Focus: Blogging an introduction

We are begining a new seris called focus. Focus will focus on a particular topic on internet business and selected articles will be posted. This week I select Blogging as the theme.
Regards
Kannan BAlakrishnan

Discover The Power Of Blogging





Discover The Power Of Blogging by Jason Tarasi

The dark circles under his eyes are evidence that he has been pecking away at the keyboard again. Night after night he sits, mesmerized by the computer screen surfing forum after forum filling the blank spaces with his comments and opinions about senseless issues, political debates, religious matters, business strategies and shopping options. All the while his marriage is deteriorating, his children are growing up and away, his business is wavering on the brink of bankruptcy, spiritual matters are being neglected, all to which he is oblivious.



One day he happens upon an internet forum about blogging. “What in the world is blogging?” he wonders.



Suddenly he becomes enthralled with a new mission. He has to get to the bottom of this. With all the time he has spent on the internet communicating with people throughout the world, he has never heard of blogging. He wants to learn everything there is to know about it...



Blogging is a relatively new phenomenon that is truly undefined due to the fact that it is not yet what it will become. Currently weblogs teeter on the edges of interactive journalism vs. personal archiving and information sharing. Different bloggers have varying purposes and goals. Some aim to record their thoughts, some to share resources and information and some to tell stories. Blogging has also been used as a tool for educating readers and for providing customer service and communications as well as serving as a tool for self-expression.



With Google’s introduction of the AdSense content-targeted advertising program, you can even generate some revenue from your blog as you get paid per click for Google Ads accessed from your blog. Don’t create a blog on the premise that you’re going to get rich from advertising payments or you may be sorely disappointed. Rather, view the ad program as an added bonus for the time spent filling your blog with useful content, or as getting paid a little for doing something you enjoy.



The best way to get started blogging is just to jump in and get your feet wet. Decide what you want to accomplish through your blog. Is it a tool for getting things off your chest? Sharing your thoughts and feelings? Providing information? Tracking events?



Reading through various blogs will provide you with some ideas for your blogs purpose and for developing your writing style.



Find a blogging medium that you are comfortable with. There are some options out there for free blogs and there are some paid services that are very reasonable, some for commercial and some for non-commercial use.



Probably the quickest and easiest way to start your own blog is to use a hosted service like Blogger - http://www.blogger.com. Getting started with Blogger is a three step process that you can take care of right now. You simply create an account, name your blog and choose a template and you’ll be ready to get started making blog entries. Once you get comfortable with the basic process of blogging, be sure to visit the “Help” section of the Blogger website to learn more about advanced uses and blogging options.



Jason Tarasi publishes the reciprocal links newsletter "Elite Links" Learn HOW thousands of other Elite Links members generate FREE traffic and increase their search engine rankings by swapping links. Grab your free lifetime subscription now at: http://www.freeclassifiedlinks.com



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What Is This Blogging Thing Then?


What Is This Blogging Thing Then? by Martin Andrew

Everybody is raving on about blogs, it seems everyone has one, and it seems that everyone is telling you that if you want to get on in Internet Marketing you need one too!!



But what exactly is this Blogging Thing??



OK well like everything else, theres the Long answer, the short answer, and Martins Answer(often quite similar to the long answer, only, well, better:-) )



Blogging, Like MOST of the other New Trends, isnt actually new at all. Blogging has actually been around for quite some years now, I would probably say its Infancy was pre-2000 if I really wanted to push it back.



A Blog, or Weblog, is qute simply an Online Journal or diary.



BUT, Thats not what people Nowadays mean, when people talk to you about Blog and Blogging, they are *Really* talking about using this Blogging software to run your sites.



The Simplicity and Design of the software enables even the most technically challenged to add updated fresh content to their webpages, basically if you can type and use Word, you can run a Blog, this in turn is why it is becoming ever so popular, and also why most people do use it for, or at least most people *Were* using Blog and Blog software to run little Personal Diary Blogs.



However, what it really is, is a way to have a Regularly updated website related to your Business or Theme at the push of a button.



Here are the three most popular “blogs” at the time of printing this, they probably will remain like this for a long time, but although these are “Blogs” they are more along the lines of an actual real content website, rather than a Personal Diary type blog



# 1

Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things

67,001 links from 19,265 sites.

# 2

Engadget

65,581 links from 14,884 sites.

# 3

PostSecret

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.

By frank warren

21,503 links from 12,892 sites.



The MAIN Difference between a blog and a standard website, is the fact that Bloggers tend to be more Personal, tend to leave more of a Personal Stamp on their work. Thats why those first two sites above are WAY more popular than if they had just been a standard Impersonal Website.



DONT Let this Blogging Craze Confuse you, its really not that complex, or infact that different to things you may already be used to, dont worry about this whole “Blog Revolution” thing, it is more of an Evolution than a Revolution, and the evolution involves Websites and Online Business in general, not Blogging on its own, Blogging has simply become a tool to enable the following things -



Through Free services such as Blogger, anyone anywhere anytime can start a website, without having any technical knowledge.



Through Blogging software, it has become easier and easier to add fresh orginal content to your website on a regular basis,



Bloggers Share information, ideas and thoughts with eachother through reading eachothers blogs and talking about them on their own blogs,



Those are the Simple Elements of what Blogging is.



When you start looking at the Software running the Blogs, and the Functions it has, you can see even more benefits, and why it is Much Much More than just “a Weblog” I am talking about, I want you to understand that Blogging is an ESSENTIAL Part of your Entire Marketing Campaign, along with Article Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, and all the other aspects I cover, blogging is essential.



BECAUSE, Not only does your average Blogging software enable Push Button Content Updates, BUT it also has the ability to do a MULTITUDE of the Mundane tasks we have to undertake to build our traffic up to our websites.



Your Blogging Software can pretty much take care of all your On Page Search Engine Optimization AUTOMATICALLY!! All you need to do is post new content!!



Blog Softwares can automatically reformat your content into different Code Types readable by Different types of technology, with a little help, your blog could kick out pages viewable in Web Browsers, Palm Pilots, Mobile Phones, and perhaps the best one at the moment is RSS!!



Yes, your blog will easily produce a Reformatted version of your webpage that can be Syndicated by other sites, read by people directly on their desktops, and much more!!



I do cover a Wide Range of Advanced Blogging Tactics which I wont go into here as I would be here for TOO Long!!



Quite Simply, a Blog, is a Software to Power your websites, how you decide to use it is up to you, but one thing I WILL STRESS here at the end is that The Whole Idea behind the fact that blogs are easy to use is to use them Well, and update them regularly, to see the full benefit. Its because of this fact, that a *Good* Blog should be updated Regularly to get the most benefits, that Most Blogs are really qute a Personal Type Weblog but DONT let that start to limit your thinking about what you can do with a blog, look again at the Top 3 blogs, go to Technorati.com and look at the biggest blogs,



Dont you think, actually, that Most of the Big blogs look more like a Magazine now, rather than a Journal or Diary?



Remember what I said about Evolution and not Revolution?



You can use a blog for whatever you want, all I stress, is MAKE SURE you use it, and use it every day(or as often as you possibly can regularly)



Thats it for that, more will come soon, thanks for reading!



After being involved with Internet Marketing for some time, Martin has decided to share his Ideas and Experiences on Succesful Online Marketing.
Read More Marketing Tactics Here
Be sure to check out Martins tips and Tricks, and follow his experiences in Success @ More Traffic Please



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15 Tips To Drive Traffic To Your Blog


15 Tips To Drive Traffic To Your Blog by David Riewe -

There are many factors that make blogs much better than normal WebPages including the speed at which blogs are indexed, ability to submit to blog directories & normal directories, pings and track backs. All these little things can help drive more traffic to blogs. Here are 15 popular techniques you can use:



1.) Create at least four keyword posts per day. Most of the top blogs such as Boing Boing, Daily Kos, and Instapundit (with literally tens of thousands of visitors per day) publish an average of 30 small 100-150 word posts per day according to "Secrets of the A-list Bloggers: Lots of Short Posts" by http://TNL.net



2.) Submit to My Yahoo! When you submit your own RSS to My Yahoo it is indexed by Yahoo.



3.) Submit to Google's Reader. When you submit your own blog RSS to Google's Reader the Google Blog Search will index your site.



4.) Add a relevant link directory to your blog and trade links like a demon possessed! Although it may take more time than simply submitting to a search engine one time, this method is perhaps the best way to drive traffic to your site. Use software such as Zeus to speed up the link trading process.



5.) Use ping sites like ping-o-matic. Ping your site every time you add a new post.



6.) Submit your blog to traditional search engines such as AltaVista, and MSN.



7.) Submit your blog to traditional directories such as DMOZ. Directories (particularly DMOZ) increase relevance with Google. DMOZ is very picky, but what do you have to lose by trying?



8.) Submit to as many RSS Directories and Search Engines as possible. This is a simple but repetitive process that can be done with software such as RSS SUBMIT.



9.) Comment on other blogs. Do not just leave short, lazy comments like "I agree." Leave well thought out replies that will force readers to wonder "who wrote this?"



10.) Use track backs. If there is a blog that you refer to or quote and it is highly relevant to your subject, leave a track back. It increases your link popularity and may even score a few interested readers from the linked site.



11.) Go offline. Use newspaper ads, public bulletin boards, business cards, even stickers to let as many people as possible know your blog exists.



12.) Ad a link to your blog in your e-mail signature block.



13.) Use Groups (Usenet). Find a relevant group on Google groups, Yahoo groups, MSN groups or any of the thousands of other FREE group services and find like minded people and talk with them. Make sure your use your blog URL like it is your name.



14.) Use Forums. Forums are one of the best places to go for advice. Go to forums and find problems to solve. Make sure you leave your blog name, but be tactful about it; some forums get annoyed with those who selfishly drop a few links to their own site and leave.



15.) Tag your website. Tagging is a new idea that has erupted across the web. Sites like http://Del.icio.us, Technorati and many others have a social feature that allows you to place your article under keywords or "tags" that everyone interested in that tag can see.



Although these are some of the most popular ways to drive traffic to your blog, do not limit your self to tips and lists. Use your imagination and you will come up with thousands of ways to drive traffic to your blog!


David Riewe - Internet Marketer and Publisher http://www.free-online-course.com


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