Blogging: Know When to Hold 'em

When you are writing a business blog (b-blog) you need to make sure you do not pass along business secrets. This is as true for employees as well as the business owner.

Because each business is based on an individual model developed to highlight the expertise and personality of the business owner it should not come as a surprise that there are business models in place that are unique to the business.

You may feel that the information is not a ‘big deal’, but you should know the information ‘can and will be used against you’ to quote the famed Miranda rights.

Pssst. Come Here

Essentially you can supply industry information, but should refrain from offering company secrets. You may be surprised at how many individuals will view your blog and many of them will be competitors. Allowing others to have some insider knowledge about your company can negatively affect your business.

This is essentially a cardinal rule of business blogging. You may want to develop your own set of policy statements that can assist you in making sure you are putting your best foot forward in your role as a provider of knowledge-based content.

Don’t Dance Alone

You should also remember that blogging is a bit like tango – it takes two. You can provide information and your visitors can provide comments. Make sure that the information you provide is interesting and will encourage visitors to make a return trip to your blog.

Edit First and Often

You should also make sure to edit (or have someone edit for you) your blog. Nothing will be as quick a turn off to visitors as a blog filled with spelling and grammar mistakes. It might make sense to develop your blog in a word processing program and then cut and past that material into your blog.

We’ve all come across blogs where it seems that author simply threw it together on the fly. In those moments we make a mental note not to return. There really is no excuse for error filled content in your business blog. If you do notice a mistake, even after original editing, go back and edit your blog as soon as you can.

Posts Reflect Who You Are

The good news is you don’t have to do extensive research to present content on subject you are unfamiliar with, just stick with content you are familiar with. If you come across something that is well written on a subject you don’t feel comfortable writing about simply provide a direct link for visitors.

Blogging with Multiply!

If you wish to blog, upload photos, videos, music files, write reviews, and post your social calendar online in just one website, all you have to do is sign up for an account at Multiply.

Thumbs-Ups: Photo uploading is virtually unlimited, and images can be classified by albums, and given captions. Skin choices are provided to give your blogs more color and life. The URL is pretty easy to memorize – http://username.multiply.com. Lastly, RSS feeds are allowed.

Thumbs-Down: On writing reviews, Multiply doesn’t give users much freedom on customizing content by font type or color. Layouts can be edited…but only if you have CSS knowledge and even with that, customizing is still somewhat limited. Smiley list is pitifully inadequate.What are the percentage of people earning on Adsense Blogs? And how much do they earn? Get your special $97 report on Adsense Tips and Tricks!

Live and Write Freely at LiveJournal With a hip nickname such as “LJ”, LiveJournal is a website that’s especially suitable for the fun-loving crowd that’s always on the go.

Thumbs-Ups: Bonds forged online are strengthened by LJ’s email notifications for commenting. Thus, if someone comments in your blog, an email will be sent to inform you about it. Likewise, an email will be sent to you if your comment on someone else’s LJ receives a reply – whether it’s from the blog owner or another blogger doesn’t matter.

Thumbs-Down: LJ however is less easy to customize than other blogs. Some features that are already offered free by other blog hosting sites are on the other hand available only for LJ members with paid accounts.

Be In Vogue at Xanga Teenagers seem to be absolutely enamored with Xanga. If you desire a blogging process that’s easy and stylish at the same time, Xanga is definitely the blog hosting site you’re looking for.

Thumbs-Ups: Besides having community-based blogging to look forward to, each post you make will allow you to inform your readers what you’re presently reading, watching, or playing. You can also upload photos, music, and write categorized reviews. A guest book is automatically offered to users.

Thumbs-Downs: Although Xanga allows users to make use of RSS feeds; it would take them some time to properly integrate it in their blogs. The customize layout options is sadly limited, the URL provided for members is a mouthful, and commenting is exclusive for Xanga members only.

So, what do you think? Which blog hosting site do you plan to choose? Wherever you end up blogging, we wish you well! Blog on!

Does Blogging Bypass Traditional Media?

National and international business is doing something mainstream media professionals never saw coming – they have wrested control of information away from entrenched media sources.

Standard media sources provide content in a confined and compartmentalized fashion. This form of communication is normal, expected, dare I say status quo?

A Passing Fad or Defining the Medium

In the beginning blogs seemed more attuned to ‘stream of conscious’ thought. The beginning of blogging was personal and sometimes social. This thought morphed into social networks that are prevalent today.

Somewhere along the way business caught a vision that blended information and marketing into a highly personalized package known as Business Blogging (B-blogging).

Taking Information to the Consumer

Blogging has taken business information from small portions of data from sources you need to pay for and brought it to the masses – at no cost.

Suddenly those who were the most knowledgeable were bypassing the media and actually finding greater success in reaching those most interested. Not only was the information available in a timely way it had a significant impact on the marketing aspect of the company.

The media can often drain the personality from an interview with an expert, but a b-blog can restore the personality and allow visitors to see your business as more approachable, accessible and likeable.

Where Media Fails

Where once a staff writer had numerous stories to work on and numerous contacts to make to finish other stories, now a motivated industry expert could bring multiple opinions and insight to their readers in a very short period of time. While the staff writer worked on trying to understand the issues surrounding the article they were been assigned to write the business owner/industry expert is already gathering comments and analysis from other industry experts.

Essentially business blogging removes one of the most cumbersome steps to information distribution - time. The biggest positive in all of this is blogging has the ability to place you in the driver’s seat of information.

Vision Connections

Many businesses have not explored blogging because they haven’t caught the vision for success and they haven’t understood the benefit of developing a niche specific information stream that has the ability to convert motivated information consumers into customers who understand how the information affects their purchasing decisions.

Blogging has given business a tremendous gift. Interestingly mainstream media has taken an ‘if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em’ mentality by providing their own blogs that have taken this town hall approach to information to their readers. In the final analysis mainstream media still stand several paces behind business blogging pioneers who are now viewed as trusted authorities.

Blogging - We Love It!

Blogging is not a new activity, at least for those who jumped on the blogger bandwagon a couple of years ago. But more recently, it’s become a platform for all kinds of social, commercial and personal stories and information. While blogging may have started out as an internet fad, these days it’s much more widely used in business, as well as by individuals.

Blogging – tell your stories.

We love telling our tales of woe or triumph, writing witty anecdotes, or simply sharing our thoughts with the rest of the world. Blogging has given us the opportunity to get our opinions published for everyone to see, to comment on the latest big news items or celebrity gossip. Writing down our daily thoughts helps us to get the worries and frustrations of life out of our heads and lets us share our big moments on the blogging pages.

Blogging – share your interests.

One of the fantastic things about blogging is that we can write about absolutely anything; hobbies, lifestyle, children, school and work. There’s a whole host of blogging sites dedicated to particular interests, and we can keep up to date with other people’s views on things that we have in common. Whether it’s the latest technology, gadgets, cars or computer games, or things like travel and holidays, we can stay in touch with the most up to date information.

Blogging - get involved in the community.

Charity associations, local clubs, and community groups can use blogging to get their organizations known by a wider reaching audience. Online accounts of recent events is a great way to use blogging pages to get publicity, while a short piece on the next meeting or class can help promote the work of the club, and may even attract more participants or volunteers. The great advantage of blogging over writing web pages is that it’s quick and easy, and can be done by almost anyone!

Blogging – promote your business.

Many companies now use blogging pages as an informal way of connecting with their customers. For the smaller, or new business owners, it’s an excellent way to publicize their products without expensive advertising costs. Just by posting a regular blogging column, small companies can often draw in more business than by the more conventional methods.

Blogging – making a profit.

The biggest shake-up in the blogging explosion has most likely been caused by internet entrepreneurs. Promoting their online products and services has been helped tremendously by putting up several blogs to support their ventures. Blogging has hugely increased the potential traffic to new and existing websites, giving the marketers much more exposure to people using search engines for specific information. Blogging in itself has become a money-making business, even for beginners in the internet marketing business.

Having become one of the greatest internet resources for all types of people, blogging is usually free, easy to get started, and gives us all the opportunity to reach a massive worldwide audience!

Are You Passionate about Blogging?

There is a passion that is build into the entrepreneurial spirit. It is that sense of pride in a product and passion in a business that you tap into when you form an idea for a home-based or ecommerce business.

That passion is the driving force behind virtually every aspect of your online business. This passion can (and should) be evident in web design, product descriptions and knowledge-based content.

In the same way, the passion for your ‘idea’ may best be expressed through the use of a business blog. You can provide up to the minute updates on products, information or industry trends.

You can infuse your blog with reputable links and glean material from sources that only serve to convince your site visitors that you know what you are talking about and you have multiple sources to help provide information – hand picked for freshness and good taste.

Some business bloggers will actually work to stifle their enthusiasm for the very thing that fuels their business passion. They tend to believe that strict professionalism is the key to their online success. I tend to believe this approach is a mistake. If you’re enthusiastic about your business, products, and by default, blog you will find customers will often gravitate toward your personal passion. Yes, be professional, but be passionate, too.

I think the reason this is needed has a lot to do with a pervading apathy many people experience. It seems as if ideas are made to poke fun at and passionate people are consistently referred to as fanatics. While this can be true, it can also be a point where your genuine enthusiasm provides hope that a person can actually move from apathy to excitement in the 21st century.

The web thrives on a sense of anonymity and it is that environment which may be most conducive to really being able to express yourself positively in your business blog.

The wonder and excitement of life seems to fade at a younger and younger age, but if we are honest we want something to cheer. We also want something to be exited about and in the privacy of our own homes we may even marvel and the joy we see in the passions expressed by an ecommerce business owner.

I encourage you to confidently take your business blog and infuse some passion into it. Make it personal, make it fun and give your readers something to believe in.

The Benefits of Blogging for Home Business Entrepreneurs

A few years ago all the gurus were screaming “You’ve got to have a web site” and they were right. Now we are being told “you have got to have a blog”. But is this true and are they really worth the effort?

At least blogs are easier and cheaper to set up than web sites thanks to the likes of Blogger.com and Wordpress. But is it worth the time and effort writing the posts and keeping them updated ? My answer to this question produces a typical fence sitters reply. They can be.

Sure if you just want to let the world know what an exciting life you lead or let the world know your views on the burning issues that is fine. You should not really expect to make much profit from your blog. It is a hobby, something you are just doing for fun but if you want to make it a marketing tool of your business then you must adopt a professional attitude regarding your blogs.

Before you post anything you must decide exactly what you hope to achieve with each blog you post. So what are the options?

You might want to sell something either your own or an affiliate product.
In which case you might consider a review or an explanation of how to use the product and or the benefits a buyer would receive. Your one purpose with this type of blog is to pre sell the product and get the prospect to click the link to the full sales page and hopefully make a purchase.

A blog can also be a great way to establish you within your specialised niche.
It can help you get your name known and increase your credibility. But this will only work if you write fresh thought provoking copy. A rehash of others work or hackneyed ideas will do little for your standing especially if your niche is small and close knit.

Another option is to write a series of “how to” blogs giving your readers information on specific aspects of your niche. This can often be a good introduction to offering them a complete “How to” e-book or program. I look on these as very similar to the e-courses that many Internet marketers offer.
Instead of setting them up on your auto responder you post them to your blog at regular intervals.

The bottom line is that if you are to make posting blogs a worthwhile option then you need to have clear in your mind exactly what you want to achieve with your blog before you even write one word.

The History of Blogging

When blogging was a relatively new concept many bloggers simply looked to the medium as a way to empty their thoughts into an electronic file. Many viewed the medium as a journal that may never be read by anyone else.

In fact, early bloggers saw very little activity without sending out a direct invitation to view the blog to friends and family.

There are two primary roots to blogging. The first is old style message boards (now commonly referred to as moderated forums) and the second root is Online Diaries.

The earliest predecessor for blogging goes all the way back to 1983, but like most early Internet ideas they were basically useful only to the computer geeks and technicians.

Blogging as we see it today really came to the forefront in 2004. If blogging were a pot of water the boiling point wasn’t reached until that year.

Today blogging is incorporated into almost every form of social networking site. Business Blogging (b-blogging) is common with many online businesses.

Perhaps blogging has been embraced because the individual blog owner becomes the journalist, publisher and commentator without the need to consult with any of those journalistic types.

Blogging may seem meaningless initially. It may, in fact, seem more like an old style online diary read by a very few. You may even believe that the medium has no impact on your business marketing strategy. However, like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies it can take some time for blogging views to reach the boiling point.

One way to improve blogging traffic is to post a link to the blog in any signature line when participating in forum discussions. Make a prominent link to the blog on your primary business site. Use links from other blogs, which may become reciprocal. You can even mention your blog in any company ezines, newsletters or autoresponders.

Many Internet users have come to view blogging as an alternative news source. If your business is on the cutting edge of your industry a business blog might become authoritative and be referred to by other bloggers for additional content. Their backlinks only serve to improve the traffic to your blog.

The growth of blogging serves the interests of knowledge and entertainment seeking consumers as well as businesses that understand what type of content their visitors are most interested in.

Blogging has really allowed a free exchange of ideas with the belief that if you meet the intellectual needs of the customer they are more likely to return with both trust and their credit card.

Making Money with Adsense

You can believe one of two things about making a significant income from Google AdSense.

1) If you believe the claims of those who are promoting AdSense with the products they are selling, then Google AdSense is the key to your early, as in nest year, retirement.

2) If you believe those who have spent the past year working with AdSense and received something in the neighborhood of $100 for their efforts, you will begin devising an alternative retirement strategy.

But is there a middle ground, a third option which will allow you to make a reasonable income from Google Adsense in return for a reasonable amount of works? There certainly is, if you don’t keep looking for the magic tricks and resign yourself to repeating the same R&D over and over again.

Keywords are at the heart of any successful Google AdSense campaign, and you need to find the right ones. The right keywords will be determined by your source of traffic.

If you intend to use natural SEO, then your will need to get and Adwords account and use it to research the keywords with good PPC value, good bidder density, and not many competitors.

Any keywords which can supply you with all three are the ones on which you should build your niche, so use them to build a search engine optimized site, post your AdSense ads, and start looking for your traffic to arrive.

Then do it again, and again, and again, until you have enough sites built on enough smartly chosen keywords to make AdSense pay off for you.

There’s one more way to build respectable revenue from Google AdSense. It’s called arbitrage, and what it means is that you will buy PPC traffic directly from Google via AdWords, and then steer that traffic to your site displaying AdSense ads.

If you want to engage in arbitrage, look for high PPG value keyword for your websites, and low PPC costs for your ads.

While either of these strategies, if implemented correctly, can generate a reasonable and ongoing income from Google AdSense, the real keyword is patience: you’ll almost certainly have to wait months before you see your first AdSense checks.

If done properly, either of these techniques can yield a consistent income, but more than likely, it will take months before this occurs.

Ready to Start Blogging? Let's Go!

Setting up a blog is generally a matter of following some online steps. The first thing any blogger (business or personal) needs to do is to find a blogging host. This could be a stand alone like Zanga or Blogger or a part of a social media site like MySpace or FaceBook.

You will need to register with a typical user name and password. From this point on you will need to pay attention to the instructions the blog site provides.

In most cases you can upload photos and most blog sites will also allow you to place audio and video in your blog. Most of the time this is placed as embedded link. This means that the link to the audio video or picture is placed on the blog from a secondary hosting source.

Unless you pay for blog space the blogging company will generally place a limit on the amount of space you can use to host files on their site. This is why the blogging site will not host most audio and video. Most bloggers will use video sites like YouTube to present any video clips they might want.

Photos can be stored at a site like Photobucket and then placed with an embedded link so the photo will show up on the site.

You will also be allowed to manage friends, comments and posts from your main page. Your profile can be edited or modified to include new achievements or events and the color scheme of your blog can also be adapted to express your personal taste.

Many blogging sites make Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds available as well to allow others to be advised when you post new material on your blog.

Many existing websites will have a page that is linked to the blog or frame the blog so site visitors can view their blog entries directly from the primary website. This can be important especially if the primary site is also a business website.

Blogging is just one of several marketing tools that can be integrated directly into an existing website design.

Most blogging sites will allow you to remove old blogs and edit existing ones whenever you need to.

In most cases the only individuals who can post comments are those who have registered with the blogging site. This is done for the protection of the company as well as the blogger. If a threat or malicious comment is made in response to your blog the blogging company can contact the poster or work with authorities if needed to find the person who made the comment. If no registration was required for blog comments then anyone could post their thoughts in your blog no matter how potentially harmful or threatening.

The next step is to actually post a blog entry. These can be general stream of consciousness thoughts or they could be more direct and informational.

Expect blog visits to be slow at first. When you develop several you will find visitation will increase and there will also be the expectation that you can and will provide new material to view on a regular basis.

Blogging can be a great way to add a personal touch to a personal or business website and can help customers and friends capture a sense of your humanity.