10 Free Business Resources I Wish I'd Known About When I Started Out
The impression that you need large sums of money to set up a successful (and profitable) website is totally wrong. Indeed, the longer that I do business on the Internet the more I find that there are numerous free resources out there that can be...
14 Steps To A Trustworthy Website
Have you ever visited a web site and been attacked by screaming pop-up ads, gotten lost in a clutter of banner ads, had things flash and go boom? And have you ever visited a site that was informative, easy to navigate and generally pleasant to...
Public Domain - The Philosophy Of Freedom
The philosophy behind the public domain is simple and very powerful. To elaborate we must first look at the traditional way in which Art and Intellectual property is governed. It is controlled by one thing, and that is money. People believe that...
Should Affiliates Really Use Blogging and Pinging To Get Indexed?
Copyright 2005 Kurma Group
There seems to be a huge craze lately with everyone trying to blog and ping to get their websites indexed into the search engines. Although this can be a great tool, all marketers should first understand exactly what...
Why Using Tracking Links In Article Resource Boxes Can Block Your Link Popularity
You will have been said a hundred times that you need to track everything that is related to your marketing campaigns or you will fail. Yes, this is really important because otherwise, you won't know anything about the marketing success of each...
What is Blogging
Blogs have been around for many years but have recently become somewhat a new ‘craze’. A Blog is short for Web Log is basically an online journal. They can be set up at little to no cost at all, and can be used for a wide variety of things. Some bloggers just blog for the fun of it, while others tend to use their blogs for business reasons.
The following are just a few ways blogs can be used:
1) Updates Keep customers/clients up to date on changes to your website. Also new product announcement and new related websites.
2) Reviews You can give opinions, advice and personal recommendations on specific products or services related to your field.
3) Personal and Business uses Blogs are a great way to keep track of your goals and plans just by open writing.
4) Stress Reliever Jot down your vents, gripes, thoughts. Some also find general writing therapeutic.
5) Search Engine Optimization Search Engines love text and content. You can also include links to your website which equal backward links which in turn equals high ranking.
6) Money Makers Yes, you can make money with your blog by providing readers with quality copy writing and a few affiliate links.
So how is a blog set up? There are several options you can choose from when starting your own blog, and a few are:
1) Using a free service such as Blogger.com.
2) Using Blogger.com (or other free blog provider) with your own domain name that you can purchase through places such as http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/web-hosting.html
3) You can also choose a paid services such as http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/blogit.html for as little as $5.95 a month.
So you have your blog set up, but how do you get visitors to it and get them comming back? Along with general advertising, here are a few more ideas:
1) Directories There are
many directories that you can submit your blog to such as http://www.Wahm-Blog.comTo find more simply do a search for blog directories.
2) Link Exchange Place links on your website to your blog and visa versa.
3) Syndicate Your Blog For example you can now give your visitors the option of having your blog headlines right on their MyYahoo! Page. (example - http://add.my.yahoo.com/rss?url=http%3A//www.2wahms.blogspot.com ) This makes it much simpler for your readers to quickly skim the topic headlines and an added benefit to you the blogger to keep your visitors up to date.
4) Blog Explosion Traffic Exchange Blog Explosion (http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/blogexplosion.html) is the internet's first blog exchange where thousands of bloggers visit each other's blogs in order to receive tons of blog traffic.
You also have the choice of letting your readers comments on your blog. Most services have these features and can be a great tool to keep your blog interactive between you and your readers.
With all the spam filters and spam blockers available or sometimes even automatically installed in email programs, it’s getting harder every day to keep in constant contact with your visitors/customers and/or clients. Blogs have shed some new light in this aspect giving you a better way to communicate.
Most blog services are very user friendly. If you can run simple programs such as MSWord or Word Perfect then you have the knowledge to maintain your own blog. There’s no need to even have html knowledge. In essence, anyone can have his or her own blog.
Happy Blogging!
About the Author
About the Authors: Kara Kelso and Anita DeFrank are the owners of Mommy's Helper - Mom's Market Ezine http://www.momsezine.com, an ezine for work at home moms. You can read their business blog at: A Tale of 2 Wahms http://2wahms.blogspot.com