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Word Count: 2393 words Category: Blogs

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Take the word Web. Now take the word Log (like in a ship’s
log). Scrunch them together and you have Blog! Simple. A blog is
just a log on the web. Simple in concept but they can be
powerful in application. Blogs can be written by the girl up
the street, right after she does her homework–just a daily
record of how she feels and what she’s up to. Blogs are also
written by staff people at powerful corporations, sharing news
and policies. They’ve even been written by somewhat ordinary
people but the effect has been so great they’ve made
corporations lose money! A blog is really just some software
(either on your own computer or maintained by a web company)
that makes it very easy to post words–profound words or simple
words or outrageous words–most often, daily. People do it for
many reasons:

~ to share their feelings

~ to share their thoughts

~ to share other people’s feelings

~ to share other people’s thoughts

~ to raise hell

~ to help folks get closer to heaven

~ to help other people learn things

~ to help other people change their thinking

~ to criticize ideas

~ to criticize people

~ to criticize companies

~ to praise ideas, people, or companies

Get the idea? A blog can be used to post (which just means put
on the web) words ( or, words and pictures, or just Pictures! )
that do many different things. Obviously, any given blog could
be doing a number of those things on any given day. Most blogs
have a theme (or, themes) that are used to channel what’s
posted. Some of them wander all over the place. There are many
ways to start a blog. You can buy software and put it on your
computer and host the blog all by yourself. This method lets you
have a tremendous amount of control over how the blog looks and
what features it has. The other way to start a blog is to use
one of the many blog-places on the web. You may not have total
control over how it looks or what features it has but these
place give you quite a bit and it’s free! Here’s a short list of
web addresses where you can get a free blog:

http://www.blogger.com/start

http://www.typepad.com/splash/

http://www.livejournal.com/

http://www.blogsource.com/

These certainly aren’t the only places to go, just some of the
more popular ones, and they all make it very easy to start
blogging! I’d go to all four places and compare what they
offer–get a feel for the place. Most blogs are published by
people like you and me–somewhat normal and with “something” to
say. By the way, if you think you wouldn’t have much to say in a
blog, you might want to look at my booklet about blogging on my
site (See below. {In fact, this article is an excerpt of that
booklet.}) because it helps you find out what you have inside
that others would love to hear about! The daily-diary blog is
very common as far as types of blogs go but what people put in
those blogs can range from what may seem boring to what
positively shocks! Think of just about any topic at all and
there is bound to be a blog out there somewhere that talks about
it, even blogs about blogging! Even if only your family and
friends read your blog, there’s a very important effect going
on. You’re writing it. You’re sharing what matters to you.
You’re an author and a publisher. You are making sure that part
of you is in the Record–the vast amount of information that
humanity is creating every day.

( If you’re interested in figuring out the best kind of blog
for you, visit my site for the inexpensive booklet, “Blogging ~
What It Is & How To Love It”. It includes some exercises that
will help you range in on the best kind of blog for you ! )

The first important feature of a blog, and the most important,
is the place you put the words (and/or pictures). This is
usually just a box on the computer screen that you click your
mouse on and start typing away. One important part of this text
box (and people call it that even if you fill it with pictures)
is some easy way to make your words “pretty”–some bold, some
italic, maybe some in different styles of typeface (called
fonts). The places I listed in the last section all make it very
easy to put down and pretty-up your words (or insert pictures).
Something else that’s important to many bloggers is an easy way
to insert links into the body of what they’re writing. Many
blogs exist as channels for letting other people know what the
individual blogger is doing on the Web. Let’s say the blogger is
an avid fan of sports in space (hey! Maybe not right now but
soon, huh?). They cruise the Web looking for interesting things
about sports in space and when they find something, *Ping*, it
appears in the blog. So, be sure the place you choose to host
your blog makes it easy to insert a link to another place on the
Web. If you start blogging in one place and find out it’s a real
drag figuring out how to easily link to other sites, drop that
blog–let it die–and go where you can do it without hardly
thinking about it. If you’ve never read a blog, you may wonder
why I’m stressing this point. Go forth and read some blogs!
You’ll quickly see why this feature is so important in the World
Wide Web…

Another important feature is called Comments. This usually
appears right at the bottom of each post to the blog as a link
that says, duh, comments… Why is this important? Well, imagine
that you’re visiting someone else’s blog. They’ve just said
something that you really like or really don’t like. What do you
want to do? Comment on what they said. Comments are one of the
features of blogs that make people want to come back. Over time,
good bloggers (and I don’t mean just the ones with fancy words
or stunning arguments) gather a group of regular readers who
love to comment on the posts. This, in turn, gives the blogger
ideas about what to put in (or, keep out of) the blog. They call
it interactivity and it can become one of the very best things
about blogging!

So, you have a place to put your content (words and/or pics)
and a place to let others comment. Next you want to be sure
there’s a way to easily add links to past posts in the blog.
This feature is usually in a column to the right or the left of
the blog’s posts and often has a heading that says something
like: Recent Posts. The reason this is important to have is
that, as you post, daily or weekly, to your blog, the individual
posts move down the web page and, depending on how you set the
preferences, they eventually fall off the first page. There will
be a link at the bottom that lets people read these old posts
but having a way to let them look to the side and click on a
link that has the title of the older posts is oh-so much better.
If you have a choice, pick a place that gives you control over
which posts end up in this column. You may not want every single
thing you’ve said so easy to get to. You can delete any post, of
course, but you never know when some old forgotten thought or
feeling could become important to remember. So, keep all the old
posts but be able to show on the front page the ones that seem
meaningful to most people or for most of the reasons the blog is
in existence.

Next comes the Titles of individual posts and a place to put
Links to Other Blogs. Both of these aspects of blogging are
important if you want a lot of other people to come to your blog
and read it. The titles of individual blogs are important
because they have the job of making people want to read what
you’ve written. They also have the job of letting the search
engines find key words that will make your blog show up on the
Web’s radar. It often happens that a certain combination of
words in the title of a blog post has made a rather unknown blog
soar to the top of the search results page.

Having a place to put links to other blogs has a similar
effect–helping the search engines notice your blog. Both titles
(plus the smart use of keywords in the body of the blog post)
and links to other blogs help other people find you. But, if you
link to another blog, be sure you e-mail that person and tell
them you did it. Then, in the nicest way you can, ask them to
put a link to your blog on theirs! Cross-linking like this is
the best way to generate an audience for your blog, unless you
have a really huge family and thousands of personal friends…

The other reason to cross-link with other blogs is because it
can help you form a community of interest around your own blog.
Let’s say your blog is about Space Sports. You go to Google and
put in the words “space sports” and “blogs”. Up comes a bunch of
other blogs. You link to the ones you like and ask them to do
the same. Your life just became much more interesting–to
yourself and to a lot of other people! Let’s say you don’t have
a blog with something as riotously popular as Space Sports.
Maybe your blog is about quilting that uses cloth made from
reeds that grow on the banks of South American rivers. What?
Google choked?! No sweat. Link to blogs about cloth
manufacturing at home, or protecting plants that grow by rivers
in South America, or any ol’ quilting sites. Who’s to say how
you go about building a community of interest around your own
blog? Do what you feel is right. Do what you want. It’s your
Place in CyberSpace !

To round out this section on the features and characteristics
of blogs, I’ll leave you with some Web addresses of interesting
articles about blogs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

http://www.rebeccamead.com/2000_11_13_art_blog.htm

http://www.cjr.org/issues/2003/5/blog-jensen.asp

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.05/mustread.html?pg=2

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/dot_life/179999
8.stm

So… Let’s assume you have a Prime Life Interest or a list of
Prime Life Interests and you’ve found a Place on the Web that
makes it easy to tell or show others about it or them.
Hopefully, you’ve already or will soon find other blogs that are
related to yours in some way. To help you do this, so you can
make your blog more visible (by cross-linking with them) and
start to create a community of interest, here’s a list of
addresses that can help you find other blogs:

http://www.technorati.com/

http://blogsearch.google.com/

http://www.bloogz.com/

http://www.blogflux.com

Now, while you’re finding those other blogs, you need to pay
attention to how they do their blogging! Even in the same
blog-space, different bloggers will choose different features of
the blog which will radically change the effect it has on its
readers. Then, there’s the actual way the individual bloggers go
about putting their words and images into the blogs. This is
where a person’s personality shines through the features and
content of the blog–this is where you can shine! There are two
basic ways to refine the style you use to create your blog:

A. Take some time to write a few trial posts, show them to a few
interested people, then start the blog.

B. Just Do It !

I highly recommend choice B ! Get in there and make mistakes.
Make them right in front of the whole world. If nothing else,
you can write about the mistake and make the correction in your
next post. Bingo ! Two posts for the price of one… I think
the supreme advantage in just starting right in and making
public corrections along the way is that you’re letting people
see the REAL you. Especially if your using the blog to publicly
learn and share that learning with others, this is the preferred
method. Think about this: words without a voice to actually say
them can be boring. But words that are trying hard to say
something, something that deeply matters to the person writing
them, even if they take their time and wander around a lot, are
more honest and appealing. However, if you take out “something
that deeply matters to the person writing them”, you’re back to
just boring, along with aimless. (This argument also makes sense
even if your blog is mostly images.) By the way, something
that’s coming on line as I write this are audio and video blogs.
Whoo Hoo ! ! Another experience that will improve the way you
let yourself shine in your blog is to make an effort to look at
blogs that are not in your list of preferred topics . Just
because you don’t have an abiding interest in a topic doesn’t
mean you can’t learn something from a good blog about it. In
fact, the fact that you don’t especially care for the actual
content will enable you to focus more on the way it’s presented
! Just because your burning interest is Space Sports is no
reason to ignore what you may learn about presentation from a
quilting blog. That may seem like quite a stretch but the
farther away you get from your content the better you can
objectively see the way that content is presented, and learn
from it.

So, there it is. My humble, short guide to blogging and how to
love it. About the only advice I have left right now is to read
this article again in a few days. Never know what you may have
missed till you find it again, eh?

If you’d like to see what someone like me does with a blog,
look at these two:

http://www.lulu.com/amzolt

http://www.livejournal.com/users/amzoltai

Also, I’d love to hear from you with any comments or criticisms
you may have about this article. Everything can be improved,
right ? Write to me at:

amzolt@gmail.com

When I first wrote my original “Why I Hate Blogs” for article submission I was pretty sure that the humor would get some hits but in my wildest dreams I never thought that out of the 26 articles I did write that it would be second in the amount of the hits it did get. Actually it was dark humor because I honestly do hate spending the time blogging away or let us be more specific - I honestly DID hate spending that time.

Most blogs are usually never read by more than a few. They sit there in the virtual world on servers, which provide this service for free (lord only knows why), and the muses and thoughts of those who write them serve more as a personal diary for the individual than to inform the world of some serious event.

To be sure there are quite a few blogs that are frequented daily either due to the persona who owns them or due to their popularity in a specific niche. For instance, writers frequent blogs that are kept up by agents. Some of these blogs are humorous, some serious.

As a matter of course when I set up my blog I put in a stat counter. These are available for free all over the web, and by injecting a line of code into your web page or blog you can get fairly sophisticated results as to how many visits you get and for how long the person visited. I never really looked at those stats due to the fact that business and other web development which I considered more important were taking up all my time.

This morning out of curiosity I called up these statistics, fully expecting to see hits in the low teens. People who just happened by my blog by mistake. I certainly did not expect to see a number in the hundreds coming close to a thousand hits in the period from November 2005 until the end of Jan. 2006.

In a quick peek at those statistics I realized that the visitors from all over the globe. And so I went to MSN search which is much friendlier to blog searches than Google or Yahoo. Google maintains its own blog search facility separate from its normal search. Yes your blog can end up in Google Main Search as well, but that would take an incredible amount of great back-links to it and really high popularity. MSN was still showing my blog in search requests.

I really do hate blogs. But they have become part of the mainstay of the web as has RSS feeds. Indeed RSS feeds are simple to generate, yet if you pay attention, most information within RSS feeds are NOT picked up by search engines. (This is due to the fact that people do not realize that an RSS feed produced through Javascript, which most are, are simply ignored by Search Engines, as search engines do not read or follow any links in Javascript.)

And so I grrrrrrrrrr to myself, tear out my hair, and continue to blog. Yes I duplicate stuff that is on my business site, and articles I submit for submission, and I ad links to my own writing especially when it is published professionally.

It does take time to set up a blog and it takes effort. It takes time to list the blog in the blog directories. The trick is, as with any WebSite to see if you can get some important “niche” and “original” information into your blog. That will let it stand out to the search engines. Search engines today are putting a great deal of emphasis on “original content”, as can be seen just from the many article submission sites that have become much more stringent in their article acceptance process. Non-original content does no one any good. So put “original” content into your web Blog.

As much as I hate to admit it blogging is sometimes important for your business and your web presence. It can be useless or it can add an extra added push to your web business. That is entirely up to you and how often you choose to blog and what you decide to put in a blog.

On the other hand, I say this with a sheepish smile, since Blogs are free, I set up another blog in Google for my family and friends where I simply post pictures of the family and news about them. This I have no need to be picked up by web search engines, and just pass out the URL to my kids and close friends. Which is another way to use blogs.

So I remain with my hand raised on “hating blogs”. And I fully admit I continue to blog. The lesson that I have learned is that no web technology should be ignored when it becomes mainstay. If you are serious about adding credibility to your business then setting up a blog should also be part of the plan.

And if you just want to write your diary and private thoughts down, then go for the blog as well. Just be aware you may end up being surprised at how many people will read those thoughts.

Google’s blogspot is great http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ as is Wordpress at http://wordpress.org/ The difference is that Google offers you the space, whereas the WordPress blog you download the free software and then set up where you want it. (Google provides this service as well allowing you to create your blog on your own webserver.)

Other good Blooging software is out there as well. And even for the non technolgical minded setting one up is fairly easy. If you want to change look and feel and templates, they can be found all over the web, or just use the options of your blogging software.

I still hate blogging. But life is not full of doing only those things we like. Use your blog if you are serious about promoting your business. And use your blog if you want to promote yourself. Don’t expect a million hits a minute but don’t be surprised if your blog turns out to be a positive addition to your web presence. I certainly was and continue to be amazed at the results.

Copyright © 2006 Ted W. Gross. All rights reserved. (You may publish this article in its entirety with the following author’s information with live links only.)

Ted Gross runs Virgin Earth Article Submissions which is designed to accept articles about travel, countries, places, historical events or current events in the world. Virgin Earth Article Submissions gladly accepts articles about travel and places and countries - and of course places of interest all over the world. Ted Gross is also a published author and maintains a web site for his works Of course he does blog from time to time and maintains his blog when the muses hit him.

“Everyone is too scared to use the Internet to buy things”.

Remember when they said that? It’s not that long ago.

Look at us now. People can and do buy anything and everything
from the web. The fear, really a fear of change has gone.

They said TV would destroy the cinema. That didn’t
happen. The movies are a completely different form to TV but we
didn’t realise at the time. TV and cinema both survived and now
both feed off each other.

In hindsight we all see what was perfectly obvious.

Now they’re saying that Blogs, or weblogs are taking over the
Internet.

A blog is effectively an online journal where you, or a group,
can record their innermost thoughts and make comments about a
topic. Anyone has access to read your journal entry (known as a
post) and can comment on it.

For much more detailed information about blogging look at the
entry in wikipedia for “Blogging.“

You get over 474 million search results if you enter “blog” into Google.

Part of the reason for the blogs attraction is its ease of use. It takes only a few minutes to begin “blogging”.

First you sign up with a blog server, like Google’s Blogger, SixApart’s TypePadblog or use Wordpress.

You choose a page template you like. There are a number of very good ones available completely free. Then post your first
entry.

The final step is to let a blog directory know each time you
create a new post (this is called pinging). Services such as
Pingoat and Pingomatic are sites that can ping a number
of other directories on your behalf.

People search these directories using blog search engines
and browse the blogs in a similar way to web sites.

Do Companies Really Use Blogs?

Company executives use blogs. For example Bob Lutz, Vice
President of General Motors has his own blog. Other people from
GM contribute to it as well. IBM Vice President Bob Sutor and
Vice President of Marketing for Boeing Randy Baseler write their
own blogs too.

Employees from corporates like Microsoft, Google and Hewlett
Packard blog.

When blogging is used in a positive way it shows your customers
and prospects your corporate personality and helps build rapport.

What Are The Blog Downsides?

The company CEO shouldn’t blog. That’s because there may be
pressure to flag future events. Or worse, if they drop a clanger
it can be spread world-wide very quickly.

A further potential blogging downside is that you’ve no influence over
what others put in their own blogs about what you’ve written.

You only need to look at some of the comments that General Motors got on Bob Lutz’s blog when they started a discussion on seatbelts to see how heated things can get.

Companies may be concerned that employees will spend too much
time blogging or reading blogs. That means a blogging policy
should be in place to prevent such abuse.

What Is The Advantage Of A Blog?

A blog can position someone, or a company, as an expert. But people can easily pass other people’s work off as their own. So it really is a case of “buyer beware” when reading blogs.

So are blogs going to be a knock-out for attracting and retaining customers?

The short answer is it depends, and the reasons are:

1) It’s just another marketing communication channel - it can be used well or not. Rather like PR is used.
2) For some companies it’s just too public
3) It’s completely without editoral control
4) It requires commitment to update regularly and to check and
respond to comments

It’s been said that consultancies and other organisations that
deal in knowledge and intellectual property benefit most from
blogging. That’s because they can demonstrate their ability and
expertise to their market in a different way from other marketing
tactics.

But really why should it stop there? General Motor’s blog is
useful for communicating new model launches and answering
customer feedback.

In fact there really is no practical limit to the who can use
blogging to communicate with customers and prospects.

But In The End Is Blogging A Dead-end?

The business blog is definitely an important communication tool
that every company should seriously consider as part of their
marketing arsenal. But it must be looked at as another business
tool whose ultimate measurement is: “does it get more sales or
reduce company costs?”

If it can’t deliver at least one of those measures business
blogging deserves to fail.

I’ve been blogging for over a year now and I’ve found that I’ve had thousands of hits. Intentionally I don’t get any sales from it. But that’s because I’m writing mini articles and will eventually use them as a basis for my next book.

So in the final analysis blogs are another communication channel so companies have the ability to take theirs and make it do the PR, word of mouth, viral and Internet marketing for them.

Internet advertising has grown into big business. Expect blogging to do the same.

Jim Symcox, The Marketing Magician, has worked as a business consultant since the mid 1980’s.

He is a copywriter, marketing evangelist and coach and the author of the short and snappy ebook “How to Leap Ahead Of Your Competitors”.

For a free copy of “How To Leap Ahead Of Your Competitors email web@acornservice.com with “ezine” in the subject line.

Go to http://www.Acornservice.com to opt in to Jim’s free and no obligation email seminar series on business growth (including a module called “How To Create Your USP”).

For regular up to the minute nuggets on marketing, internet marketing and business check out the Power Packed Business Growth Blog at http://www.acornservice.blogspot.com.

The new hot commodity is a blog for your small business so you’ve decided you must have one.

Before you begin think about it long term. Where do you think
the blog is headed? What is the objective? Do you want it to be
found by the search engines for specific terms? How often
will you post? Who will the audience be? What will it look like
a year from now? Five years from now?

If you think you may have this blog for a long time, consider
hosting it with your own domain name. Blogger provides you
with a free domain name (name.blogspot.com), or the option
of ftp to your own domain. If, at some point in time in the
future you want to move the blog and you’ve been using the
blogspot name, you won’t be able to take it with you. This means
that all of the people who have your blog in their reader will
“lose” you. It also means that you’ll have to start from ground
zero with the search engines.

Do some digging before you jump. A couple of good networks
where you can get some education are:

- Blogging for Business at http://blogbrandz-network.ryze.com/
Make sure you sign up for the “Blogging for Marketers” email course. Priya has loaded the course with good blog information (and it costs you nothing).

- Blogger Forum at http://www.bloggerforum.com/modules/newbb/
The Blogger Forum is very welcoming to newbies. Browse around
and just by looking at previous posts, you can learn a ton. they also have a section on blog platforms which talks about the different options available.

Once you’re ready to go, what are you going to write about? Make sure you’ve brainstormed ideas so you don’t run into the inevitable writer’s block. You can always start with what you’ve written before. Do you have a newsletter? Look through your archive and “refresh” some of those old topics as a blog posting. How about your website? Do you have content you can turn into a blog topic? Do you participate in online forums or discussion lists? Find some advice you gave to someone there and turn it into a blog post.

This should get you started. Remember that small business blogging is a long term activity. Be ready.

Denise O’Berry is a small business expert who helps small business owners take action to grow their business. Don’t know what to write about? Get the cure for blog writer’s block at http://www.whatspossible.com/blogidea/

Blogs are more permanent than posts to an online discussion list, more dynamic than older-style home pages. They are more personal than traditional journalism, and definitely more public than diaries. A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person’s life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary site. So, there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.

Blogs enable interaction and invite others to reward a person’s creative effort with feedback. They weave new social networks, introducing people with common passions. Another reason why one should start blogging is dissemination of “micro-opinions” important to a small audience – opinions that would never make it in newspapers.

Weblogs, definitely, are the mavericks of the online world. Two of its greatest strengths are their ability to filter and disseminate information to a widely dispersed audience, and their position outside the mainstream of mass media.

The XHTML family can accommodate extensions through XHTML modules and techniques to develop new XHTML-conforming modules. These modules permit the combination of existing and new feature sets when developing content and when designing new user agents.

With so many different ways to access the Internet, the XHTML family is designed keeping in mind the general user agent interoperability. Through document profiling mechanism, servers, proxies, and user agents are able to create best effort content transformation. This language is both RSS and XML conforming. The content can be readily viewed, edited, and validated with standard XML tools. XHTML documents can utilize applications (e.g. scripts and applets) that rely upon either the HTML Document Object Model or the XML Document Object Model.

InstaBlog
http://instablog.hit.bg/

InstaBlog appeared as a result of two things: responding to the simplest possible way to maintain a weblog, and trying out the extremely cool Perl MSN IM client. InstaBlog functions in the following manner: it is run as a background process on a machine with Internet access. With its own Passport identification it is constantly logged into the MSN instant messenger service.

OpenJournal
http://www.grohol.com/downloads/oj/

OpenJournal is a completely Web-based interface. The software’s features include: automated file creation; automated index updating; editing of all files through a Web-based interface; entries with or without titles and time posted; automated archiving based on a weekly or monthly format. All done through ordinary text files and no additional perl modules are needed to run it. Basically, the software allows the users to keep an online journal, customize and configure it. All needed to do after installation is to write in it from time to time.

BlogBack
http://www.tecknik.net/blogback/
Comment system that does not require server installation.

Enetation
http://www.enetation.co.uk/index.php?
Free hosted commenting system

BloggerBot
http://www.fibiger.org/bloggerbot/
AIM client for Blogger.

dotcomments
http://www.foreword.net/
Free PHP-based comment system for use on Blogger-backed and other weblogs.

Christos Varsamis is an internet marketing consultant and the publisher of http://www.Internetmarketingsuccesstips.com & http://www.settinglifegoals.com.

Step1 - Understand podcast/podcasting :

A podcast is basically an audio file that is stored on the
Internet that people can download to their computers , IPODS and
MP3 players and listen to whenever and wherever they want to.
Think of a podcast as a way to deliver any audio content to a
large audience worldwide.

Step 2 - Podcast recording :

You have to get your message recorded using a mic. It is called
podcast
recording.You can either use your own voice or use a
software like Jvw Podcast creator to use text to voice
conversion for your podcasts. You can use articles, ebooks,
lyrics, poems, white papers, tutorials, press releases, emails,
business letters and more.

Step 3 - Create
RSS feed for podcast :

You can create a simple Rss feed for your podcast with Enclosure
url using a text editing software or use a podcast
recording software. Make sure you make the feed itunes
compatible. A simple Enclosure tag for podcast would look like
this :

url="http://www.jvwinc.com/first-podcast.wav"
length="433296″ type="audio/wav" />

Step 4 - Validate your podcast

After you create a
podcast , it is necessary that you validate your podcast
feed to make sure there are no errors in it and that it is Rss
specific and itunes compatible. You can use
http://feedvalidator.org to check out rss feeds or search for
more options on Google :
http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=podcast+validator&meta=
for Podcast validators.

Step 5- Submit your podcast

Make sure you popularize your podcast. Submit your podcast to
directories and podcasting specific websites after you have
created and validated the feeds. You can search for them at
google :
http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=submit+podcast&meta=

Web gives a lot of exposure; weblog stabilizes the exposure with a profound purpose. The purpose of a Weblog is to complement e-newsletters, serving readers in a way that extends a blogger’s expertise and leadership in the market.

So, what is it that is expected from a blog? A blog is considered to be a place to inform and to be informed. Straight talk is what readers consider to be an ideal blog message. Straight talk is a four or five sentence of direct, informative content about a specific issue or bit of news.

Blogs consists of human expressions and is expected to have a soulful purpose. Blog posts are expected to be a personal post, as it can convey blogger’s emotions. So, these messages are mostly written in first person singular and are rich in emotions. Blogs are also expected to provide details from the writer’s life: missed flights, break-ups, rodents under the stove, computer breakdowns, muggings, and tamale recipes and more.

A blogger should always remember that if there are doubts that readers will discount the article entirely based on its context; they shouldn’t consider linking it at all.

Authentication of the message is one important aspect that a blog post is expected to adhere to. Blogs are expected to be clear about its source. This avoids chances where readers may cease to trust the bloggers. These chances may take shape if discovered that the information source has been disguised or the blogger didn’t make the source of an article clear. The readers might have evaluated these sources differently had they been given all the facts. Into every aspect of the practice of weblogging, transparency is one of the weblog’s distinguishing characteristics and greatest strengths.

A writer’s goal and priority should always be clarity.

It is a bloggers responsibility to focus exclusively on producing content that attracts the reader. What determines the right kind of content? This can be determined by reading other blogs and hitting whatever is hot in discussion or high in trend.

The most compelling bloggers are necessarily the ones with the most insightful analyses and the best links; besides this the most successful are those who get the reader interested in their own ongoing story. Because bloggers on similar subjects link to each other, the reader finds it easier to understand opposing points of view. For bloggers, not linking to others is a death sentence for their ratings.

Chris Hickman owns a full info site about Weblog blogging. Check Out his site at http://www.ez-weblog-blogging.com

Remember when advertising was limited to expensive ads in print. I came from that field and clients paid thousands of dollars to claim their market share. Printers worked overtime to keep up with impossible deadlines and increasing demand.

A few years ago, I was looking for a service in the Yellow Pages. My son found the service faster than I did, by using the Internet. At the time, I was spending some serious cash on the Yellow Pages for local advertising. I was sold into the idea that “break even” advertising was fine because of repeat business.

Business owners from my generation, and the generations before, had accepted the idea of investing in failure. We even had a formula of “cost per information call,” to justify investing, in advertising, that would not show a profit for months or years.

However, how many ads can you write in print and afford to break even on your expenses? Most “mom an pop” businesses invest their hard earned money and look forward to, a much needed, immediate “return on investment.” Why else would they advertise in the first place? Small businesses are looking for instant results.

My son had enlightened me about the accessibility of Internet advertising, but I was really new to the idea. Shortly afterward, I sought out an Internet advertising guru. By luck and fate, I found Corey Rudl and IMC. Later, I was coached by Corey’s mentoring program.

For the first time ever, you can advertise for, very little or, no money at all. A web site can cost $100 to $200 per year depending upon the host and what kind of package you need to get started.

If you do it all yourself, you won’t spend anything else. You must still work to optimize your site, for the search engines, and if you hire “outside” it won’t be cheap. A “top notch” search engine optimization (SEO) expert won’t come cheap either, and some of the inexpensive (SEO) services will get you “black listed.”

With a website full of unique “keyword content,” it should take you about five months to see big changes in your rankings with the major search engines. This is a conservative estimate, but getting top 10 rankings with Google, Yahoo, MSN, or AOL requires skill, content, and time.

However, Blogs can get you ranked very fast. Due to the constant changes and adding of copy that is keyword rich you can establish an Internet presence in much less time. On top of that, you don’t have to know HTML or be an SEO expert.

Some Blog services like Blogger are free, and since Blogger owned by Google, it is well worth your while to open an account. All you have to do is make entries a few days per week. If you have a lot to say – more keyword content is better.

If you are a small business, refer to your services, products, changes, and your geographic location, in your Blog entries. This will point prospects toward your Blog. When people are searching for your niche market in your area, you will be listed within your niche.

Blogs work in harmony with a web site, so you should still get a web site and have your Blog link to your company website and have your website link back to your Blog. This is a great way to let potential customers see the changes that happen in your business and feel your passion for it. When your new customers meet you, they will be much more informed and comfortable, with you.

A powerful Blog, with unique and keyword rich content, serves as a “magnet,” and may draw more customers than your web site does. The bottom line is, you don’t have to spend a penny on advertising with your Blog.

Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts, with multiple Black Belts, four martial arts teaching credentials, and was recently inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors in the greater Providence area. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher. http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html

Many executives should considering blogging. It helps publicize
company news as well as executive viewpoints and opinions, adds
to a company’s personality, and is superb for receiving customer
feedback. Executives can blog extremely effectively as their
thoughts are usually well regarded and trusted, and their blogs
tend to get an instant large readership. Executives who blog
include Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of General Motors, Randy
Baseler, VP of Marketing, Boeing, and many others.

Not everyone is suited to blogging. Some executives may not be
comfortable publicly expressing their views on a regular basis.
Blogs also need to be in a written in a personal and
conversational style in order to be seen as authentic, and many
executives have difficulty writing in such an informal style.

Executives often have time constraints and an executive blog
that is rarely updated will quickly lose its popularity and
readers. A “group blog” with several authors and an occasional
insightful blog post by an executive can successfully retain
interested readers and popularity. This allows an executive to
contribute as time permits.

Some executives default to having their blogs ghostwritten or
“produced” by PR. “Light” ghostwriting and editing can be useful
but a blog entirely produced and scripted is not going to be
effective; the thoughts and opinions in the blog must be
authentic.

Blogging may be difficult or impossible to do effectively in
some organizations. If company policy requires statements to be
approved before being made public, perhaps by several layers of
bureaucracy, the immediacy and relevance of a blog and its
chances of success can be severely compromised. In any industry
where running afoul of regulations may be an issue, confer with
legal counsel for guidelines.

The proliferation of online personal journals known as weblogs or more commonly, blogs, has revolutionized the way people interact online and changed the manner in which they consume information. Not only do people share the mundane facts of their day-to-day lives (at times even their sex lives), but they also vent their political opinions, raise money for charity, review books and movies, draft short stories and novels, relate their travels, and give the conventional news media a run for its money. The number of unique uses for blogs is a great as the number of blogs themselves.

In 2004 a number of political bloggers were given press credentials at the presidential nominating conventions of both major political parties. Since that time more and more politicians have begun hosting their own blogs as a way to interact with constituents. In addition, many reporters who covered the opening days of the war in Iraq posted accounts of their exploits on personal journals as well as filing stories with their news agencies. Today popular news programs like PrimeTime Live have blogs that augment their programming material.

Normally blogs are updated on a regular basis with entries appearing in chronological order, usually reverse. A number of free blog services make it quite easy for the novice blogger to establish a presence on the web. Blogs from Blogger, LiveJournal, and EasyJournal fit into this category. Many people, however, seek to customize their blogs with designs and content that fit their personalities and interests.

Often in this scenario the blogger registers a domain name, pays for the services of a web hosting company, and either installs and customizes the blog software or hires a blog designer to do so. Software popular for this more sophisticated application includes TypePad, Expression Engine, MoveableType, and WordPress. (Note that WordPress is a free blog application but many designers for hire create custom templates for this popular content engine.)

Blogs not only contain text entries, but link to other blogs and sites across the web. Blogs may include photographs, video, and increasingly audio files, often in a talk show format known as “podcasts,” a reference to the wildly popular portable media player from Apple, the iPod. Podcasts have taken the basic idea and format of blogs and moved them into the spoken word. Many podcasters post transcripts or “show notes” of their program in conventional blog format as well as making their downloadable “broadcasts” available.

With the availability of content management software that makes keeping a website as easy as filling out a form and clicking a button, people who would never have seen themselves having a web presence have joined the online community in droves. Bloggers come from all sections of society and all age groups from teenagers to octegenarians. Whether personal in nature or politically themed, blogs have changed the online world in a decisive fashion and continue to proliferate at a steady rate.

If you don’t have a blog of your own, you should definitely consider starting one. Possibilities are endless and shouldn’t be neglected.

Kevin Dark is an Internet marketing expert. A brand new project is to start soon at Goonz Blog Directory.