Blog Your Way to Online Success

By Chris Taylor

If you have an online business, you know how hard it is to get Internet traffic to stop and give you a look. If you’ve been searching for a new way to bring attention to the products or services you are offering, have you considered a blog?

Blogs, in spite of their somewhat mysterious name, are really miniature websites. As an online business owner, you’ll feel right at home with a blog. You’ll become a “blogger”, and your input to your blog will be called “posts”, with the older posts being moved off you blog’s front page as newer ones appear. You can use software to help you create your blog, and let your readers participate by posting their own comments, which become part of your blog’s official content.

Your blog can be about anything you choose. Blogs began as private affairs between their authors and cyberspace, and many bloggers still use them as substitutes for leather-bound diaries or journals.

But blogs have now come to serve other purposes, both individual and corporate; and a blog is a perfectly acceptable tool for you to employ in promoting your online ventures.

As a novice blogger, you will be joining the Blogosphere, the Internet community of diehard bloggers who have their own culture, complete with ways to identify you as an up-and-coming, reputable blogging superstar. The point of this article is to show you how you can blog your way to online business prosperity, while becoming a valuable member of the Blogopshere.

The Blogoshpere has established a “code” to which you must adhere if you are to expect any success. The first tenet of the code is that your blog must contain content, and not merely advertising. This rule arose in response to an epidemic of “splogs”, counterfeit blogs which presented huge amounts of ads in the guise of reader-friendly content.

You may be thinking, “How am I going to promote my business in a blog if I can’t advertise?” But when you better understand how your blog will build an audience for your product, you’ll realize that it has very little to do with plugging your online business in veiled ways with every paragraph you write.

Do not use your blog to actively sell your products or services; use it discuss them, their uses, products with which they compete, the fields to which they are related--anything which can give your readers a broad-based look at whatever you are offering, so that they can respond with their own thoughts and suggestions.

The Blogosphere can either help or hinder you in getting your online business recognized. You won’t be able to control the reactions which your potential client base post on your blog, and they may draw attention to certain of your products’ qualities which you’d rather remained overlooked. If you choose to ignore their comments in the hopes that they will drop the subject, your readers will notice. And they will wonder what they can expect from you in the way of customer service, should they actually purchase, and have a problem with, your product.

Your readers, and possible clients, are all part of the Blogosphere, and it would be very easy for them spread word of your indifferent or negative response to their criticisms. Stop trouble before it starts by focusing on topics that do not generate negative reactions. This approach will keep you one step ahead of your online business competitors, and those who advertise through more established media.

Building a large blog readership based on your solid reputation will give you a good SEO ranking. That’s how your blogging efforts will pay off big time. Your blog posts will show up at the top of any search engine results for queries on your online business products.

The only caution: if you do not absolutely, positively believe in the product or service you are offering through your online business, blogging will be a waste of time. Because blogging requires you to stay completely in the loop regarding what is going on with your product, you will soon tire of the effort involved. And your lack of enthusiasm will drive away your readers faster than a getaway vehicle leaves a bank robbery!

For more information on blogs and rss visit one of our resources today - Rss Feed Submission Sites - best blog software - basic elements of rss

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Small Business Blog Writing Tips

By Jim Degerstrom

You launch a new small business blog, and then writer's block kicks in. What to do? Here are some tips to help you with ideas for new posts to your blog. Your blog writing style does not have to be textbook perfect, so informal writing is suitable as long as you check grammar and spelling. It's okay to entertain as you provide information, too. Visitors will not expect literary works suitable for a Nobel prize when you create blog posts, so relax.

Write short paragraphs and cover one aspect of what you present in each. Visitors want information quickly; so long paragraphs should be avoided. Short posts of 1-2 paragraphs are fine, too. Most website content is quickly scanned, so headlines and the first few words of each paragraph may be all that most visitors view before deciding to read details, or exit.

Include key words relative to your subject, and place some near the beginning of sentences for each paragraph, so your visitors get the general feel as they scan your post. Search engines will visit and index your blog content, too, so key words are important for attracting the search engine crawlers.

Google Alerts and blog labels are two techniques to help you generate new blog post ideas. Each will be presented in the report Blog Your Way to Fresh Content from my series of free PDF SEO Reports about do-it-yourself small business website promotion that I began to release during 2007. Some of my clients could not wait, so this article is a preview of how to use these two techniques to come up with post ideas for your blog:

1. Google Alerts is a free service that delivers links to content by email. Once set up, you automatically receive a collection of current news stories or related content by email with summaries and links to the information.

2. Your blog labels are the filing system for your blog that cross references your posts by subject category, so visitors may click a label and view all posts about that subject on one page. Use them to brainstorm ideas for posts.

Google Alerts Search for Google Alerts to find the main page, and then sign up for a Google account if you don't have one. You don't need an account to use alerts, but managing your choices is more convenient from one page, and creating, editing, or deleting alerts will be easier.

To begin you create individual alerts for search words or phrases relative to your business, and then your options are type and how often. Type means the source, and the selections are from news, the web, blogs, groups, and comprehensive (all). The how often is the frequency of emails you receive from Google and include once a day, as it happens, and once a week.

Once you create the alert, emails arrive automatically with lists of sources for content related to your selected subject, and a summary of each. Follow the links of interest, and perhaps you will decide to write about the same subject with a different slant. Never copy another author's content verbatim or claim it as your original writing. That would be plagiarism. However, quoting other sources is acceptable, and snippets or excerpts are often all you need.

Write an introduction about the piece you will quote, and then give credit to the author including a hyperlink to the source. Next, make sure you are in HTML mode and begin the excerpt with blockquote and italics tags, insert their content using copy and paste, and finally add the closing blockquote and italics tags. View your help files if the [blockquote] or [i] and then [/blockquote] and [/i] are unfamiliar (Note: The [ and ] square brackets must be replaced with <>, so don't take my example literally). This formatting will indent their snippet in your post and display the text in italics to make everything stand out as content quoted from another source.

Finally, write a closing paragraph with your take or opinion on the subject matter, and you're done. Again, your posts do not have to be lengthy, so the opening introduction and closing comments or opinion can each be one paragraph. Busy visitors are more likely to read your content and bookmark your site for return visits if your style is interesting and brief.

Blog Labels The labels you assign to your posts allow cross referencing of information, and they are another source for brainstorming new post ideas. After all, your labels provide a snapshot of the overall theme of your blog. A review of your list of labels may uncover subjects that are overdue for a new post while alerts make you aware of topical subjects. Reviewing the labels that define your blog allows you to enhance emphasis by writing about what your small business is really all about.

Bonus Tip: Visit technorati.com and near the upper right is a "tag cloud" which displays key words and phrases that represent what the majority of people worldwide have written recently. The most popular tags are displayed in very large text, with others decreasing in size based on total posts tagged with that word or phrase. If you find words that relate to your business, click the tag to see what others are writing, or just start your post and run with it.

Compare physical exercise to writing posts for your small business blog, and each requires discipline. Both are easy to avoid without feeling guilty, yet the benefits are certainly important to your health, personal and business. A large percentage near 25% of all new blogs go offline in less than 90 days. One reason is the lack of fresh content. Use these tips for keeping your posts short and to the point, utilize Google Alerts, and do a review of your blog labels to easily come up with new ideas for posting to your blog.

Jim Degerstrom offers custom website design and artwork for print, and blogs related small business advice.

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Blogs- Why Do People Blog

By CD Mohatta

Blogs are becoming very popular. The rate at which the numbers are increasing is mind-boggling. Why is this happening? Why everybody wants to create a blog? Who else will read that blog? If everyone is busy writing his/her blog why and when will they get time to search for other blogs and read them? Because of this over population and density, will blogging become another failure? Is it a fad, which will pass away? Let us examine?

Why do people blog? Most of the people write blogs to express themselves. They are sure that on their blog they will get what they want printed. If they write articles or columns for newspapers they may or may not get printed. Writing a blog gives the power to each of us to get printed immediately. I personally write my blog to express myself freely and feel good to see that what I wrote got printed immediately.

Another reason of writing in a blog and website is freedom of design, layout and structure. Blogging gives this freedom. It does not need navigation architecture designs of a website nor a structured menu. You write and get printed - as simple as that. This has a flip side also. In a website one can lay out the information in an easy to access and read format. You can lead your reader to a particular page in a website. You cannot do that on your blog.

Do blogs get read? How does one popularize one's blog? These are difficult questions to answer. For most of us, it is difficult to find time and submit our blog in the increasing number of directories. It is also difficult to make sure that our blog will get one of top rankings in a search. Only the search engines know the secret of that and others only speculate. If we try to read the articles written on this subject, not only the quantity but the difference of opinions will leave most of us tired, frustrated and undecided. One more issue- before you decide that you would want to popularize your blog, please think - whether you search for blogs and read them? A lot many of us are so busy writing our own blogs, that we find no time looking for others. Why should this not apply to our potential readers?

Whatever the pros and cons of blogging, one outcome is certain. Blogs give us the opportunity of writing what we want and get it printed.

CD Mohatta writes on issues that affect life like management, love, motivation etc. His writings can be found in motivational wallpapers, free online greetings and love greetings.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=CD_Mohatta

4 Pointers To Blog Writing

By Paul W Wood

Start a blog

Seems obvious, but just start blogging about anything that you know something about. Once you have the blog up and running you can get used to the discipline required and develop your own writing style. As an example, you could start a blog about where you live. Just sign on with one of the free blogging services or purchase a domain name, install Wordpress or other blogging software and start blogging. Doing it this way means that all you have to come up with are observations about daily life in your town and write about them. It may not be riveting, but the point is that it gives you a source of material that you have to shape into something readable. This sort of blog may never get a large audience, but the fact that it is live adds a certain compulsion to write for it. If you were just writing for yourself without publishing it, there would be a greater chance of stopping through lack of motivation.

Write the way you think

For some people this may seem like a really bad idea, but the idea is to make your writing both unique and sustainable for you. If you try and copy someone else's style, you will not know how to express yourself within that style and you will end up as a very pale imitation of the writer you are trying to emulate. That's not something many people will go out of their way to read.

Always read before you post

I don't know how many times I have read a blog or article which has been marred by misspelling or the author copying and pasting a phrase twice and not editing the result properly. It is always possible to alter a post you have made, even after you have posted, but with Wordpress you can preview the page before actually publishing it. For some reason mistakes that you have not noticed in the editing window show up when you see the post in context, so always preview before posting and if you are as cautious as I am, read it again after posting. You will also notice problems with readability that you hadn't noticed before and can correct them to make the writing flow better.

Alter the size of the edit box

Finally a practical point. If you are using Wordpress, the default editor size is quite small and it is difficult to keep the sweep of the post as you have to scroll up and down to read it too much. Fortunately you can increase the number of lines by going to you Wordpress control panel and clicking on Options and then Writing and you can increase the size of the post box there. I find 20 is a reasonable line number, but you should may your own mind up on it.

Having a developed a style and become used to the discipline of blog writing, there are a number of ways you can make your blog more search engine friendly. This means that people can find it more easily, and I will cover this in future articles.

Paul Wood has been involved with computers since before there was an Internet, and has been involved as it has evolved and grown to where it is today. The experience he has gained from this has been invaluable to both his clients and those he has mentored. Although he now runs many sites, his Internet Business Centre provides a focus for his continued commitment to enabling others to make some sense of the sometimes confusing wonder that is today's Internet.

http://www.internet-business-centre.co.uk and his personal site http://www.livinginlymington.com is an example of what he has been talking about in this article.

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Top 10 Blog Writing Tips

By Denise Wakeman

Most of the "rules" about writing for ezines and newsletters apply to writing posts for your blog, but there are some important differences. Keep these 10 tips in mind and you'll be publishing great blog content that attracts prospects and clients in your niche market.

1. Write with the reader in mind. Remember WIIFM? It’s marketing jargon for What’s In It For Me? That’s what you should be keeping in mind. Your reader will read your post looking for what’s in it for them.

2. Make it valuable and worthwhile. Don’t waste people’s time. If you don’t have anything to say, no problem, plenty other people do. So share their articles, do an interview, review a book.

3. Proof-read for typos and glaring grammatical errors. You wouldn’t go out of the house with dirty hair or missing a sock, so why would you publish spelling mistakes? Respect your readers by polishing up your stuff.

4. Keep it short and simple, sweetie. (KISS). Most people are scanners. You may have a lot to say and think it interesting, and it may be. But people are reading online and out of time. Get to the point quickly. Publishing short posts more frequently is a better format than publishing lengthy articles every few weeks.

5. Keep it lively, make it snappy and snazzy. Even if you aren’t a natural born writer, you can write for your blog. Just write like you’re speaking to your friend…or to yourself! Remember though, get to the point quickly. Keep in mind the journalist’s rule of 5 W’s in the first paragraph: who, what, why, when and where.

6. Link often. This builds credibility and positions you as an expert in your field. People don’t have time to know what others are doing, you should tell them. Linking to other blogs and websites also helps you build a network of associates who will in turn link to your blog.

7. Use keywords often. This will help you stay on purpose, and the search engines will love your blog. Your rankings will go up. This is one of the reasons we have you write out your purpose statements before beginning your blog. The clearer you are about your purpose, the more consistently you will deliver messages that are on target. And the more often your keywords show up, the better your search engine results.

8. Write clearly (short sentences, only one concept per sentence). No double speak or jargon; no more than one idea in one sentence- don’t make your readers have to think about your meaning. Spoon feed them. Use commas and dashes liberally.

9. Write like you talk. It’s okay to use common expressions from speech.

Examples:

Go figure.
Don’t even go there…
Now, I ask you…
Gotta love it…
(And, remember the age group of your readers…)

10. Use a clear headline, and don’t be afraid to make bold statements (but don’t mislead people either). Make it snazzy and use key words. Example: Ex-Techno-Weenie Masters HTML Code

BONUS: After you write a post and BEFORE you hit the save button

Use this checklist to ask yourself a few questions as you are reading through for typos and grammar:

__ Is the topic clear to someone who only reads the headline?

__Does the lead paragraph tell who and what the story is about and why the reader should care about it?

__ Is the angle you've used likely to seem newsworthy?

__Would someone who knows absolutely nothing about this topic understand this post?

__ Is the post free of jargon?

__ Is it written in journalistic style and does it make an effort to be objective?

__ Have you peppered the headline and the post with keywords and phrases that will be attractive to search engines?

__ Did you remember to ask your readers a question at the end, or something to stimulate readers to comment?

__ Did you remember to write with the reader in mind, always keeping in mind WIIFT? (What’s in It for Them?)

Patsi Krakoff of Customized Newsletter Services, and Denise Wakeman of Next Level Partnership, have teamed up to create blogging classes and marketing services for independent professionals. You can read and subscribe to their blogs at http://www.coachezines.com, http://www.bizbooknuggets.com and http://www.biztipsblog.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Denise_Wakeman

Blogging Your Way to Home Business Success

By Cindy Floyd

Cindy FloydLevel: BasicOnline Business Owner and Internet Marketing Coach. ...
Many of us view blogging as something for the younger generation or just a social networking communication avenue. But creating a blog to promote your home based business can be very profitable. Savvy internet marketers know that using a blog as your main avenue is a successful business plan.

So why are more and more internet marketers turning to blogs rather than websites?

Here are a few reasons...

It's really easy to setup a blog. There are many sites on the internet that will provide free and low cost hosting of your blog when you use their blogging software. All you need is a computer to connect and your up and running.

You can choose from a variety of blogging platforms; Wordpress, Blogger, Joomla, are a few of the most popular. These applications offer a number of attractive themes to choose from. You're bound to find one that fits your product niche. You will also find with these platforms that people write addons, plugins or applications that add spice to your site.

People are attracted to blogs because they are generally less intimidating. They are a friendly environment that allows for open conversation about products or issues. You do not find the in-your-face hard sell you would on a website or sales page. It's a more personal environment which attracts people.

Blogs are also great for search engine rankings. Because there is a lot of activity, postings, links, the search engines love them. The more postings you provide and comments you receive helps boost your popularity and therefore your rankings.

Blog content

The most important aspect of a blog is its content. It must be useful, informative and non threatening. You can write what you want in your blog and if people find you interesting they will follow you. You can be informative, funny, and controversial, all are great avenues to grow you reputation. As your reputation grows and your blog gains readership you will see the benefits in your profits.

There is no rule of thumb on how often you should post to your blog. Once a day is great for keeping your rankings high and your readers' interest, but if you can only post twice a week or even once a week, the idea is to keep posting.

Offer your readers various ways to keep up with your posts. You can setup article feeds (RSS, Google, AOL), or have them register for emails to be sent every time you update your blog. This will encourage your readers to comment on your posts and keeping your blog active.

Monetize

There are many ways to add profit to your blog. You can sell advertising to other subscribers wanting to promote their product. You can be less assertive by adding text links within the blog content directing them to other sites. This is usually a personal preference. You can also add Google Adsense, AdBrites or any other content sharing ads.

If you follow these few simple ideas you will find blogging fun and a very powerful tool in your internet marketing strategy that sets you on the road to success.

Cindy Floyd Colorado Creative Solutions303-429-6333
Ask me how you can earn huge commission weekly and have fun doing it.http://www.ThingsLookGreatIn2008.com

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The Best Things About Blogging

By Tony Bedford

Have you ever wanted to create a business you could run from the comfort of your own home?

Would you like to have an online business that could generate income for you 24/7?

Does the idea of a business you can run from anywhere in the world appeal to you?

Do you have a desire to write creatively?

Do you have a hobby, expertise or passion that you would like to write about?

If you answered "yes" to any (or all) of the above, then you should consider starting your own blog-based business.

There are a number of advantages to starting your own blog business. In this article I'll list a few of the main ones.

Flexible

There are few business opportunities that are as flexible as running a blog. You can tailor your operation to suit your lifestyle, knowledge and financial requirements. A blog can be run part-time or full-time, you can chose your blog niche, with some constraints, based on your own areas of interest. A blog is ideal to run along side other business ventures. You get to chose your own hours.

Mobile

You can run a blog from anywhere in the world. All you need is Internet access and a browser. Virtually everything can be done online, with tools that are available for free or minimal cost. If you like to spend your summers in one country and winters in another a blog business can provide the ideal solution.

Passive income

One of the major advantages of a blog is that its revenue is passive income. To explain passive income lets look at active income first.

Active income is where you exchange your time for money. For example, if you have a job you get paid a salary for working a fixed (in theory) number of hours per week.

However, passive income is different. With passive income you create content that can be sold or delivered through an automated system. This requires an upfront development effort to create the content and set up the delivery system. Once the content is created the system is automated.

Visitors buy your product through your blog site or click on your online ads to generate revenue for you. At this point you are not exchanging your time for money. Your passive income generation system is making you money even when you are asleep.

When you realize that you can actually set up multiple streams of passive income then you can begin to appreciate the power of passive income.

Satisfying

Starting up and running your own blog business is extremely rewarding. You get to write about what you love. In fact if you are not writing about what you love then you have probably picked the wrong topic! What's more, you are getting paid to write about what you love! It doesn't get any better than that.

Freedom

Running your own blog brings great freedom. You don't have to commute, you don't have to put up with a boss you hate, you don't have to work long hours to make someone else rich. You set your own hours and work when it's convenient for you.

Conclusion

Setting up and running a profitable blog is not easy. But, with the right guidance, and with some determination on your part, it is very doable. Most of what you need to know can be learned as you go along. Starting a blog is definitely not a get-rich-quick-scheme, but then you probably already know that such things do not exist. It takes time and effort to create a successful blog, but it is possible if you are prepared to move out of your comfort zone and take up the challenge.

Tony Bedford first started blogging in March 2000. Tony currently maintains a free guide to more profitable blogging at http://the-business-of-blogging.blogspot.com

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How You Can Make Money Online With A Blog

By Carl Hartley

The internet is flooded with ways to make money online. You can make money taking surveys, selling other people's products, or creating your own business. One way many people do not realize you can make money being online is having your own blog. Much like having your own web site, there are a number of ways to make money with a blog.

The most common method of making money with a blog is promoting your own web site and directing prospects to your site. Think of it as advertising for your site. You can promote products you sell, programs you are associated with, and information you have to offer. It is an easy way to drastically increase the traffic volume to your actual web site.

Another great way to make money being online with a blog is promoting your affiliate programs. With affiliate marketing you do not have to handle any products, just direct visitors from your blog to your affiliate's web site. You can either place a link to the affiliate's web site or you can talk about their business and direct the visitor to your web site with the link.

Advertising is quite common with blogs because of the numerous ways you can make money from advertising. If you have a big enough blog, many people are willing to pay to have their banner or link put on your blog. If it is not big enough, you can also use Google AdSense and BlogAds. Both of these methods are free and allow you to make money simply by people clicking on the ads.

The great thing about having a blog is you get to meet a plethora of new people and talk with them on a personal level. Building relationships can go a long way on the internet and having a blog makes this easy to do. You never know when you may meet someone that has a business proposition for you as they begin to trust you and respect you. This is not a sure thing, but having a blog increases the likelihood.

Lastly, if you truly want to make money online with a blog consistency is the key factor. It is vital you take the time to post in your blog every day on a consistent basis. Bring new topics to talk about and respond to other people's comments. This consistency will keep visitors coming to your blog to see what else you have to say. And as mentioned above, you will begin to build relationships and talk with the same people over and over again.

Wake up. People are making fortunes online passively. Learn something and improve yourself. => http://www.abunza947.com

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4 Steps to Make a Blog That Attracts Readers

By Ashley Mcallister

Today, blogging has become a very recognized and important tool for the business world. Blogs hold a lot of power when it comes to trying to get the word out there about something. If you are someone that would like to promote your business or set a blog for your own sake, then you will need to know the steps in how to do so.

If you do not know what a blog is, it is a place on the web that you can write your thoughts, opinions and whatever else. You can pretty much put anything you want in a blog. When people create blogs, they are looking to get readers and lots of them. The more readers you get to your blog, the more of a chance you get the message across to them.

Right now, I would like to give you some blogging tips that can help you make a blog that will attract a lot of readers.

1. Niche Topic

You must have a blog that is centered on one topic and one topic only. Make sure that you choose a topic that interests you because that way you will have some background information on it. You don’t want to choose a topic you know nothing about because it will be harder for you to write about it.

2. Conversational Tone

Whenever you write anything in your blog, make it sound like you. Meaning, don’t go out of your way to have proper spelling and grammar. Write the way as if you were talking to people. This will help others understand you more and the writing will come out of you a lot easier if you don’t think as much.

3. Content

Content is king in this blogging business. The more content you have, the more readers you will get. Make a schedule as to when you will post in your blog and make sure that you stick to that plan. I recommend posting at least 3 times a week.

4. Informational

Never ever make your blog look like a sales page. You want to inform your readers on new things and then make sure that they can learn something from it. If you want to try and sell things from it then you can leave a few links around your blog, but never try and sell it to anyone.

Blogging these days is the best way to reach your readers and get your business off to the right start. Just make sure that when you start it that you don’t abandon it.

For more information, you can check out: Blogging to the bank. If you are wondering what Blogging to the bank is, it has said to be a 7 step blogging for profits blueprint.

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