Thursday, 24 November 2011
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:
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:
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.
Starting Your Own Blog
I was sitting in my local Internet Cafe yesterday, I like to get away from my "home office" from time to time and it's a great place to go for a cup of Espresso and to meet interesting people.
The rather attractive lady sitting next to me was typing away furiously and, when she had finished, I asked her what she was writing - I'm interested in learning how other people use the Internet... some people call that being nosey!
It turns out she was a "Blogger" and she was updating her web site through a web browser. She was really interested in vegetarian cookery and she was adding a new restaurant review to her blog.
If you spend any time at all online these days you simply can't avoid reading something about blogs, they are becoming increasingly more popular; and they are a great way of building an online presence without the need for any technical knowledge. A blog is an abbreviation of the term 'web log' which is a relatively simple content management system.
Quite a few years ago, web surfers began collecting information and interesting links that they encountered during their online travels. As time passed they started to create logs of the information that they collected and they soon started to develop their own web logs. These web logs enabled them to update the information and links as often as they wished.
Blogs are more permanent than posts to an online forum or to a discussion list, they are much more dynamic than the traditional style home pages. They are also more personal than standard journaling, and definitely more public than diaries. A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary site. So, there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.
There are a few common characteristics of a blog, but there may be slight variations within the classification. Some blogs provide succinct descriptions of links within the chosen theme of the blog. Some others contain commentary and links to the news of the day. A few are endless stream of blurts about the writer's day. Others are - political blogs, intellectual blogs, some are hilarious and some topic driven. They are all - Weblogs.
As mentioned earlier, blogs are posts that are short, informal and sometimes deeply personal no matter what the topic of discussion is. They can be characterized by their conversational tone.
If a person has a web presence but is disappointed with static homepage - if an elegant treatment of posts on a global platform is what they want, then 'blogging' provides an ideal platform. They may also consider blogging if they are seeking feedback from their chosen audience.
Weblogs are definitely the mavericks of the online world. Two of their greatest strengths are their ability to filter and disseminate information to a widely dispersed audience, and their position outside the mainstream of mass media.
There are many different options available to the new and seasoned blogger alike. Some blog scripts are available for you to install on your own domain and these require at least a basic understanding of FTP and HTML. There are many hosted blog services available some free and some paid. If you are serious about blogging then I would strongly recommend that you use the best system that you can afford and that meets your needs.
I personally have used the "Moveable Type" stand-alone script and although quite complex to install, I found it very easy to use. My recommended choice of hosted blogging service would have to be the Blog4Cash.com system that includes a wide variety of high quality features and has a built in two tier affiliate scheme that enables you to generate a recurring income from all your referrals!
How to Write A Blog... And Survive
The question of the day is "Should you start a Blog?"
People all over the planet are blogging. Companies, CEOs, lawyers, journalists, stewardesses. Even dogs and babies.
Why? Because they can. It's that simple.
Blogging requires little or no learning curve. If you can type, speak into a phone, bark, chew, record a holiday movie, you can blog.
Blogs have taken publishing out of the domain of those who know HTML and designing, to make this powerful tool available to the rest of us.
That holiday in the Far East, your grandma's birthday, you company's latest product offering, your new recipe for rum cake, your daughter's first step, your pet's antics, what you thought of the Garfield movie - you can blog all this and more.
A blog is an online journal or diary. Which makes it ideal for voicing your opinion, recording your pregnancy blahs or announcing your company's latest acquisition.
People are using them to communicate with family, for education, for business, and almost anything else you can think of.
But one thing not all blogs get is a readership.
Unless your blog is only for your family or your business colleagues, you're probably writing with the hope that someone will read about what you think.
So many blogs are started with little or no purpose. If you want to blog and survive, first start by answering your why.
If you're writing only for the search engine spiders, then be prepared for no one but them to read your keyword-rich spam.
Blogs demand a readership. And for that you have to write about something worth reading.
Here are some tips to follow if you want human beings to read your blogs.
1. Stay on topic
Opinions are fine, but unless you're the CEO of Microsoft, very few people will want to know what you ate for breakfast. If you started your blog to air your raves and rants about the latest movie you saw, better mention movies in at least every post you write.
2. Write in a conversational tone
Forget what your English professor taught you. Write the way you speak, or you'll end up sounding uptight and unnatural. And no one reads tightass copy... even from the CEO of Microsoft.
3. Be opinionated
Your blog is not a company brochure or a press release, but a way for people a.k.a. your target audience, to get to know the real you. The worst sin you can commmit is to bore your readers. Most people respond better to an honest airing of views than pleasant platitudes. And if you get a few rude or nasty comments in response to your posts, just accept the fact that you can't please everyone
4. Be funny
Infuse your posts with your natural wit for a better response from your target audience. And if not everyone appreciates your particular brand of humor, read the last sentence in the point above.
4. Stay informed
If you're writing about your profession, you'd better know what you are talking about. Word spreads at the speed of thought in the blogospere and if you're trying to become an authority on something you know very little of, prepare yourself for the brickbats.
5. Stay current
Write about the latest developments in your field. No one wants to read stuff that has been around for a long time, or that hundreds of other bloggers have chronicled.
6. Update frequently, but don't burnout
Most blogs die because of blogger burnout - bloggers trying to update too frequently. Stick to a publishing schedule that is humanly possible for you. If you've just updated your blog and find a story you want to share, save it for later.
On the other hand, don't post just because you think you have to stick to a schedule. Going a few days or even weeks without posting is fine if you really have nothing worth sharing.
So are you still wondering if you should blog?
If you think you can meet the requirements above, and know your why, then like the shoe people say - just do it.
Resistance is futile.
Blogger Secrets: Things You Probably Didn't Know
Blogging is a pretty popular activity online these days. It's a great way to connect with your audience on the Web and create a sense of community.
There are many ways to start your own weblog but one of the easiest is with a free service called "Blogger." Owned by Google, it's a feature-rich service that makes it simple to start a blog of your own.
If you think blogging is just about typing text, think again. There are many fun things you can do once you're up and running withyour very own blog.
1) Photo Blogging:
Post photos to your weblog with this free software called "Hello." Get it at http://hello.com. It makes it easy to upload photos to your blog.
2) Audio Blogging:
Post to your blog by phone. Once registered, you'll receive a special number. Call it, leave a message and it's immediately posted to your website as an MP3 audio file. To sign up, go to http://www.AudioBlogger.com
3) Email Posting:
Post to your blog by sending an email from any email application. To set it up, you'll need to log into your blogger account and go to "settings" then "email." You must specify if you want your posts to publish automatically or saved as drafts for later publishing. The subject of your email will be the title of your blog post, with the email body making up the rest of it.
4) Team Blogs:
This allows groups of people to contribute to one blog. One person must create the blog, then invite others to join in.
5) Templates:
Blogger has over 30 templates to choose from. Make sure you back up your blog before attempting any changes. There are also third party template providers you can choose designs from. See:
http://BlogSkins.com
http://BlogDesigns.com
6) Blogger Toolbars:
Google has one built into its toolbar that makes it a snap to post to your site while visiting any webpage you might want to comment on. Firefox also has a toolbar of its own with blogging components. See it at http://FireFoxToolbar.com/blogger or Google's at http://toolbar.google.com/
7) Feeds:
Blogger users can syndicate their content via an Atom Feed. Former Blogger Pro suscribers can choose between Atom and RSS formats. You can find this feature in your Blogging account under "settings," then "site feed." If you'd rather syndicate in RSS, your only choice is to use an outside service like http://FeedBurner.com
8) Comments:
If you'd like your readers to participate on your Blog, you'll want to turn on "comments." Found under "settings," you can choose from preferences like allowing anyone to post a comment, allowing only regular users to post comments, or allowing only members of the blog to post (if it's a team blog).
9) TagBoards:
Different from comments, TagBoards also allow your blog readers to post comments. These act more like a discussion board or chat room for your blog. However, they're not aimed at individual posts but attached to your entire site. You'll find free providers of this service at:
http://Tag-Board.com
http://ChatterBox.com
This is a great way to add a feeling of community.
10) PhotoBlogs:
If you'd like to share a lot of photos with your readers on a regular basis you may want to add a "photo album." You'll find many sites that offer this free service such as:
http://Shutterfly.com
http://Ofoto.com
http://DotPhoto.com
11) Polls:
Do you know what your readers think? Running polls on your site is a great way to get inside your readers minds and get them involved with your blog. A few free poll service providers are:
http://FreePolls.com
http://PollHost.com
http://BraveNet.com
http://WebPollCentral.com
12) Advertising:
If you'd like to run ads on your blog and get paid per click, you'll want to look at Google Adsense. Since Google owns Blogger too, they make it simple to add their advertising to your site. See http://tinyurl.com/3j3k8
13) Camera Phones:
If you have a SrintPCS cell phone with a built in camera you can send your pictures directly to Blogger. You'll need to set up an "email address" to post to. For instructions, see Blogger's Help section on "posting via email." On your phone it works like this: you snap a picture, select "share," pick your specific blogging email address, then ok. Your picture is uploaded.
14) Keyboard Shortcuts:
Blogger has many different keyboard shortcuts you can use while making a post.
cntrl + B= Bold
cntrl + I= Italics
cntrl + shift + A= Link
cntrl + d= Save as draft
cntrl + s= Publish Post
cntrl + shift + P = Preview
15) FTP:
You can host your blog on Blogger's server, or host it on your own via FTP access. You'll find this option under "settings" then "publishing."
16) Email Posts to a Friend:
If you'd like to allow your visitors to email your interesting posts to their friends you can enable this feature under "settings," basic tab, then where it says "show email post links?" say yes.
If you'd like to watch some free tutorials on "Learning Blogger," see these by Molly Holzschlng at http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=113
So what are you waiting for? Now that you know all of the really cool things you can do with Blogger, why not experiment. Who knows, maybe there's been a "born Blogger" hiding inside of you all along. Blog away my friend; the world is waiting.
Articles Build Blog Readership
Writing internet articles is a powerful way to add visitor traffic to your blog.
Articles provide tremendous personal and professional benefits as well.
Articles provide tremendous personal and professional benefits as well.
Articles are in demand all over the internet. Many traditional websites want them for additional content, and will seek out the services of a good writer.
If you know your subject matter, you will have no shortage of takers for your writing efforts.
All you have to do is be on topic. In fact, if you want to write articles on almost any subject under the rainbow, all you have to do is contact several of the webmasters in your topic area. They will gladly place your articles prominently on their websites.
The great thing about the articles, is they are usually on subjects, that you write about all the time anyway. You don't need to do extra research, as you already have the knowledge required to a great job, right at your fingertips.
When a website owner publishes your article on the website, be certain to get a live link back to your site. Most website owners will be more than happy to have you provide a brief biography of you, a photograph of your smiling face, and information about your blog and your business.
As you place a number of articles on several websites, you will accomplish more than one goal.
You will obviously receive a few more visitors to your blog, as a result of your incoming link. The extra traffic will be from people who are already interested in your blog's subject matter.
You will establish yourself as an expert in your field, and other people will call upon your ideas and information. The recognition of others, who are interested in the same topics and site themes as yourself, could lead to some paying business in other ways.
The writing credits help to build a writing portfolio, that will serve you well, in the employment market. A series of published articles provides added power to your resume. In a highly competitive job market, the publication history could tip the balance in your favour.
You can also land freelance writing jobs on traditional websites. The ability to write interesting copy, on any topic, is a skill that is constantly in high demand.
Copywriting for sales and marketing, in particular, have an almost unlimited market. Every internet e-commerce website owner, or at least all of the ones that I know, want to increase their overall sales and profits.
If you can write sales and marketing copy, that will increase their sales numbers, you will never be short of writing assignments. You might even have to raise your writing fees.
Your blog will move higher in the search engine rankings. Google in particular, values theme and topic related incoming links. MSN Search and Yahoo also give high marks to incoming links, but to a slightly lesser degree than Google.
In any case, your blog will move higher in the search rankings for your most important keywords, as a result of those links. The end result of higher search engine placement is more visitor traffic for your blog.
Writing articles helps your blog in more ways than one.
It's time to add article writing and sales copywriting to your list of accomplishments.
Blog Wars: Attack Of The Splogs
The search engines, namely Google, are striking back at sploggers and their malevolent creations, the splogs.
According to media reports, Google has taken measures to impede those attempting to use its Blogger service to create and maintain fake blogs.
Blogger's official corporate blog mentioned the "spamalanche" that has search engines, blog search engines and net advertisers in a tizzy. They are now working together to eliminate the economic incentive for splogs by identifying them at their source - by domain - and not indexing them.
Can CAPTCHA Stop The Spamalanche?
The "CAPTCHA" test is a method by which automated programs that post or create blogs can be foiled--where the user is asked to type in a sequence of letters from a line that people can read, but computers can't decipher.
Blogger is currently working on ways to reduce false positives and ensure that once a blog with word verification has been established as legitimate, the blogger will no longer need to solve the CAPTCHA.
Why Create Splogs In The First Place?
Splogs generally fall into one of two categories, notes Mediapost: Link farms, which pack hundreds or even thousands of blogs with gibberish or recycled content, and contain multiple links to a particular Web site, which allow them to game Google's PageRank algorithm, creating artificially high organic search rankings; and spam blogs that simply recycle content with AdSense or other advertising on them in the hopes of making money from errant users clicking on the ads.
Splogs most often get their content by scraping - the process of sending an electronic copying bot to take everything it sees, recreating it on an unlimited number of instant documents, writes Jim Hedger. Literally millions of instant sites have sprung up over the past twelve months, most of which are free-hosted Blogs, containing content scraped out from the original sites.
Why Splogs Are Evil
An article by the Wall Street Journal notes that the splogs are a big source of frustration for several search-engine start-ups that focus on blog searches, such as IceRocket.com LLC, Technorati Inc. and Feedster Inc.
Jim Hedger makes some excellent points about why splogs are a menace to genuine bloggers.
Splogs are content thieves and can cause honest webmasters to get caught up in technical and financial issues by losing search engine listings and advertising revenue
Splogs use up blogging resources, especially those of Blogger and Blogspot
Slogs clog up the search results with crappy and irrelevant sites.
Splogs devalue the legitimate uses of blogs as communications and marketing tools
Splogs might lead future blog readers or users away from the growing blogosphere.
Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing officer of Intelliseek, a firm that monitors and searches blog content, said that spam blogs make it harder to convince companies to blog.
What Can You Do About Splogs?
It’s not just the engines that are fighting back. There are a few knights in shining armour out there, like Frank Gruber, a blogger in Chicago who became frustrated while encountering splogs in search engines, and recently launched a site called SplogReporter, reports the Wall Street Journal.
SplogReporter lets anyone submit the Web address of a suspected splog. Gruber has created an index to rate how "spammy" a blog is, and is building a database of splogs that he may share with search engines.
Google engineer, Matt Cutts, provided tips on how to report spam to Google on his blog. Use his tips to report spam and do your bit to clean up the blogosphere.
I first wrote about spam-blogs here, and recommended that instead of using blogs for spam, marketers must focus on building content-rich sites and getting high-value links to them.
Don't restrict yourself to just the SEO benefits of blogging. Appreciate the value that blogs can add to your marketing and public relations strategy and use them the way they were meant to be used - as cutting-edge and "cool" tools for communicating with your target audience.
6 Ways That Blogging Can Save You Money
Even though I've had several personal blogs for years, I've only been officially business blogging since 2003.
So in going back over expenses for the last quarter, you can imagine my shock when I realized that my overall business costs were down about 19%. What saved me so much money? Surprisingly, blogging.
How can you save money with your blog? It's pretty simple, so I'll be brief.
Attract search engine traffic without paying the big bucks
If you want Google, Yahoo and MSN to pay attention to you, blog.
It doesn't have to be a whole new site, just add a directory to your existing site and start blogging. Most blog software solutions are either cheap or free.
And you can find out most basic blog information online for free (really, sometimes just typing your question into Google will do it.) by people who've actually done it. For less than $100, you can build a small library of blog tips and secrets, written by successful business bloggers.
Instead of buying links, get one-way links from blog search engines and directories, as well as getting your RSS feed content displayed at other sites.
Linking is a great way to get search engine attention and click traffic. Some people get links by trading; others by including their links at the end of freely distributed articles. Others pay to be listed, or to get linked.
In each of these scenarios, some type of trade takes place, money, free content, or a link back.
When you blog, you'll find plenty of search engines and directories that are willing to list you free of charge. For the most part you won't need to link back - you'll get a one-way link from site favored by search engines, often using text that you select yourself.
If 90 or more of these free, legitimate links back to your site is worth your time, then get you blog in motion.
Not only that, if you update frequently, other sites may want to display your RSS feed content on their sites. To encourage them to do so, put a link on your page with instructions on how to do so. Ever since I put one on the front of my site, various feeds from my main site have turned up in the most unexpected places.
Cheaper way to study your audience.
As your blog gets more popular, you may start to find that on any given day, you have a representative cross-section of prospects and clients at your site. If you have a question for them, you can just... ask.
True, you can post a link to a survey in your newsletter or on your site, but these are not as interactive as the ability for your audience to comment. They will comment, and you can reply to ask them to expand, or clarify. Conversation gets going and before you know it, a bond is formed, a much stronger bond than occurs in a one-way conversation.
Cheaper (and faster) way to start a resource or authority site.
Five years ago, if you wanted to start an authority site, your best bet was to build a portal with a specialized directory at its core. Three years ago, you were better off starting a forum with a resource section attached to it. Last year, your top bet was a feed-enabled content management system, especially as more parts of content management systems began to have content feeds related to them. (I have 12 feeds for each of my PHP-Nuke based sites, though they don't work as well with Google Tap.)
Now, if you want to be the expert, you want to start a blog.
If you're blogging consistently, you have a hub of information collected that will inspire return traffic. You have a collection of links to articles, sites, and tools. You can constantly write up your own opinion editorials on each of these items, as well as fact-based analysis of news and events that can help your audience make better choices.
As blog software matures you can now categorize, and alphabetize your links, and with the ability to ping multiple sources as well as leave trackback links to other sites, you can send your readers through a ring of related, freshly updated information that ultimately leads back to you.
Spend less money on advertising as your blog becomes more popular
I can't promise you that you'll never spend another red cent on advertising costs. However, the amount of free advertising you get from having your blog link or RSS feed listed in dozens of search engines and directories, and popping up in feed readers is not to be underestimated.
You'll probably still want to do some ezine advertising when your new ebook or software release is debuted. But you may not need to buy as much advertising or purchase as often.
Then there is the fact that many newsletters that are also published to RSS feeds have wider reach. I've found that it's worth the extra money to appear in both versions - ask your favorite publisher for details. For publications that allow this, it's normally only 20% extra
Save money by retaining visitors
You've probably heard a thousand times that it is easier to sell repeatedly to an existing client than it is to find a new one. So how do you get that visitor to come back, and possibly buy again?
A constant stream of new information on a particular topic work is enough to keep people buying a daily newspaper, subscribing to a magazine or viewing a television series.
Frequent updates can work the same way for your site.
With bloggers being named People of the Year by Time magazine last year, if you're not blogging in 2005, you're going to be left in the dust by other sites in your industry that do. It doesn't have to take up a lot of extra time, and the time it does takes is made up for in the money you can save.
Top 10 Blog Writing Tips
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 haveyou 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?)
Top 10 Tips for Creating a Blog
1.) Stay on topic.
Opinions are generally accepted but the content of the items in the blog should all relate to a general theme. Unless you have an uncanny knack for wit, humor or cynicism, the majority of your readers will be interested in the content that relates to a specific defined theme or loosely defined area of interest.
Most readers won't care that you eat Cheerios for breakfast. They may, however, be interested in the fact that vinegar takes out stains and that toilet paper rolls make great wreaths. Define a topic and stick to it. This will ensure that you create a loyal following of interested readers.
2.) Stay informative.
If you are attempting to create the impression that you are knowledgeable about a specific industry or sector, be sure that you stay current on news. If you are endorsing a product or voicing an opinion, be sure to check your facts; your reputation is at stake. If you are offering an opinion, be sure to qualify your post, making it clear that the content is intended as an editorial.
3.) Old news is not news.
While blogging every day can be a drain, it is important that the information presented is current and accurate, writing an article or blurb about something that happened 6 months ago, will not be of interest to many. Telling your audience that Martha Stewart was convicted and will be going to prison, after her sentence is completed will make people question the value of your columns.
4.) Adhere to a schedule.
Create a schedule and stick to it. Realizing that blogging requires time and effort, don't create unrealistic expectations and be unable to deliver. An occasional lapse or holiday is generally understood but readers returning to find stale, out-dated content are going to find another blog with similar content.
New blogs and RSS feeds are popping up on a daily basis. If you have worked hard to develop an audience and a community you don't want to lose them due to lack of communication.
5.) Clarity and simplicity.
Keep your posts and blog entries clear and easy to understand. Remember, the web is global and expressions, idioms and acronyms don't always translate. Sometimes a little explanation goes a long way.
6.) Keyword-rich.
If the goal of your blog is to increase your visibility, include related keywords in the title of the blog. Use the title as a headline to attract interest. Each item post should have a title that will attract attention but still be relevant to the post. The title should be no longer than 10-12 words.
7.) Quantity matters.
In order to attract the attention of search engines, you will need to develop content and substance. A headline or simple sentence is not going to generate the interest of readers or help with search engine ranking. Be sure to archive old blog posts to develop a large portal of similarly-themed content.
8.) Frequency.
If your blog content is updated frequently, search engines will tend to spider the pages at regular intervals.
9.) Spell checking and proof-reading.
It only takes a few extra moments and can save you from having to make embarrassing explanations. Remember that whatever you publish on the Internet can be found and archived. Think carefully about what you post before doing so.
10.) RSS.
RSS will increase your blog's reach. It is important that you include your blog's content in an RSS feed to increase readership and distribution.
Most weblog audiences are small, but with time and regular updates audiences grow. Bloggers may never have more than a few hundred readers, but the people who return to regularly are generally interested in what you have to say.
The Rise of Business Blogging
Despite its long history of innovation and track record for producing one product marketing success after another, by the turn of the century Microsoft had developed a negative reputation.
In 1998 the Department of Justice initiated a protracted public relations and legal war that branded the company and its top brass as bullying monopolists. By the time the case was settled in late 2001, the Microsoft brand was beaten and battered.
Three years after the case was settled, however, Microsoft has completed a sweeping organizational and image overhaul. It now is perceived as friendlier, more open and trustworthy.
What’s also notable is that this transformation - led by CEO Steve Ballmer – took place while the company continued to face an increasing barrage of daily attacks from hackers, spyware, and viruses.
Look beneath the surface, however, and you will find that Microsoft’s softening image was actually molded from the bottom up, by ordinary employees like Joshua Allen.
In 2001 Allen, a program manager, signed on as the company’s first unofficial corporate employee weblogger. His personal site, called “Better Living Through Software,” chronicles life inside the Redmond, Washington software giant – warts and all.
Today, Microsoft has more than 1200 corporate bloggers – more than 10 times the number it had just last year. They have the company’s blessing to write about whatever they want, provided they adhere to some basic guidelines.
As a result, virtually overnight the bloggers have become one of the company’s greatest marketing assets, generating incredible online and offline word of mouth.
In fact, Microsoft has even began to embrace them as a company. The software giant now links to all its bloggers right on its corporate web site and even launched a special sanctioned blog-like community for developers and partners called Channel 9.
Most Microsoft bloggers write passionately and candidly about the company’s technology, hiring practices, marketing, culture, and more. They even discuss company and product strengths and weaknesses in vivid detail
Some of Microsoft’s more prolific bloggers, such as Robert Scoble, attract thousands of readers daily, including competitors, customers, partners press, and analysts. Scoble’s blog has even turned him into a minor celebrity.
He is often cited by many as the most authentic voice inside Microsoft. The technical evangelist has been invited to speak extensively at dozens of industry confabs and has been even profiled extensively in Newsweek, Time, Fortune and BusinessWeek.
Most importantly, however, Microsoft’s corporate blogging army has in a short time opened a transparent window onto the most financially successful company that ever existed. They have accomplished the impossible by putting a human face on a gigantic monolithic company – a giant with a bad rap.
At the same time, they strengthened the company’s position as a thought leader and generated incalculable online word-of-mouth. Blogging can do the same for you – no matter your target audience or your goal. The key is to listen, learn, and then get started.
Unlike corporate web sites blogs directly reflect the individual personalities who pen them. That’s what made them such a success for Microsoft.
Blogs – short for the words “web” and “log” – consist of short or long-form “posts” on a specific topic that are organized in chronological order. Most weblogs are written by one or more individuals, either as a hobby or in an official capacity with the blessing of their organization.
Weblog postings generally consist of short-form op-eds that link to and comment on industry issues, news and content found on other web sites and blogs. The result is that on any given day in the “blogosphere” you can easily find thousands of conversations, discussing everything from technology to politics, sports, music and even knitting.
What makes blogs unique is that they are easily discovered and social in nature. Weblogs facilitate transparent dialogue by incorporating tools that encourage readers to give feedback through comments and emails. In addition, since many blogs link to each other, they are often found engaging in an exchange across the Internet, just like two friends conversing on a street corner.
According to PubSub, a service that tracks weblogs, there are approximately eight million weblogs in the blogosphere. The number is doubling every few months as businesses increasingly discover weblogs’ potential for driving marketing ROI. Several CEOs have even taken up blogging. These include Mark Cuban of HDnet and Jonathan Schwartz of Sun Microsystems.
Weblogs have exploded in part because they are extremely easy and cost-effective to launch. They also can generate significant ROI. Several tools, such as Google’s Blogger service, are completely free. While others, such asTypePad, add more robust tools and cost less than $200 per year.
What the services all share in common, however, is that they require virtually no technical expertise to set up and maintain. If you know how to use a browser and Hotmail, you can easily create blog. No HTML knowledge is necessary.
Blogging really first began to take off in 2002. However, in the last two years, it has moved more mainstream, even given rise to emerging companies like Gawker Media and Weblogs Inc. that are launching blog media networks for mainstream audiences.
In 2004, many bloggers began to also compete in earnest with journalists for scoops – particularly in the political scene. In a landmark moment for blogging, last summer The Democratic National Committee opened up its national convention to a handful of influential political bloggers – many of whom have had no journalistic training.
Over the summer it was the conservative bloggers who uncovered certain inaccuracies in Dan Rather’s report on Bush’s’ military service that later led CBS to admit it erred. Some have even speculated that the flap – called Rathergate – may have even lead to the anchor’s recent decision to retire.
In 2004 businesses and marketers also began to fully embrace blogging as a marketing tool. The New York Times Magazine even noted last December that “Blogs are known for their brutal honesty, independence of spirit and genuine emotional conviction. None of these attributes play much of a role in corporate advertising, of course, but they are values that corporate advertisers strive to imitate -- and, where possible, co-opt.”
Dozens of organizations including Stonyfield Farms, Yahoo, Maytag, and even Nike launched weblogs. Each of these blogs had different goals. In some cases- such as with the ANA’s own blogs - the sites are written by corporate executives in an effort to advance industry issues. Others, such as GM’s blog, are building word of mouth among auto enthusiasts. Intuit’s blog showcases real-world customers using their products.
Although each of these blogs is serving distinctly different audiences, they all share some things in common. They are authentic. They are written by real individuals who have a passion for their causes. They solicited feedback from readers. And they are conversational, engaging readers and even other bloggers in a dialogue.
By now you might be enthusiastic about getting started. But before you jump into the blogosphere, here are some initial steps to take.
- Step One – Listen: The best way to become acquainted with the power of blogs is to read them and see what they’re talking about. Using tools like Google, PubSub and Feedster, you can find easily blogs that are already discussing your company/brand and its industry. Also be sure to check out sites like BusinessBlogConsulting.com andAdrants.com, which include examples of blogs done right and wrong.
- Step Two – Reach Out: Once you have identified influential blogs, reach out to them by carefully posting comments on their sites. Let them know you’re listening. Some may invite you to sponsor their blog, which also can often offer a high ROI. Blogs can help your company build awareness among influencers who will talk about you to others. Marqui, a telecommunications company, recently began experimenting paying bloggers $800 per week if they mentioned their product. While the results aren’t known, blog advertising is certainly going to become a lot more prevalent in the years ahead.
- Step Three – Launch Your Own Blogs: Finally, once you feel you have a firm grasp on the medium, roll your own weblogs. This can range from everything from a CEO blog to a product team site and more. Figure out first who you’re trying to reach, who will have the most time and what people in your organization are willing to be the most transparent.
Marketing With Blogs - Part 1
Marketers have found that blogs are excellent tools for communicating with their audience. Anyone who has something to sell or an idea to promote can benefit from using blogs.
Corporates like Nike are using blogs to build branding. Microsoft and Sun are using them to communicate with the developer community.
Blogs have a number of advantages that make them excellent tools for communication.
They are cheap to install and require little or no technical expertise. So the entry point for blogging is very low when compared to the expense of hiring a website designer.
While building a website is often out of the reach of most solo entrepreneurs, anyone can start a blog. If you can’t write or hate to write, you can start an audio or video blog. The possibilities are endless.
Blogs also help you create content that search engines love, and encourage linking from a number of other bloggers who write on similar topics. This makes them excellent tools for getting high search engine rankings and boosting your visibility.
They also encourage immediate responses from your readers and customers, so you can get feedback, tweak your campaigns and respond better to the market’s demands.
Blogs, and the RSS feeds they come with, help you syndicate your content online, boost your reach and influence and allow readers to control their communications with your company.
Your blog can be your selling point and help your prospects opt for you and your services over those of others.
Whether you’re an individual, entrepreneur, small business, consultant, coach, book author, independent filmmaker, actor, model, travel guide, work-at-home mom - someone who wants to promote their individual skills and talents or interests – there is immense potential in using blogs to promote your business.
In part 2 of this article series I cover some tips that will help you ensure your blog is a good marketing vehicle.
Marketing With Blogs - Part 2
n part 1 of this article series on marketing with blogs, I discussed the reasons why blogs are excellent tools for marketing.
In this article I outline some tips on using your blog as a good vehicle for your marketing communications.
Tip # 1: Choose The Topic Of Your Blog Well
Make sure you are targeting the right audience for your products. You might love golf, but you can’t use it to sell your products unless they’re meant for golfers.
You generally wouldn’t write about something like golf on a marketing blog, unless you’re using it as a metaphor.
Pick the topic that will attract the right audience – people who are looking for your products, but more importantly, people who are willing to actually spend money on them.
If you’re not an expert on your topic, but are learning about it, blog about your learning process. There’s no shame in being a learner, in admitting that you don’t know everything.
In fact you journey could even teach others who are learning and help them relate to your experiences. Products you recommend would then be easy to sell to this group because you’ve established the emotional connection that makes selling easier.
Tip #2: Spend Some Time Learning The Basics Of Blogging
You need to learn how to use your blogging software, which blog engine will give you the results you need. Decide how much time you want to spend on your blog.
Hire a blogging coach or buy a blogging tutorial. Spend some time learning about trackbacks, pingbacks, keywords and how to use them, linking, blogging etiquette.
When you know how to use the tools that are available to you, it becomes that much easier to focus on your goals and save time in the actual process of blogging.
Tip # 3: Don’t Sell
When you start writing a blog, forget about selling. Too many people use their blog like a sales letter. Those people just don’t “get it.” That’s not what a blog is about at all.
Blogs are about communicating – connecting with your audience. Use your blog to build relationships with your audience. State your opinions whether they are popular or not. Politically-correct or not.
A while ago I wrote an article on this titled “It’s a Blog, Not a Sales Letter” in which I recommend using your blog for branding yourself, building your reputation and communicating with your audience - and not just for making a sale.
As marketers we aim to sell. But when you blog, you have to forget about selling and focus on sharing. That doesn’t mean you give away all your secrets on your blog.
But it does mean that you should not use your blog for in-your-face marketing.
Your readers will be very put off if all they read on your blog is one sales pitch after another. People are not stupid. They know when they’re being sold.
The most unobtrusive way to sell is to write reviews about products and link to them, mention products in passing, write articles or tips and recommend products (yours or other people’s) and services on your blog.
Part 3 of this article series discusses more tips on using your blog to market your products and services online.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)