Public entries intended for friends could become an embarrassing exposure.
The number of places where young people go to bare their souls, to vent, to gossip is increasing. These places are the blogs &ndash where people post their innermost thoughts for any number of Web surfers to see.
“My philosophy is to be totally honest &ndash whether it’s about my neighbor’s dog or my opinions about Iraq war, since the people who read my blog are friends or acquaintances of mine.” said Sarah, who lives in suburban Illinois and has been blogging for three years.
But some people find that a price can be paid for putting one’s life online. Maya Marcel-Keyes, daughter of conservative politician Alan Keyes, had some discussions on her blog about being a lesbian, and this became an issue during her father’s recent campaign for U.S. Senate because he made anti-gay statements.
Such incidents can cause personal and public dramas, often taking on a life they wouldn’t have if the Web had not come along and turned individuals into publishers.
Other people think that some blog entries about partying and dating exploits will have ramifications down the road.
“I would bet that in the 2016 election, somebody’s Facebook entry will come back to bite them,”, says Steve Jones, head of the communications department at the University of Illinois at Chicago, referring to a networking site for college students and alumni, that is something of a cross between a yearbook and a blog.
Some traditional blog sites, like Xanga, LiveJournal or MySpace, which allow easy creation of a Web site with text, photos and often music, have gotten more popular in recent years, especially among the younger set.
Pew Internet & American Life Project made some surveys completed in recent months and found that nearly a fifth of teens who have access to the Web have their own blogs. And 38 percent of teens say they read other people’s blogs.
I’m increasingly hearing stories about the risk of posting a blog, says Amanda Lenhart, a researcher at Pew. For example, a man whose daughter was a college student looking for a job. He typed his daughter’s name into a search engine and found her blog, with a title that began “The Drunken Musings of ….”
“And they surely have some discussions” said Lenhart, chuckling.
Derrick Harper’s Wealth Funnel System (WFS) and Developmental Performance Consultants (DPC)Introduces You to the Wonderful World of BLOGS
Boynton Beach, FL &ndash May 6, 2008
I’m sure most of you have heard the words blog, blogger, or blogging.
If you are anything like me you have probably thought to yourself “I don’t have a clue what they are talking about!” Have you had that experience before?
If so, not to worry because we, at Developmental Performance Consultants along with Derrick Harper’s Wealth Funnel System of online marketing education, want to share with you some information and insight into the wonderful world of BLOGS and how you can utilize this web 2.0 technology platform to get your products/services and business more exposure on the world wide web.
What is a BLOG? Take the words “Web” + “log” = “Blog”.
A blog is, in the case for this article, textual in content and is an online interactive journal used to build relationships between you and your potential/existing clients.
There are a couple of Blog Platforms to get familiar with; “Hosted Blog Platforms” and “Stand Alone Blog Platforms”.
A few of the Hosted Blog Platforms DPC and WFS use are: Blogger, MySpace, and WordPress. They are Free, easy to use, simple to implement, and are indexed to the Search Engines rather quickly.
The other type of Blog Platform is the Stand Alone Platform and they include: WordPress (which is currently #1 out of the top 50 Blog Spots), and ProBlogger. These are both Free to post to however, there is a domain name fee, and a hosting fee you are responsible for.
One of the advantages of the Stand Alone Blog Platform is you can post the blogs directly on your company’s website. You can also be a little more creative in the design of the Blog as opposed to the standard templates found with the Hosted Blog Platforms.
Derrick Harper & The Wealth Funnel System teach you to be the “Expert” on the products/services you offer by using blog platforms to get your personal branding online marketing campaign out to your clients. Remember, people are looking to you for the leadership skills along with your knowledge and education so you need as many avenues as possible to reach them.
We hope this education has given you an insight into the world of blogs and will be beneficial to you as continue to build your business and online personal branding marketing campaign.
With the digital age upon us, personal contact is becoming less popular. everyday. Cellphones,e-mail,voice mail and blogs almost make actually seeing a person unnecessary.
The main problem with digital communication is, we tend to forget all about etiquette.
The internet is a world within itself, with that, there are certain guidelines that we should follow. The list I have compiled is not in any particular order.
1. Don’t’ assume everyone knows everything.
We are still very much in the infancy stage of the internet, that being said, everyday thousands of people surf the internet for the first time. That fact alone is astounding. It almost seems hard to believe that there are millions and millions of people that have never surfed the web or even checked their e-mail. That means, the obvious things that most people know about computers, is not known by everyone. I clearly remember when someone took the time to show me how to cut and paste, now I have cut and paste keys on my keyboard
2. Take time to read e-mails, if not interested unsubscribe
People spend good money to send you e-mail. We all know spam is a bad thing and as technology advances its days are truly numbered. The email that we subscribe to by requesting info, or by purchasing something should be welcome . Take the time to read their offer, you were interested at some point in what they had to say. If you are no longer interested, unsubscribe from their mailing list. Don’t waste your time (or theirs) if you are not interested any longer.
3. Respond to e-mail and blog post as soon as possible.
People that are trying to get businesses started on the internet rely on other people for a lot of different things, if someone asks you a question, answer them quickly, they may be waiting for your reply to reply to someone else.
4. Kill em with kindness
In the digital world it is very easy to be misunderstood, without seeing facial expressions and other forms of communication in person, it is easy for someone to not realize you were making a joke or being sarcastic.
5. Don’t forward e-mail with your whole mailing list on it.
When you receive those e-mails from someone with the jokes or inspirational stories, before you pass it on, copy and paste it in a new e-mail, so you are not sending all the e-mail addresses that are attached all over the internet. If that is to much work, don’t forward it at all.
6. Check out offers
If an e-mail gets passed all your anti-spam software, read it. It is well documented that there are millions of bogus offers on the net, but there are also millions of legitimate ways to make money on the net. One of those legitimate offers that could be the key that opens the door to a world of financial freedom may be in your inbox right now.
.500TopBlogs.com
The growth and popularity of blogs in general has been phenomenal within a very short period of time. Blogs or web logs as they were previously called is where all the action on the World Wide Web is, right now.
It is amazing how quickly web sites have been relegated to the back seat. Actually the role of web sites is rapidly being re-defined but it is clear blogs will be the place where all the traffic will be congregating for a long time to come. What some thought was a passing fad is clearly here to stay and is a permanent development that has already had far reaching effects on communications and the way we transmit and receive information.
Yet most entrepreneurs who have quickly jumped onto the blog bandwagon do not seem to fully understand and appreciate what blogs are really all about. Worse still, many of those who have remained away have no idea what all the fuss is about.
A clearer understanding of blogs is bound to benefit any e-commerce business owner or online entrepreneur.
Everybody can be a publisher or media owner
Probably the most significant impact of blogs is the fact that it is rapidly changing mass media, as we have known it since the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. Powerful media companies have been in the hands of a few people who have carefully controlled what we see in our media. Sometimes deliberately to achieve their corporate goals and objectives. Blogs are effectively transferring that power back to the people and away from the hands of a few.
This era of blogs means that anybody can be a publisher or media owner and effectively transmit whatever information they want and push whatever cause is dear to their hearts. The impact of blogs in politics for example has been a clear demonstration of the power of blogging. We have some blogs covering politics that have a couple hundred thousand visitors on a daily basis.
This may be a scary development to many folks including media owners but it presents a number of excellent opportunities for entrepreneurs to reach huge audiences with their messages at a tiny fraction of what their budgets used to be in the days when blogs did not exist.
Breaking news, courtesy of the blog community
Further power of blogs to handle breaking news in real time, complete with photographs and video clips, has clearly been evident in retimes. For example during the Tsunami tragedy last December. Footage of the damage being caused by the giant waves was seen in blogs long before the traditional media channels got wind of what was going on.
This opens up a whole range of new opportunities that can be tried out in the years to come. Not many entrepreneurs have realized this yet.
Anybody who didn’t have a site can own a successful blog
Blogs are so easy to set up, maintain and run that a new breed of online entrepreneurs is on the rise. It consists of many individuals who for one reason or another were unable to set up and maintain heir web sites.
We are now in an era where an online entrepreneur needs little else other than lots of creativity, there is actually so much that he or she can do without a single cent in capital.
Distinct advantages of having a blog
Blogs tend to get lots of traffic. Lots more than websites do. Besides search engines seem to love them. Blogs are also able to build up links much more easily than web sites. Thus it is no longer surprising for a nobody-novice to suddenly shoot up in stardom and recognition.
No entrepreneur can afford to be left behind
The benefits of a business having in it’s stable a blog or two that is capable of attracting huge traffic, is very important and can be extremely useful in helping a business to achieve its’ marketing goals and objectives.
Any entrepreneur whether online or offline who does not have a blog to help promote their business is making a very serious mistake that they will definitely live to deeply regret. In fact even playing catch-up with a blog that already exists will continue to be more and more difficult.
There are a number of advantages that blogs have which will continue to be extremely useful to entrepreneurs and webmasters. One of them is the fact that they easily allow for customer comment and anybody can be able to post a comment at your site. In a way this is a form of research and sampling because it enables the business to get feedback and thus be able to gauge the sort of response they will receive when they finally roll out their product or service into the market.
Start using your blog more carefully and watch your traffic and revenues steadily climb as a result.
It is great that the phrase blog floats around the net day in and day out, but what if you have no idea what a blog really is? Is this going to be helpful to your web site? No, not really. Here we will offer the skinny on the phrase blog, and you can decide for yourself if it may or may not be useful in your web pages. This way you will not be wasting your time on something you may not need, and the energy can be put to something you find more useful for yourself.
The term blog refers to weblog and it is in every fashion not a commercial or professional site. It is more of the personal nature, for comment or web site material. Generally the most recent information on a blog is kept at the top of the page, as blog’s are dated log formats. Often they will have commentary of other sites or links directing you to them. Many times the site is dictated by group links and the log is updated frequently. The opinion is this is the very first weblog was back in 1993 it was the Mosaic. This was generally a compiling of links that where kind of disregarded. It took until 1998 for they’re to be a mere handful of these so called blog’s in existence. The blogger all knew each other and were swapping the links between each other.
By the year 1999 this term blog was starting to pick up pace, and as a result became a phenomenon. Once it became free to the public, it really took off and was a pastime that was enjoyed by many. Web logs were hand coded by developers on the web before the software became available. The use of html was the main coding for this program, and the web designers at the time were pretty much the only ones that knew it. Now that this new software is available to the general public, anyone is capable of making a blog. The moment blogger was released in 1999 it became a huge success with the public. Now people are not restricted on what kind of weblog they make, fast-forward to the year 2000 and people are making as many as 300-350 new blogs daily. There is actually a directory for all these blogs, and it contains as many as 5,500 entries. This is now a craze with over 750,000 blog users; this was not merely a passing trend obviously.
There are multiple tools these days for the people that are truly interested in blogging, this software can be found online and has become extremely popular. Check out the craze for yourself, and see what you think of it you may just enjoy it yourself.
*****
There are all kinds of blogs like personal blogs, topical blogs, culture blogs, political blogs, science blogs, educational blogs, news blogs and much more. One of the things these blogs have in common is that they are generally good sources of information. Not only are they good sources of information but are good sources of up-to-date information at that.
People looking for an alternative source of information will find that blogs can sometimes offer a more in depth view or a refreshing take on current events. One of the major benefits of information from blogs, specially from personal, cultural and political bogs, is that it gives readers insight on the locals’ viewpoint. For example, although news sites can offer accurate information and report facts and statistics about important events such as the 9/11 attack or the latest Tsunami tragedy that hit Asia, personal blogs of people who were actually there or knew someone involved in the tragedies offer a deeper and more compelling insight on the events. Reading political blogs would also give you a chance to know what ordinary citizens of a country really think.
The downside with information from blogs is accuracy. Since most blogs are subjective, information garnered from the blogs can be lopsided and even exaggerated. Most blogs do write about facts but give commentaries as well. When reading opinions and commentaries be discriminating and do not believe everything written without thinking or checking out the facts by reading other blogs and sources.
One problem with extracting useful information from blogs is knowing where to start. With more than 10 million blogs online it is impossible to search for specific information without the help of a good blog search engine. A good blog search engine, however, will weed out most of the noise and point you to the blogs that contain the information you need.
To help you search for information found in blogs, here’s a short list of the best blog searching tools on the net right now.
• Google blog search &ndash google blog search is the fastest blog search engine at the moment and returns incredibly relevant search results.
• Technorati.com &ndash Technorati.com is the most established blog search engine. It gives back the most number of results and has the most features among blog engines. However, it can be slow and returns quite a number of irrelevant links.
• Yahoo! Blog Search &ndash Yahoo’s blog search is a new feature added to its news search. The search result page is divided into two columns with the left column containing news results and the right column containing blog results. Yahoo! blog search is best for people who need current information but are not very particular that it be from blogs.
• Feedster is one of the oldest blog engines. One of its useful features is that it caches blog pages. Feedster would be useful for people looking for blog posts that have been deleted or edited.
• BlogPulse is a search engine most useful due to its extra tools that allow users to do things other blog engines don’t like create graphs and plot log buzz for search terms. It also has a Conversation Tracker that’s gathers related blog posts converts them to threaded conversations. This cool feature allows readers to follow topics they are interested in more easily.
• And to apply for a Blog Review and possibly win an award, go to Bloggy Award!
Blogging is one of the most efficient ways to increase your website rankings on search sites like Google and Yahoo. Blogging refers to posting your website links to blog sites in order to increase your website rankings. Blogging work best for the SEO as it is the one of the most effective tools to make your website popular amongst the people. If your website is more famous it will generate more revenues as more and more people will visit your site.
You can follow these simple rules for SEO and your blog will definitely rank much higher in search engines. You should use your primary keyword most often in your blogs. The URL that you post on the blogs should contain a primary keyword to optimize your website. You can also use the main keyword in sub domains to get better results. In case your website is about automotive parts then you can use the keywords “Automotive Parts” in your website. Also it is necessary to use your main keyword in the title of your posts and the titles of your web pages. Also use the main keywords and key phrases in your H1 and H2 headers to make them more searchable.
Next you can use your secondary keywords in the body of your post in the blog. The more times the keywords are found in the webpage or post, the better are the chances of the search engines will be able to pick up the keywords. However it should not look like spam. You should refrain from posting the same keywords again and again in the same post as then Google will ban your site for some time and your rankings will fall drastically.
You should also use your primary and secondary as much as possible in the anchor texts for linking the text to other blog sites or other blog posts. Also make every effort to make your site easier for search engine to track. Also it is very much necessary to make your navigation bar of the whole website on every page of the website. All your previous posts should be linked to all pages so that they can be easily searchable by search engines.
You should also create back links to your website on as many blogs as possible. This is because it will help a lot in getting the rank of your website higher in the search engine pages. The more links you have created the higher will be the rank of your website on search engines. You can get back links to your website is to submit your blog and RSS feeds to as many blog search engines and blog directories as possible. Exchange your links with other blogs and network with as many people as possible on the blogs. If you find any interesting information on a blog then don’t forget to link it. The track back will become a link to your blog after some time. In the end to optimize search engine results for your website you should update your blog frequently.
Content as we know it is the Life-Blood or FUEL, if you will, of the Internet.
That was and still is the Internets sole purpose, except only now it’s commercialized, giving the online entrepreneur the world at their fingers tips.
And the facts are that usually when people first come online it’s not to go purchase something, it’s to look for Information that will answer a question they might have about a particular product they’re interested in and/or to a problem they are dealing with and are searching for a solution.
Ask yourself this, “Why do I go online?”
Does it resemble anything like what I just stated?
Only you can answer that.
These are simply the facts with out a doubt… Period!
Now that you have an idea of WHY people come online, I’m now going to explain to you how you can…
“Explode Your Google Adsense and Affiliate Commissions Through Niche Blog Content Sites”
Did you notice the last two words within the quotations?
That’s right, Content Sites.
What are Content Sites?
I think it’s pretty self explanatory but the basic definition of a Content Site is this - it’s a site that contains targeted content that targets a particular niche or many niches.(niche examples: cars, fitness, hobbies, etc.)
Not quite up to speed on what a blog is, here’s a quick definition of a blog - a blog(A.K.A. Web-Log) is simply a place to go and post your personal thoughts that you can share with your subscribers and/or readership and receive feedback.
Now that you know the basic definitions of a Content Site and a Blog lets continue.
Content Sites can contain Hundreds-to-Thousands of pages of keyword rich content, which by the way is exactly what the Search Engines love and will come back for if New content is added on a frequent basis giving the owner of that site lots of opportunity to benefit from the Free traffic inwhich the content pages, or what I like to call Feeder Pages, generate.
So, now that you have an idea of what a Content Site and a Blog is it’s now time to tell you how you can build your own Niche Blog Content Site Empire, no matter what your niche is, using Blogs, Google Adsense and ClickBank affiliate products.
Bare in mind that the steps outlined below are only going to be a summarization of the actual process involved.
So, with that said, here it is.
Step #1. Set up a Blog.
The first step is quite simple. All you have to do is set up a Blog either through…
Blogger.com - .blogger.com
or…
Wordpress.org - .wordpress.org
This blog your setting up is going to be the foundation of your Niche Blog Content Site and is where the rest of the pieces of the puzzle are going to be added to once you’ve set it up.
(Quick Tip: Make sure you use your Target Keywords within your URL of your niche blog and in the Title and Description. VERY Important!)
Once you have your niche blog set up move on to Step #2.
Step #2. Adding your Google Adsense code.
Depending on your experience with scripting and html, it’s now time to add your Google Adsense code to your new niche blog in 3 strategic places.
Google allows you to add 3 Google Adsense blocks only to one page, no more than that, so I recommend one at the Top, one in the Right or Left sidebar depending on the template you choose and one at the Bottom of your blog.
By doing this your almost forcing your reader to click on a link within the Google Adsense block, which is of course, is exactly what you want and where your going to make the money.
The other great thing about Google Adsense is the ads are targeted to the content that you post, giving the reader even more reason to click through.
Here’s a few resources for you that will show you how to add the Google Adsense code to your blog using the services I mentioned above if your not sure how to yourself.
Blogger.com: help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=964
Wordpress.org: .acmetech.com/blog/adsense-deluxe/
Simply follow the instructions and you’ll have Google Adsense installed on your niche blog in no time.
Step #3. Find a related ClickBank product.
Now it’s time to go shopping at ClickBank.com - .clickbank.com - for a related information product that targets your niche.
Once there click on the link Earn Commissions at the bottom.
This will bring to to their directory where you’ll find many products to choose from that will target any niche your blog is about.
(Quick Tip: The first 10 listed under each category are the TOP converting programs, meaning… their the ones making the most money.)
If you don’t have a ClickBank.com nickname you’ll have to sign up for one. It’ll only take you a few minutes.
From there, once you’ve chosen a program to join your going to want to collect all the affiliate materials available, like Articles, Banners, Text Links, etc., because your going to place these on your NEW niche blog site with your affiliate link linked to them so when your reader clicks on them and decides to buy the related information, you get the commission.
Well… there you have it, 3 steps to “Explode Your Google Adsense and Affiliate Commissions Through Niche Blog Content Sites”.
Now the only thing left for you to do is to start building an audience by promoting your Blog.
Here’s a few resources for you to get started with.
Ping-O-Matic - pingomatic.com
RSS Top 55 - .masternewmedia.org/rss/top55
Remember this is just a summarized version and is only going to give you the basic steps, so good luck to you and your Niche Blog Content Site Empire.
Choosing which blogging platform to use is one of the most important decisions that you can make as a blogger. The right platform can make blogging a breeze, and the wrong platform can make blogging a chore. Because the program that you use to blog with is such a powerful part of your blogging experience, it is well worth putting in the time to find a platform that provides your ideal balance between a user-friendly interface and a flexible framework that allows you to make your blog look and feel unique. Finding the right platform isn’t always easy, but with a little bit of contemplation and a little bit of research, you will be on your way to finding the perfect blogging platform.
Deciding what your priorities are in terms of ease of use versus customization. Most highly customizable blogging platforms, like moveable type, are a bit more difficult to use than very automated platforms like wordpress. If you are new to blogs and to internet technology, you might want to sacrifice the ability to create a custom background design or to integrate a unique font into your template in order to find a program that will be easy for you to use. On the other hand, if you are a veteran web designer with knowledge of html or javascript, you will probably find the limitations of a user-friendly platform to be frustrating.
There is no such thing as a blogging platform that is objectively the best platform, because every blogger has unique needs. The blogging movement is very much about individuality, so it makes plenty of sense that there would be many different platforms available that are designed to meet the needs of different kinds of individuals undertaking different kinds of projects. This diversity is a good thing, because it means that you will almost certainly be able to find a program that suits your level of technical aptitude.
However, the fact that no two bloggers need the same thing from a blogging platform can make your search for the right platform a bit tricky. When you are reading reviews of different platforms, try to keep your priorities in mind and do your best to take into account the position that the reviewer is coming from. For example, a negative review written by an accomplished software designer who complains that a popular platform is too limited may tell you that the platform in question is ideal for a beginning blogger. There is no such thing as the perfect platform for everybody, so instead of looking for the “best” platform, look for the best platform for your specific criteria.
Blogs and Bloggers have certainly made their presence known over the past couple of years. For the politicians and celebrities they have undeniably become a valuable force to pay attention to but…
Is A Blog Right for Your Business?
Wikipedia defines the term ‘blog’, short for web log, as a web based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles, most often in reverse chronological order…blogs often focus on a particular subject…Although blogs are typically a text medium, there are also non-text versions such as audioblogs (podcasts), photoblogs and videoblogs.”
It is my intention in this article to present a list of pros and cons, and sources for more information, should you be considering adding a blog to your marketing mix.
PROS:
-Blogs, like newsletters, can enhance a companies credibility if done correctly. As a blogger you’re out there in the blogoshpere providing information about your industry and answering questions. You are the expert.
-Blogs can also be a useful customer service tool-they provide a medium to respond to your customers in an open dialogue and to solve problems before they become problems. If a blog, yours or someone else’s, posts a review of your product and there is a problem that needs to be fixed, you can post the fix on the comment section of the blog.
-Blogs increase your exposure in a variety of ways. A simple trade-advertise on my blog and I’ll advertise on yours’ is an easy method to increase exposure. Additionally, by monitoring and posting on other blogs relative to your industry you can increase brand/website awareness.
-Blogs can also be a tool to direct traffic to your website or storefront. By listing links to your site, your readers can click through and possibly become customers.
CONS:
-Blogs require constant updating and monitoring. According to the Blog Squad, “if you can’t commit to writing short posts 2-3 times a week, and if you’re not open to dialogue with your potential customers, then blogging might not be for you.”
-Results from blogging are difficult to track and generally slow to come. It takes a while to develop a presence in the ‘photosphere’ and tracking reader to customer conversions are difficult.
-It takes a concentrated effort to produce creative, interesting, and intelligent content is difficult to come by. Because anyone who wants to blog can, there is a lot of information out there and thus a lot of competition. The good news is that if you are committed to providing quality content, you have a better chance of getting noticed.
-Distribution and publicity are also challenges. Making people aware of and interested in your blog is a marketing campaign in and of itself. Since people have to search for blogs, and they’re not sent to them like other forms of marketing, you have to be proactive in your attempts to get noticed.
Bottom Line:
Many marketing specialists will recommend adding a blog to your marketing plan, if you can afford the time to make valuable contributions 3 or more times a week. For more information on how and where to market your blog see Marketing Optimization 101 for Blogs. rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/marketing_optimization_101_for_blogs
If you’re considering adding a blog to your marketing campaign or are interested in more information you may find the following links helpful:
“Tapping into the Blogosphere”
.forbes.com/2006/01/24/google-apple-microsoft-cx_tt_0125straightup.html
“Can Blogging Help You Market your Product Online?” .bly.com
“The Blog Squad” .nextlevelpartner.typepad.com/bbab/
And
“Business Blogging or Not” .webpronews.com
For more information on marketing your business please visit me at .AMBCreative.net.
Sincerely,
Annette Elton
AMB Creative, LLC