A lot of the people who read weblogs are bloggers themselves, in part because of the fact that the people who use blogging technology on a daily basis are most likely to be interested in what other writers are doing with the medium. This fact begins to explain why the people who succeed in the world of professional blogging are mostly people who have devoted themselves almost entirely to learning about, talking about, and writing about blogging. More than any other topic, pro bloggers turn their attention to the phenomenon of blogging itself. A lot of pro bloggers make the topic of blogging the stunningly self-reflexive ongoing focus of their blogs.

Of course, professional blogging is destined to become much more complicated in the future than it is today. In the current moment, pro bloggers who attract the largest audiences and make the most money are mostly concerned with investigating the blogging movement and with offering advice to amateur bloggers. However, as the kinds of people who regularly read blogs changes, and the demographics of bloggers expand and diversify as blogging software becomes more user friendly, it is very likely indeed that the world of pro blogging will begin to reflect these changes. Indeed, it is very difficult to predict exactly what kinds of blogs will be reaping the greatest financial rewards five or ten years down the road. The world of pro blogging is one of constant change and flux, which is part of what makes it so exciting.

Blog is short for weblog, which simply means a series of online posts presented in reverse chronological order. That’s all! Most blogs are text, but there are also photo blogs and video blogs.

The rest of blogging 101 has to do with the technical side of things. If you are setting up a blog, you will need a platform, a web host, and a domain. A blogging platform is a computer software program that allows you to write posts and to update your blog. Your platform is also what you use to design the look of your blog, from color scheme to font size.

The web host is sort of like the virtual file cabinet where your blog is stored. Your computer communicates with the host when you upload or edit a post. The domain is the online address of your blog, and usually ends in ‘dot com’.

Now that you know what a blog is, what a platform is, and what domains and hosts are, congratulate yourself!

You have passed blogging 101.

• Word-of-Mouth. In a survey, there are currently 14 million blogs with 80,000 more being added each day and about 30 percent of the 50 million users are blog readers. Imagine how much gain your company will have, if your products are advertised through blogs. With Internet, information spreads so quickly especially if an impressive write-up goes with your product. Soon your blogs will be passed on to hundreds of possible customers.

• Awareness and loyalty.  Open communication with your customers creates trust and loyalty among them. Being there to respond to their questions and comments make them all the more willing to try your products and services.

• Feedback. Blogs is good for product research and reviews. It would be easier to improve on your products if you observe your customers’ thinking and behavioral patterns. You can also take immediate action to your customers’ concerns.

• Community halo-effect. Bloggers are reasonable, friendly and helpful. They are more than willing to create blogosphere of comments regarding your product. The only thing you have to do is embrace and take active part in the culture and your product will surely be considered in their next stop to the supermarket.

For better marketing results, actively promote your business blogs by submitting your blogs to blog search sites and directories. Do not forget to paste in with your blogs, your URL. Be sure that your blogs contain exclusive information with value and are always updated to keep readers popping in, read up your blog, move on to the next and click on again for updates.

Blog is like a setup booth in the biggest trade show on earth everyday. Marketing possibilities are just around the corner waiting to strike your sale scales up.

The Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds are important too in conjunction with your blogs to get the best benefits. Use effective keyword phrases to generate high ranking status in the search engine traffic. In this way you have better chances of people finding your website leading to your blogs. More traffic means more potential sales.

For this to be successful, you can use RSS for news update feeds which can be read through RSS reader application. This is a very useful tool for business and internet marketers as well.

If you are already convinced with the potentials of business blogs for marketing and targeting sales increase, your company is now ready to start blogging. But first, you have to be in tune with your company’s business objectives and determine if blogging will really help you achieve your goal.

1.    Several blogs are dedicated to teaching people the do’s and don’ts of blogging, READ them! Include in your reading materials blogs that are consumer-based too to give you an idea.
2.    Setup several test blogs right away.

If your initial try out with blogs worked well, you can now start setting up your blogs.

1. Study blog design. Blog hosting services provide pre-designed templates. But if you opt for paid blog service, you can ask your artist to design and layout your blog site to match the company’s identity and needs.
2. Choose a topic. Its good to have a line-up of topics you want for your blogs but be sure they are in consonance with your business objectives. This would be a test of your flexibility and open-mindedness since results may be going against the set objectives.
3. Remember the following safety measures in blogging:
4. legal issues are sometimes involved in blogging; it is safer to include disclaimers and limitations of liabilities;
5. corporate communication and legal department are responsible in educating the senior management on how blogs might affect business;
6. create blogging policies; set limits on who gets to blog and what information are allowed to be made public;
7. avoid outright marketing blog or you will shy away your readers;
8. make content updated, relevant and fresh;
9. reinforce the company’s core values; and,
10. encourage employees to use it.
11. Start blogging and complete 20 posts before going to marketing.
12. Begin marketing.
13. Regularly monitor the coming ins and outs of readers and get updates. Then, measure your results.
14. Adjust if needed. You can always play with your designs in the blog site as long as it remains to match the company’s identity.
15. Strive to be consistent with your topic all the time.
16. Try to have unrelated topics with general and broad appeal.
17. Schedule updates regularly. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday would be best to update blogs.

Once you have done all these things, you can now ultimately enjoy the benefits of business blogging.

One of the reasons why blogs have undergone a kind of explosion in the teen community and are growing by leaps and bounds is the fact that they provide a unique mixture of visibility and anonymity. A teenager can invite friends and peers to read his or her blog with a simple email, thereby winning attention or possibly even praise. Of course, with visibility usually comes the possibility of embarrassment, but the fact that it is possible to blog anonymously with an invented handle or nickname negates a lot of the potential for humiliation.

Many a blogging teen lives in fear that a parent or guardian will discover his or her blog, but by publishing under an alias a teenager can spill his or her secrets without fear of being traced.

Outside the world of blogging, teen writers often have very limited opportunities to be published. Magazines and journals are often reticent to publish young writers who may not have as much credibility as older writers with a lot of experience and extensive credits to their names. This can discourage adolescents from writing or from seeking chances to publish their work.

By blogging, young people can begin to gain a following of readers without first having to win the attention and support of an editor or publisher who may not be very interested in teenaged authors.

Between the fact that blogs provide young people with a chance to exercise their impressive technical aptitude, to gain visibility without compromising privacy, and to build a readership for their writing without having to jump through the traditional hoops of the publishing industry, it is little wonder that are so many teenagers with blogs.

For some teenagers, blogging is even a very social endeavor that allows them to meet people with similar interests from all over the world. Many a blogging teen has discovered that having a weblog on the internet is a great way to explore self-expression and, often, to win positive feedback from new friends.

Basically a blog contains these features:

title- which allows you to label your post
body- this is the content of your post
trackback- other sites can be linked back to your blog
permanent link- every article that you write has a URL
comments- this allow readers to post comments on your blog.

One of the advantages of blogging, is that it is made of only a few templates. Unlike, other websites that is made up of numerous individual pages. This make it easier for blog users to create new pages, because it already has a fix setting that include: slots for title, body of the post, category, etc.

This is especially useful for first time users, since they can start blogging right away. They can chose from a  number of templates that blogging websites provide.

Anyone who wants to start a blog can do so by becoming a member of a blogging website of their choice. Once they’ve become members, they automatically become a part of that particular blogging community. They can browse through other bloggers pages, and link them back to their own blogs. They can also make comments on other members’ blogs.

Blogging is not just limited to personal usage. There are a lot of blogs that follow a theme such as: sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs espouse on their specific themes. This way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and opinions about a variety of themes and topics.

Some bloggers even use their blogs as a means to advertise. Some authors advertise their books on their blogs. While other bloggers, use their blogs to shed light to currents issues, events, news and catastrophes.

Nowadays in education, blogs also play an important part. Professors use blogging to document the lessons that they have discussed and taught. This way, students who who have missed classes, can easily catch up with their assignments.

A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by promoting their businesses on their blogs, with millions and millions of people logging onto the net everyday, blogging has become a lucrative move. Some bloggers who run online businesses promote their merchandise online. While others profit through advertisement.

But by far, the most popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the kind that is usually used by first time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives, poems, rants, opinions, find that blogging offers them a medium in which to express themselves.

Bloggers usually communicate within themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts, and comments with each other.

Blogs varying in topics, themes, and set-ups, can be found in blog directories. First time users who want to get an idea of what the blogging world is all about can browse through a number of blogs using these directories. This way they’d get an idea of what these blogging communities are like.

Blogging is popular all over the world. Blog is short for the term weblog. There are no rules when it comes to blogging. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves how ever way they want, and the best thing about blogging, is that most blogging sites are free.

There are numerous blogging websites to choose from in the net. This give first time users the option of joining a blogging community that appeals to their interests.

Just search any blogging directory and you’d get a listing of a lot of blogging sites that are available on the net. It’s easy to search a blogging directory, because it is organized according to category. This way you would get exactly what you are after. Blogging is really for everyone. It is fun, simple and easy.

Of course, even for people who have spent months or years blogging, money from advertising revenue may not add up to a large sum. The amount of money that you can make as a blogger depends on a lot of different factors, but perhaps the most important element of the equation is the topic of your blog.

If your blog is on a subject that appeals to a demographic that advertisers have a strong desire to reach, you will be more likely to be able to turn a large profit on your blog than if your blog is on a fairly obscure subject that does not draw the kind of audience that advertisers need to appeal to.

Of course, the only way to find out where you fall on this spectrum is to try hosting some ads. If you are already blogging, you have nothing to lose.

Title- which allows you to label your post
Body- this is the content of your post
Trackback- other sites can be linked back to your blog
Permanent link- every article that you write has a URL
Comments- this allows readers to post comments on your blog.

One of the advantages of blogging, is that it is made of only a few templates. Unlike, other websites that is made up of numerous individual pages. This make it easier for blog users to create new pages, because it already has a fix setting that include: slots for title, body of the post, category, etc.

This is especially useful for first time users, since they can start blogging right away. They can chose from a  number of templates that blogging websites provide.

Anyone who wants to start a blog can do so by becoming a member of a blogging website of their choice. Once they’ve become members, they automatically become a part of that particular blogging community. They can browse through other bloggers pages, and link them back to their own blogs. They can also make comments on other members’ blogs.

Blogging is not just limited to personal usage. There are a lot of blogs that follow a theme such as: sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs espouse on their specific themes. This way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and opinions about a variety of themes and topics.

Some bloggers even use their blogs as a means to advertise. Some authors advertise their books on their blogs. While other bloggers, use their blogs to shed light on currents issues, events, news and catastrophes.

Nowadays in education, blogs also play an important part. Professors use blogging to document the lessons that they have discussed and taught. This way, students who who have missed classes, can easily catch up with their assignments.

A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by promoting their businesses on their blogs, with millions and millions of people logging onto the net everyday, blogging has become a lucrative move. Some bloggers who run online businesses promote their merchandise online. While others profit through advertisement.

But by far, the most popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the kind that is usually used by first time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives, poems, rants, opinions, find that blogging offers them a medium in which to express themselves.

Bloggers usually communicate within themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts, and comments with each other.

Blogs varying in topics, themes, and set-ups, can be found in blog directories. First time users who want to get an idea of what the blogging world is all about can browse through a number of blogs using these directories. This way they’d get an idea of what these blogging communities are like.

Blogging is popular all over the world. Blog is short for the term weblog. There are no rules when it comes to blogging. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves how ever way they want, and the best thing about blogging, is that most blogging sites are free.

There are numerous blogging websites to choose from in the net. This give first time users the option of joining a blogging community that appeals to their interests.

Just search any blogging directory and you’d get a listing of a lot of blogging sites that are available on the net. It’s easy to search a blogging directory, because it is organized according to category. This way you would get exactly what you are after. Blogging is really for everyone. It is fun, simple and easy.

Too many bloggers spend all of their time writing posts and almost no time marketing their project. To be certain, updating as often as you can is a great way to keep your blog high on blogrolls and high in blog search engines like technorati, and once your readers know that you update frequently they will return to your site on a regular basis. However, it does not matter how often you update if nobody is reading your page, so dont skimp on the time that you spend drawing visitors to your site. To make your dreams of blogging for profit a reality, try decreasing your number of posts and using some of that time to draw new visitors by setting up link exchanges with other bloggers, making contacts in the blog community, and following other established modes of winning traffic.

Of course, even if you are a marketing genius or have a really great idea for a blog, success is not going to happen overnight. Building the kind of readership that blogging for profit requires takes time, and in all likelihood it will be at least several months before you are able to turn much of a profit. Try to stay committed to your blogging project during this initial rough period. To stay motivated, set goals for how often you will update and how many readers you want to attract, and then reward yourself for sticking with your plan.

So as to accept RSS feeds, a feed reader is needed, called an aggregator.  Aggregators are widely and freely available online, and all that is needed is a bit of searching, you will be able to locate a certain interface that best interests you. What’s more, RSS feeds can likewise be read and retrieved from cell phones and on PDAs.

Once you encounter upon a website that you want to add or insert to the aggregator, the process can be done in two ways. Almost all sites offering an RSS feed displays an “RSS” or “XML” button in their homepage and with one click, it promptly adds that particular feed to one’s aggregator. Some aggregator however, requires the need to copy and then paste the URL of the feed into the program.

Whatever the method used, you can be certain that the feed will be accessible as soon as you have inserted it, likewise, in just seconds, the next update can arrive. In the event that you do not want to accept or take in updates, you may simply delete or erase the feed from the aggregator.

Through e-mail subscriptions, you can receive newsletters. RSS feeds on the other hand, can be more convenient in keeping up with newsletter updates since they are prompt and available in an instant; you no longer have to wait for a scheduled time or day to obtain a news summary, plus, these news will never be  detained through a spam filter.
RSS feeds are widely used everyday by individuals who understand and appreciate the accessibility of fast reports and news that can be readily read and only read certain updates that appeals to them.

Aggregators

Aggregators are popular use of feeds, having several kinds. Web aggregators or portals as they are sometimes called, create this view which is then made available in a Web page. Also, Aggregators have been incorporated into e-mail patrons, users of desktops, or dedicated and standalone software.

Offering a collection of special features, such as combining more than a few related feeds in just a single view, hiding certain entries or statements that has been already viewed, and classifying entries and feeds, the aggregator is a versatile component.

Why make a feed available?

You will have more viewers, since now, your viewers can conveniently see your site without even going out and looking for that certain site. While at first, it may seem corrupt, it will in fact enhance the visibility of your site; this is so because users can easily keep up or keep track with your site, to allow them to view in a way that they want to; it’s more probable that guests are aware should something that is in their interest is available or accessible on your site.

For instance, every month your website broadcasts a new feature. Having no feed, your viewers will always have to keep in mind to go to your site in a certain time to see if they discover something new; that is, if they can remember, and if they still have the time. However, if you supply a feed for your viewers, they can just point to their aggregator and it will instantly provide them a link along with a description of happenings or events at your site immediately.

What format to choose?

Syndication is very confusing as it uses a lot of formats that can usually come across in the web.  However, this can easily be solved as in general, syndicated libraries are used by aggregators which conceptualize a particular format that a feed is in, in order that they can utilize a certain syndication feed.

With this, whatever format to pick is just a matter of personal preference. RSS 1.0 is far reaching, and practical should it be integrated into Semantic Web systems. RSS 2.0 is very easy and simple to create by hand. And atom is an IETF Standard, as it brings constancy, stability and a natural and accepted community to support its usage.

One way to discover an ideal model for your blogging web site is to look at the sites that have successfully captured a blogging audience already to determine if you can appropriate some of their strategies to help realize your vision. Of course, you will also need to add a unique flair to your project in order to stand apart from your competition. Many people agree that the websites that do the best in today’s market are the sites that have the most personality. The fiercely individual surfers who are bloggers are a demographic that responds especially strongly to personality, so consider how you can give your site a unique and attractive feeling by lending your own voice and sensibility to your site’s design and content.

Once you have a great idea for your site, have pinpointed a special niche that you are well equipped to fill, and have infused the site with personality, the next step is figuring out how to get the word out to bloggers. In the long run, a great idea just isn’t enough to propel your blogging web site to success. You will need to draft a smart and realistic marketing plan in order to draw readers to your site. Once you hook a blogger, your great content will keep them coming back, but it is vital to get that first glance or your site won’t have a chance to shine.

First off, here’s a video from Matt Cutts, a SPAM engineer from Google, giving some insights about backlinks from social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxTmZulcQZ0

I’ve always agreed that it doesn’t matter if your backlink is from a .org, .net, .com, .gov or .edu. The domain extension doesn’t make it any more (or less) important than any other.

I’ve also mentioned in the past that any backlink with “nofollow” in it does not pass on any PR (page rank) value. No argument there.

However, don’t just ignore backlinks from “nofollow” sites. I’ve performed a test to prove my theory.

1. Registered brand new domain.
2. Created a website with DUPLICATE content.
3. Commented on 8 “nofollow” blogs a day for 3 days.
4. Did NOTHING else… including submitting to search engine, article marketing, anything. JUST the blog commenting.

3 days later, the website was indexed. I stopped posting blog comments and had received a total of 20 visitors.

If such a simple task still carries over some traffic, what makes you think getting backlinks from “nofollow” is a waste of time? Of course, it would be more beneficial to get the ‘do follow’ backlinks. Just try to be as natural as possible and not be too concerned whether a site is a do or not follow.

If you are looking for a way to take your business to the next level, consider what starting a blog might be able to do for you.

Blogging for business owners has a lot in common with all other types of blogging, but it has its own unique pitfalls and strengths. The key to having a successful blog as a business owner is keeping your goals clear and concrete at every step of your blogging adventure.

It can be all to easy to get sidetracked, especially if you are just learning about the exciting possibilities of blogging technology, but if you want your blog to succeed you need to stay focused.

Write up a plan for how often you will update, how you will promote your blog and retain readers, whether you will feature photographs or video, and other aspects of your blog, and then stick to it with the same kind of determination that you used when you built your company.

Having an updated blog not only shows that you are current with your prospects but it helps with your search engine optimization and marketing. Each post you make actually becomes multiple, crawl-able pages. Not only that, your blog acts as its own search engine, it’s internal back-linking system and link directory.

It’s THAT powerful.

We’ve talked about having a blog before; so, if you still don’t have one, GET ONE. You’re falling behind and you don’t even know it. If you need help, contact us and we’ll have you setup with the best WordPress plug-ins possible to help you with your SEO/SEM goals.

If it is possible you should always use relevant anchor text in your home pages instead of just using the plain old and very boring “HOME” link.

Home page is the most important page in your website, so it is fairly important that that this page has a good backlink from each and every page in your site. This is one good idea and an easy way to create a good internal link arrangements and this also makes the search engines easily indexed your website.

You should always keep in mind that this linking is not just for the Home page in your site, but also to the other important pages in your website. A good example is if you have a blog site, then you want to increase its ranking for some particular and specific article, all you have to do is to give it a side – wide link on all of your previous blog posts.

It is good practice to do this on a constant basis so that you have a strong internal linking system in place. The better structured you are the easier it is for search engines to index your pages. The more indexed pages you have, the higher chances of traffic you’ll receive.

Just remember that there’s more to it than just internal linking and on-page search engine optimization. Search engine marketing is still one of the largest factor in your search engine domination.

So what is this “one thing?”

Oh, so now you want to know what it is, do you?

Well, it’s this “one thing” that allows you to add new content to your website with very little effort. It’s this “one thing” that helps you rank better in the search engines. And it’s this “one thing” that could help separate you from your competitors.

WHAT IS IT ALREADY!

Okay, okay, this one thing is simply a blog!

What? You thought it would be some type of secret?

No, it’s just something not a whole lot of companies know. By adding a blog to your existing website (especially if you had one designed in the 90′s) that are stale and stagnant (no new content for the past 14 days) then you MUST get into gear and have a blog installed into your site.

If you love your site design, then get the blog integrated into the design. It will be the best thing you’d ever do for yourself and for your company.

I already mentioned the benefits so I’m not got going to say it again. You really are missing out on all the potential keywords to rank for by not having a blog and I have to tell you, the majority of the company sites out there simply do not have a blog.

If you need help with your blog installation, integration and marketing, you know who to contact.

I thought having 7 copywriting clients and 3 website design clients would be enough, but I went ahead and accepted one more this morning. Now I’m getting more inquiries about search engine optimization and marketing clients, which is great.

Busy is good for any marketing firm.

At least my personal, financial woes for the next 2-3 months are taken care of. I could then get back to affiliate/niche marketing again. My goal is to generate about $10k+/month on autopilot, so these are definitely some insights I will be sharing in the forum.

It seems I will have to start making some of the forum categories private again though. Or… I’ll set a certain post requirement each week to gain access. We’ll see. I think it’s an interesting twist and I have a lot of valuable information to share. Just haven’t had the time to do so.

Anyway, if you want to get more value out of me, just participate in the forum. Ask questions and I’m sure I’ll give you a good answer that’s worth money.

I will be busy throughout the week, but I do take breaks and check in the forum from time to time. Anyway, have a great day and look forward to having you back soon.

Sincerely,
Kevin Lam