Internet Marketing Hints And Tips » Blogging

Tips for Keeping Your Blog Up to Date

Gary Knox — Thu, 12 May 2011 11:45:24 +0000

Keeping a blog up to date is one of the most important aspects of blogging. This is so important because regular blog visitors expect new postings on a regular basis. Not all visitors expect to see a new post as often as once a day but most blog readers expect the content on the blog to be updated on a regular basis. In most cases visitors expect new content on at least a weekly basis.

However, depending on the subject matter the visitors may expect updates on a basis which is either more frequent. Similarly visitors may not be interested in receiving this type of information more than a few times a year. Blog owners should be aware of the frequency of which readers expect new posts and should make an effort to oblige the readers with updates this often. This article will discuss methods for keeping a blog up to date including scheduling a regular time to post blogs, using publishing tools wisely and hiring guest bloggers when necessary.

Finding Time to Post Daily

One way to help to ensure a blog remains up to date is to schedule time to post blogs on a daily basis. This is especially important when blog readers expect new posts on a daily basis or at least several times per week. Bloggers who allot a specific block of time each day to researching, writing and publishing blogs are more likely to have a blog which is up to date than bloggers who plan on accomplishing tasks when they find time to do so. There may still be days in which the blogger is unable to publish a new post on the blog but these days will be less frequent than if the blogger does not have a block of time strictly dedicated to keeping the blog up to date.

On days in which the blog is unable to devote time to blogging, the blogger may wish to at least publish a short message explaining why it was not possible to post a new blog entry. This will let readers know you are aware of their desire to read more information but are simply unable to publish a new blog post. As long as this does not become a regular occurrence, blog visitors are not likely to stop viewing a blog simply because the blogger skips a day or two.

Taking Advantage of Publishing Tools

Some blog publishing tools enable bloggers to write blog posts ahead of time and specify when each post should be published. This is an excellent feature for bloggers who want to publish new posts daily but are unable to dedicate time each day to writing blog posts. This way the blogger can dedicate a block of time each week to write blog posts and have the posts published throughout the week. This is often an easier method for many bloggers because they are able to be more efficient this way.

Hiring Guest Bloggers

Bloggers may also want to consider hiring guest bloggers to assist them in keeping a blog up to date. This can be a worthwhile method for bloggers who are not only having difficulty keeping their blog up to date but are also interested in providing readers with a little variety. However, blog owners who opt for this message of keeping their blog up to date should carefully consider how the dedicated blog readers will react to this change. This is important because some readers may not be interested in reading blogs written by a guest blogger. Therefore the use of a guest blogger can actually be more detrimental to the blog than not updating the blog regularly. Bloggers can gauge reader reaction to the use of guest bloggers in a couple of different ways. The simplest and most straight forward method is to poll the readers about the use of guest bloggers. This can be done by asking readers to comment on the issue and tabulating the comments received. Another method to gauge reader reaction is to introduce a guest blogger and compare the traffic the guest blogger receives to the traffic the blog owner receives.

Learning About Blogging and Blog Marketing

Gary Knox — Tue, 10 May 2011 08:31:13 +0000

Lots of people have a blog and quite a few are making money from their blogs. In order to understand how these people are achieving this you should ask yourself the following questions.

How are they doing it?
What is so special about a blog that you can make money by posting on it?

First you need to undestand that a blog is a little bit like an online journal. You can make posts on it about anything that you want to, and then publish it for the whole world to read. If you have never blogged before, it is a good idea to do so just for fun in the beginning, so that you can get a feel of what it is about.

Once you have become familiar with the blogging platform, and kind of get the gist of what blogging is about, you will be ready to try and make some money at blogging. However, for a beginner you will want to take it slow, one step at a time. You will need to do things in order so that you will not get overwhelmed by it all.

The first thing that you need to do is find a niche to blog about. This can be anything that you know, want to know, or want to learn about. The more you know, the better. The niche can be anything that you want it to be. It can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. Think of something that you know and love, something that you want to learn all about. You will come up with a niche that will be perfect before you know it.

Now that you know what your blog will be all about, you are ready to get down to business. Firstly you want to determine how frequently you will update your blog. Will it be daily? Every other day? Maybe even weekly? Whichever you choose, stick with it and make sure that you scarcely miss an update. Once you get readers to your blog you want them to know that you will update it as often as you say. They need to know how often to check and visit your blog for new information. If you post like you say you will, you will end up with a large reader base that will follow you anywhere.

So now that you have a niche, and have decided how often your blog will be updated, it is time to get down to some marketing. To begin with, you need to get back links. Back links are important and they mean that someone is linking to you. There are a number of ways that you can get these much needed links. You can look around on the internet and find some sites that are relevant to your niche and request a link, or your can post comments on other blogs that are relevant and leave a link behind with your comment. Either way, they both work and they both count as links that you need to your blog.

Are you attempting to sell things from your blog? If so you are going to find that promoting products on your blog is a great marketing technique that you can use as well. People do it everyday and make lots of money from it. Whether it is affiliate links, or your own products and services that you are promoting, you are going to find that blog marketing is one of the best ways to get the word out and let people know that you are in business. Marketing from your blog has never been easier.

With all of the great tools that are out there now for blog marketing, it is really hard to have a blog fail when you employ them. Make certain that you ping your blog every time it is updated, and work on those links as they will make a huge difference.

Beginning Blog Marketing.

Gary Knox — Mon, 09 May 2011 08:20:27 +0000

Blogs which are also known as weblogs are among the more recent innovations on the internet. They are basically a platform that allows you to post your thoughts on almost any subject that you wish to. They can be used for writing, publishing and promoting anything that your heart desires. However, if you are a beginner and new to blogging as well as marketing, there are a few very important things that you should know.

Blog marketing is reasonably easy if you have a marketing mind. You will no doubt find that some people use their blogs as a diary or online journal, and when someone does use their blog for this purpose it is not their intention to make money, but it is simply a way to put their thoughts out there and discover others that are going through the same thing. If you have never had a blog before, the simplest way to get started is probably to just start one as diary or online journal. This will allow you to learn just what it takes to keep a blog going. When you are just posting your thoughts and what is on your mind, you have nothing to lose and nothing to gain. You do not even have to make your blog public if you do not want others to read what you have to say. That of course is a personal preference. However, by making it public will let you see how a blog really works. Then you will be able to progress on to trying to market a product or a service.

Employing a blog to market something is cheaper than using a website. This is because there are so many free platforms out there, such as Blogger.com or WordPress.com, that you can utilise to get the word out, and they are really just as good as having a website that you pay for. There are of course a few advantages to having your own URL, but for a beginner, a free one will work until you master it and want to move it all over onto your own server. A small problem with some free blogs are that they are not that customisable, but this is getting better. If you are not familiar with HTML, you are going to find that your blog will look like everybody else’s. But, this is fine in the beginning. You will be able to always make changes later on once you are have started to become successful.

When you have your own blog, you are in charge of the content that is posted on it. You can decide what is said, and what is not. You are after all writing it all, right? So, the sky is the limit. Whether you want a blog that does website reviews and takes nominations, or you want to sell things that you make out of your home, the choice is yours. Employing a blog to get the word out about whatever you want too is a great way to market and promote something.

Blog marketing can get complicated if you let it. It is actually only as hard as you make it. Whilst there are a few bloggers out there that are making a six figure income with the use of blog marketing, we all know that it can be done. We just want to know how. Well, for any beginner, start small, and be consistent. The six figure bloggers all did. They started with one, built it up, and then added another blog, built it up. Then, keeping up both blogs and not letting them fall behind, they continued to add more and more content. Of course they had help, and they outsourced a lot of their work. If you are looking to make a massive income with blogging, you will need some help.

Blog marketing is a great thing to learn. If you are able to sell things from a blog, you will be able to sell them almost anywhere. Making money by using a blog is one of the most satisfying things that you will ever learn how to do. Just do not expect to make money over night, know that you have to work at it consistently everyday, and remember to put into it what you want to get out of it.

Creating a Popular Blog

Gary Knox — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:48:30 +0000

If you want to make money through blogging, creating a popular blog is the key to success. If your blog receives very little traffic, you will not have much success monetising it. No matter which method you use to make money from your blog, you will find the most success if you have a large readership. Because of this, making your blog popular and growing readership should be one of your primary concerns.

There are many ways to make your blog more popular. The first thing you should consider is who your audience is and who you are writing for. You should always write about something that interests you, and that will interest others. You may think that your new kitten is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but there are probably not very many other people who want to read a blog about it. It is best to find a niche audience that is large enough to support a wide readership but not to vague.

One of the great things about blogging is that you do not have to be a professional writer to have a popular blog. You do have to obey common grammatical rules and at least be able to put together coherent sentences, but you do not have to be a highly skilled writer.

Blog readers are looking for interesting, relevant topics to read, not the next work of Shakespeare. Make sure what you write is interesting, edgy, or even controversial. Popular blogs are never boring and add value to reader’s lives either through information or entertainment. Make sure your blog adds something of value to your reader’s life otherwise you will not develop a large fan base.

Making your blog popular is a lot like driving traffic to a website. You can use many of the same techniques to drive traffic to your blog. Finding places to link back to your blog is a good way to drive traffic. Social sites such as Myspace, Facebook, and Youtube provide lots of opportunities for this. You can also use social book marking sites such as Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg to promote your blog. Blogging on a popular blog site such as WordPress and Blogger are also good ways to make your blog more popular as these blogging sites help to bring in traffic for your blog.

Whether you blog on a blogging network or you have an independently hosted blog, you need to make sure your blog is designed well. It is true that content is king and if a blog has great content is may receive lots of traffic even though it is ugly, having a well designed blog that is not ugly or annoying will help to drive repeat traffic. You want your blog to look unique, but not too unique. Keep with internet formalities such as blue links and use large font for headings.

You should break your post up into small paragraphs each with a headline if possible as internet readers tend to scan the screen looking for relevant information rather than reading everything word for word. Make sure your colors do not contrast too harshly and that the text is easy to read. Using good design will make your blog aesthetically pleasing and make readers more likely to come back and remain on your page.

No matter where your blog is hosted, you should try to get it indexed by all the major search engines. Some forms of blog monetisation require that your blog be indexed by search engines before they will allow you to participate in your program. The higher ranked your blog is, the more visitors you will receive and the more popular your blog will become.

All forms of monetisation for your blog require readers to work successfully. Before you try to implement your monetisation strategies, make sure your blog has enough readers to make your efforts work. If there is no one to click your ads, visit your affiliate sites, or read your reviews, you do not stand much of a chance of making money.

10 Tools for a Super-Mobile Life

Gary Knox — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 14:36:03 +0000

Guest Post by James Adams on tools to enhance your mobile life.

The skeptics say that no one is truly mobile: even the toughest guys and gals eventually have to come home to their desktop computer to get key elements of their jobs done. You want to be different than that, don’t you? You can prove to yourself and to the world that real mobility is something that can be achieved right now. Whether you are a freelancer or entrepreneur, you can be anywhere in the world and still get real work done and earn a real living. Here are ten tools for a super-mobile life that can help you make this happen.

1. oDesk provides the framework that you can use to create your own virtual work team. With a full range of skilled workers to choose from, you can pay others to get your work done as you travel or do other work. Never before has business been this mobile. If you’re a worker rather than a manager, you can sign up at oDesk to get work assignments that will keep you busy wherever you are.

2. How could anyone be completely mobile without an iPhone? With thousands of apps to choose from and an international SIM card, you can manage your finances, pay your virtual workers, and create Web sites, book travel and more right from the palm of your hand.

3. A mobile life requires a mobile computer; there’s none better than the new MacBook Pro. Equipped with the latest Intel i7 CPU, a huge hard drive, plenty of memory, and professional graphics, you have a mobile design studio wherever you go.

4. If you have a MacBook Pro, then you’ll need a 3G dongle to connect your MacBook. How else are you going to connect from the beach?

5. Getting back to work, you will need a way to manage all your projects from the road. There’s nothing better than Basecamp to collaborate with your virtual and real life workforces while you’re on the go. Best of all, there’s a choice of iPhone apps for basecamp that will let you work on projects, so even while you’re on the ski lift you can be a productive part of the team.

6. Google Docs are essential for someone like you who wants to be truly mobile. All you need is a Google Account and you can create documents and spreadsheets and save them online. Once your documents are saved, you can share them so the team can access and update them as necessary.

7. For those times when you need to meet with your team in real time there’s WebEx. You can use your MacBook Pro to attend Web meetings in your hotel room, or you can use the WebEx app for iPhone to attend from wherever you happen to be.

8. DropBox is an online service that lets you share your files. Once you upload your files to DropBox, you get a custom URL to distribute so others can download them. Someone as busy as you are probably can use this to share videos, images, and more with all the people you work with.

9. Just in case you’re still having trouble staying in touch, you can use instant messaging to receive voicemail messages and faxes on your mobile phone. Phones from your home, office, and business ventures can all tie into your iPhone so you never miss a call. You can instant message with your IT staff to tell them to set you up.

10. GoToMyPC is your failsafe. It’s been so long since you’ve been at your desk, it’s surprising that there’s anything you need there, but just in case there is, GoToMyPC is a Web-based service that lets you work on your computer at home from anywhere in the world.

Try out these tools and see how they can liberate you from the bondage of your desk and allow you to collaborate, work, and manage from anywhere in the world.

James Adams is a blogger who works for a UK based supplier of HP 364 ink and other supplies. Read more of his writing on their blog.

What Does Blog Marketing Entail?

Gary Knox — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 12:17:57 +0000

Blog marketing is something that many of us do every day. Depending on just how serious you are about marketing your blog, you may find that some aspects of blog marketing are just something that you are not interested in doing. For instance, if you have a blog that you have as a hobby an update infrequently, you are not going to be too concerned with how many readers you have or how many sales you make from your blog. But, if your blog were more than just a hobby, and is how you intend to make an income from, you would certainly need to know all of these things and probably a good deal more.

Blog marketing is a technique that many employ. Whilst not everyone that has a blog markets it the same way, they all typically have the same goal. Which is more traffic, sales, and readers. When you have all of these things you are considered successful in marketing your blog. But you need to understand that just because you have all of these things it does not mean that you are done marketing. In reality blog marketing is an unremitting task. There will always be something more that needs to be done, and you will never actually be done.

Marketing your blog consists of several things all employed together to achieve the same end result. Such as getting links to your blog or leaving comments on other peoples blogs. Applying SEO which is search engine optimisation is another thing that is important in the world of blog marketing. You should employ SEO on your blog just as you would a website. Doing so will get you higher ranking in the search engine results and will result in a blog that anyone can find that is searching fot the products or information that you have.

Make certain that your blog has the RSS feeds. Having these feeds will permit others to be able to link to you blog. When someone uses the RSS feeds from your blog, they are able to get the posts that you make. You can also use RSS feeds from someone else’s blog on your blog, and return the favour provided that their blog posts are relevant to your blog.

Blog marketing entails many things as you are able to see, whether you are blogging for a hobby, or an income is going to make a vast difference in the techniques that you choose to employ, as well as the outcome. Make certain that you are employing the best techniques that will get you the results that you want and that you are seeking. If you are not sure what that is, just wait a while before you actually start marketing your blog so that you will not be wasting any time. Wasting time on something that you are not sure about is almost as bad as wasting your hard earned money on it.

The Exciting New Frontier Of Professional Blogging

Gary Knox — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 12:03:30 +0000

Professional blogging is a relatively new idea with a lot of potential for entrepreneurs who have the insight, drive, and a basic understanding of today’s innovative web technology. The ranks of so-called pro bloggers are still quite small, and there are a few people who make a living entirely from their blogs. However, every day there are increasingly more people who have managed to turn their blogs into cash cows that supplement their income. The number of pro bloggers is growing by leaps and bounds, but it is hard to say whether this trend will continue.

Numerous bloggers dream of entering the sphere of professional blogging. There are very few people who happily devote an hour or more each day to their blog without at least from time to time wishing that they could earn some kind of financial reward for all of their work. Several models exist for making money with a blog, the most popular being to sell advertising space through Google’s AdSense program or directly to a company that wishes to reach the demographic that your blog appeals to. However, there are very few people indeed who can make a comfortable living just by selling space on their blog sidebars.

Several people who read blogs are bloggers themselves, in part because of the fact that the people who use blogging technology on a daily basis are most likely to be interested in what other writers are doing with the medium. This fact begins to explain why the people who succeed in the world of professional blogging are mostly people who have devoted themselves almost entirely to learning about, talking about, and writing about blogging. More than any other topic, pro bloggers turn their attention to the phenomenon of blogging itself. A lot of pro bloggers make the topic of blogging the stunningly self-reflexive ongoing focus of their blogs.

Of course, professional blogging is destined to become much more complicated in the future than it is today. In the current moment, pro bloggers who attract the largest audiences and make the most money are mostly concerned with investigating the blogging movement and with offering advice to amateur bloggers. However, as the kinds of people who regularly read blogs changes, and the demographics of bloggers expand and diversify as blogging software becomes more user friendly, it is very likely indeed that the world of pro blogging will begin to reflect these changes. Indeed, it is very difficult to predict exactly what kinds of blogs will be reaping the greatest financial rewards five or ten years down the road. The world of pro blogging is one of constant change and flux, which is part of what makes it so exciting.

Great Ideas For Blogs Are No Longer Enough

Gary Knox — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:52:50 +0000

Because there are so many blogs and websites about blogs on the internet, it can be tough to differentiate your blogging website from all of the others. Whether you are embarking on a new website aimed at bloggers or whether you are looking to make your existing blogging site more distinctive, the key to constructing and maintaining a site that will capture the interest and attention of the blogging community is determining your niche. If you are able to fill a unique need in a way that no other website does, you will be able to establish a lasting readership among web surfers. Once you have discovered a niche, you will still have a lot to do, but finding your position in the blogosphere is certainly the place to begin.

Every great blogging website starts with a great idea, and you cannot build a successful site that will last without one. There are numerous great sites aimed at today’s bloggers, and competition for the attention of this growing demographic is fierce. To make your blogging website stand out from the pack, you will need to offer something that no other site is currently providing, or you will need to do the same thing that an already popular site does but in a more impressive or valuable way.

One method of discovering an ideal model for your blogging website is to view the sites that have successfully captured a blogging audience already to ascertain if you can appropriate some of their strategies to assist realising your vision. Naturally, you will also need to add a unique flair to your project in order to stand apart from your competition. Many people agree that the websites that do the best in today’s market are the sites that have the most personality. The fiercely individual surfers who are bloggers are a demographic that responds particularly strongly to personality, so consider how you are able to give your site a unique and attractive feeling by lending your own voice and sensibility to your site’s design and content.

Once you have a great idea for your site, have pinpointed a particular niche that you are well equipped to fill, and have infused the site with personality, the next step is figuring out how to get the word out to bloggers. In the long run, a great idea just is not enough to propel your blogging website to success. You will need to draft a smart and realistic marketing plan in order to attract readers to your site. Once you hook a blogger, your great content will keep them coming back, but it is vital to get that first glance or your site will not have a chance to shine.

Successful Blog Marketing Tips

Gary Knox — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 12:58:33 +0000

So you have a blog and want to market it and make it a successful blog. How do you do this? How do you go about getting your blog out there to be seen and known by others? How do you draw readers and keep them coming back for more? There are many ways to get your blog out there and known by others. This can be known as challenging for some and just quite easy for others. If you have ever had a successful blog before then you know what it takes. You are not going to get anywhere by just setting up a blog and hoping that people will find it and read it. You are not going to gain any links, nor a higher search engine ranking by just having a blog. This is all part of blog marketing. Anyone can do it, even you.

Successful blog marketing tip number one. When you first create a blog, of course it is unheard of. No one knows anything about the blog unless you give them the link and show it to them. However, for a new blog that has never been seen, there are many ways to get it out there and known. You just need to know how. The first thing that you can do is to allow RSS feeds be taken from your blog. Allow other websites and blogs to publish your same exact blog. When you do this, they are giving you a link back to your blog, and also telling their readers all about your blog. You will get more traffic than ever with this tool. RSS feeds are wonderful for promoting and getting your blog out there.

Blog marketing tip number two. Update your blog frequently. We can not put enough emphasis on this tip. If you tell your readers that you are going to update your blog daily, then do it. If you tell them that you will be writing in your blog weekly, don’t let them down. Your readers are what makes your blog successful. You may not realize this in the beginning, and you will have few readers in the beginning as well, but you will eventually build a readership base and have people checking out your blog regularly. Maybe you do not plan on telling your readers how often you will update your blog. That is ok too. However, think about this, if you were reading a blog on a weekly basis, and you expected to see the blog that you like to read updated at least once a week, you would be very disappointed to find out that it was not. Sure, things happen that might prevent you from updating, and that is expected, and excused, but week after week can hurt you and cause you to lose readers.

Tip number three. While you are working on your readership base, and trying to gain readers, you are going to find that commenting on blogs that are relevant to yours will surely help. Find a blog that is on the same topic to yours, or close to it and leave comments. You can also make a track back with your blog postings to comment on your own blog. Doing so will probably more than likely give someone else the urge to track back to your blog. Which will be good for it as well. Commenting on blogs that get many comments will make yours be seen by those interested in that market. You will gain traffic and readers that way, and it is easy as well as free.

The fourth blog marketing tip. Learn and apply SEO to your blogs. SEO is search engine optimisation. You are going to find that if you want your blog to go anywhere, you need SEO, and you need to know how to use it to the advantage of your blog. Just like a website, a blog will be better off optimised.

Tips For Blog Marketing

Gary Knox — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:45:44 +0000

Blog marketing is not all that hard if you know what you are doing. However, if this is your very first blog and you are wondering how to get readers to it then you are in the right place. First let me just say that marketing your blog is going to require patience, and being consistent. You will have to update your blog frequently if you want to keep readers coming back for more. We are all guilty of making a blog, wanting it to be great, putting only one entry into it and then never going back to update it again. I think everyone in cyber world has done this at one time or another. Here are some great tips to use when trying to get your blog out there and get new readers.

Make sure that your blog has the track back feature. Let me tell you why. When you have the track back feature on your blog, you are allowing other people to link to your blog. Maybe someone has a post to post on their blog that is relevant to one of yours. They can use the talkback to your post, and send their readers to your blog so that they know what they are referring to. Another good thing to remember is that if someone gives you a track back, it is a courtesy to return that to their blog if at all possible.

Having a Google account and submitting a sitemap is almost a must when you are blog marketing. Doing so will allow Google to know how often you are updating your blog and they will automatically know of any changes that you have made to it as well. This will let Google get those new pages indexed faster and get them into search results much quicker than if you did not have the sitemap. There is a certain way you have to do the sitemap for Google, and they can explain that to you. Just know this is an important step to blog marketing.

Exchanging links with authority blogs and websites that are in your same market is another great way to get the word out about your blog. The authority sites are going to have a higher page rank, and will also be listed high in Google’s search results. So do some searches and check those out and see if they are up to exchanging links. If they are not, you could always just add those into your blogroll. You do not need permission to do that if they are not into linking. However, in the world of blogs, most blog owners are thankful for all links, and are willing to return the favor.

You are going to want to be sure that all of your posts are formatted. Doing so will leave out any confusion for the search engines and you will have everything nice and neat and all organized. The label tags are there for a reason when you are dealing with blogs. So using them and not leaving them out is a great idea.

Tracking is another part of blog marketing that is so very important. You want to be able to track your visitors and clickers to know where they are coming from. You want to be able to tell what keywords they searched on to find your blog and where they did their searching. Doing so will help take out all of the guess work when it comes to blog marketing. You will know what keywords are working, and which are not.

Allowing RSS feeds from your blog is also another great blog marketing tool. You are going to find that when you allow RSS feeds, your blog is going to end up all over the internet with a link back to it and that is a good thing. This is a wonderful way to get links to your blog with little or no effort. People that subscribe to your blog’s RSS feeds are able to then post your blog posts on their sites or blogs. Which in return gives you a link on their site or page that they have you on.

Blog marketing is only as hard as you make it. Use these tips and get your blog out there and seen today!