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Blogging and SEO

Blogging gets its name from the term 'blog', itself a short form of 'weblog', which again is a blend of two words, 'web' and 'log'. A weblog is a repertoire of web publications stored in reverse chronological order, which means that a new entry comes on top of the one just preceding it. Anyone who looks after a weblog , writes for and maintains it is said to be 'blogging'. Blog-posts are articles posted on a weblog by a 'blogger'.

Since early days, blogs have focused on particular subjects, for example web development, learning craft or estuarine fishing. Blogging is like an online diary, being constantly updated, that can contain both images and texts.

A typical weblog -entry or weblog -post will consist of title of the post, main content of the post, the URL of the full article called 'permalink' (article appears in a separate page), the date when posted, the blogging category of the post, comments if made and, finally trackback URLs' (which are URLs' of those pages that link to the weblog -post).

Should you be blogging? Why not? But remember thousands of blogs debut everyday only to die soon after. So while blogging is surely an addiction (and perhaps a necessity), it is incumbent upon a would-be blogger to prepare a fertile ground for it to succeed.

Blogging Signposts

Blogging has become popular in a relatively short time. Here is a 'trackback' to sequence of events that together shape up today's weblog scenario:

1. The term 'weblog' was first used in December, 1997 by Jorn Barger. From 'weblog' to 'we weblog ' to 'blog' - a short journey before Peter Merholz coined the term 'blog' in April, 1997.

2. Xanga.com, launched in 1996, is one of the earliest entrants on the blogging scene, having started with fewer than 100 online 'diaries'. Today, Xanga's community is populated by millions of users.

3. OpenDiary.com is another popular blogging site, having started in October, 1998. OpenDiary currently has nearly 450,000 users. Closely following OpenDiary came LiveJournal.com in March 1999, which today has over ten million users and nearly 230,000 posts everyday.

4. Blogging started gaining momentum in 1999 and in subsequent years, specially after the advent of hosted blogs.

5. Blogger.com is a notable blogging service that commenced in August, 1999. In Feb, 2003 it was acquired by and is now a part of Google.

6. Though reliable figure of total usage is not available, there is no doubt that blogging has arrived to share centerstage with other essential net activities, like emailing, chatting and surfing.

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Free Blogging

To be sure, there are good numbers of free blogging tools to get going. Blogger.com from Google's fold is an excellent start-up. Xanga.com has both free and paid blogging service. So are host of others like Wordpress, Nucleus CMS (both database driven), Blog-City, Blogsome, Blog Studio, Yahoo!'s Flickr photo blogging (free and paid account), Fotothing photo sharing and so on.

All free services require you to sign up for an account and proceed step-by-step to ultimately establish your blogging account. Blogger.com also permits hosting a blogging account on your own server. Wordpress and Nucleus are both rich in features, but database-supported (PHP, MySQL) software applications.

Parameters of successful blogging

Before you start your own weblog , here is a quick checklist:

1. Do you know your blogging subject well enough?

2. How conversant are you in your subject of blogging? As a rule of thumb, expect to contribute yourself for a good length of time before others join in.

3. Look for a niche category for your blogging, subject of course to the conditions above.

4. Are you in a position to devote time to your weblog ? Unless there are regular updates and a genuine willingness to do so, it is difficult to succeed.

Blogging and SEO

For any web site to rank high in search engine results, search engine optimization is needed. Search engines prefer lot of relevant contents that are added and updated on a regular basis. Blogging fills in that requirement effortlessly and automatically. If you are a frequent contributor to your own weblog , and if your articles are keyword enriched and relevant to the subject of your weblog , be assured that search engines are keeping track of that. Examples are many where in terms of search engine traffic, web sites have prospered on the strength of targeted blogs. So get going, start blogging today!

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Increase Your Website Traffic With Blogging

Blogs Gone Wild!

I was thinking about just placing this under the Building traffic page, but I figured that blogging has become so huge that it deserved a separate page altogether.

Probably the best way to gain traffic and exposure, blogging has fully emerged. For those of you not too clear on what a weblog (also called weblog) is, it is basically a personal journal on the web--well, actually that was the idea in mind when it first started; people simply wanted a community in cyberspace.

So why are blogs so popular nowadays? I can think of a few reasons off the top of my head: For starters, it gives us a community in which we can easily communicate with people we know or never met about topics we share in common. With blogs, we can show our unique personalities through our writing. Blogging just gives the world yet another way to communicate on a grand scale. There is virtually no limit to what you can post. Don't be left out.

And to think, there was a time we needed to send messages in a bottle.

Advantages of blogging

Blogging has truly arrived as one of the most popular ways to gain popularity on the Internet. Blogs can be responded to and updated at anytime so long as there is a computer around. A weblog is not some upper echelon magazine run by miserable editors; you don't need to be grammatically perfect all the time; you don't need an editor unnecessarily sifting through your words for mistakes; and you don't need a publisher to release your work. Nobody can tell you what to write or tell you what he or she wants you to say. If you have an interesting topic to talk about, let yourself be heard--in your own words--using a weblog .

You can write about anything from sports to supermodels... and everything in between. If you like to debate then what are you waiting for? Blogging is great for starting arguments and getting other peoples views on certain topics.

You can literally reach thousands of people using blogs. You could even post from mobile phones... lunch breaks will never be the same. All in all, the advantages of blogs are very clear and I think everyone should at least give it a shot.

How can this benefit my Web site?

Blogging is the latest, and best, way to promote your web site. People are starting to realize that blogs have a domino/viral effect in that it prompts many responses and can facilitate web sites by providing high amounts of traffic and high search engine placement. You can point links anywhere you want within your blogs to anywhere on the net--including other blogs or to your own Web site. When you look at it that way, it's no wonder it's easy for you to gain exposure.

As big as blogging is now, I expect it to get even bigger. If you have a thought and can add an interesting spin on it, you should simply create a weblog ... who knows, you might create a great community.

At the moment I'm using blogs here and there just to increase this very web site's popularity. But since I like blogging so much, I am going to keep doing it for the fun of it.

The easiest way to start Blogging right away

Go to http://blogger.com to get started immediately (free of charge). This is great for beginners. All you have to do is setup your account and you're ready to go.

For those of you who already know what blogging is or want to take full advantage of blogging, you should definitely check out "Blogging For Dollars." It's definitely for those of you that are serious about using blogsto create high volumes of traffic. While it is pricey for some people, there is no other product like it at the moment... if you are serious about blogging, check it out. You not only get more traffic using this product, but you also solidify top spots in the top search engines.

The DVD and the Guidebook will give all the details of how you can use blogging to increase your exposure and to increase your sales.

Chris Walker is the owner of: http://www.ultimate-home-business-advice.com. Get all the best advice on great home businesses that really work. Gain access to essential tips and resources. He is the owner of all said material in this article. You can distribute his material on a non-exclusive, royalty-free basis, while he retains full rights to his work. You can use his article as long as you do not change any of the content without his permission.

The 3 Biggest Problems Affecting Blogging Today

Richard Adams

Everyone and his dog has a weblog these days.

According to Technorati, the largest of the weblog search engines, they currently track 33.3 million blogs.

Just why are there so many blogs?

Firstly, there are the real genuine folks - the bone fide bloggers who love to share their thoughts and ideas on a regular basis with a wide range of interested readers. And good luck to them.

But there are also a number of problems with blogs leading to a massive glut of spam blogs - or "splogs" for short.

(1) Regular Updates

By definition a weblog is updated regularly. A weblog that is never updated defeats the object. However this can put pressure on the blogger to add useful, interesting, applicable posts frequently. Perhaps they don't have the time. Perhaps they don't have the inspiration. Perhaps they simply don't have enough to say.

Whatever the reason, the "regular updates" conundrum can lead to poorer quality posts over time, or less frequent posting, or the use of content from other authors.

(2) Search Engines Love Blogs

It has been suggested that weblog stands for Better Listings On Google because typically blogs will rank well in the search engines, and are indexed both quickly and regularly.

This makes blogs a dream tool for marketers of all descriptions and leads to numerous blogs being created with the primary intention of being keyword-filled search engine food whose sole aim is to draw traffic that can then be turned into dollars.

Now even many of the largest bloggers will accept advertising to help pay for their hobby but when a weblog is put up *just* to draw visitors, rather than to be interesting, again the quality and frequency of posts can drop rapidly.

(3) Advertising Billboards

These two factors mean than many blogs soon become simply places for bloggers to paste dozens of adverts for products they can earn a commission from.

They provide little if any content, not even product reviews, just page after page of keyword-stuffed adverts.

Which defeats the object of a weblog , and is also unlikely to keep visitors coming back for the latest updates.

So why are these problems? Well they reduce the overall quality of blogs on the Internet which isn't good for people like you and me looking for high quality information.

I can honestly say that 95%+ of the blogs I visit fall foul of at least one of these three problems, if not all of them and those that I would revisit I could count on the fingers of one hand.

It's also not good for the search engines whose business model depends on serving up accurate, useful information to us.

So they're fighting back.

Google is deleting huge numbers of splogs hosted on their Blogger service and many other blogs are vanishing from the listings.

If you try to weblog without posting regular, useful, original content it's only a matter of time before you get caught.

So best to remedy your crimes *before* all your effort goes up in smoke at the next search engine update.

Now go make those changes ;-)

Richard Adams is the creator of the Easy Ecommerce Website Design video course. Find out more at: http://www.easyecommerceweb sitedesign.com

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