Usually presented and arranged in reverse chronological order, blogs are essentially used for the following purposes:

·    Online journal or a web diary
·    Content managament system
·    Online publishing platform

A typical blog has the following components:

·    Post date -the date and time of the blog entry
·    Category – the category that the blog belongs to
·    Title – the title of the blog
·    Main body – the main content of the blog
·    RSS and trackback – links the blog back from other sites
·    Comments – commentaries that are added by readers
·    Permalinks – the URL of the full article
·    Other optional items – calendar, archives, blogrolls, and add-ons or plug-ins

A blog can also have a footer, usually found at the bottom of the blog, that shows the post date, the author, the category, and the ‘stats’ (the nubmer of comments or trackbacks).

There are numerous types of blogs. Some of them are the following:

1. Political blog – on news, politics, activism, and other issue based blogs (such as campaigning).
2. Personal blog – also known as online diary that may include an individual’s day-to-day experience, complaints, poems, and illicit thoughts, and communications between friends.
3. Topical blog – with focus either on a particular niche (function or position) that is usually technical in nature or a local information.
4. Health blog – on specific health issues. Medical blog is a major category of health blog that features medical news from health care professionals and/or actual patient cases.
5. Literary blog – also known as litblog.
6. Travel blog – with focus on a traveler’s stories on a particular journey.
7. Research blog – on academic issues such as research notes.
8. Legal blog – on law (technical areas) and legal affairs; also known as ‘blawgs’.
9. Media blog – focus on falsehoods or inconsistencies in mass media; usually exclusive for a newspaper or a television network.
10. Religious blog – on religious topics
11. Educational blog – on educational applications, usually written by students and teachers.
12. Collaborative or collective blog – a specific topic written by a group of people.
13. Directory blog – contains a collection of numerous web sites.
14. Business blog – used by entrepreneurs and corporate employees to promote their businesses or talk about their work.
15. Personification blog – focus on non-human being or objects (such as dogs).
16. Spam blogs – used for promoting affiliated websites; also known as ‘splogs’.

Blogging is typically done on a regular (almost daily) basis. The term “blogging” refers to the act of authoring, maintaining, or adding an article to an existing blog, while the term “blogger” refers to a person or a group who keeps a blog.

Today, more than 3 million blogs can be found in the Internet. This figure is continuously growing, as the availability of various blog software, tools, and other applications make it easier for just about anyone to update or maintain the blog (even those with little or no technical background). Because of this trend, bloggers can now be categorized into 4 main types:

·    Personal bloggers – people who focus on a diary or on any topic that an individual feels strongly about.
·    Business bloggers – people who focus on promoting products and services.
·    Organizational bloggers – people who focus on internal or external communication in an organization or a community.
·    Professional bloggers – people who are hired or paid to do blogging.

Problogging (professional blogging) refers to blogging for a profit. Probloggers (professional bloggers) are people who make money from blogging (as an individual blog publisher or a hired blogger).

Below are just some of the many money-making opportunities for probloggers:

·    Advertising programs
·    RSS advertising
·    Sponsorship
·    Affiliate Programs
·    Digital assets
·    Blog network writing gigs
·    Business blog writing gigs
·    Non blogging writing gigs
·    Donations
·    Flipping blogs
·    Merchandising
·    Consulting and speaking

The following are a few things that you need to consider if you want to be successful in problogging:

1. Be patient. Problogging requires a lot of time and effort, not to mention a long-term vision.
2. Know your audience. Targeting a specific audience or group is a key to building a readership.
3. Be an ‘expert’. Focus on a specific niche topic and strive to be the “go-to” blogger on that topic.
4. Diversify. Experiment with various add and affiliate programs that enable you to make money online (aside from blogging).
5. Do not bore your readers. Focus on the layout. White spaces, line spacings, and bigger fonts make a blog welcoming to read.
Certainly, it is possible to earn money from blogs. One just needs to take risks, the passion, and the right attitude in order to be a successful problogger.

Distributing some of their music by podcast rss feeds, however, lets them grow a small fanbase and attract listeners who enjoy their work. These musicians may support themselves by also selling portions of their work, or may decide to provide all of their work for free, as some do.

These musicians may, after growing a fanbase who enjoys their music podcast rss feed, parlay that popularity into music contracts within the industry. By proving that they can support a passionate audience even with their own meager efforts, a company can sometimes be convinced of the music’s viability on a larger stage.

By proving that the musicians can support a dedicated audience and can keep producing quality work, the group or individual has a better chance of successfully getting a contract while maintaining their independent style.

This is a reason why e-commerce site laser target certain groups of people and drive them to their site to showcase their sites and products. Precision marketing is essential so that you could count on all the traffic on your site as potential customers.

Using Money to Make Money

It’s a common business notion that if you want to make money, you have to spend money. One good way of spending money for business gain is through advertising. Advertising brings in the people because through advertising, they know that there is such a company or product in existence. With the right type of advertising, you can see the spurt of traffic growth to your site. With a high volume of traffic, even if only a small portion or percentage turns out to be buying customers it is still a good average of profit generating income.

Right now, there is no other advertising scheme that would be worth every cent than using Google’s Adwords. The surge in popularity of Google’s Adwords is very evident as you can see so many sites sporting this ad scheme.

In using Google’s Adwords, you pay a certain fee depending on the number of keywords your ad is keyword sensitive to. Each time a person does a search in Google, the keyword or keywords use generate ads in the side of Google which are generated by the keywords they have assigned for their ads.

This method laser targets the traffic a site wants for their site. This also ensures that you are readily visible in the first page of a search result. Paying Google for this ad scheme ensures that your target group of people sees your ads. You drive your laser targeted traffic to your site which provides for their needs and wants. You can also be sure that you can meet their demands and needs.

Aside from Google, you can also be featured in their other search networks, these includes sites like, AskJeeves, AOL Search and Netscape. These sites also show Adwords ads that react to searches done by visitors. There are also content networks, non-search engine sites that feature Google Adwords, which will also carry your ads. But this is subjected to the niche the site features. Your chosen keywords will determine which content network shall feature your ad. The frequency of your ad shall also be determined by your allowed budget.

Laser Targeting your Traffic

To get a good number or estimate of the traffic to buying customer ratio it is good to laser target your traffic. Knowing that your traffic are all potential customers and are interested in your products and company provides you with a more accurate statistics. This will show you how effective your utilizing of Google Adwords is.

Drive laser targeted traffic to your site by using keywords or keyword phrases for your Goggle Adwords that pertains to your company and to your products. There are many online internet tools that can help you in choosing keywords and keyword phrases that are currently in demand that could help drive laser targeted traffic to your site.

With your Google Adwords ad, you are ensured that every click to your ad is a potential customer that is precisely looking pr interested in what you have to offer. Make sure that your Google Adwords ad has the right keywords so that you can drive you’re laser targeted traffic to your site.

Using Google Adwords to help boost the drive to increase laser targeted traffic will prove to be very beneficial as many other companies can attest to. The benefits are high with the cost relatively justifiable.

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.

You might be thinking that press releases are reserved for huge companies and corporations to announce that they’ve bought out another company or merging with another. Truth is, you don’t have to be a big corporation or announcing anything like that. It doesn’t matter if you’re a work-at-home mom, small business or whatever. As long as your article is intriguing and content rich with quality keywords, you will get a lot of traffic from it.

If you haven’t started putting this to use, you are losing out on a lot of benefits. The use of press releases has proven to increase business, improve SEO and establish professionalism. Here’s a little insider secrets to my readers – there is a specific resource we use to rank on the first page after just 5 minutes. It’s not black hat! It’s simply submitting the press release. That’s how powerful it is!

Press releases have changed quite a bit over the years, especially on the Internet. It use to be difficult to get your press release accepted and sent out to the world. The press release had to be written a specific way and it was just so expensive. Just 2 years ago, we paid $1,000 for a press release to be written and submitted. $1,000? Not everyone can do that.

And now, you can write it up yourself and have it sent out for only $20… or even for free! This really evens the playing field for the small business owners and individuals that work from home.

Before, you had to think in terms of news-worthiness before writing and submitting a press release. Now, you can think in terms of providing quality content related to your business and targeting keywords that is most beneficial for your website. You don’t have to wait for any significant occurrences. Just find good reasons to write and write it well.

It can be a press release for a new product you’re selling, new service, new merchandise, you’re having a sale, you’re celebrating your 13 month anniversary of being open, whatever. Any time you think something is worth mentioning, then it’s probably a good opportunity to benefit from it with a press release.

Here’s a few places you can send press releases for free:

• http://www.theopenpress.com/
• http://www.prlog.org/
• http://www.free-press-release.com/
• http://www.clickpress.com/
• http://www.newswiretoday.com/

And here’s my number one recommended paid newsletter (spend just $20):

http://www.webwire.com/

It’s pretty obvious who won this competition, lol. In just the past 48 hours, David (davidrle) posted 47 comments. David, get a life, will ya? Kidding. Glad to have you participating finally. You had been a member for just over 2 years and you finally started posting. I guess we all needed a little push and reason to do things, lol.

Alright, so you win my article marketing package. You’ll get 3-4 variations and will be sent out later this week with the website of your choice. The articles will be related to your business/website/niche and submit them to about 50 different social media sites. I’ll do that 3 times! I’ll even ping them for immediate indexing from search engines. As a surprised bonus, I’ll also do a social bookmarking session for you. You kind of went over the top so thank you for that.

Just give me the URL and the keywords you want to target (up to 5). However, I will analyze them and determine whether it’s even worth it. I may find more easy keywords to go after so that this session really is worth something. Same goes for the random winner today.

Okay, the random winner.

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Frond! I can’t remember your name… Joanne? Sorry if I’m wrong. I try to remember everyone’s first name. I know, it’s nuts.

Anyway, you win a free social media bookmarking session. Just give me your URL and the keywords you want to target (up to 5). Again, same conditions apply as I mentioned above.

Thank you to everyone that participated. I think it will be fun to do this again soon. Good luck to everyone next time.

Btw folks, being involved in a forum is important. I’ve actually received business deals through forums. From the forums alone, I’ve probably cashed in about $10,000. Not a bad deal just enjoying yourself talking to people and helping them.

BUT, it doesn’t take a whole caboodle of cash to generate website traffic for your site.

Ever wonder how does big hit sites drive traffic top their site? Most of them are spending tons of money to drive the traffic to their sites, investing in many advertising campaigns and different forms of marketing schemes and gimmicky. This is all worthwhile because, well, they are what they are now, high earning, big hitting websites.

You don’t have to do this if you don’t really have their resources. There are many ways to generate low cost website traffic without having to spend what you don’t have or can’t afford. Many people have banked on high cost methods and have ended up losing their shirt over it.

Here I present to you the Top five ways to generate low cost website traffic that could help your site a whole lot. Even if you only get a small percentage of successful visitors in to client ratio it still works especially if you get a high number of website traffic.

Exchange Links

This is a sure and proven method. Rarely would you see a site where there is no link to another site. Many webmasters are willing to exchange links with one another so that they could produce more public awareness about their sites. You’ll soon see and feel the sudden upsurge of the traffic coming in to your site from other sites.

A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or content as the other site. They should share a common subject so that there is continuity in the providing of service and information to what interests your target traffic.

Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a high ranking in search engine results. It is common knowledge that search engines ranks high sites that have inbound and outbound theme-related links. With a good ranking position in the search engines, you will generate more traffic in your website without the high costs.

Traffic Exchange

This is like exchanging links but on a different higher level. This may cost a bit more than exchanging or trading links but could be made cheaper because you get to earn credits. You can use those credits when viewing others traffic, while you earn credits when someone views yours.

Traffic exchange services are the viewing of another person’s website or page. This is done vice-versa where a site can use your sites contents and so can you to his or her site. You both benefit from each others efforts to generate traffic. The other sites visitors can go to your pages and know more about your site as well as theirs. Once again the public awareness of your sites existence is boosted.

Write and Submit Articles

There are many e-zines and online encyclopedias in the internet which provides free space for articles to be submitted. If you want to save costs, you can do the articles yourself. There are many freelance writers who are willing to write for you for a small fee, but to save money, it is wise to do those articles yourself.

Write articles that are themed along with the niche of your site. Write something that you have expertise on so that when they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to go to your site. Write articles that produce tips and guidelines to the subject or niche your site has.

Include a resource box at the end of your article that can link them to your site. Write a little about yourself and your site. If you provide a light, information-laden and interesting article, they will go to your site for more.

Make a Newsletter.

This may sound like hard work because of all the articles you may need to use to build a newsletter but on the contrary, this is not so. There are many writers and sites that are willing to provide free articles as long as they can get their name in on your newsletter. This will also provide free advertising for them as well.

As your newsletter gets pass around, you can widen your public awareness and build an opt-in list that can regularly visit your site.

Join Online Communities and Forums

This only requires your time and nothing else. You can share your knowledge and expertise with many online communities as well as your website. You can get free advertising when you go to forums that have the same subject or niche with your site.

Share your two cents and let them see how knowledgeable you are with the subject. As you build your reputation, you also build the reputation of your site, making it a reputable and honest business that could be frequented and trusted by many people.

While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites don’t have the resources that others have to generate more traffic for your site. Well, you don’t have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.

How sweet it is to have more traffic for your site without spending a single cent.  Now it’s a sure thing that many sites have articles that offer tips and guidelines in how to generate traffic using only free methods. Because it is possible, you don’t need to speed a single cent, it may take time, to say honestly, I’m not going to beat around the bush with you. You get better chances by paying for your advertisements, but at least you get a fighting chance with some of these free methods I’m about to tell you.

Take advantage of online forums and online communities. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss about lots of things about the niche that you represent or offer.  Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.

With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for your company. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject, with that you can build a reputation and build trust with the people in your expertise and knowledge.

You can also make use of newsletters. Provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting and entertaining articles. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site increasing your traffic.

Another great idea is trading links with other sites. You don’t have to spend a cent. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster. With exchanging links, the efforts both sites do will benefit both sites. Every traffic that goes to the site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site as well. This works well especially when both sites feature the same niche.

Write articles that could pique the attention of people that have interest in your product. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people would provide the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.

Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there’s a great probability that they will go to your site.

Write good content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that a content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your on but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. It should provide certain requirements as well as great quality.
Generally, internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.

All of these methods and more will drive more traffic to your site for free. All it takes is a bit of effort and extended man hours. Learn all you can about the methods depicted here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it.