Auto Blog Samurai- Autoblog Generating Software

Making money with blogging is something many people would like to try. What stops them is the hard work necessary to create just one auto blog.


Auto Blog Samurai is here to change all of that. You dont even need your own hosting. Autoblog Samurai works well with Blogger, the free blog creator. So first find a niche youd like to make money from, get your affiliate links ready. Then setup Auto Blog Samurai to put content into your blog. Thats right. Autoblog Samurai delivers fresh content to your blog. ABS also posts all of your money making links for you also. It posts Clickbank products automatically as well as Amazon links and more! Works with Wordpress blogs also.

You could own twenty or more income making blogs by tommorrow. (think what you could do in a week)

Building an AdSense Business With Free Blogs

I feel like it’s about time that I paid back to the community for all of the knowledge and help that I received along the way. Hopefully this post will help you get started in the AdSense business even if you have little or no money to spare but desperately want to try your hand at it.

Normally Google won’t approve AdSense applications for free websites, but there is one exception. So if you're short on cash for hosting and are eager to get started, you might give this a try.

Blogger.com Blogs

Not long after Google bought Blogger.com, they made AdSense available to Blogger blog owners. Blogger is great because it has an easy interface, Google and Yahoo crawl the blogs quickly, and best of all if you're broke--they're free, and Google loves to give out AdSense accounts to Blogger owners. :)

So if you're looking to get started with AdSense and not spend much money, Blogger is a great way to get started.

Before I talk about how to setup a Blogger blog for AdSense, though, let me tell you what an RSS feed is and how it works. If you already know this you can skip ahead. I make reference to this in the setup instructions, so it’s important to understand.

An RSS feed (as it applies to a blog) is basically a list of all of the recent posts made to your blog. People can use “RSS Aggregators” (software that continually checks up on your RSS feed to see if there’s anything new) to keep up with new posts on your blog. Websites will also want to publish your RSS feed on their sites if your content is good. This gives them fresh content for their visitors. And we all know that content is King in the world of website building.

Blogger blogs come with an RSS feed built-in, and you can use this to your advantage to generate traffic to your blog. I’ll discuss that in a bit, but first let’s get into building the blog.

Create Your Blogger.com Account

Determine Your Blog Topic First

Before you create the blog, you need to figure out what topic the blog will focus on. Think about your skills or hobbies that you’re really good at. You might not be a mechanic, but if you’re really good at working on cars on the weekend, and you love to do it, that would make a great blog topic. Brainstorm your skills and interests to determine what you would enjoy writing about. It’s important that you like to write about it, since you will have to do so to build up the blog!

I will say this: If you have some knowledge on a commercial or industrial topic, this will usually get higher paying AdSense ads. But a hobby blog can do very well also (I know this from experience!).

Create the Blog

Once you have a topic chosen, it only takes about 5 minutes to setup a blog. From the Blogger homepage click the “Create Your Blog Now” link and follow the blog wizard instructions. I won’t get into detail about them because it’s pretty straight-forward, but there are a few points I want to make.

First of all, when you choose your blog URL, make sure that the URL contains the keywords for your topic. For example, if you’re creating a blog about health insurance, “healthinsurance.blogspot.com” is ideal, or “health-insurance” or even “health-insurance-blog” or “health-insurance-12345”. Just make sure that your keywords are in the URL, that will help you be found when people search for your keywords in the search engines.

Also, be sure to pick one of the professional looking templates. I suggest you just pick the plain-white one that is first in the list of templates when you're creating the blog. Once the blog is created, then click on the "Templates" tab and select one of the nicer ones shown there. I'm not sure why Blogger doesn't show you all of the available templates in the blog setup wizard, but they don't.

The Settings Tab.

A discussion of the important points of each settings tab is outlined below.

Basic

On the "Basic" settings tab, set your blog title to the keywords you want to show up for in the search engines. That will help you get ranked.

Give a good, detailed description about the benefits of reading your blog daily. You want to get people to add your RSS feed to their aggregators and websites so you can get traffic, and this will help.

Answer “Yes” to the question “Add your Blog to our listings?”. This will have your blog appear on the main page of Blogger when you make new posts (albeit for a brief period of time), and allow people to search and find your blog using Blogger’s search tool.

One other, lesser known detail about setting that question to “Yes” is that if you set it to “No” Blogger will shove “nofollow/noindex” meta-tags into your blog template header, which will prevent your site from getting crawled or indexed. I believe this was done to fight what Blogger called “spam blogs”.

Publishing

Set the “Notify Weblogs” setting to “Yes”. This will send a notification to Weblogs every time you make a new post. Weblogs is a site that lets people (and search engine crawlers) know when new content appears on a blog. You want the crawlers (and visitors) to hit your pages when you add new content, so be sure this is set to Yes.

Formatting

You can do what you want on this tab–I personally set the number of posts on the main page to between three and five.

Comments

Allow comments unless your blog topic is really controversial and you’re likely to get a lot of flaming (people lashing out at you for what you have to say). Allowing comments is good because it gives more food to the search engines and keeps your blog updating and fresh even when you’re not posting to it.

I usually let anyone comment, and don’t limit it.

Don’t show the comments in a pop-up window, because that will prevent the crawlers from being able to get to the content since it’s javascript-based.

If you’re concerned that people might flame you, but you want to allow comments, enable comment moderation so that you have to approve each comment that is added before it goes live.

If you want to be notified when a comment is made, set the Comment Notification Address to your email address.

Archiving

Set your archiving to daily if you post every day, or weekly if you only post every few days. If you post every day daily is the best way to go, because it gives the search engines more unique pages to crawl and index. More unique content means more traffic to your blog and more clicks on your AdSense ads (I’ll get to adding your AdSense to the template in a bit).

If you don’t do a daily archive (and maybe even if you do), enable post pages so that each post will still have its own unique page even if multiple posts appear on the same archive page. Having multiple posts on one archive page is not a bad thing if you have post pages enabled, since the posts tied all together make for yet another unique page on the blog.

Site Feed

Definitely enable the site feed. If your posts tend to be very short, you might enable full descriptions. But if you have long posts (which I recommend), do not enable the full feed, use the short feed. Here’s why:

If you put the full post in your RSS feed, then the person reading the feed doesn’t have a reason to go back to your blog since they have already read the full post. No visitors to the blog means no clicks on your ads. AdSense has an “AdSense For Feeds” in beta testing, but it’s not open to all publishers yet, so at least for now you need to induce people to visit the blog.

If they can only read part of the blog post, then if they want the whole story they will need to go to your blog. You can plan for this by making sure that your title and the first 255 characters (about the first 50 words) really pull in the reader’s attention. You need to use those first 50 words to make them just have to read the rest.

Also, if your RSS feed appears on websites, you don’t want to give away the farm by showing the whole post. You’re letting websites use your feed so you can get clicks on the posts in that feed and get visitors to your site to build AdSense revenue.

So set the “Descriptions” to Short, write long posts and make the title and the first 50 words count.

The Templates Tab

If you haven’t already picked a nice template from the list, click on the “Pick New” link under the templates tab and select one of the templates that you like and that fits your topic.

If you don’t already have an AdSense account, you can click on the “AdSense” link and apply for one straight from the blog instead of having to go to Google.com to apply. That’s how badly Google wants Blogger blog owners to use AdSense on their blogs! :)

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to paste your AdSense code into your template. Click on the “Edit Current” link if you’re not already there.

There are two methods of setting up your template. You will generate the most clicks by doing the following:

1) Find the section of the template that looks like this:

2) Paste your AdSense code for a 336x280 large rectangle directly after the second tag. Be sure to format the colors of the AdSense to blend in with the background of your blog for maximum results.

3) Optionally, if you want to show a second 336x280 block at the bottom of the list of posts, look for this code in the template:







Put your AdSense code between the tag and the first
tag.

Click the “Preview” button to make sure the AdSense blocks look correct and did not mess up the look of the template. If all is well, click “Save Template Changes”.

Note: Once you’ve made changes to your template, if you go and select a different template with the “Pick New” link it will overwrite your changes and you will have to put your AdSense code back into the template.

Setup Your Profile

Once your blog is setup, you want to setup your profile. To do this, click the “Back to Dashboard” link at the top of the browser window. Once at the dashboard, click on the “Edit Profile” link in the right hand column.

Check the “Share my Profile” box, and the “Show my Real name” box, unless you have a really good reason not to. It helps build trust if you have this information showing on your blog because people can see you’re a real person and not some anonymous nobody. Your profile by default will be shown on your blog.

If you don’t mind people contacting you via email, you can select “Show my email address”.

Click “Select blogs to display” and make sure that your new blog is checked.

If you have a photograph somewhere on a website, you can point to it with the Photo URL. I recommend doing this because again, it builds trust and makes you more real and personal to your readers. If you don’t have a picture on the web, or don’t have a website, I’ll gladly host a picture of you on one of my servers for free. Sticky-mail me and we’ll arrange it. Just one of my little ways of paying back to the Webmasterworld community. :)

Go through and fill out the rest of the information. Focus on the “About Me” box, because that will show on your blog pages. Use that description to establish yourself as an expert on the topic that your blog is about. People like to know that they’re reading an expert opinion that they can trust. This box is your chance to prove you have an expert opinion!

Save your profile when you’re finished.

Getting Traffic to Your Blog

Once your blog is properly configured, spend about a week making a good, informative post or two per day. You don’t want to go advertising an empty blog, so it pays to make some good posts first.

You can post to the blog by clicking the “Posting” tab. Make your title be eye-catching while still containing the keywords that the post is most relevant to. For example, if your post is going to be about how to build blue widgets from scratch, and you want to be found when people search the engines for “Build blue widgets”, try and make your title at least start with those keywords. For example, “Build blue widgets – from scratch”. The dashes help the search engines differentiate the keywords from the rest of the title.

You might get some stray traffic from people searching for blogs on Blogger, and your posts appearing in the “most recent posts” list, so don’t be surprised if you get some traffic and AdSense clicks even before you start advertising.

Submit Your Blog to Blog Directories

To get the traffic rolling you need to submit your blog’s RSS feed to as many Blog Directories as you can. If you search Google for “RSS submission site”, the number one result as of right now lists off 55 directories that you can submit your feed to.

With a Blogger blog, your RSS feed is always your blog url plus “/atom.xml”. For example, if your blog url is:

http://myblog.blogspot.com/

Your RSS feed url is:

http://myblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml

This is very important, because it will help attract the attention of the search engines as well as get your blog noticed by people who are searching for information and for content for their websites.

All of this will result in getting in-bound links to your site. Most people will use the title of your blog as the link text for the link to your site, and that’s why it’s important for your title to be the keywords that you want your blog homepage to rank for in the search engines. Having in-bound links that contain the keywords you want to rank for is a very powerful way to get ranked well. I have blogs that rank on the first page of search results for my keywords because of this (some even in the first or second position).

But you don’t want to sit around and wait for the links to start to gather. You want to…

Trade Links With Related Websites

Another thing I do to help get my blog ranked is to trade links with other webmasters who have sites on similar topics. I find them by searching for the keywords I want to rank for. If the blog category is not a competitive, commercial category, you can write directly to the webmasters of the top 20 - 50 results and see if they will exchange links with you.

If it’s a more competitive, commercial category, you can find out who links to the top websites for your keywords by searching for “link:[http://www.yourcompetitor.com/]”. That will show a list of URLs that link to your competition. Write to the webmasters who own those linking sites and see if they will trade links with you, too.

When you request a link exchange, be sure and make the request personal. Mention something that you like about the webmaster’s site and why you think that your blog is a good match for a link. You might even go a step further and put up a link to the webmaster’s site before emailing them. That way you can say “I’ve already put up a link to your site on my blog and wanted to see if you felt that my blog was a good match for a link back from your site”–or something like that. Take the first step, it’s a good gesture and it helps you get more links. Of course, if they don’t agree you can always take their link down. ;)

If they agree to exchange links, make sure that you have them link to your site using the keywords that you want to rank for. For example, if you want your blog to rank well for “Home Made Widgets”, be sure to have them use the link text “Home Made Widgets”.

You can manually insert the webmaster’s link and description text into your blog by modifying your template. I try to put it in the left or right hand column just below the archive links. To do this, modify your template and look for this code:

And finally, below the links, add this:

Every time you make a new link exchange with a webmaster, just go in and repeat the code with the new link and description just above the tag.

The more competitive your blog topic is, the more links you will need to get to rank well. But if your posts are informative, witty and humorous where appropriate, word will soon spread about your blog and your traffic will grow as people link to you without you even asking for a link. Growth in traffic means growth in AdSense revenue.

Concluding Comments

I hope this tutorial will help some of you who are on a restricted budget and just getting started with AdSense to start making some money by creating quality blogs at Blogger.

It takes some time and effort to make good informative posts, but once you have learned to create one successful blog you can repeat the process and create another, and another, until you achieve enough success to start putting up your blogs at your own domain name instead of “yourblog.blogger.com”. Blogger lets you do that, too, but that’s a subject for another post. :)

Here’s to your success!

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Making Money Blogging - Part 3 - Getting Paid to Blog about Products & Companies

In Making Money Blogging - Part 1, I discussed pay per click advertising companies (e.g. google adsense). In Making Money Blogging - Part 2, I discussed affiliate networks (e.g. commission junction).

In this blog, I will be explaining how you can get paid to write a blog for a specific company, or about a specific product (for example - you would be asked by a toothpaste company to write a blog about cool mint toothpaste). This is the primary way that most people will make money from their blogs - and it can be a fair bit of money as well (the top earners at blogitive & pay per post earn up to $US1000 per week - just form their blogs).

This sounds a difficult task to achieve (getting a company to ask you to write a blog about their products), and one would expect that you would need a very well know blog to achieve this - but in fact it is very easy, and you don't need to have a "known blog" to be able to write for a specific company.

How do you go about this? Well - there are several blogging companies, that will accept an established blog* into their "network of bloggers", and will send you different topics to blog about ,depending on the type of blog that you have (for example - you may have a shopping blog, and be asked to write about some new electronic equipment from Company Bravo).

*An established blog is based on a number of factors, which differ depending on the blogging network you choose. As an example - blogsvertise accept blogs that are 1 month old, blogitive accepts blogs that are 3 months old & have a certain amount of traffic - read more on the requirements below.

If you apply to a number of different blogging network companies, or have a number of different blogs - you can make a fair bit of money (for example - you may get 3 blogs at $5 each from blogitive, and another 5 blogs at $7 each from pay per post, and another blog from blogsvertise at $10) - so you have 9 blogs to write, and make $US 60 doing it).

The other good thing about applying to more than 1 network is that some of the networks require that you write 2 blogs in-between blogs for them. For example if you write one blogitive post, you need to write a further 2 non-blogitive posts before you can write another blogitive post. If you are also a member of pay per post, and blogsvertise, you could write one blogitive, one pay per post, one blogsvertise and then another blogitive post (which means all of your blogs for the day are paid). It takes a bit of juggling but can certainly be done.

The following companies offer paid blogging opportunities:

http://www.blogitive.com Blogitive have several opportunities for bloggers. You don't need to say that the blog has been sponsored, and you don't need to write nice things about the product (i.e. you can write that product x is awful and should never have been invented). You are generally paid $US5 per blog. Requirements are as follows: - Blog must be 3 months old - The Blog must receive (or can receive) some level of traffic - The blog must be indexed in the Google and Yahoo search engines. - The blogs must not contain violent, hate related content or be adult natured - The blogs must maintain a minimum of 3 posts per week - You must write 2 other blog posts in between paid blogitive blog posts - Blogs must be active for 1 year (but payments are made at the latest 1 week following the post) - The blogs must not be hosted on the following networks:- Writingup.com, Bloggerparty.com, Blogcharm.com, Clearblogs.com, Xeeks.com, Blogfeast.net, Wordpress.com (blogs that use wordpress software but are hosted on individual url's (e.g. http://www.shoppersclub.co.nz) are acceptable and Geocities.yahoo.com

http://www.payperpost.com Pay per post have probably the biggest range of opportunities on the market for bloggers today. You do need to notate that the blog has been sponsored, and you may be asked to write positively about a product. Payment is from $US4 to whatever the advertiser is willing to offer (e.g. $10, $15 etc..). The advertisers have more leeway at Pay per post, and can specify blogs to have a minimum page rank, traffic range etc (this is great for advertisers, but not so good for new blogs). Requirements are as follows: - You must be 18 or over to participate in Pay Per Post (and have a valid Tax ID if a resident of the United States) - Your blog must be at least 90 days old, verifiable by a third party index of the site - If over 90 days old, your blog must have at least 20 entries in the past 90 days. If just around 90 days old, your blog must have 20 pre-existing entries. - No blogs with gaps over 30 days (no entries posted for 30+ days) will be accepted. - Blogs must remain live for 30 days - you will be paid after 30 days. - You must write 2 other blogs in between a pay per post blog.

http://www.blogsvertise.com Due to being a newer blogging network, Blogsvertise currently have a limited number of opportunities for bloggers. However, they do tend to offer more money when they do offer blog posts (e.g. $US 7.50, $US 10.00). Requirements are as follows: - Blogs must be 30 days old - Blog entries must be permanent - You will be paid after 30 days (once the blogs have been verified). - Blogs must not be adult related - The blog posts are not required to be positive (i.e. you can negatively review a website or product) - You are not required to say that the blog has been sponsored

[http://www.creamaid.com] Creamaid is great in that there are NO requirements. Anyone & everyone can write a blog about any of the creamaid products. The advertiser (rather than the blogging network) will review your blog after your write and approve/disapprove it (I've never heard of one been disapproved yet - but I guess if you are writing very negatively about a product it may just be...).

As well as writing a full blog on a topic, you can also place text links on your blog (so you would place a text link at the bottom of your blog, or the sidebar of your blog, rather than writing an entire blog about the subject). The good thing about text links is that you set the price. If someone wants to advertise on your site, they will have to pay what you ask. If this suits your blog or yourself best, some networks to look at are: - http://www.text-link-ads.com - http://www.textlinkbrokers.com - http://www.linkadage.com

And... that my friends - are the most common paid blogging networks in the blogosphere today.

And... that is also the end to my Making Money Blogging Series - keep tuned for more money making opportunities.

Shirlene Moore

If Ya Want - Making Money Working from Home

Blogging - Everyone Else Is Doing It - So Why Can't I

The Internet and the software which has been developed to run on it have made it extremely easy for anyone to publish content and have it accessible to millions of people. In effect, consumers have been given a voice to air their views to a massive audience. Something which before the Internet, they could never have done.

In recent years one of the biggest examples of this has been the massive growth of weblogs (blogs), wiki's, podcasts, vlogs and moblogs - together they form what is loosely known as social media; the ability for anyone to publish almost any content without the typical costs and hindrances associated with traditional media.

This new publishing freedom has resulted in an explosion of new content. However the term social media, or citizen journalism as it is sometimes called, may be a misnomer as many companies can do it as well!

What is Blogging?

Blogging is currently the most common form of social media, in fact as of October 2006, about 100 000 new weblogs are being created each day - that's more than the number of books published in the US each year!

The word blog is derived from the term "weblog" which was coined by Jorn Barger in 1997. We started using blog over weblog when Peter Merholz broke the word weblog into the phrase "we blog" in the sidebar of his weblog in 1999.

A blog is essentially a website typically driven by a content management system which features articles (blog posts) and comments on the blog posts. They come in all shapes and forms - from personal diaries shared with friends and family, to arms of political campaigns, media programs and updates on current affairs. They also range in scale from the writings of one blogger, to the collaboration of a large community of writers.

The world of blogs, bloggers and blog posts is commonly known as the blogosphere which has evolved rapidly since its inception. Blogs have given consumers and companies a voice and blogging has opened up a world of information sharing possibilities.

Blogs are not a fad that will lose popularity any time soon - they are here to stay and companies who want to be taken seriously by their consumers need to consider the benefits of starting a corporate blog or at the very least listen to what is being said about them in the blogosphere.

Blogging and RSS

Pioneered by Dave Winer, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) has taken blogging to a whole new level. An RSS feed is an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) file automatically generated by a blog or indeed almost any website or Internet service. Users are then able to "syndicate" or subscribe to this feed using a feed reader or aggregator. When a new post is available, the reader fetches its contents and puts the headings and usually some or all of the content of the post into your reader or directly onto another blog. When a blog is updated, its RSS feed is as well so information spreads very quickly and automatically.

In layman's terms, RSS eliminates the need for the user to constantly check a site or blog to see if it has been updated. Their feedreader automatically does this for them and presents fresh information as it becomes available. This means that a user can constantly monitor potentially hundreds or even thousands of blogs and websites without having to spend the time visiting each one to check for fresh content.

Some examples of feed readers include FeedDemon, Newsgator and RSS Bandit.

Understanding the subject of blogging is made far easier when one immerses oneself in it, so set up a feed reader and get to it. You'll soon lose yourself in this fascinating world of content sharing and strong opinions.

Better Blogging

By October 2006, Technorati, a blog tracking engine, registered 57 Million blogs tracked. They also acknowledged a consistent pattern whereby the number of blogs doubles every 236 days. However despite the massive growth of blogs, most do not make it past 3 months. According to Technorati, only 55 percent of bloggers are still posting 3 months after starting the blog with very few in comparison updating their blogs weekly or more.

Whether one is starting a blog for personal or corporate marketing purposes, there is no guarantee that anyone will ever find it. In order to ensure a blog's success it needs to be marketed. Here is a list of suggestions on how to go about doing so:

Search engine optimisation: By ensuring that your blog is search engine friendly, search engines can be a major source of traffic. It is important that your chosen keywords are used in your blog headings, content and meta tags and that the search engines are able to spider all aspects of your blog.

Comments and trackbacks: By treating the blogosphere as a series of ongoing conversations and actively being a part of these conversations through comments and trackbacks, other bloggers will get to know you, link to your blog and a gradual stream of visitors will result.

List your blog in blog directories: Similar to search engines, directories are human edited and managed. Although the traffic volume is not as massive as search engines, many users do visit directories and this could be a great place for them to find out about your blog.

Ping web services with your updated content: Sites like ping-o-matic and FeedShark offer a service whereby they ping multiple web services, blog directories and search engines to let them know that your blog has fresh content.

Content - know your audience: Your blog posts must be interesting and useful to your readers. Develop your unique voice and don't be afraid to post things others will not agree with.

Frequency: The regularity of posts is important, as there is a direct correlation to blog repeat visitors and the number of times it's updated. Post 3-5 times per week at a minimum. Web sites and blogs that are updated often get spidered by Google more frequently.

A Holistic Approach

Blogging works in synergy with other eMarketing services, once again proving that a holistic approach is vital to ensure success on the World Wide Web.

Blogs and SEO

You've heard it a million times... Content is king! Because search engines love fresh, relevant content, blogs are a great way to give them exactly this. Essentially by writing one post a day, a blog allows you to add a fresh page of content to your website each day. The nature of blogs also makes them an excellent source of links to your website. Provided your content is engaging, other bloggers will link to it and search engines view these links as popularity votes thereby assisting in improving your rankings.

It is important however that the blog is set up to be as search engine friendly as possible. Start by ensuring that all blog posts are assigned a unique page which is easily indexable by the search engines. This can be achieved by ensuring that each page has a link to it which the search engines can find and follow. Pages must be tagged with keywords relevant to your SEO strategy. This means putting important keywords in your post headings, page URL and meta tags, particularly the title tag.

Blogs and Viral Marketing

In a similar vein to blogs being used as a natural link attraction tool, they can be extremely useful as a viral component to your online marketing strategy.

With valuable and engaging content, people will begin talking about and linking to your site. The blogosphere is an interconnected environment and as a result items which are interesting or remarkable are talked about and shared amongst bloggers. Over time this interest brings eyeballs to your site and ultimately awareness to your brand.

It's Not Always Happy Day's and Sunshine

Although word of mouth can have a tremendously positive impact on a brand, it can also cause immense damage. One of the best examples of the blogosphere influencing brands negatively is the now infamous "Dell Hell" scenario.

It all started when blogger, Jeff Jarvis had a terrible customer experience with Dell Computers. In true blogger style he documented his experience on his blog and word quickly spread to the point where it was even covered in print by Business Week. However Dell failed to respond to his musings and the bad customer experiences continued as did the negative comments on the blogosphere. Jeff's rantings become known as Dell Hell and a recent scientific study by responsesource.com showed first that Dell has sustained long-term damage to its brand image and secondly that the cheerleaders for the poor reputation of Dell's customer services, are bloggers.

With blogs wielding this level of power, it is critical that brands understand how to manage their reputation online and if necessary take proactive steps to limit the damage which can be caused by negative word of mouth. Online Reputation Management is something all companies need to be considering.

On a final note, a great thing to remember about blogs is that a blog is simply a method of publishing content on the Web. Calling something a blog now is a focus on the technology used on the server, the content management solution. Of course, there's a significant culture that's grown around this particular technology, but that culture is bound to remain a subculture. Not because the number of people who are involved in blogging is going to shrink but rather because the number of people reading content published using Movable Type, Blogger, or any of the other tools is going to grow. Fast.

This article has been taken from Quirk eMarketing?s complete online guide to eMarketing ? eMarketing 101. The services offered by Quirk eMarketing include everything from the conceptualisation of a comprehensive online marketing strategy, through to the implementation of the various eMarketing methods needed to make that vision a reality.

7 Tips for Successful Blogging

So, you have a blog! Do you have traffic? Do you know how to build traffic to your weblog? There are seven proven methods for building readership of your blog. They start with defining the purpose, or life, of your blog. Then, after you have a blog worth promoting, driving traffic is crucial to your ongoing success at blogging.

Here are seven tips to help you build and hold an audience for your blog:

Tip #1: Provide quality content.

On the Internet, whether you are talking about websites or blogs, a lot of space is given to content. Everyone directs you to provide quality content. But, what is quality content? The quality of your blog's content is directly related to how well you have defined your ideal audience.

A successful blog is written with a distinct audience in mind. In this way, you can provide content that is unique to your audience's issues, needs, or desires. If you create content they like and wish to return to read, you have quality content.

The second issue is to stay true to your audience and tone of your blog. If people are reading your blog, it's because they like your topic and tone. Try not to stray from your typical topics and style too much. This will give your readers a reason to link back to your blog on an ongoing basis, as will posting on a regular basis.

Tip #2: Blog regularly

If you don't update your blog often enough, blog readers will move on to other blogs. There are too many blogs out there competing for attention. Blog readers will go where they can get enough of what they want.

Successful blogging takes a commitment of your time. When you begin blogging and wish to capture an audience, you should be prepared to blog every day. In this way, you can develop an audience who counts on you to help them begin or end their day.

This means you should also try to post at the same time each day. Your readers will get accustomed to your schedule and check your blog at the appropriate time. The time of day is not as crucial as the consistency in your posting.

Since you now have quality content and a regular posting schedule, it's time to drive traffic to your blog. Your readers will do a lot to promote your blog just by telling their friends. Don't count on this alone! You need to do some additional work.

When you post, make sure you set your blog to "ping" blog tracking sites every time you add a new post. Think of this as a means to get their attention. The ping says "Hey, we just added a new post". An alternative to automatically pinging from your blog is to use pingomatic.com. This is a one-stop place to automatically ping everyone you should notify of your new post and only takes a couple of minutes to accomplish.

Tip #3: Mention your blog wherever you can

Mention your blog's address in your email signature line, in forums where you post, on your business cards, on address labels and in conversations with anyone you meet. Use a tag line under your blog address to further entice them to visit. Mine reads:

Michele Schermerhorn

http://www.imarketblog.com

A sassy little marketing blog

Beyond just mentioning your blog in writing and conversation, you must actively participate in the blogging community too.

Tip #4: Participate in the blogosphere

Get involved in other people's blogs. Visit blogs that interest you and are in line with the general topic of your blog. Then, leave thoughtful comments. Almost every comment option on someone else's blog will allow you to post your blog URL and your email address. Help other bloggers out with traffic and they will help you.

If a blogger really likes your site, they will add you to their blogroll. A blogroll is generally found on every blog which understands linking to the rest of the blogosphere helps drive traffic. A blogroll is a listing of other blogs. Think of it as a "recommended reading list". Don't be stingy with your blog roll either. Add those blogs that you read and enjoy to your blogroll too.

Tip #5: Think keywords when you post

Think about keywords with your use of titles, links and blog posts. Search engines, like Google and Yahoo, like keywords. The more targeted your keywords, the better the chances of your blog appearing in search results. Search results can drive that extra traffic you want.

To increase the value of the key words in your content, make certain keywords are part of the hot link in your posts. Don't use "click here" as the hot link. You will be wasting valuable real estate in your post. Instead use the relevant keywords for the hot link, like "a great marketing idea. This gives the keywords added emphasis with the search engines.

One last thought on keywords for driving traffic; if you want a real leg up in the traffic game, in your linking code add rel="tag". This helps Technorati, a major blog resource, index your blog for their directory. But don't stop there! It's time to submit your blog to blog directories.

Tip #6: Submit your blog to blog directories

In addition to submitting your blog to the major search engines, make certain you submit the blog to exclusively blog directories like blogwise, blogcatalog, or bloghub. Many people find blogs through these online directories.

When you do submit your blog to these directories, remember to add a description that will entice your targeted audience to check your blog out. For instance, when I post my blog in blog directories, under description I put "General musings, rants, advice and strategies from a battle-worn veteran of the Marketing Wars, online and off". Your description should help the potential reader understand your blogging topic and the flavor of how you write.

In addition to submitting your blog to blog directories, join a few of the free or inexpensive traffic exchange sites like blogexplosion or blogclicker.

Tip #7: Use free and inexpensive blog traffic exchange communities

There are many sites which can be termed "traffic exchange" sites for the blogging community. It won't cost you anything to sign up. At the very least, join blogexplosion, blogclicker, and blogazoo. Once you sign up, you have two options to help drive traffic to your blog. Use both of them!

The first method is to earn credits (guaranteed visitors to your site) by using the "surf member sites" function. As you surf through those sites, you will be earning credits (visitors to your blog). When you find an interesting post, leave a comment as discussed above. When you find a blogger you like, add them to your blogroll and let them know you did.

The second method to drive traffic is to purchase credits. The cost is very cheap for the traffic you will drive to your blog. The more traffic to your blog, the more customers you'll have. The more happy customers you have, the more they will tell others. The more they tell others, the more customers you get. Don't you love this dance!

In summary, blogging may not be for everyone. However, it can be a great method for bringing your unique perspective to the Internet. You will surely find others who think the same way you do. Some bloggers will entertain you, some will inform you, and some will drive you to tear your hair out. Decide what type of blogger you want to be and be the best you can. See you in the blogosphere!

Michele Schermerhorn calls herself a ?Corporate Freedom Fighter? dedicated to freeing cubicle prisoners to experience their own successful online business. She has over 30 years experience in the business world and over 12 years running her own successful online businesses. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. (http://www.obinstitute.com), authors a sassy marketing blog (http://www.imarketblog.com), and regularly conducts free online seminars. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to ?Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time?.

How Blogs Can Make You Money

So, What is a "Money Making Blog"?

OK, that's when someone stops me and says,"What's a Blog?"

So, Lets start at the beginning!

Blog Basics

A blog is sometimes called web log or weblog. It is a type if online journal or diary, often including personal comments as well as web links and images. Many people keep a blog as a type of personal creative exercise, but you can easily use this popular online type of writing to market your business. Blogs are very popular right now and they can be a great and inexpensive way to contact more customers.

The great thing about blogs is that people read them for fun. Customers may be becoming more jaded about advertising, but they will gladly read a blog that has some interesting things to say. Many top companies are using blogs to deliver a better and more personal message about their companies - and the strategy seems to be working.

Starting a Blog

Starting a blog is as simple as finding a space online to write - and the time to write. To begin a blog, first develop a theme idea or blog idea. You may want to look at other people's blogs to do so. In general, you will want to develop a central theme for your blog in the same way that columnists develop a theme for their articles. This helps ensure that your blog is not too "scattered."

Next, find some place to publish your blog. There are a number of sites - both paying and free - that give bloggers a chance to publish their material. You may also want to simply set up your blog on your web site, especially if you already have an active web site.

Writing Your Blog

Once you have a place to publish your blog, you will have to set aside some time each week to develop new content. When writing your blog:

oWrite simply and clearly. Use small paragraphs and spell check before uploading. Your readers will trust what you have to say if you say it well.

oGo easy on the advertising. The idea of a blog is to give readers something fun and exciting to read and look at. You will have more readers if you comment on the world and are entertaining, rather than just hype your product. Consider writing about your day, the atmosphere your workplace has, and culture, rather than just your company.

oConsider many types of content. Blogs allow you to upload images, create links, and allow users to make comments. Your blog will have many more readers if you make your blog exciting with these pluses.

Promoting Your Blog

Just putting your blog online is not enough. After all, there are many millions of blogs on the web right now, so unless your blog is on a high-traffic site, you may not get readers unless you advertise. You can easily advertise your blog without spending a cent by mentioning your blog in your emails and web pages or newsletters. You can also enter in online competitions - if your blog wins a prize you are more likely to get a constant flow of traffic to your blog. You can also ask ezines and other content providers to review your blog, which will also draw readers.

Blog Marketing Ideas That Sell

Once you develop a blog, you will want to use the best blog marketing strategies you can to sell your company. However, marketing blogs are different from personal blogs and blog marketing or advertising is very different than other forms of marketing.

Make Your Blog a Customer Draw

In order to make your blog a powerful marketing tool, you need to get your customers and clients to see it. That means that you will need to advertise and provide content that gets attention:

oMake your blog visually exciting. Choose an attractive background colour and provide photos or images. Consider sound. Develop your blog as you would a web site, with the same visual appeal. Some bloggers even add video and sound to their blogs. There is no need to spend many hours composing art works, but know that simple text on a white background may simply not draw as many readers as you like.

oMake sure that your customers know that your blog exists. Providing some targeted advertising on the Internet is not hard. Try some link exchange programs with web sites, blogs, and ezines that have similar content to your blog. In many cases, simply providing a link to another web site can convince that web master to provide a link to your blog.

Make Your Blog a Company Pusher - Without Being Pushy

Your blog needs to promote your company. However, if you are too heavy-handed, you will not be terribly exciting and may push customers away. That's why you should aim for only a small amount of content that actively pushes your company. Do suggest newsworthy items that will lure your readers in. For example, writing "today we launched a new division - now expecting mothers can take advantage of our fashions" is much better than sales copy such as "buy our hot new maternity fashions now."

Give Your Readers What They Want

Studies suggest that as many as a quarter of Internet users tune into blogs. That means that if you can give your blog readers what they want, you can be reasonably sure of having a decent audience. Among the content that you may want to include in your blog:

oTips and advice. Many successful marketing blogs are much like successful consumer magazines - readers tune in to read content that is useful. A computer company can offer computer tips and advice, for example, while a writing service blog can include daily ways to boost writing skills.

oInterest. If your personal or business life is fascinating, then great. There are many successful marketing blogs that detail the exciting lives of company presidents who are also hobby racecar drivers or skydivers. This sort of material can ensure a steady audience.

oHumanity. One of the things that blog readers are most interested to see is the face behind the company. Many blog readers like a company run by people who have similar concerns. Building humanity into your blog by detailing your company's efforts to help the community, for example, is a great way to build credibility and customer loyalty.

oStyle. Many readers just love to see a gorgeous, well-written blog. Plenty of marketing blogs simply provide interesting content and nice graphics and do quite well in drawing readers and customers.

Get More Readers for Your Blog, Get More Customers

There are several ways to make your blog one of the "hot" blogs online. Traditionally, those companies that have the largest star-power have had the most popular blogs, since everyone loves to read about celebrity or success. However, a great many smaller companies and individuals are developing large followings on the web. You can, too, with this simple lesson.

Keep it Rich

Keyword-rich, that is. Blogs are a great way to generate keyword-rich content, especially if you update your blogs each day. In fact, for some smaller businesses, blogs make more sense than hard-to-create web pages. Blog software makes creating a blog almost automatic while the spiders on search engines seem to favour high-quality and often updated keyword-rich blogs.

Steps to take:

oKeep keyword content high with plenty of keywords. As you write your blog entries, do try to use not only keywords having to do with your topic, but also synonyms for your keywords. This will help your readers find you more easily on the Internet. For example, if you offer discount fashions, use a variety of keywords, including "discount fashions," "cheap designer wear," "discount clothing" and others.

oProvide quality, often-updated content.

oSpecialize. The best way to make use of the search engine optimisation of blogs is to narrow your focus. Rather than developing a hodgepodge of ideas and themes, write with one theme in mind. It will help ensure that people looking for information on your topic will always find you through a search engine.

Join the Community

Make sure that you promote your blog by joining the blogging community. Creating a larger presence for your blog online will result in more blog readers and possibly, more customers:

oAdd the address for your blog to email signatures and include mention in any ezine or email newsletter you have to let readers know about your blog.

oMention your blog on appropriate forums. For example, if your company offers resume writing services, consider writing about your blog in job-hunt forums.

oAllow for readers' commentary on your blog. Many online blog publishing programs already allow this. If your readers can post their comments and read the comments of other readers, they are more likely to return to your blog regularly, and so keep your company name in mind.

oMake your blog searchable through your interests. Many blog programs allow you to create a user profile, which allows readers to search for you and your blog by interest topic and locations, in many cases. Do not overlook this simple way to draw readers. Simply fill out your profile, taking care to use many "interests" to attract more readers and browsers.

Make Money Blogging Using These Nine Powerful Strategies

The question "How to make money blogging" sits high on every blogger's mind. In fact I received many questions on "How to make money blogging" when I conducted my first webcast to answer my subscribers' most pressing questions on Blogs and Rss.

You can make money Blogging in a number of ways, and in this article I share with you up to nine strategies in which you can make money blogging.

1. Make Money Blogging by Selling Advertising Space

Before the advent of Blogs, we have e-zines and selling advertising space on ezines was a popular way to earn extra money. If you run your own Blog, you can let others advertise in your Blogs with banner ads, solo ads, sponsor ads, classifieds and so on.

Now that we have Blogs, you can repeat the same business model that e-zine publishers do, that of selling advertising space.

One popular advertising company that helps Bloggers look for advertisers is Blogads (www.Blogads.com).

Besides placing advertisers ads on your Blog, you can also make money Blogging by placing Google Adsense into your Blog.

In my "Marketing Rampage with Blogs and RSS" Videos, I show you how you can customize your Blog template to include the Google Adsense into your Blog template so that you can make money blogging.

2. Make Money Blogging by providing technical services such as Blog hosting or setting up Blog

You can also earn money blogging by providing technical services such as helping people to set up their Blogs or providing your own Blog hosting service.

One example of this is http://www.typepad.com . This is a Blog hosting service provider that charges a monthly fee. Typepad lets you create your Blog and they will host your Blog for you, and provide you with a number of Blog features.

3. Make Money Blogging by setttin up joint venture marketing

Joint Venture marketing is a powerful marketing strategy employed by many top online marketers.

Basically how joint venture works is this: You promote person B's products to your subscriber and customer list, and you get a cut from whatever sale that follows from this promotion.

You can apply the principle of joint venture marketing to Blogs as well. If you have a substantial readership to your Blog, you can also promote or endorse certain products to your Blog readers and this way, and split the profits from the sales generated. This is another way to make money blogging.

4. Make Money Blogging from using the Membership model

Over time, if your blog has lots of postings and provide good quality content, you can consider turning it into a membership site and charge access for it, again giving you another avenu

5. Make Money Blogging by turning your products into

Another way in which you can make money blogging is to repackage your Blog contents into an e-book or an audio product and sell it. For example, if you run your own Podcasting show or an 'online radio show', you can easily compile your podcast recordings into a CD compiliation and sell it.

6. Earn Money Blogging by Swapping blogs

You've heard of ad swapping when it comes to e-zine publishing, where publishers publish each other's ads in their own e-zines. This way, you save on adveritising costs.

You can repeat the same model to Blogs, as swap ads on Blogs as well. So instead of paying up front, you get to save, which means more money for you to spend!

7. Earn Money Blogging by turning your Blog content into RSS feeds and sell it as premium feeds

Your blog contents can be turned into an RSS feed. If the content is good, you can look for web businesses that are looking for good content for related topics and sell their feed to them.

8. Make Money Blogging by well, asking!

Hey, who's stopping you from putting a PayPal donation jar or button on your Blog? After all, there are lots of generous people out there you know.

9. Make Money Blogging as an Affiliate Marketer

Another way you can make money blogging is by promoting other people's products on your Blog. This is also known as affiliate marketing.

In affiliate marketing, you get paid a commission when someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase. Depending on the subject of your Blog, you can recommend products that solve people's problems.

For example, I had a subscriber who asked me how she can blog about cats and make money from blogging about cats.

I shared with her that firstly, perhaps she might want to go niche instead of targeting the broad category of "cats", and using the example of a Persian cat, which is a niche by itself, she can start a blog on Persian cats, providing valuable information as well as recommended solutions and products to the upkeep and maintenance of Persian cats.

http://www.blog-and-rss-revealed.com/category/make-money-blogging/

Brandon is the author of "Marketing Rampage with Blogs and RSS" Videos and Audio ebook "Blogs and RSS Revealed" that teaches online businesses strategies to getting more free targeted leads, subscribers and traffic, turning them into highly responsive visitors and sales without additional advertising costs, as well as increasing search engine rankings and obtaining quick listings in Google, Yahoo and MSN, by using Blogs and RSS.

Making Money With Your Blog

I’ve sure you’ve heard before that it’s a possibility to make money with your blog and you may be wondering how this is possible. And were they really meant for making money or just for journaling your personal thoughts? I’m not sure what they were intended for but they are great ways to make money.

I have a personal blog which is just my own private little place to go online and jot down my thoughts, but I also have my business blogs.

Back In the Beginning

To be honest with you in the beginning of my blogging experience I really wasn't sure what I should do with my blog. I knew I wanted to make money with it, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know what I could do to not only be a value to others so they would come back to my blog, but that I would still enjoy writing it.

So it was really important to me that I find a topic in which I would be excited about, and have enough to offer so that I could blog every week or so. After starting a blog that was meant to just be an add-on to my business at MommysPlace.net and struggling with the direction of that blog, I came across one of Alice Seba’s blogs, which she used to write about her experience through a traffic product.

So every couple of weeks she would update her progress through this course. She would tell us all about her successes with this product and how great it was for her business. And it made me think of how I could do something similar.

Product/Service Focused Blog

And this is when the light bulb moment went off in my head. This is when I realized what I should have been doing all along. I have been a member of an exclusive coaching program for mothers in business.

Since joining this program my business has seen great success. My income has increased more then 10 times what it was before I joined, and my traffic has increased even more then that.

I enjoy and believe in this coaching program and it happens to have an affiliate program. I often got emails from other work at home mothers who wanted to know my thoughts on this program.

Taking a cue from Alice’s blog I decided to start my own such blog. And named it Mom Masterminds Grad and it can be found at [http://www.mmgrad.com]

I use this blog for the purpose of documenting my successes with my business. My projects, new content added to my website, keyword phrases I was ranking for…etc. Basically anything that has to do with my business that was directly or indirectly because of my joining Mom Masterminds, I jot down.

Not only was this the best move I could have made for my promoting this affiliate link it also served as a great way to really see for myself the successes my business was achieving and also to keep me on track.

This is one way you could make money with a blog. There are other ways you could make money with a blog if you don’t want to devote a blog to one service or product you’re promoting.

Side Kick Blog

For instance, my blog at [http://www.telecommutingmoms.com] is a side kick to TelecommutingMoms.com and my forums. This is a blog in which I update my members on additions to the website, newsletter and forums. And also use it as a vehicle for updating members on any important telecommuting news and promoting affiliate programs.

So this blog serves more then one purpose. My main goal with this blog is to get traffic to certain sections of my website. I have a large website and it’s not always easy for people to find my information. This is a great way for me to keep certain new pages or sections of my website in the public eye and get traffic to those pages. It also serves as a way to make money with affiliate programs. And lastly it gives exposure to my forum and my newsletter.

There can be many ways and, many topics in which you can make money and gain exposure to other businesses you may have, or can help in creating you as an expert in a certain field.

Just take the time to really think about what you could be writing about and then how you can make money with that as well. You can take a look at others blogs to get an idea and see what other people are looking for.

Making Money With Your Blog - Resources:

Blogs to Riches- is an e-book that details ways you can make your blog profitable. And the really cool thing with this is if you list the publisher’s link on your blog for 45 days he will give you this e-book for free! If you don't want to wait that long you can also purchase it for a low price. Read more about Blogs to Riches - [http://www.blogstoriches.com]

Increasing Adsense - is an e-book about how to increase your adsense revenue. This e-book isn't specifically geared towards blogs, but the information you will learn you can use with your blogs. (As well as websites and forums...anywhere you have adsense.) http://www.adsense-secrets.com

* Don't know what adsense is? Go to http://www.google.com/adsense to learn more.

Ready To Blog?

Are you ready to take the leap into a blog? If so, it’s really very easy to set up a blog. The one resource I have used for my old blog is blogger.com and what I use for my current blogs is WordPress. Blogger is a great option for the newbie and you can host it with them. WordPress is a bit more complicated and must be hosted on your own domain, but it’s by far my most favorite option for blogs.

Submit Your Blog

After you create your blog you will want to submit it to blog directories to help get your blog out in front of the public. Some of the directories you can try are:

BlogWise - [http://www.blogwise.com]

Blog Search Engine - http://www.blogsearchengine.com

Blog Hub - http://www.bloghub.com

Blog Daisy - [http://www.blogdaisey.com]

Get Blogs - http://www.getblogs.com

Is Blogs - http://www.lsblogs.com

Feeds

Next, you need to add feeds to your blog. For adding a feed you add a little graphic to your blog. It can be a “my yahoo” feed, msn feed, or many other options.

When they click on that they can add your blog to their personal feed page. Then every time you add a new post they are alerted on their yahoo page that you have posted AND it even shows the topic of the post and how long ago it was posted.

This is one of the best resources I’ve found in keeping people coming back to your blog. They can subscribe to it so easily and they will be automatically updated whenever you have posted. It’s pretty easy to add an RSS feed to your blog. The resource I personally use is at http://www.feedburner.com

Watch Out Blogging World - Here I Come!

Now, see how simple this really can be? You can make money with a blog, gain exposure for another business or websites, can build yourself as an expert on a certain topic, can create a blog for free, get it listed for free and start an RSS feed for free! Now get out there and start blogging.

Want to learn more about Nell Taliercio, the author of this article? She is sharing the secrets that grew her business by 10fold in only one year! Go to [http://www.mmgrad.com] to learn more!

Blog Marketing Surge Tactics - Niche Business Blog Marketing Unleashed! Part 2

This is the second and concluding part of my articles

on "Blog Marketing Surge Tactics" that will get an

amateur Blogger up to speed on his/her way to becoming

a top professional Blogger - while making consistent money

online. In part 1, you read and learned about the first

3 Blog Marketing Strategies below.

Blog Marketing Strategy #1: Web Hosting Or Free Blogs?

Blog Marketing Strategy #2: Niche Business Blog Marketing

Blog Marketing Strategy #3: Highly Targeted Blog Traffic

Please join me as I proceed to unveil the 3 remaining

"Blog Marketing Surge Tactics" and strategies - Right NOW!

Blog Marketing Strategy #4: Blog Content Management & Updates

When publishing content online on your blogs, you'll have

to come up with original content - but if your creative juices

are NOT flowing - which happens sometimes or when you

are ill or indisposed, you can make use of ghost writers and

other Internet or blog writers' articles on your blogs - provided

the topics are related to your niche business market and

you leave the content and author's bio section intact.

Much of the information or niche market articles posted on blogs

and Web sites are copyrighted, and if YOU are found scrapping

chunks of information without acknowledging the original

owners - then DON'T be surprised if you get "Cease and Desist"

emails from the original blog writers - and if you do NOT

remove the "offensive" or unacknowledged content, then

your blog service provider(s) will be contacted. This can get

rather nasty because you'll be penalized for "content theft!"

Remember that your blog is an information/niche industry

news related small business blog that should project credibility

in the minds of your readers.

Blog Marketing Strategy #5: Blog Search Engine Optimization

Blog search engine optimization (SEO) tactics will NOT work

if you start your new niche blog marketing quest without a

proper market research. This is the "ultimate kiss of death"

for any niche marketing blog - with the consequent waste of

advertising money (especially if you're working on a limited

budget) and lost time! So, before creating a new blog, you

need to find out if a demand exists for your products and

services.

Use online research tools like Yahoo! (Overture) keyword

selector and Wordtracker which have free and/or paid-for

versions - to find out what people are looking for and

to identify top profitable niches for your blog monetization

tactics. Then use these keywords - especially the "longtail"

ones (over 3 words or phrases) in your articles, titles etc.,

to get the major Search Engines to index and show your

blog entries in the top 10 to 20 search results.

People who make searches online with "specific phrases"

are more ready to BUY than those using more general

searches. Keep working on this aspect till YOU consistently

get into the top 10 organic results for your major keywords!

Your niche blog sites' traffic will consequently rise like the

legendary Phoenix of ancient Egypt - with an amazing

boost in your blog sites' Alexa Rankings and/or Google

PageRankings to 4, 5, 6, 7... or more - with persistence!

Blog Marketing Strategy #6: Blogs & Blatant Pinging

When you plan your blog content management strategies,

it's very important that YOU REALIZE that ignoring very

little but important blog tips can lead to your online

penalization by the blog services. One of such modes of

penalization is the indiscriminate or blatant use of

pinging.

Pinging the blog services individually or via metapinging

tools (I use Pingomatic to save time) is a legal tactic for

notifying the blog services like Technorati and major Search

Engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo! (they help to quickly

index your blog posts) - when you ONLY UPDATE your blog

content with fresh and unique articles.

Like blog spamming (or splogging), the use of keyword

stuffing and other "Black Hat tactics," blatant pinging

for "boosting your search or PageRankings" should be

avoided by all niche business bloggers if you want to

have an intact business integrity! It will NOT be nice

for YOU and your Web sites or marketing blogs to get

a thunder-like "Google Slap" via reduced PageRankings

or outright removal from the major Search Engine indices.

On the other hand - in case you inadvertently make a

mistake in your blog SEO strategy - by building backlinks

through banned sources like link farms or other "Black Hat"

SEO tactics and get "slapped" by Google, YOU need to have a

"Plan B" already in place to get your blog or Internet home

based business going strong. I'll be writing more about this

in another article to be posted on my blog soon.

Closing Thoughts:

The "Blog Marketing Surge Tactics" in parts 1 and 2 are

just tips of the iceberg of what I use - and more top niche

business blogging tips exist that you can use. The rules

of the offline "Bricks-and-Mortar" world also apply in the

online "New Economy" Web 2.0 world of blog marketing

or small Internet business blogging. A violation of these

business rules is a surefire way of getting "dazed!"

These blogging tactics should be used with consistency

and tact so that YOU also don't get penalized by the

major search engines as a result of "duplicate content"

issues, "keyword stuffing" (excessive use of keywords)

or blatant pinging (or metapinging).

So, as a beginner, intermediate or experienced niche blog

marketer, affiliate marketer, Information technology (IT)

expert, Internet Web or blog site designer, or professional in

other fields of online niche business markets - YOU have to

constantly REMEMBER the blog traffic variant of my "Web

Traffic Secret Formula" which I discussed with you in Part 1

of this article series:

===> "Blog Traffic Secret Formula":

"Blog Marketing Confluence of Events + Business Cycles =

Avalanche of Targeted Blog Traffic = Money In Your Bank

Accounts."

To Your Blog Marketing, Blog Traffic and Monetization

Success!

The author's bio: G. Dekunle Adedipe is a writer of Web marketing articles and has been a Netpreneur since 2001. Visit his site to learn MORE top insider niche Internet business blogging tips that will create UNLIMITED profits for YOU in RECORD TIME! P.S. For a LIMITED TIME, YOU can DOWNLOAD the Automatic Money Machines and FREE Traffic Secrets Reports ($27 Value!)

Blog Marketing Surge Tactics - Niche Business Blog Marketing Unleashed! Part 1

Blog marketing - a major part of the Internet marketing mix

has gradually grown in the last few years - i.e., from 2003 when

different monetized variants or models of blogs began to

emerge. The use of niche business blogs by individuals who

are passionate about their niche markets - and by small

businesses to make money on the Internet and for building

customer trust can be rewarding. But there are some often

overlooked tactics that are "potentially damaging" when you

create your new small business niche blogs. These can lead

to the "kiss of death" in your blog marketing forays.

In this article - which is the part 1 of a 2-part series, I'll be

sharing with YOU some of the 6 high-impact blog marketing

strategies that YOU need to bullet-proof your business blogs

- starting from here on. So, off we go - Right NOW! :-)

Blog Marketing Strategy #1: Web Hosting Or Free Blogs?

I've read and pondered about the ideals and/or benefits

of creating free blogs (with third party providers) or getting

your own blogs hosted with your Internet business domain

name(s). Well, I've discovered that creating and using a

free blog can be OK if you have great and useful content

to share with your blog visitors, clients and readers -

eventually, it'll also be very beneficial if you can download

a blogging software at WordPress (which has more blog

features) and have it hosted by a Web host so that you

can take full charge of the long-term growth of your

online business(es).

It should be noted that NOT all free blog account services

are created the same and Internet business bloggers with

different temperaments have different needs - and wants.

You can ASK yourself questions and blog site needs and

solutions will arise as and when due - questions such as:

"What Web 2.0 tools and formats should be used?," "Should I

have RSS feeds?," "What blog site statistics package to use?,"

"What social bookmarking tools to install?, "Should I have free

interactive blog video marketing clips or presentations for

my blog visitors?," "Should I offer an opt-in eZine, special reports

or eBooks for free download by my blog visitors?), "In addition to

Google AdSense ads, what other contextual advertising codes

should I use on my blog?," etc.

Blog Marketing Strategy #2: Niche Business Blog Marketing

Embarking on a profitable niche blog marketing quest

can be very rewarding or damaging to your business and

personal finances depending on what tactics you use. To

avoid "kicking yourself hard in the foot" months down

the road, it's better to realize that it is people (your clients

and potential clients) that will make or break your blog

business(es) - so you have to do niche market and keyword

research online to see how many people will be in need of

your products and services (niche market size).

You have to use high-impact tactics here - and maintain

a consistent, no-nonsense attitude with regards to building

TRUST online because online buyers ONLY buy based on the

recommendations of those they TRUST! Having passion - "blog

marketing passion" is the KEY here because passion speaks

volumes! I'll shed more light on this aspect in Blog

Marketing Strategy #5. So, you can read on.

Blog Marketing Strategy #3: Highly Targeted Blog Traffic

Getting traffic to ANY new Web site or business blog can be

very challenging for beginner, intermediate affiliate and

blog marketing professionals. As an advocate of the use of

of real-world tactics for targeted Web site and blog

traffic generation, I came up with an EASILY memorizable

formula that will enable us - (beginner, intermediate and

experienced online marketers) to blog our way to the banks.

I wrote an article earlier which is entitled:

"Web Traffic Secret Formula Revealed - Why Traffic Is

NOT EQUAL To Money!" (YOU can read MORE of it later).

Now, using my "Web (or Blog) Traffic Secret Formula"

below - instead of the over simplistic or bland online

clichés like "Traffic = Money," which can give beginner

and intermediate Internet business marketers and

entrepreneurs a SKEWED sense of what it takes to

succeed online - we can say:

#1: Web Marketing Confluence of Events

"Web Marketing Confluence of Events + Business Cycles =

Avalanche of Highly Targeted Web Traffic = Money In Your

Bank Accounts.

OR, with SPECIFIC reference to "Blog Marketing" we can say:

#2: Blog Marketing Confluence of Events

"Blog Marketing Confluence of Events + Business Cycles =

Avalanche of Highly Targeted Blog Traffic = Money In Your

Bank Accounts.

Blog Marketing Strategies #1 to #6 constitute subsets of

the "Web (Blog) Marketing Confluence of Events" that I'm

talking about.

Closing Thoughts:

The "Blog Marketing Surge Tactics" should be used with

consistency and tact so that you also don't get PENALIZED by

the major Search Engines as a result of "duplicate content"

issues or "keyword stuffing" (excessive use of keywords).

So, as a beginner or experienced blog marketer, affiliate blog

marketer, Internet Web or blog site designer, or professional

in other fields of online business or market niches - YOU have

to constantly REMEMBER the "Blog Traffic Secret Formula"

as well:

"Web (Blog) Marketing Confluence of Events + Business Cycles =

Avalanche of Targeted Web (Blog) Traffic = Money In Your

Bank Accounts."

In the "Blog Marketing Surge Tactics - Niche Business Blog

Marketing Unleashed!" Part 2 article, you'll get to read about

more top business blogging tips you can use in record time

to skyrocket your income and blog traffic - with an amazing

increase in your niche blog(s) sites' Alexa Rankings and

Google PageRankings!

To Your Blog Marketing, Blog Traffic and Monetization

Success!

The author's bio: G. Dekunle Adedipe is a writer of Web marketing articles and has been a Netpreneur since 2001. Visit his site to learn MORE top insider niche Internet business blogging tips that will create UNLIMITED profits for YOU in RECORD TIME! P.S. For a LIMITED TIME, YOU can DOWNLOAD the Automatic Money Machines and FREE Traffic Secrets Reports ($27 Value!) NOW - Before It's Gone! ==> http://www.AffiliateCashSecretsNiches.blogspot.com

Business Blogging Resources For The Little Business That Could

Measuring the state of business blogging can be tricky. Statistics are contradictory and change almost by the day because of the exponentially rapid growth of the blog as a medium (not to mention its newness).

A recent Pew Internet research poll the amount of businesses using blogs to be in the neighborhood of 7% (a research poll conducted by American Express last month suggested a similar percentage). Meanwhile, another poll by Guidewire Group suggests 89% of companies are either blogging now or plan to in the near future. Despite these wildly differing figures, the point of agreement is that business blogging is growing. The pace seems to be the heart of the dispute.

There are about 175,000 blogs being created each day (or about two per second), but don't let that figure frighten you: the business share is a drop in the bucket. Experts put the number of active business blogs in the U.S. today at about 5,000, with half of them being less than a year old and only 10% older than three years. Many new business blogs, like all blogs, are abandoned after a few months, and only about 39% of total blogs are in English language (Japanese is top). What all of this says is that blogging is becoming a global norm but is still very much open to newcomers.

Trends vary by company size, with smaller companies tending to make more use of business blogging, while larger companies maintain a healthy share. About 55% of all business blogs are started by companies with fewer than 100 employees while around 15% account for companies with 1,000 or more employees. However, of the largest 500 companies in the United States, 40% utilize blogs in their comprehensive strategy.

Outside the unruly statistics, what is actually successful in the world of business blogging itself is a little clearer. Virtually all research and opinion on the subject points to a handful of critical factors, including:

A writing style that is able to both connect on a personal level and be entertaining. This includes knowing your customer and establishing a significant relationship in the blog medium.
The company's willingness to be engaged in an honest marketplace dialogue with its clientele (the source of the infinitely precious credibility of any blog).
The individual blog writer's time given to the blog itself, for relevant research, thought, responding to posts from readers, and the overall construction of quality work and frequent updates.

Of course, individual companies in their unique industries face their own quirks and demands. For example, depending on the situation or industry, your business may want to focus most carefully on the tone and style of the writer. Companies with reputations they'd like to salve or improve (oil companies, for example) may find particular interest in the transparency aspect of blogging. While in a fast-paced industry (such as technology or media), a company blog might need to weigh its time devoted to updating material for the blog more carefully. Many businesses begin blogging with clear goals in the onset, or even test a blog internally before developing an external blog. Some businesses also run more than one blog. General Motors, for example, runs an entertainment blog (Fastlane) and information blog (FYI) combo that has been very successful.

The General Motors blogs is a great example of successful business blogging in its maturity. Both are easy to navigate and subscribe to, are succinctly written, and utilize costumer-generated material, including photos and video. There are also many links (not only to GM but other auto sites and even other blogs), so the reader gets a real sense genuine dialogue and openness. A look at the high volume of comments and responses in the Fastlane blog shows that successful blogs are both social and relevant.

In the world of blogs, there is still disagreement on who should be writing the business blog. In the case of Fastlane, it's Vice Chairman Bob Lutz. For some companies, however, the pitfalls might outweigh the privileges of having an executive doing the blogging. The voice of the boss does not always come out well in a blog. Also, an executive might be unlikely to continue blogging for long due to a simple lack of time. This is the situation for about half of all blogs that are created: after three months, the entries stop and the blog is essentially dead. For this reason, typically the most successful business blogs are run by the employees rather than the CEOs. Therefore, it might make more sense for your business if the employees conduct blogging because they generally have the energy and detailed insight (and voice) to make a more readable blog because to the peers of the readers, and thus legitimate.

Legitimacy has proven to be of central importance to any success in business or market blogging. A few years back, Dr. Pepper attempted to overstep this in the marketing of their now infamous new product, Raging Cow (a flavored milk drink). The company hired teenagers to try the drink and blog about it after being coached. Dr. Pepper's efforts were received with viciousness and even boycotts for trying to infiltrate the "integrity" of the blogosphere with marketing through coached customers and "hip-ness." The whole thing went sour and Raging Cow went unreleased. Moreover, many of us are looking at the fate of "Pay-Per-Post" and its legitimacy in the near future.

Another drink company, Jones Soda, offers a much different and more successful model of blog legitimacy and customer outreach. A visit to the blog gives more the impression of a teen hangout than a business. The blog, in fact, acts as a hub for numerous customer blogs. There is all of the usual business-related material present: an online store, a product locator, and message boards (with posts reaching into the thousands). But the people at Jones very obviously know their customers well and have developed a highly successful blog counterpart to their business by loosening the reigns and putting the clientle completely in charge. Terrifying as this might be to some executives, it seems to have worked brilliantly for Jones.

In summary, business blogging can be best looked upon in its infancy even though the sheer statistics of blogs appearing everyday appear to be high. Businesses that whish to enter the blogospere should do so cautiously unless they have a strategy that meets several of the requirements above. However when executed carefully, a business blog can be a great source of customer intimacy, relationship building, and an extension of your business's brand.

Christian Del Monte- Vice President of Operations for TMA E-Marketing has directed and worked on Internet marketing projects for mid to large-scale businesses, launched the worlds first Business Blogs Directory, and writes weekly to http://www.iBlogMarketing.com

The Real Estate Blog Alphabet - 26 Benefits and Best Practices

This alphabet lists 26 key benefits and best practices of using a real estate blog. Not all of these entries will apply to every individual blogging scenario, but they all apply to real estate blogs in general. So you are bound to find something useful here that you've never considered before.

Here you have them, real estate blog benefits and best practices ... from A to Z.

Authoritative

Everyone knows you have to understand a subject well in order to write about it or explain it to others. When agents blog about the real estate scene in their cities or towns, they position themselves as authorities on the subject. In this way, a real estate blog can be a useful tool for positioning, branding and differentiation.

Believable

If used properly, a real estate blog can make the agent (or company) behind it more believable. And let's face it ... in the post-Enron, low-trust world of corporate skepticism, a little believability can go a long way. Use your real estate blog to communicate openly and honestly with your audience. Lose the fluff and the jargon. Be candid and sincere. And speaking of being candid...

Candid

It's a mistake to treat your real estate blog as "Website, Part 2." Blogs are easy to publish, so you can publish to them more frequently. In this way, a real estate blog can become an ongoing dialogue between you and your audience (potential clients). To get the most out of this dialogue, and to achieve the believability mentioned above, a real estate blog should take on the candid, heartfelt voice of the author.

Direct

Real estate blogs are direct-to-reader / direct-to-consumer. You simply type your message, click the "Publish" button, and your message becomes instantly viewable online. Unlike other forms of business communication, there are no journalists or editors to put their own spin on things. Your message goes from you, directly onto your blog, and directly to your audience.

Enthusiastic

In a perfect world, only the truly enthusiastic bloggers would publish real estate blogs. But this is not the case, and as a result there's a lot of "half-hearted" blogs online today. Half-hearted commentary stands out like a purple elephant in the blogosphere. This kind of blogging actually does more harm than good. On the other hand, enthusiasm comes across in blog posts -- but enthusiasm is both positive and contagious.

Flexible

The number of ways you can use your real estate blog is limited only by your imagination and energy. Maybe your blog will be a source for local real estate news. You can do that. Or maybe your blog will cater to a certain niche, such as condo buyers or home sellers. You can do that too. With the versatile publishing capabilities of most blogging programs, you can set up your blog to support any business, marketing or communication objective.

Google-friendly

A real estate blog can help you increase your online visibility in several ways. For one thing, a blog can help you expand your website with new content, easily and efficiently. Blog daily for a year, and you'll have 365 new pages of content. And search engines love topical content. A real estate blog is also more "social" than a regular website, so with time and effort your blog can acquire links from other blogs. This "link popularity," as it's known, can do wonders for search engine ranking.

Happening

Generally speaking, real estate blogs are much more "happening" than their website counterparts. Blogs are easier to update than regular websites, which is important in the ever-changing world of real estate, interest rates, etc. When you update your blog often with quality content, it becomes an active resource that people are more inclined to read, revisit and recommend.

Informative

When you keep people in your area informed about the local real estate scene, you increase the usefulness of your real estate blog. You also increase the likelihood of future business from those readers, not to mention the likelihood they will recommend your blog to others. Blogging is a simple but effective way to keep people informed. Before you publish a new post, get in the habit of asking yourself, "How will this blog post help my readers?" If you can answer that, publish a way. If you can't answer it, rethink the topic.

Jargon-free

In general, blogs are not the place for corporate speak or "fluff" content. This applies to the real estate blog as well. Write your blog in your own voice. Don't try to impress people with your vocabulary. The best blogs convey quality information in a conversational style. This will increase your readership, the level of dialogue, and (ultimately) the blog's profitability as a client-acquisition tool.

Knowledgeable

Dr. John Tuccillo, former Chief Economist for the NAR, recently said: "With the expansion of the number of Realtors, the level of competence has fallen to its lowest point ever." If this general perception spreads to the public in general, it could cause real problems for real estate professionals. This is another area where a real estate blog can benefit you. Use your blog to show readers how knowledgeable you are on your subject. Just remember, some of your readers will know as much about the subject as you do. So check your facts before posting!

Lead-producing

You stand to gain a lot from the interaction and trust mentioned previously in this list. When you interact with your blog readers in a positive way, you have a much greater chance of turning them into clients. You can also configure your blog to allow reader comments, which is another way to generate leads and start a dialogue.

Manageable

Blogging programs simplify the web-publishing process to such a degree that anyone can do it, regardless of their web experience. In fact, a single individual could easily manage a large web presence if it were built on blogging technology. This is ideal for real estate agents who operate independently, without the benefit of an I.T. department.

Non-invasive

A well-written real estate blog will "pull" readers into the message, as opposed to pushing the message on the reader (like magazine ads). People can sign up for your blog in total privacy, either by using the blog's RSS feed or an email subscription option (if you provide one). The readers come to the blog -- it is not thrust upon them. As long as blogs in general adhere to this non-invasive, respectful approach, they will be held in higher esteem than other communication channels like email.

Operational

A real estate blog is more than a simple communication tool. It can serve operational roles as well. This could include internal collaboration (like an intranet) or outward instruction (like a home buying seminar online).

Purposeful

Before you publish your first blog post, you should determine the purpose of your real estate blog. Sure, you can always dive right in and figure out your purpose as you go. But your blog will be more effective (and easier to produce) if you have a purpose and plan ahead of time. Ask yourself, "What do I want to accomplish with my blog? Who is my ideal audience? What information would they find useful?"

Qualitative and Quantitative

When real estate blogging is done well, it has both a quantitative and qualitative affect. The quantity of content will increase your website's usefulness and search engine visibility. The quality of content helps you position yourself as an expert and differentiate yourself from other agents in your area (see entry for "Knowledgeable" above).

Recyclable

Blog content can be reused for many purposes. For example, you could expand your blog posts into article-length and publish them online for additional exposure and web traffic.

Straight-shooting

This point is somewhat repetitive of 'C' for candid. Guilty as charged. But it's worth repeating, so I'm repeating it. The most popular real estate blogs got to where they are partly by being straightforward. In this context, straightforward refers to both the design and the content of the blog. Real estate blogs that are "overly designed" tend to look more like websites than blogs. I truly believe this reduces their candidness and authenticity. The same goes for the blog's content. Blog postings that are straightforward and candid will generate more interaction and "buzz" among readers.

Thoughtful

The best real estate blogs are thoughtful. I don't mean thoughtful in the sense of "kind" -- although kindness does go a long way on the Web -- but thoughtful as in "full of thought." Each time you publish a blog post, put some thought into the content. Make sure it (A) supports your overall blogging goals, (B) gives your readers useful information, and (C) reflects well upon you as a real estate professional.

Usable

When you first set up your blog, it will be straightforward and easy to use. The default settings of most blogging programs are designed this way for a reason. But some people feel the need to clutter up their blogs with all kind of nonsense, reducing the blog's usability and readership in one swoop. Avoid this. Keep you blog clean and easy to read. Web readers and researches are skilled at hopping from site to site. They don't need much of a reason to bail out on you, and they'll do just that if your blog is hard to navigate.

Voluntary

You should blog because you want to, not because you think you have to. If you start a real estate blog just because everyone else is doing it, it will lack the heartfelt enthusiasm that's a trademark of popular blogs. (See "E' for enthusiastic above.)

Wise

Your real estate blog is the ideal place to share your wisdom about the industry. This will help you position yourself as an authority in your field (letter 'A' above) and foster the trust mentioned under the letter 'T' above. A "tip of the day" series is a prime example of this. It's a great way to share your real estate wisdom, and it's the kind of thing that will keep people coming back to your blog and recommending it to others.

Xstensible

Yes, I cheated with this letter. But real estate blogs are truly extensible (and you try to produce an adjective starting with 'X'). Your blog can grow as your audience grows, or as your company grows. You can add additional authors, perhaps a colleague in the mortgage industry. You can add sections to cover additional topics. You can expand a blog however you need to support your objectives. And it doesn't require an I.T. department to get it done. Blogging programs are designed to be extensible.

Yours

A real estate blog can have one author or several authors. I've seen popular blogs published by individual agents, as well as some published by teams of writers. But the blog has to belong to somebody. It should be yours, or his and hers, or all of yours. Somebody needs to own the blog. Otherwise, nobody will trust what it has to say.

Zippy

The dictionary defines zippy as "lively and full of energy." These are great traits for a real estate blog. If you are passionate in the way you publish your blog, it will eventually connect with readers who are equally passionate about the subject matter. These are the kind of people who will promote your blog without being asked to do so! It goes something like this: "Hey, Barbara, you have to check out this real estate blog I've been reading lately. Let me send you the link..."

* You may republish this article online if you retain the author's byline and the ACTIVE hyperlinks below. Copyright 2007, Brandon Cornett.

About the Author
Brandon Cornett is the author of a popular real estate blog that covers marketing-related topics. He is the author of several e-books on blogging and Internet marketing. Learn more at http://www.armingyourfarming.com