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Blogging Correctly

With now more then 35 million blogs on the internet or as it is now called the blogosphere or blogscape, it is time to work out how to weblog correctly.

If you don't know the advantages of running your own weblog I suggest you read my other article "The Power of Blogging". It has an insight into the pros and cons of running your own weblog .

So let's get to it! You have got your self a weblog , it might be from my company (Able Net Design) or from somewhere else. You have been making regular posts but you just don't seem to be getting any traffic.

Well there are two reasons for not getting traffic. One is easily fixed and the other well is quite difficult.

Ok so the two reasons why you are not getting traffic are. Know one can find your weblog , and the other know one is interested in what you are writting. Which do you think is the easy one. My company can help with both but there are some steps you can take to increase your visibility.

The first thing is to use Tags. These tags describe the post that you have written. It is almost like a category so when your weblog is submitted to weblog directories then it is easy for your latest posts to be picked up by the weblog surfer.

The next thing is RSS feeds. If you have a look at my blogs (Snow Extreme, Able Net Design Diaries, iBlab) you will notice that I have a numerous amount of little buttons which are different applications that people use to subscribe to your weblog .

Photo Blog Host Comparison Chart - click here it's cool

Last but not least weblog directories. Submit your weblog to them, the idea is to get other web sites to pick up your posts and display them on their site.

As a little example if you type in "Tristan Jud" in google I take up at least 5 of the first pages of results with a few exceptions. Alot of these are weblog postings I have done that are now being picked up by other web sites.

Write for your audience as well as search engines. That means include keywords that you want search engines to pick up on. This could be done in the title of your post. I have found that the title of my posts on Snow Extreme Blog are one of my main sources of search engine traffic

Of course if all of this doesn't start to increase your traffic then you might need to look at what topics your are blogging about. If you have nothing interesting to say, then I doubt people will be interesting in reading your weblog .

This is just as insight into blogging correctly, but it should get you on the right path.

Related: Online Blogging - Feeds Blogging

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If you require more help please don't hesitate to contact me.

Blogging & Website Basics - Part Four: So How Do I Get Bonafide Links To My Blog?

Since we are on the subject of linking to and from your blogs, and ostensibly this whole series was started with the discussion on links on our minds, (due to the discussion about Technorati rankings), it is not far-fetched to now devote an article or two on the effects of linking and bona fide strategies to get more links without being penalized or worse by the Search Engines.

It is necessary to understand that there are certain "linking strategies" which are no longer looked upon kindly by the Search Engines (and even many surfers). On the by-and-by I will mention these "bad" strategies in my articles. However, right now we will just mention the most blatant ones. And we will begin with the negative.

It is often the case that when we are starting out and looking for links, that we consider "link banks" or "link farms". The ones that particularly a waste of times and money are those that will "for a small fee" charge you money to use them. Here is how they work.

You go into a link-farm and they maintain a database full of customers just like yourself. If they are halfway tech-savvy they will also categorize their links so that you can link to other web-sites that are within your "sphere". You go to the categories that interest you, and you click on those web-sites that seem to be related in content to yours. The system then sends out an automated email to the webmasters of those sites telling them of your link-exchange request. The webmaster can either approve or decline. This is fairly simple. What is supposed to happen then, is that you and the Webmaster of the chosen site put up "reciprocal links". You link to them - they link to you. You give them a "hot-link/back-link" to their site they give one to you. Sounds simple doesn't it? Well... First and foremost you have just bled out another link. Okay not so bad, unless you constantly do this. A site with too many "bleeding links" and almost no content is marked as a spam site. One which simply puts links up to other sites, adds the keywords, some junk content and tries to move up in the Search Engine ranking. BTW..this works. It works and works well. For a couple of weeks until the Search Engines get around to actually botting, caching and running their algorithms on your site. Then you are penalized or simply thrown to the back of the line.

But there is a very cagey thing these link-farms do as well. What they offer you is either free link exchange or for a few bucks more you get the PRO edition. The Pro edition allows you to put all your reciprocal links into a database and whenever someone accesses your site these links are fed out in pages. Lots and lots of people, newbies usually, go for the PRO option. After all for $30 every couple of months, they don't have to add to their HTML every time a new link is agreed upon. They just add it to the program database which takes care of the rest. The thing is then they are not bleeding links as the information is held on a central server (not on their own servers) and I challenge anyone here who knows of these farms to Google search your link on their site. You just won't find it. So while you being conservative, and you don't pay that extra "small" charge, add a link to your HTML every time your request is approved, most of these people are just adding a link ostensibly coming from their site, into a centralized database. They get your link, you get almost NADA. And since there is no overhead for them, they willingly and happily will add thousands of links. Go find YOUR site among those thousands of links in one web site. Who do you know, is going to flip through a few hundred link pages reading every one?

That is just one of the negative aspects. So the rule here is: "Stay away from commercial link-farms and link-exchanges - they are a NO-NO!"

Okay so how do you get "good" and "valid" links into your Blog?

I am sure I left out a few things (or maybe more than a few), which I will get to in the future.

Blogging - Part Five: Trying to Understand the Psychology Behind It All

For many years while in high tech as a CTO, I was fascinated by the development and progression of chat systems from their very first appearance in Internet land. Though this was not part of my normal everyday running of any of the companies that I worked with, it became a hobby of mine. I also gave seminars around the world, entitled, "The Technological Advance and Psychological Effects of Chat Systems". These led me to use the term "viral technology". (This has nothing to do with computer viruses - though the way it works is somewhat the same.) The seminars then advanced to "Understanding The Nature of Viral Systems on the Internet".

In the next few posts I am going to try and explain all this, and why it is so important to understand that in such seemingly simple things as getting a weblog up, working and making it popular. Viral Technology, is an important factor here. We have until this point have only "scratched the tip of the iceberg" as the cliche goes. And there are so many things to understand and deal with. However, being a writer and author, first and foremost, my mind works on different very illogical connections at times. What I am going to try to get at in the next couple of posts is an understanding of how the circle of content-SE's works, and what is important here. I think by way of examples and using "real life" understanding on the virtual Internet, we can get a better grasp of what is going on and what it is not.

It is critical to understand that we are not only dealing with technology here. We are dealing with psychology and the Internet has a way of digging deep down into individual motivations and actions. Let me first give you an example I found to be incredibly interesting and totally revealing.

On one of the forum boards I sometimes log into, which is populated by a serious and highly intelligent (for the most part) group of people, there are threads for just joking or ranting, as there are on all other Forums. Since many are "virtual" friends these threads are populated by people who banter, give and take, and joke around from time to time to take time off from the vicissitudes of life. Sometimes members ask for serious advice in regard to family and children etc. Now one such member, discovered that her young son had developed an incredible interest (or so she thought) in her "boobs". She wanted to know if this was normal, for a child of that age to discover the difference between sexes. So she began a thread on the topic. And the thread developed. At first serious, but of course, since everyone there are "virtual" friends the joking started. What was interesting to follow, is that both Males and Females started in joking ways of course, to describe either the size of their chests and/or how they liked or disliked the male population looking at them of if they wanted their breasts smaller or larger etc. The males revealed the size of their wives and girl-friends chests and other such what one might call normally "intimate" knowledge. Some even said: "My (wife or husband or boyfriend or girlfriend) would not be happy if they knew I was writing about this". All of this was done in a semi-serious and joking manner.

What was interesting is that I am 100% sure, some people would type out a response, post it, and then say to themselves, "Did I really say that in PUBLIC???" I am willing to bet, based upon experience and studies, that many of these people would NEVER consider SAYING out loud what they typed - say at a party of friends or a dinner or a social gathering.

The Internet makes us free with our thoughts. It allows us freedom that we don't otherwise have, to reveal our "other-side". The reasons for this are many, not the least of which that we are behind a screen. No on can see our facial expressions (not talking about cams here - a whole different subject) or our body language. Most important - we cannot be physically touched. There is always that barrier. And it would be well to keep that in mind.

To be sure there is the downside of all this. Fakers, charlatans, people acting as someone from the other gender - horror stories galore. However, one thing cannot be denied: (This is not the place to discuss this issue. It is worthy of probably a few hundred articles in and of itself. So I will leave it for now with just the chapter heading.)

The Internet has created a whole new psychological study of the human mind and the way it works. And this is CRITICAL to understanding why some things, some sites, some blogs - make it, while others, seemingly so much better and so much more savvy fall by the wayside. Obviously we want our weblog to "make it".

One of the greatest original "pull" and "attractions" of blogs is the ability for many to get out their "private" thoughts to the world at large in a journal or diary manner. They can reveal what they would be too scared or too shy to reveal with words and lips and mouth in a public setting of individuals all sitting around a table. Though, I for one, do not enjoy or visit blogs of this nature, it remains true that most blogger's are doing just that. And what is more important to understand, is that many of the blogger's do not care how many hits they get. It is the catharsis of getting it out. The act of putting it "out there:" that is all important.

Since we are dealing with technology and the desire to build a weblog that WILL GET A FOLLOWING and hits, we must understand what motivates and interests people to come to and read what we are posting and saying. We must understand the WHY? as well as the How? This certainly will lead to a much more comprehensive understanding of the motivations of our members and visitors to our blogs.

The next article in this series deals with a definition of "Viral Technologies" and from there we will have a greater understanding as to how to begin to spread the word of our blogs with methods that apply the technological and psychological. Remember though this is not mathematical science. It is just one of the ways to understanding what is going on. It is not foolproof nor does it always work. But it will possibly give us a deeper understanding of the "virtual world" we sometimes live in, and probably more importantly, a better understanding of ourselves.

This article is already published here at ezinearticles.com and you can read it by going to: Viral Systems & Technologies - What Are They?

Blogging - Part Seven: Article Submission As A Tool To Extend Your Reach

I submit this article in this series, with more than a bit of trepidation. This discusses article submissions, and I am submitting it to ezinearticles. The question is do I fluff it up or be honest? Sometimes brutally honest. I will go for the honesty. We are dealing with positive and negative factors in all aspects, and this means the article submission process as well.

Okay we now know about content, keywords, tags, categories, bots, back-links, hot-links, a bit about the psychology and have an inkling to what viral technology and systems are. Before we get to the nitty-gritty technological stuff, (yes, you do have to know that as well and it is really fascinating at times), we are going to discuss tools to make your weblog more well known and your URL all that more important and hit by those inquiring eyeballs.

I choose to start with the Article Submission process as it does incorporate almost everything we discussed until this moment in time. Like all the tools and possibilities discussed on here, keep in mind that Article Submission is only ONE possibility, and may not be for you. It is work, and sometimes a great deal of it, even if you are a writer, and it also takes a keen eye and watching the market.

One point I wish to make at the outset, that will probably upset a lot of Article Submission site owners and possibly members. Lately, article submission sites are getting very picky with what articles they will take and not take. For some really good reasons, and some let us say some "not-so-good" reasons. If you are an author or writer, like I am, and have published, then you cannot approach article submission in the same way you approach writing your book or novel or short story. I have never had an article turned down due to any such reasons, but Article Submission sites are NOT publishers as authors know them, are NOT literary agents, are NOT literary minded. And you should NEVER submit your literary work to them as you loose first publication rights immediately not to mention the possibility of it getting ripped off. Do not confuse articles with actual literary works.

Articles are just that. Articles that you write, almost about any subject under the sun with a plus for you, which we will get into. And this is not the Pulitzer Prize stuff either. Do not be upset or take to heart any article submission site that thinks they now are "real" publishers or think they can determine what is a good piece of literary writing and what is not. (Some of the lesser known ones are doing that now.) For the most part the articles presented at article submission sites are written with an eye to presenting an idea or opinion or knowledge and to get the URL's into the resource box so the author can drum up business for his web site. This is legitimate and why article submission sites are so successful. It is indeed why I use article submission sites. However, article submission sites serve a purpose in the game of symbiotic internet relationships. Just don't think when you are writing an article, that this is something you are going to present to your literary agent.

Remember as well, what is of interest to you, may not be of interest to the masses. (The tired, the poor, the downtrodden, the bored - they too make up the internet and they too surf!). I am going to, like usual, give a real life example, before getting into the nitty-gritty of article submission sites.

I usually post articles at Ezinearticles.com. They work hard at the business of article submissions, as they should, because they make a great deal of money from it (I will explain how as well). Ezinearticles does lead the market as well where according to Alexa.com it is ranked as of the date of this posting at 622, which means they are the 622 most popular site on the Internet. That people, translates into MILLIONS of page views a day! Powerful influence. (We will discuss Alexa and Google Page Rank in another article.)

A while back ezinearticles.com sent out an email saying that their article entitled "Want to Try on That New Hair Style Before You Get It?" had 108,898 page views! Now if you would have asked me which article would get such page views, I would certainly have NEVER even considered an article about "hair". And that is only page views on their site! Remember that.

You can only write about what you know, BUT you have to write about what other people WANT TO KNOW. That is a lesson for blogging as well. You must offer something in return for someone spending the minutes reading your weblog . Otherwise no one will read it. Period.

The Internet is full of surprises. ONLY because the human condition is full of surprises. Only because it reflects who we are and what our society is like. With all that said - let us explain just how this Article submission process works for you.

Mr. Nor Hair (remember him from our previous articles in this series?) wants to get more free publicity for his site. So he sits down and writes a 750 word article on how to prevent hair loss. Mr. Hair does NOT, I repeat does NOT sell any of his products in the body of the article. This is a big NO-NO, and most article submission sites will refuse to publish an article promoting a product within the body of the article. In other words - Self-Promotion - is NOT allowed within the body of the article. (And this is a very good thing!) Mr. Hair writes about the effects of hair loss on ones self-esteem. He actually spell checks it too! He then goes to an article submission site and becomes a member. All this is for FREE. (Do not ever pay any service or for any program that will submit articles for you! That is just pure malarkey and simply put, if you do, you are a sucker! Remember Article Submissions are Viral, and being so they should be Viral for you as well.)

When he is asked to input his article, he has to adhere to certain guidelines in HTML and text format. He must put in keywords (remember those folks?) and an article summary. He also chooses a category for his article which in this case would be "Hair Care" or "Body Care" or something along those lines. All cool. Then at the bottom is a resource box. That is for you dear author. It is in this box you put your copyright and your URL's etc. (You can see the resource box and an example at the bottom of the article here.)

Usually you are limited by the amount of URL's you can put into the box. I use the maximum which is three. Mr. Hair has two. His web site and his weblog and he inputs them into the box. Voila, he previews and then submits his article on hair loss. In a few hours he gets an email that it was accepted. So far so good. Now what happens?

The article goes up on the site. Now don't ask me if anyone will read it. Obviously sites with millions of page views a day, someone is reading something. But the plus for Mr. Hair is not from the normative person coming to read his article, even if they do click on his link on the bottom. Nope the big plus comes when a Webmaster or Ezine owner comes to the site, and picks up the article (a fairly easy process), and puts it on their web site for content. Now if you were good students you can see right away what you got.

You now have your article and its text on two other sites at least, and you now have a live back-link INTO your weblog ! And if an Ezine owner picks this up and send it out to 2500 members of the Ezine, you now have bona fide email links BACK INTO YOUR BLOG. And all the time that article sits on other web sites, it is indexed by the Search Engines, with YOUR URL IN IT! And all the time it sits at the article submission site, people are reading it and picking it up for content for their sites. And that is the name of the game!

What does the Article Submission site get from this? Simple. They have Google Adwords up and people DO click on those adverts. They have affiliates and people DO click on the affiliates and buy. Do you know why? Cause like I wrote in the article on Viral Systems, the people on the site are loyal members. They are getting something for nothing so they return the favor. (We will discuss stats as well in another much later article). All sides win in this symbiotic relationship. Again some real examples:

I wrote a series of 13 articles on RSS technology and put them up here a while back. Lo and Behold one day I discover that there are two web sites wholly devoted to mine and a few other articles on RSS. How did I find this out? I Googled my name and discovered they had picked up these articles and placed them on their site. More back-links for me.

There is no doubt that article submission works. It may not be for you, it may take too much time. It may simply not let you be the author you truly are, as you may have to swallow "pure quality" for article demands. BUT it is a way, and for free, to increase your hits to your weblog . Seriously consider it.

Back-links is the name of the game. Search Indexing is the name of the game. And Article Submissions is one way to achieve to it. If you can, use the article submission route for more exposure for your weblog .

(Part Six of this series is already published at Ezinearticles.com Viral Systems & Technologies - What Are They?)

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Content Provider - My fellow writers at the Absolute Writers Forum (known lovingly as the AW Water Cooler or just Cooler) are the reason for these next series of articles so I wish to thank them. In the next few series of articles, I will try and deal with some of the very basic technical jargon and skills that one needs when facing this daunting world of web-site creation, blogging and getting listed and noticed by the Search Engines.

Blogging Builds Credibility - Blog is short for the word weblog. A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for the consumpution of the general public. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site.Blogs can be used in the business world as well. It is a concept that started in late 90s. It used to be a way to comment an existing webpage, an opportunity for visitors and readers to react or voice out ones opinion on the said page.

Content Rewriter - You need to have a way with words in order to increase the traffic to your web site. However, sometimes, the most intelligent people in the world can have difficulty effectively communicating their ideas in writing to others.

Internet Marketing Blog - Some Internet Marketing bloggers will post topics that vary greatly. Other Internet Marketing bloggers feel most comfortable when they are posting on a particular topic. The question has often been: which way is best? Studies demonstrate that defining your niche creates better blogging. So, using this discovery, it is assumed that it is best to choose one route to take, and stick with it. This can mean that you choose one large topic and use it to produce your total blog topic list.

Rss Feeds Article - Blog is short for web log and became popular during the 2004 Presidential Election as blog writers all over the world opined and investigated both the president and John Kerry. There are literally hundreds of thousands of blogs out there.

Blogger Typepad - A weblog is basically an online journal wherein you can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything that you want people to read. Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending on the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer built in features such as hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc.

Creating Content Sites - A proven way is to give away free ebooks and special reports. The advantage of giving away free information is that it gives you a chance to catch their attention. Once you have them reading your report or ebook, you can begin the subtle art of persuasion that converts them from a reader into a buyer.

Free Content Website - The sites are complete with articles and include 3 Adsense units on each page. Also included is a search ad unit on each page. Each of the pages on this site are SEO friendly to help effective spidering of the site. You can add more articles easily to make the site more unique.

Estate Blogging - A weblog is really like an online journal. You can write as much or as little as you want, about any topic that strikes your fancy. It's a great way to talk about new listings, open houses, and any special events coming up. Getting a weblog up and running is simple. Check out the various blogging services, such as blogger.com or typepad.com, and decide which one best meets your needs.

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