots of links to it as loyal readers tell everyone they know to put links to their favorite blog on their web site.Finally, Google loves fresh content. An active blog's content can change minute by minute, but at least it's almost guaranteed to change daily.So, if you can find a decent subject to blog about, and you can get a blog up and running quickly and easily, you just might be amazed at what happens to your site's page rank in a few weeks or more.Listen, with tools like Blog-In-A-Box available to get you going, there really is no reason NOT to get blogging!Good luck from a fellow blogger.

Web Blogs, Defined, Explained and Understood

Web Blogs, Defined, Explained and Understood
What are Blogs?
Having heard the term previously but not having paid much attention most are just to afraid to show their ignorance and ask the question, what is a blog? Lets face it; the term blog does not conjure pleasant images.
Blogs are web logs that are updated regularly, usually on a daily basis. They contain information related to a specific topic. In some cases blogs are used as daily diaries about people's personal lives, political views, or even as social commentaries. The truth of the matter is that blogs can be shaped into whatever you, the author, want them to be.
Where Did Blogs Come From?
The roots of blogging can be traced back to the mid 1990's. Who the very first blogger actually was is unclear, as the art of blogging did not really take hold until 1999. The original "weblogs" were link-driven sites with personal commentaries. The very first blogs were human guided Internet web tours. While initially thought of as diaries or online journals, blogs have evolved into the latest fresh web content.
The Future of Blogs
A buzz word in techie circles, "blogging" is the wave of the future. Whether its a fad, or proves to be a new way to communicate with existing and potential customers it deserves at the very least a cursory look.
Why is Blogging Helpful to Businesses or Individuals?
Just as animated .gifs were once cool, blogging is the trendy thing to do. That does not mean that it is not beneficial to businesses. Webmasters struggling to keep fresh, attractive content on their websites to lure visitors back, have found blogs the answer. Content is a necessity for online businesses, both for purposes of being found by search engines but also because it gives visitors a reason to come back.
Now that we have established that blogs are not only trendy but also beneficial to businesses, its important to understand how they can be used to your advantage. We currently manage and update two blogs on a daily basis. The first is our new business blog at:
http://www.notepage.net/blog.htm
This professional business blog allows us the opportunity to tell potential, or existing customers industry news, updates, or generally how mobile or paging software can be used in specific situations to alleviate problems. The bottom line is we control the content. Its updated daily, which increases the chances that search engines will spider on a regular basis and it helps with page rank because it's been submitted to all the blogging directories. Initially started on a whim we've found it beneficial to report tips, tricks or make visitors aware of new regulations related to the mobile or paging industry.
The second blog we manage is at:
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog.html
This blog is less formal and contains marketing tips, or promotional advice for software developers or online marketers. We found that we had overflow from our monthly newsletter. Generating a daily blog would require very little effort and would assist us in creating fresh content which our readers told us was of significant interest.
Blogs & Your Business
The bottom line is you need to determine how a blog will benefit your business, determine a schedule and adhere to it. Let your readers know what to expect and when to expect it. Blogs provide great supplemental content and direct attention to areas of your business that you want to showcase; you direct the content but let your readers guide you.
Creating a Blog
There are numerous online tools that can be used to create a blog. We found that because of security concerns, it would just be best to use a standard html program. In our case we used Dreamweaver and create daily posts. Its really not much more complicated than typing an email. The content is then sent via FTP to a web server. If you want to test the waters there are online web-based tool that helps you publish to the web instantly. The most popular web based tool is likely Blogger http://www.blogger.com.
Other Advantages to Blogs
While you may initially create a blog for your existing customers, you may find that you can attract new customers by illustrating your expertise in a specific field. There are numerous websites that act as "blog search engines", be sure to submit your sites to these websites to increase your exposure. This will also help with your page rank and possibly increase the likelihood you will receive decent ranking with Google. You can also create an RSS feed in order to syndicate blog content and gain additional exposure.
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and http://www.small-business-software.net

How to Build a Niche Site With a Blog

How to Build a Niche Site With a Blog
The basic strategy is very simple. Find a niche market that isn't oversaturated. Develop a list of related keywords people are searching on. Then write an article optimized for each one of your keywords. Once you have your articles, upload them to your site. Monitize your site with affiliate links and Adsense. For this kind of niche site to be effective and make money, it is imperative that you get free traffic, and a lot of it. And that's exactly where a blog can be your best friend.At its very simplest, a blog is just a structure. It's the bones of a web site. A blog is a simple way to publish and display your content online. Most of us think of blogs as a chronicle of news events, or commentary on news and items of interest. Or personal diaries.Few people stop to think that you can build any kind of website with a blog. In reality, a blog can be used very effectively to build a niche site. The fact of the matter is, a blog is the easiest way to publish your niche site content. But the biggest reason to use a blog is that it can drive traffic to your site a lot faster than a statically-built site. A niche site built with a blog is a very powerful strategy.First, choose your niche and research your keywords. Write your first article based on one of those keywords, just as you would when building a regular site. Then set up your blog and publish that article. Your niche site is now live.To make your site structure the most effective, be sure to choose a blog that allows the use of Categories, such as Word Press or Moveable Type. Use your 10 most important keywords as the name of your Categories. Then file all your secondary keyword articles under those Categories.Why is this so important? If you keep building your site with keyword-rich articles, eventually you could have hundreds of pages. Each of those pages will have a link to your 10 Categories. And each of those links will use the anchor text of your most important keywords. As a result of all those internal keyword-rich links, your site will end up ranking very well in the search engines for your Category names.Now it's time to set up your traffic strategy. This is where a blog can really shine. There are many special RSS/blog directories that are hungry for feeds. By submitting your new blog to these directories, you can start getting traffic almost immediately. Quite often these feeds will result in a lot more traffic than all the major search engines combined. This is why it makes so much sense to build your niche site as a blog. You can have twice the traffic, and get it much faster than with a static site.Here is a list of some of the top RSS/blog directories you should submit your site to:http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/Once you've submitted your site to the directories, you can get it indexed by Yahoo almost immediately by adding your RSS feed to your MyYahoo page. If you don't have a MyYahoo page, just go to http://www.yahoo.com. Now click on the MyYahoo link at the top and set up your free account. Once you have your account set up, click on Add Content, then add the URL of your blog RSS feed into the Find Content box.When you go back to your MyYahoo page, your blog plus your first post should be shown. If you go look at your web stats for your site, you'll find that the Yahoo spider has already made a visit! Your new site should be indexed in Yahoo in just a couple of days. This is a strategy that some marketers were selling for $50 just a few months ago. And it works like a charm.Every time you add a post, you can alert the RSS/blog directories by "pinging" them. There is a wonderful site at http://www.pingomatic.com that makes this very easy. You just have to type in your blog URL and Pingomatic will send your ping to Yahoo and about 15 other large directories. That will bring the spiders back to your site almost immediately!During the first month, I would suggest that you write and add a new article every day. Blogs that are frequently updated get the most traffic. And you'll find that the major search engines will spider your site every day. At the end of a month, you'll have a 30-article niche site that is already getting a lot of traffic. If you've monetized your site with Adsense and related affiliate programs, you should also be making money already.Once you've started building your niche sites with a blog, you'll never go back to doing it the old way again!

Webhosting for blogging - free or paid service

Webhosting for blogging - free or paid service
Blogging is an abbreviation of "web-logging". The simplest definition of a blog is that it is an online log that is organized in reverse chronological order. It comprises of comments, declarations, links, or anything else of interest to the blog writer.There are two basic requirements of starting your own blog. You need a software to run a blog and a place on the Internet to host your blog.Taking into consideration the above mentioned two factors, there can be four categories of blogs: 1. Free Software + Free Webhosting 2. Free Software + Paid Webhosting 3. Paid Software including Price of Webhosting 4. Paid Software + Paid WebhostingWe have given descriptions of all these four options alongwith their pros and cons. We have also given recommendations regarding the suitability of these options.1. Free Software + Free WebhostingThis is a completely free way of blogging. Here you pay neither for the software nor for the virtual hosting. But there are some drawbacks of this system. It offers very few features as compared to the paid services. You cannot post pictures online or design your preferred look for your site. The companies that provide free software and free domain hosting frequently place a banner immediately above your site. This detracts the visitors from the look of your site. You also have no discretion over the content of the advertisements.The key advantage of this system is that it is absolutely free. This option is extremely useful for a newcomer since he/she can try this method to find if they are really interested in blogging. This option is recommended for those people who would not like to pay anything or for the newcomers. 2. Free Software + Paid WebhostingThis option provides you free software but you will have to pay for the domain hosting. There is a cost factor involved in this option. Minimum cost of domain hosting would be $5 per month but a realistic budget would be slightly higher, around $7-8. The annual registration fee for domain name would be about $10-30. This system will let you do certain things that you were unable to do with the free one. Here, you can modify the look of your site and you can also post pictures. But free softwares have fewer features than paid ones. This option is highly recommended because by just paying the cost of virtual hosting and domain registration, you can avail great features and flexibility. 3. Paid Software including Price of WebhostingThis is a subscription-based option. There are ongoing costs involved in this option. You have to pay at least $6 per month for basic services and for advanced features the fee would be around $15 per month. The cumulative cost for a year would reach up to $200. That makes this option a very expensive one.Apart from customizing the look of your site and posting photographs online, you will be able to use a software that provides more features than a free one. This option is recommended for people who do not want to be troubled with virtual hosting and software installation issues. This is the easiest possible solution. It offers great features but at a reasonably high price.4. Paid Software + Paid WebhostingThis option provides you paid software and paid domain hosting.The cost of the domain hosting ranges from $5 to $10 per month while the cost of the software would be at least $45 (one-time cost). This option gives you great amount of flexibility. You can select your own domain name and have a feature-rich blogging software. This option is highly recommended for businesses since the cost is not a major consideration.

How to Get Started Blogging in 5 Minutes or Less

How to Get Started Blogging in 5 Minutes or Less
I put off starting a blog for a long time because I thought it would be hard. I thought it would be technical. I thought I'd have to install scripts and tear my hair out getting them to work. At that point, most of what I'd read about blogs and RSS was just so much geek-speak.Was I ever wrong!When I finally got the courage to give it a go, I went to blogger.com and signed up for an account. To my amazement, I had a blog set up in about 5 minutes. My first post was uploaded to my site about 10 minutes later. The only thing even remotely technical I was required to do was enter the FTP settings for the website my blog would be published on. But even that wasn't a requirement. With Blogger, you can set up a blog on their site, Blogspot, and not even worry about FTP settings.Since then, I've started 3 Blogger blogs on different sites. Blogger remains one of the most popular blog applications in the world simply because it is so simple to use and set up. If you're a technophobe or don't have the time to learn something completely new, I would urge you to drop by Blogger.com and take a look. You could be blogging - and enjoying the benefits - almost immediately.Another very simple blogging tool is Wordpress. This blog is my first Wordpress blog, and I'm very impressed with how powerful it is - as well as simple.Wordpress is installed on your own website, but don't let that stop you. Most hosts that have Cpanel already have Wordpress ready for you to install. Look in your Cpanel for the Fantastico application, click it open, and then choose Wordpress to install. It will automatically install it on your site for you, and you can start blogging right away. If your host doesn't already include Wordpress in the scripts on your server, you can still pick it up at:http://wordpress.org/Then go to the Wordpress Wiki for instructions on how to install it in 5 minutes:http://wiki.wordpress.org/?pagename=5MinuteInstallationWordpress is free, open-source software. It is very simple to install, even for technophobes, and has a lot of online documentation. There are also many sites with free Wordpress add-ons and templates. I'm using a template for this blog that I picked up at Alex King's site:http://www.alexking.org/index.php?content=software/wordpress/styles.phpThe Wordpress Wiki is a wealth of information on all things Wordpress, including installation instructions, help files, a long list of template sites, and all kinds of hacks and extras you can use to modify your blog and make it original. If you're a Wordpress user, another place to visit is the Wordpress discussion forum:http://wordpress.org/support/If you're a new blogger, both Wordpress and Blogger are very user friendly. There isn't a long learning curve. And you won't have to learn any new technical tricks. Why not give one of them a try?

The Future of RSS is Not Blogs

The Future of RSS is Not Blogs
Blogs vaulted RSS into the limelight but are unlikely to be the force that sustains RSS as a communication medium. The biggest opportunities for RSS are not in the blogosphere but as a corporate communication channel. Even now, businesses that were initially reluctantly evaluating RSS are beginning to realize the power and benefit of the RSS information avenue. The inherent capacity for consumers to select the content they wish to receive will be the driving mechanism for keeping advertisements to a minimum and content quality consistent. Like the Internet when it first started, blogs were emboldened by the "cool factor". As the novelty of being new and cool wears off, Internet webmasters and bloggers alike are realizing that maintaining a website or blog is time-consuming. "Coolness" often wears off if a channel is not monetized. With the ease of blogging and the array of blogs available, only a handful will be able to sustain fresh, constant, unique content and generate any sort of reasonable or significant revenue. As a result, blogs as we know them today will fade into the background, with many blogs being abandoned. RSS, being a tool that saves Internet surfers time and allows webmasters to re-purpose and re-package existing and new content will, in my opinion, continue to thrive. A business effectively using RSS can bring new site visitors, increase search engine positioning, and generate product interest. The flexibility of RSS as a communication medium and the expansion capabilities of the enclosure tag will allow RSS to flourish as an online marketing tool. Each day businesses are adopting new uses for RSS, and users are becoming accustomed to skimming content that *they* choose in a single centralized location.As businesses adopt RSS and consumers experiment with feeds, the popularity of RSS will grow. Ultimately, consumers are the driving force behind technology. The convenience of RSS and increased popularity will set a precedent for consumer expectations. Businesses using RSS as a communication vehicle are able to create keyword-rich, themed content, establishing trust, reputation, and ongoing communication with current and prospective customers. The big consumer benefit to RSS is that consumers opt-in to content of interest, totally controlling the flow of information they receive. If the quality of the content in the feed declines, users simply remove the feed from their RSS reader and they will not receive any additional updates from that source. The RSS reader acts as an aggregator, allowing users to view and scan multiple content streams in a timely fashion. Consumer expectation will drive businesses that are slow to adopt. Ultimately, RSS will be a standard, like email addresses and websites are now a "must" for businesses. RSS feeds will join their ranks. Unlike blogs, businesses can easily justify RSS feeds, as they will be increasing customer and corporate communication. RSS will create new revenue channels. RSS has the potential to help companies develop strong relationships with consumers and create brand loyalty. RSS Feeds will draw existing customers and prospective clients, translating to a new or renewed income stream. Businesses using RSS feeds as a communication medium to notify interested customers of specials, discounts, product announcements, technical support tips, news and industry studies will ultimately sustain RSS as a viable and valued communication medium.

Should You Create a Website or Blog for Your Special Event?

Should You Create a Website or Blog for Your Special Event?
A special "Event Website" might be a perfect way to promote your event. But is it worth the effort?Let's say your company or group decides to hold a special event six or twelve months down the road. Eventually somebody on the planning committee will suggest the group create a special website for the event: "We can create an online registration form, include information about the special speakers and entertainment, post a schedule, and provide links to accommodation, travel agents, etc., etc."Sounds like a good idea. But how can you maximize the effectiveness of such a site? Will it be something that people actually refer to and use? Or will creating it just be a waste of time and effort? Do you have somebody in the group who can get this kind of site up and running quickly? Or will you have to defer to your already overworked company webmaster or the same creative volunteers who are always exploited for such projects?And will anybody apart from a few select insiders (your committee members) actually be able to find the site once it is set up?Some important issues to considerHere are some of the more important issues to consider before you go ahead and create another website that nobody looks at.1. Will its content be "deep" enough to make it more than just an online announcement? Many websites start out as good ideas, but quickly fizzle when their creators realize they don't really have much to say. In the case of event websites, the "depth" of a proposed site will depend on the event itself.For instance, say your Agricultural Society is running a Fall Fair. Wouldn't an event site be ideal for providing details about competition categories, judging criteria, daily schedules of events, as well as online registration forms, entertainment highlights, and general program notes? In other words, an extended event of this sort provides lots of fodder for making a site "deep" enough to be a valuable resource for visitors and participants alike.On the other hand if your committee is in charge of organizing a one night Fireworks Display, then chances are the program will be pretty light. There's not much need for a complete website. You would be better off just creating a web page or an announcement and asking the webmasters of relevant sites to give you some exposure.Of course there are lots of events right in the middle between these two examples. Family Reunions, for instance. What could be better than a "Jones-05.org" site? You could include contact information, program descriptions, historical photos, comments from family members across the country...on and on it goes.2. Should your "site" be part of another already existing one, or should you register a new domain specifically for your event?Say you are organizing the 50th Anniversary Acme Widgets Company Picnic. The Company already has an active website -- www.acmewidgets.com. And the company website already has a skilled webmaster. Would it be better to ask your company webmaster to put your event in a directory on www.acmewidgets.com -- for example, www.acmewidgets.com/50th, or www.50th.acmewidgets.com? Or would you be better off to create a brand new "domain" just for the event -- something like www.acme50.com?First of all, don't worry about the cost to create your own site. Yes, it does cost something to register a new domain and find a host. But these costs are insignificant in the larger scheme of things. You can register a ".com" domain for as little as $12.95 (per year), and an .info or .biz domain for as low as $7.95 or less. And hosting is very cheap as well. The standard these days is about $5.95 per month for a reliable host. Here is an inexpensive source for domains.Much more important is whether or not your group has the know-how to actually create a website from scratch and then maintain it for a year or more. If you have an experienced web designer or webmaster on your committee he or she will probably be able to set the group up for next to nothing. If you don't, I suggest you find one before tackling the job. This is not the time for flying by the seat of your pants.If you are able to find someone with the necessary skills, then it's a no-brainer. Go ahead. Register your own domain and build your own site. You won't have to beg your overly protective company webmaster for favors. And just as important, you will be able to register a memorable domain name that will help you in your promotional efforts. Which do you think would be easier to remember and find: www.acmewidgets.com/50th or www.acme50.com?3. Should you create an Event Blog instead of a normal website? Or both?Blogs have several advantages over "ordinary" websites. First, you do not need a dedicated domain name, or even space on an already existing site. You can create a perfectly satisfactory blog site on one of the free blog services such as Google's own blogspot.com.Second, blog entries are usually easier to make than changes or updates to a normal website. Blog posts are made by using a web form. No knowledge of html is required (although it is helpful), and you do not have to use mysterious computer functions like "FTP" to "upload" your files to a server somewhere out in cyberspace.Third, blogs have a more "happening" chatty feeling about them because they are generally less formal. You bang your posts off as regularly as you can. This allows you to issue regular updates to keep your readers informed as plans develop, schedules change, and so on.Fourth, blogs have some advantages as far as "networking" and traffic generating are concerned. There are many directories where you can list your blog, and you can network with like-minded bloggers — other people interested in your subject matter. You can also use your blog to do some serious "power linking", as I outline in my series of articles called Power Linking with Blogs.The down side is that a blog may not be the best place to keep your definitive schedules and descriptions of events — the ones you expect people to refer to as authoritative sources of information. This is more a matter of perception than reality. A blog is quite capable of being home to "static" information which you can readily update and provide links to. But the perception may be that this is transitory and changing. Unlike most things, I don't know about this one ...I'm just speculating. :DIn the next post in this series I will offer some advice on getting traffic to your event website.

Can Blogging Increase Web Traffic?

Can Blogging Increase Web Traffic?
Blogging is merely keeping of a log at a website. It is a combination of the words "Web" and "log". Blogging is carried out through a blogging software that maintains the daily posts on the site. It doesn’t take long to set up blogs and once installed you can update it easily with lots of content daily.To keep a blog is simply to maintain a page on your site where there can be daily posting of new content by the website owner or the visitors to the site. Blogging has one particular striking feature - the information there is always kept fresh as there are daily entries.Our interest in blogs is in its search engine placement significance. Blogs can fetch you a lot of web traffic without any effort at all.Search engines tend to rank sites with content favorably. Since a blog posts fresh content to the site on daily basis, the information at such a place is kept fresh and current making it a preferred destination for visitors. The web is about information - current and meaningful ones so as the information in the blog gets updated constantly with rich information so does the ranking on the search engines increase.Some blogging tools worth looking into include:Blogger.com - http://www.blogger.comBlosxom - http://www.blosxom.com/Drupal - http://www.drupal.orgGeeklog - http://www.geeklog.net/LittleHJ - http://www.littlehj.com/ModBlog - http://www.modblog.com/Movable Type - http://www.movabletype.org/PHPNuke - http://www.phpnuke.org/pMachine - http://www.pmachine.com/Radio UserLand - http://radio.userland.com/WordPress - http://wordpress.org/Like in traditional sea, your blogging should be around a central theme or keyword. Too many themes may dilute the consistency of your content and score you down the lane of SEO. Sticking to a central theme will help you to enrich the content of your pages and get favoring scoring in the search engine ranking algorithms.The most popular blogging tool on the market today is WordPress which can be downloaded from their website at http://wordpress.org/download. Installation is simple and does not require extensive knowledge of programming languages.Blogging is being used by many sites as a way to passively draw targeted traffic and search engine rankings. Installing one can help you draw web traffic and get noticed quickly by the engines.