'Bad Blogs Have Got To Go, Blogging Could Be Really Cool If

--> 'Bad Blogs Have Got To Go, Blogging Could Be Really Cool If

There's a lot of blogs out there on the Web, most of which don't entice one to go back regularly to read updates. What is missing from these on-line journals that would essentially make them 'good' blogs? Well, the answers in life usually come down to simplicities. So let's look at the problem like we were children. Children don't complicate life with miscellaneous information, and when they speak they tell you straight to the point exactly how they feel and think about a subject.

First of all, we should ask the questions," Why do blogs exist? And what are they here for?" Well, in an ideal world 'good' blogs would help people connect, sharing knowledge and feelings about issues in life. As they are journals written by individuals we would hope that they'd be readable and open to comment by all other people, not just a select group of friends. The key is speaking in a way that is understandable by the masses, get rid of acronyms and local slang that only few will comprehend. Keep the sentences grammatically simple and generally short and concise.

Try to write in your blog as often as possible because if people enjoy reading your thoughts and ideas they'll want to communicate or at least be filled in regularly on 'your world'. Ask questions, comment on other blogs of similar content, start communities with others you've never met, based on your interests. Keep focused; if your blog is about thoughts on war and peace, keep your thoughts on the latest movie and how hungry you are for somewhere else. The idea is to incite intelligent communication so that in time our collective stockpile of knowledge and wisdom will gradually grow like a tree in fertile soil.

I think of most importance is the fact that you want this journal to be 'good' reading. Of course we all have ideas about what genres and styles we like, but writing from your heart and soul is imperative for the connection with others that you're looking for. Share yourself; don't hide behind walls of fear of ridicule and judgment. In real life relationships trust, respect, intimacy, and unity are all necessary for a bond to form. It's the same in the 'virtual' world; people want to hear from real people-not just one-sided, highly opinionated arguments from egos that don't want to hear the 'other side of the coin'.

Now, in my last article I really tore apart most writers out there, and here I'm giving some pretty complex ideas on how to fix the problem of 'bad' writing. In my next article I'll attempt to go back to the simple basics of how to write for beginners. I hope I haven't come across as too judgmental, I just truly believe the 'blog world' could become a real asset to humanity, and at the moment it's missing the mark.

Ideas about sentence structure, grammar, paragraphing, using a thesaurus (varying terms used so as not to sound repetitive), whether or not your blog is suitable for a personal or professional approach, are all important to creating a simple and enjoyable read for the blogging visitor. If you are a beginner, please check out my next article on the basics.

By Jesse S. Somer

M6.Net

Jesse S. Somer is a concerned human attempting to inform his fellow people of the real possibilities hidden in the Internet.

www.thepowerofeverythingthatis.com

priyankaa@m6.net

Why Wordpress is now my Blog of Choice

--> Why Wordpress is now my Blog of Choice The more I use Wordpress, the more I love it. It has 2 very important features that Blogger doesn't yet support.

Number 1, you can set up Wordpress to automatically ping all the RSS and blog feed directories every time you make a post. This is a very powerful feature if you want your blog to get a lot of traffic right away. On top of that, you'll be quickly developing backlinks to your blog almost automatically.

Think about how long it can take you to build a regular site, get the search engines to index it, get backlinks to improve your listings, and then start getting traffic. A blog like Wordpress can do all that "grunge" work for you automatically.

Number 2, Wordpress allows the use of Categories. Categories are a very powerful way to improve the structure of your site both for human visitors and for the search engines.

Let's say the topic of your site is Widgets. You could create a Category for black widgets, one for orange widgets, and one for green widgets.

Now when you add posts to your blog, you can choose which of your categories your post belongs to. Now your blog will archive your past posts not only by their month and date, as Blogger does. But also by Category.

So if you have a visitor who is especially interested in green widgets, they can easily find all your posts on green widgets. They don't have to go through your entire archives to find them. With a blog that has been around for awhile and has hundreds of posts, that would be pretty discouraging. Using Categories makes it very easy.

Categories are also very search engine friendly. When you use Categories in your blog, there is a link on every one of your pages to your categories. Think about this: would you rather be #1 in the search engines for March 2003, or for green widgets, one of the main keywords of your site?

By using the Category feature, you will eventually have hundreds of pages on your site with links to green widgets, black widgets, and orange widgets. All those backlinks to those keywords can result in much higher search engine rankings.

Another neat feature is that you can easily create an RSS feed for each of your categories. Then every time you post to your blog, it could be pinging the Blog/RSS directories for each feed!

Compare that to putting up a new page on a traditional website. Even if the search engines find your new page right away, it might be a month or two before it actually gets indexed and starts drawing traffic. It might be a long time before it enjoys a first page position for its keywords.

It's almost amazing how easy all this is with a well-structured blog like Wordpress with Categories enabled!

For more tips and ideas on how to make money blogging, be sure to
visit my "Why Marketers Should Blog" weblog at (what else)
http://www.WhyMarketersShouldBlog.com

Why Blog?

--> Why Blog? It seems everyone these days is talking about blogging. Everywhere I go, I find articles and forums devoted to this craze. I also have heard from many moms who are trying to figure out what a blog is and how they can use one to their benefit.

The term "blog" is short for "weblog", which just means an online journal or "log". You can jot down personal thoughts and notes, post articles you've written or keep track of interesting websites you find. The sky is the limit, it seems, when it comes to blogging. A blog is something entirely of your own creation and you can use it to share your thoughts with the world, well....with anyone you can get to read it anyway.

One of the main debates going on about blogs is whether blogging can be done to improve Search Engine rankings for businesses or to create a buzz about business websites. Both of these can be true if the blog is used correctly. Many resources show that once a blog is created, many times it is listed in Search Engines within 48 hours. This was true of the blog I created for Christian Work at Home Moms.

These are many ways to create a blog. The easiest by far is to use one of the free tools available online, such as Google's Blogger. You can create your blog for free using their online tools and templates(nothing to download). After you have created the blog, you can then publish your blog through them and "Wa-La" - your blog is posted online for the world to see.

Once you've created your blog, you will need to decide how you will use it. Will it be a personal blog, full of thoughts and comments for yourself alone or maybe your family? Or will it be a business blog, with articles and tips for potential customers? If you want your blog to be found by others, blogging experts recommend that you begin by setting the title and descriptions for your blog. These are similar to the the title and descriptions you set for your website. Try to make them meaningful because they are what people will see when your blog is returned in a Search Engine. If your description is simply "my blog", you may not draw the attention you'd like.

If you are blogging in the hopes of attracting customers, make sure to use wise use of words and links in your blogs. Try to avoid the "click here" link. Instead, opt for links within descriptive sentences. Add the HTML link within the sentence and attach it to the words that are closely related to the page or site you are linking to. For example, to link to my website I would not use "click here" as my link. I would say, "Please visit Christian Work at Home Moms for home-based work resources" with the link within the text.

There are many ways to get your blog noticed outside of optimizing them for Search Engines. For instance, there are entire websites devoted to listing blogs dedicated to any topic that you can think of. One of the best such websites devoted to women-created blogs, is BlogDaisy.com. You can also use free tools such a FeedBurner.com to track the traffic on your blog and to create a dynamic title box that can be used to display your blog headlines on your website or even in your email signature. Each time you update your blog, these headlines are instantly updated.

There are many ways to use a blog for either personal or business use. If used correctly, a blog can be a terrific tool to inform potential customers of your business. Be sure to update your blog at least once a week so that the content remains fresh and you remain in the Search Engines.

Jill Hart is the author/editor of Christian Work at Home Moms, http://www.CWAHM.com.

What is Blogger.com?

--> What is Blogger.com? In the late 1990's three San Francisco based web developers came up with the idea of being able to share information about anything on the web. The terminology they used was called blog. It's use was considered a mix of web page / personal journal. It's original usages were vast and wide, but more and more people came to use them as a personal tool that is available anywhere the Internet is. The three friends would eventually create Blogger.com one of the largest blogger sites on the Internet today. Blogger, which stands for Web Logger, has increased in popularity over the past three years. There has been so much interest in what capabilities it holds Google.com purchased them. Eventually, Google assimilated their technologies and imported them into the popular plug-in, The Google Toolbar.

Blogger.com allows a user to create a userid. Depending on the userid and password the user creates a specialized link namely "yourlinkname.blogspot.com". This space can be saved as a bookmark and published to the public or through a distribution list to a select few people. Your site is logged as a "webring" type of atmosphere, should you decide to take the information public. You can see all users who have published blogs and even enter in information on the blogs should they let you. Discussion groups and personal files are housed all within this environment making it a fun place to surf about and learn about different people and things.

You can create a private discussion group and send out information via email to let people know when content or a thread has changed. Blog is like a portal for individuals, instead of business. There are many robust features involved to keep your blog private should you not want to share information publicly. Its interface even includes a word processing editor so you can format the background and font all from one simple location. The ideas are simple; you can share information around the world without having to let everyone on the Internet community know your blog exists.

The necessity for a personal online portal or "blog" has considerable potential, as the Internet continues to evolve.

What Is A Blog? - A Beginner's Guide to Understanding Blogs

--> What Is A Blog? - A Beginner's Guide to Understanding Blogs A blog is short for weblog, which simply means a website that is updated frequently with new information and is organized by date and submission. Blogs are typically a way of journalizing information whether it be personal, business, or what have you. It's like an editorial and a journal all mixed together and available online for constant updates and submissions.

As a beginner, you probably want to know more about blogs and why people are using them.

Blogging started out when the Internet was new and the individuals who were technology savvy found it fun and entertaining to post different things they found on the web for other people to visit and enjoy. It caught on quickly and a community of blogs developed, allowing people to read other peoples blogs. As time went on, new technology was developed that allowed even the non-techie to create their own blog and join the blog culture.

Blogs are popular because they relay experiences, interesting thoughts, comments, photos, web links, and plenty of other information that people find interesting. Today, blogging is really popular and many people will send you a link to their blog so you can keep up with their experiences such as vacations, studies, pregnancies, and any other thing you can possibly think of.

What started out as a way to navigate the web and figure out all of the newness that was the Internet of the early '90s, turned into a way for people to journalize their experiences, share photos, and keep people up to date on their lives. In response to the popularity of blogs, many websites launched software and free sign-ups for blogs so anyone could have their own blog and share their experiences with the entire world.

And so, blogging has continued to grow and weblogs have multiplied into the millions. In fact, there are so many blogs on the web that you can practically become part of your own community with people worldwide, sharing your life, experiences, and thoughts with people you would never have met. Blogs truly are linking people together and they are an amazing phenomenon.

If you are interested in blogging, all you have to do is join one of the many blog websites that will allow you to set up your own account and have your own blog space on the web, giving you a personal space to share photos, experiences, stories, links, and basically anything else that you care to share. Many people even find that writing blogs are excellent stress relievers and quite cathartic, so you might receive some additional benefits from your blog than just the joy of sharing your personal information. Go online today and find a blog website where you can set up an account and get started!

Michael Turner shows you exactly how to increase web site traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it today at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

What Is A Blog?

--> What Is A Blog? People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com.

Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process.

Blogs can be described in many definitions and they are all correct.

Blogs are instant publishing. You write, you cut-and-paste images, you cut-and-paste links, you customize everything through a WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get) interface, and with one click you publish your information or article.

A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links.

A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.

Blogs are alternatively called web logs. However,"blog" seems less likely to cause confusion, as "web log" can also mean a server's log files.

A cross between an online journal and a bulletin board.

Business Blogs:

Can be used as a corporate tool for communicating with customers or employees to share knowledge and expertise.

What does Blogging Provide to Small Business?

Blogging is a low-cost alternative to having a web presence. For small business owners without the time to learn web html or the money to hire a designer/developer, blogging offers an inexpensive method to get your company's name out on the Internet.

Updating the web log is a much quicker process than contacting a web designer with changes or doing the coding and uploading yourself.

Business blogs provide your small business with a chance to share your expertise and knowledge with a larger audience. A powerful benefit for consultants and knowledgeable workers.

Sean Felker is the publisher of the very successful and popular Work at Home and Making Money on the Internet blog: http://making-money-online.blogspot.com

What Every Blogger Needs To Know About Their Target Audience

--> What Every Blogger Needs To Know About Their Target Audience It doesn't matter what kind of web site you have you must
understand your target audience and know what it is that
they want. Please notice that I used the word want and not
the word need. There is a world of difference between wants
and needs. For example you might need a means of getting
from A to B and almost any vehicle would fulfil that need;
but what you really want is a top of the range BMW!

I write my blog with just one person in mind. In my minds
eye I have come to know that person intimately, I understand
his goals, his dreams and his aspirations and I know the
things that really interests him. He is my ideal reader, he
soaks up every word and he clicks every link I include in
each blog post.

Clearly, you can't please all the people all of the time.
So, the best strategy is to focus on pleasing the people you
can influence. You don't want passive readers, you want
people who will take action. Readers who will click a link
because you have recommended a new eBook or a new software
product. Readers who will click the "Buy Now" button and
earn you an affiliate commission.

So, what do you need to know about your target audience?

You will get two types of people coming to your site...
People with whom you have built up a relationship and who
like to read your blog. People who have come to your site
for the very first time. You have two jobs to do. You have
to keep the first type of people coming back and you have to
grab the second type of people's attention, persuade them to
stay long enough to engage their interest and to convert
them to loyal readers.

Just think - when you are online what is it that you want to
achieve? The majority of people online are looking for
something. It's unlikely that they are just surfing in a
random fashion, although some people will do that. When
online people are usually looking for specific information
or seeking the solution to a problem.

Your job as a blogger is to make that information, and those
solutions, available so that they can be found. In other
words your content must closely match the wants of your
target audience.

Make sure that your blog has a well defined theme and try to
stick to making posts that stay on topic. Keep up to data
with the news within the theme of your blog and provide your
readers with your opinions on relevant and interesting
items. Encourage feedback and always respond to questions
from your readers.

Use a blog script or service that allows the easy addition
of RSS feeds so that your blog site has fresh new content as
soon as it is available.

Above all remember that each and every visitor to your site
is a real person with feelings and emotions and be prepared
to reveal something yourself in your posts. Your readers are
much more likely to trust you if you allow them to get to
know you.

John Taylor is a prolific writer, he is the author of several
Internet Marketing related eBooks, including "Testing