How to Create Your First Blog

I've been blogging now for about 2 years, and I'm amazed at the amount of traffic that I get from my blog and the number of people who tell me that they first heard about me from my blog instead of my website. The word blog is derived from the term "web log", or an online diary or journal. If the HBO series "Sex and the City" were being filmed today, Carrie Bradshaw would be a blogger as well as a columnist, I think. Why? As she experiences her revelations about life, love, and relationships, she could post them to her blog for the world to see and comment upon.

Blogging has opened website creation to almost everyone, as it takes very little know-how to get a blog up and running. In fact, many service business owners are using a blog platform as their primary website, with some of them creating static pages as you would find on a traditional website, while others are using the platform as a blog and are posting updates regularly.

There are several advantages to using blogs instead of ezines or traditional websites:

1. Search engines love blogs. The strategy that seems to be attractive to search engines today is regularly updated content. I can log-in to my blog at the beginning of a day and submit a post. Within 24 hours I'll get a notification from my Google alerts account that Google has indexed that post.

2. Content can be distributed quickly. If you instruct your visitors to subscribe to your blog via updating services like Bloglines or Feedblitz, they'll be notified within hours of any new posts on your blog.

3. Little web programming knowledge is required. Once your blog is set up, it's simply a matter of logging into your account, typing the info for you post, adding graphics or photos as needed, and publishing your post to your blog.

4. Reader feedback. Your readers can give you comments and feedback about your posts almost immediately after you log an entry. Blogs are a great way to engage your audience.

Are ezines and traditional websites dead? No, because people consume information differently. Some are auditory learners and prefer to hear the info (great audience for podcasting, an audio form of blogging), some prefer to receive updates as they are published (blog readers), while others like a stable, stationary medium to which they can refer when they're ready (readers who archive ezines or bookmark web pages).

How do you begin to blog? Here are 10 simple steps you can follow:

1. Blogging platform. The easiest way to get started is to use the free service found at Blogger.com or Wordpress.com. The ability to customize your blog is limited with the free services, so I urge my clients to subscribe to Typepad.com, which will host your blog for you on their servers, or purchase a hosting account where WordPress can be installed. The downloadable version of WordPress is located at Wordpress.org and is free of charge if you need to install Wordpress yourself on your hosting account. I use Typepad for my blog, so many of my examples will relate exclusively to blogs hosted on that platform.

2. Name. What do you want to call your blog? Blog names tend to be attention-getting and off-beat. However, for service businesses, I encourage my clients to use keywords important to their business when naming their blog. You will also want to acquire the .com version of your blog's name or your blog's name with the word "blog" attach as your blog URL. After you have set up your blog, your blog provider can give you more info about how to map your domain to your blog. (Note: You don't want to simply forward your blog to your domain name, as that impacts the URLs of your individual blog pages).

3. Look and Layout. How many columns do you want to display? Do you want links to static pages? What colors do you want to use? How about a signup box for a free giveaway? Should you use one of the templates provided or have something custom designed? Do you want your blog archives displayed? Do you want to be the only author or do you want to permit others to make posts, as well? There are many questions you'll be asked in the startup phase about the look of your blog. A Typepad blog permits you to change your mind about your layout at a later date. The best way to determine the look of your blog is to look at the layout of other blogs and determine what appeals to you.

4. Widgets. There are a number of widgets, or add-on programs, that you can incorporate into your blog. Check your blog software's site for more info about what features you'd like add to your blog. At a minimum you'll want to give visitors a couple of ways in which they can receive blog updates through various updaters, or feeder services, as mentioned earlier.

5. Comments. The newest sp*am making its rounds online is comment sp*am. Don't these guys have anything better to do? Set your comments to moderated, which means that you have to approve any comments to your blog before the post goes live. You'll save yourself a great many headaches and time by choosing to moderate the comments.

Once you've gotten this far, you should have a basic blog established and are ready to begin to blog.

6. Blog content. The time has arrived -- your blog is ready to accept posts. What do you write about? You can post content rich articles of interest to your target market, comment on a current event, answer questions from your visitors, present a before and after case study outlining how your business helped someone, etc. Keep your eyes and ears open for information relevant to your audience. I use my blog to bring forth info that doesn't fit well into my newsletter format or something that arises between newsletter issues. I post my ezine content to my blog, as well.

7. Posting frequency. Blogs are just like gardens -- they need watering regularly and require some care and attention. For maximum effectiveness, you need to post several times a week to your blog. I try and post 4 times per week in my blog -- 2 posts are items I run across or comment upon as noteworthy in the moment, and the latter 2 are the contents of my ezine posted over 2 days. And, respond to reader's comments when they arrive -- blogs provide a great forum for ongoing discussions.

8. Blog traffic. In the same way that you publicize your website URL on everything that you do, you can similarly publicize your blog. Submitting your blogs to blog directories is another way to get traffic. A very comprehensive list of blog directories, RSS Top 55 has been compiled by Robin Good, http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/. Searching out blogs that appeal to your target market and making comments to those posts will also drive traffic to your blog. Another trick is to post your blog on social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, and del.icio.us.

9. Measure the results. Some blog programs, like Typepad, have built-in statistics so you can view details of your blog traffic. Some of the feed/updater programs have built-in statistics as well, or you can install a metrics program as an add-on to your blog. Review your statistics regularly to determine how much traffic your blog generates.

10. Rinse and repeat. Don't let the novelty of blogging wear off. Blogging is effective only if you continue your blogging efforts regularly over a long period of time. I know of several individuals who have gotten book deals from their blog and radio and TV interviews as well. Just think -- your blog might be your ticket to fame!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/488788

How to Create Your First Blog - WordPress Or Blogger?

Creating your first blog!

First what does blog stand for? Blog means web-log: blog. So your hearing how exciting it is and important to have a blog? Well I was in your same shoes not to long ago and have become a true believer of blogging.

So, Why did I not get into blogging a long time ago? Well honestly I just didn't see the importance to do it for myself. While I constantly blogged for the companies I worked for, just never did my own. So I am here to let you on in a few insider tips and tricks to creating a successful blog, the corporate way and the professional way.

This tutorial will give you all the basics to creating a blog and some advanced techniques.

Chapter 1: Blog Introduction
Chapter 2: Setting up your Blog
Chapter 3: Customizing your Blog
Chapter 4: Blog SEO
Chapter 5: Before you publish
Chapter 6: Spread the word
Chapter 7: Navigating the blog Chapter 8: Conclusion

Chapter 1: Blog Introduction

1.1 - Find out what blog is best for you! There are many different types of blogs. I would recommend whichever you feel comfortable with and even try both of them, if one does not work as well for you, drop it and stick with the one that you are comfortable with.

1.2 - A great blog has a nice but clean and easy to read design. What is a blog for? a blog is for a user to post topics that he feels led to share. What if your readers have a heard time reading the post, this is why a nice easy clean design is a must for a new blog.

1.3 - Have an idea of what the blog is about. Are you going to be doing "how-to" for people or is your blog just something to post ideas you have? Maybe your blog is a place for you to post information about whats going on in your family so that your entire family can view and make posts.

1.4 - Find a good theme that fits you and what you are trying to accomplish. There are flash themes which require a little bit of flash knowledge and then some themes that you should be able to just "plug and play". That means, your theme will give you the look and feel you want and that's all you have to do. I am a strong believer in creating a customized theme. I can help you with this or you can find many people to help you with this. Usually a custom theme will cost $80-$100.

Chapter 2: Setting up your Blog

2.0 There are many online blogs out there. You need to find one that fits your needs best and works well with what you are trying to do. There are many blogs out there are free and some cost money but submit your blogs to other linking blogs.

Chapter 3: Customizing your blog

3.0 From chapter 1 you should have found a blog theme that is setup for whichever product blog you have chosen. Much of these can be found for free while some people look for a more custom specialized blog template that usually costs around $50-100.

3.1 Every page is built with php, xml and CSS. You do not need to change any of the php or xml!! If you do not know anything about php or xml do not touch it!! your blog will not work if you do. Although changing CSS is easy and ok! I would say though to watch some YouTube videos on CSS if you do not know much about it.

3.2 In WordPress under Appearance, click on Editor. You will have to find the style.css file. This is where you are going to be able to do some changing. If you want to change colors just find the tag that controls the color you are interested in changing and change old color (#242123) to your new one (#ffffff). Again, a good idea is to have a strong grasp on CSS, and I recommend having the "web developer" plug-in for firefox. You can edit the CSS for ANY web page in the world and see what happens when you change things in the CSS without it saving when you close the editor.

Chapter 4: Blog SEO

4.0.Somethings are very easy to change while other things you may not understand. To change some SEO you will have to download a bunch of plug-ins. Do a little research and download some that people recommend.

4.1 The key to Blog SEO is doing everything right, and think about EVERYTHING. A lot of things need to be changed for a blog to be optimized! Although I find that the biggest thing left out in a blog is people being lazy and simply just not "optimizing" the page or post. Fill out all the info. Make sure your tags are there and that the post is keyword rich.

4.2 Quickest effects most important?

Permalinks Optimize your Titles for SEO Optimize your Descriptions Optimize the More text Image Optimization

Chapter 5: Before you publish

Every Blogger should have a checklist before he posts onto the web. Here is the best checklist to use.

Bloggers Checklist.

Chapter 6: Spread the Word

6.0 Get involved in social networks and article submission sites such as this one. Find a group that is related to your blog and join and be ACTIVE! Many people will enjoy reading about what you have to say so share share share.

6.1 Facebook - Facebook is an excellent source to spread the word and find people to share your ideas with. I will be creating a Advanced Facebook article for users later, but if you are already on Facebook, use it! Groups are a great resource to share ideas and keep up on new things within your category. Every post on Facebook or MySpace should be informational and interesting to read. Also do not just always post about the same topic or subject. Change it up.

6.2 Twitter - A recent article showed that twitter has been the fasted growing social network on the web. Why is twitter growing so rapidly? Because it is easy to use. All you have to do is create an account, then post topics about what your doing. Although a lot of people say, "why do I want to read what someone is doing every minute." Twitter should not be used to post that you are reading on the deck. Twitter should be used to post links to your last blog article. Twitter should be a tool you use to spread the word about something really cool that is going on, or maybe something really bad if it has a purpose.

Chapter 7: Navigating your blog

7.0 This should be a whole post by it self but I am going to dab on each part of how to navigate through your blog on WordPress.

7.1 Dashboard - sends you to the main page of the blog admin panel.

Posts - where you edit, add and delete posts. You can also add or change categories here

Media - Add images and videos here that can be put into your posts

Links - always link to your friends and other great blogs. They will return the favor and it will help you out in the long run.

Pages - If you have an important post sometimes its better to create a page than just add as a post. This is where you add edit and delete pages for your blog.

Comments - If you want to see all the comments that have been made on your blog this is the place to do so.

7.2 Appearance - Add new themes, edit themes or delete themes through the appearance panel. Distinct Design specializes in theme customization.

Plug-ins - Plug-ins run WordPress. Make sure you use lots of plug-ins for SEO and any other tool you may need. Plug-ins are free and an excellent source for your blog.

Users - If you are going to have multiple writers or admins you will need to setup an account for each person. This is the place to do it.

Settings - Change the blog URL or tagline, timezone, date format, and much more. This changes how the posts will look in the blog.

Chapter 8: Conclusion

8.0 Some of the most important features in a blog is having fresh content. Juicy Content is what the SEOs call it. Have 1-3 posts per week and keep up with whatever your blog categories are about. If you are running posts about new cooking recipes, have a recipe every week or every other day.

8.1 Make sure your blog is optimized for the web as best as possible.There have been some great SEO articles. Follow their advice and the search engines will find you blog!

8.2 Submit your articles. Just because you posted on a blog, doesn't mean that people will find it. Post articles in article submission sites. If you need help with this contact Distinct Design. Digg.com is a good resource for this.

8.3 Good bye! I hope you enjoyed reading my article on creating a blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3244165

Freelance Writer Tips - How to Create an Effective Web Site and Blog

If you want to be a successful freelance writer, there are many things you will need to know. One of the most important steps you can take to taking your writing seriously and encouraging others to do the same is to create an effective Web site and/or blog.

Here are some things that complete a freelance writer's Web site:

· Secure a domain- they are cheaper than ever before and it's important to distinguish yourself as a serious writer and a professional. You may use your first and last name if that is available or if you write on a specialty, you may include this in your domain (i.e. Foodreviewsbygloria.com). Try to keep it short and simple and easy to remember.

· Bio or About the Author- you need to describe who you are. This doesn't mean you need your fill resume or life story on the site but some personal details about who you are, why you write and what you write are helpful.

· Credentials- any past experience, writing experience, life experience, degrees and diplomas, and other helpful credentials should be included.

· Samples- no writer's Web site is complete without samples of the work you have done. If this is online work, the best method is to link to it so the potential client can see it directly on the site it was published on. Try to avoid just pasting a writing sample in with no links or identifying info about where it was published or why.

· Contact info- don't forget to make it easy for them to contact you. A link to email or contact form work best. Be cautious of directly writing your email on the site as spammers and bots pick this up and you will get loaded up on spam mail. A contact form will protect you from this.

· Make it yours- give the visitor something they would not have known had they not visited your Web site. This is your "signature" online and it's how you make it truly yours.

· Don't oversell- many amateur writers' Web sites spend more time promising what they can do and less time actually showing the visitor what they can do. Allow your work to speak for itself and don't oversell on the promises of how great you are.

When it comes to your blog, many of the same rules apply. If this is going to be used for business, you want to give a professional image. Creating a theme that merges well with your Web site is important to brand recognition. A photo of yourself or your logo is also helpful. Include a bio section or page that tells who you are and also have a link back to your Web site from the blog.

If you have a Web site and a blog, then there should be a significant difference between the two, although they may contact some of the same content. You don't want to repeat everything word for word due to repetition in the search engines and for the potential clients that follow both. However, there are some people who may visit your blog and not your Web site and vice versa so the two should intertwine.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3686687

How to Create a Successful Blog Post

Any well-written successful blog begins with an idea. You never know when inspiration will strike, it could be on your way to work or waiting in the dentist's office; but once you have an idea you have the most important part of the puzzle. The important thing to remember is to write that idea down as soon as possible, whether it's on a napkin or a note on your iPhone, if you do not write down that idea when it strikes you may be sorry later.

Now that you have an idea it is time to start writing. There is a strategy that many writers follow which begins with the headline. Many writers spend hours developing the perfect title for their blog and then work from there. Others may begin writing the introduction first and wait for a title to strike them, while others will take the time to map out the entire structure of the blog they are planning on writing. There is no right or wrong place to start, it's just important that you start writing and see the process through to the end.

Once you begin to put your ideas into sentences, you may find yourself surprised at how easy the process is proceeding. In many cases the hardest part of writing is simply getting started. Once you overcome that obstacle, the words surprisingly begin to flow effortlessly and you soon realize that your blog has taken on a life of its own. After you have successfully written a title and introduction, your next focus should be the body of the blog. This is where you will place the meat of your blog. A well written body should contain enough information, written in a manner in which your audience will be interested and informed. Including some amusing anecdotes or facts is also a great way to grab the attention of your readers.

If you are writing your blog with the intent of SEO you also need to ensure that you have included carefully chosen keywords. These keywords will be picked up by search engines when someone conducts a search using those keywords. Blogs are a great SEO method to use when you are trying to improve your existing search engine ranking.

After you have sufficiently expressed your main idea in the body of your blog, your next step will be writing a closing. When writing a closing paragraph you should include verbiage that will tie up all of the ideas that you presented in the body. A well-written closing will leave readers feeling as though they have gained all of the information that you had to offer. Readers should also walk away feeling as though they have learned something or read something that amused them. If you can do that you can write a successful and effective blog each time.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7933688

How to Create Higly Effective Teams

Throughout his career, an entrepreneur faces many challenges. One of the biggest tasks for an entrepreneur is to build an effective team and keep it intact. In this real world, teams come together and break, sometime due to inefficiency of the system within the organization, and sometime due to team players not getting along well. Undoubtedly, there will be ups and downs, but an intelligent entrepreneur will always try to make the most of his team.

An interesting blog posted at Harvard Business Review written by Linda A. Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Kent Lineback spent many years as a manager and an executive in business and government. They are the coauthors of Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader. In this post, they raise a valid question:

Are the people who work for you a real team?

Managers would agree with their view that most teams are just bunch of people working individually in a group, but not every group is a team! The reason given by Linda and Kent is that entrepreneurs and managers do not pay attention to collective performance!

The second question asked by the authors is:

What is a team and what makes it potentially such a valuable instrument of leadership? And the explanation to this question is: A team is a group of people who do collective work and are mutually committed to a common team purpose and challenging goals related to that purpose.

Having said above, the question remains - What are the key ingredients that help an entrepreneur build good teams and keep them intact?

Perhaps the most important ingredient is the creation of "Teamwork Culture". This can be done by creating collective work plans and objectives. So instead of starting at an individual level, these two should be developed based on a bottom-up approach. This will encourage individuals to look at the bigger picture and place their contribution in creating this "Picture".

The other most important ingredient is "Team Rewards". Instead of rewarding individuals for their performance, consider adapting a team reward approach. Some would argue that this approach discourages "Start Performers", but they often forget that the share meaning of teamwork is the utilization of individual capacities to achieve common objectives.

Linda and Kent in their blog say, "It's easy to extol teamwork, but not every group is a team. In fact, most teams we see, aren't - because their managers focus on building the most effective relationships they can with each individual who works for them. They spend their time managing person by person, paying little attention to collective performance. They rarely use their groups to diagnose or solve problems. And when issues arise that clearly affect the group as a whole, they tend to handle them one on one."

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6733018

How to Create an Effective Marketing Plan

Marketing is the soul of your business, it means anything you do for the promotion of your business comes under marketing. However, without a plan or strategy your marketing campaign will not deliver the desired results. Therefore, creating marketing plan for any business is vital.

Now the question arise; how to create an effective marketing plan for a company? We all know the format of a marketing plan. Whether you make a formal or informal proposal, a plan should be such which touches all the essential points to deliver the targeted goal.

To make an effective plan, there is a famous rule called 4P's. Here, P's stand for Price, Product, Promotion and Placement. In this another P is added called People. Today while doing digital marketing or the traditional marketing one should understand people or the customers you are dealing with. It's important to figure out what is significant for the business, and later make a plan accordingly.

Generally, in a marketing plan the following points are considered -

• Market Analysis: First analysis your broader market, where are the opportunities that you can look for? What are the scopes in the current market? After analyzing the broader scope of the market; target on the niche values.


• Identify the Target Customers: Unlike the broader analysis of the market; here you aim on the targeted customers. You look for the scopes where you can promote or market your product to get the higher returns and acceptance. Here from targeted customers to clients, you also find out the needs and demands of the audience. Once you know, who all are your customers and what exactly they are looking for then you can jump to next step.


• Marketing Plan: In this you perform, precise activities which helps in achieving the goals and objectives you are targeting at. Here, you plan how you will promote the product/service? What are the specific areas of promotion? What would be the budget of this plan execution? Etc. Plus, you also estimate the ROI of this marketing strategy.


• Competitive Edge: It's important to define your competitors too. One should know, what strategies are being used by the competitors to reach to the potential customers. If you know what your competitors are doing, you will be able to modify the plan and maybe your marketing analyst will come with something more innovative that can capture the mass attention.


• Sales and Strategy Forecast: If you have a target to achieve you can plan out your work according. It's just like keep the figures real and amenable. Unrealistic figures would not help you ever to get the target on time. Secondly with these forecast, you can compare your marketing strategies and come up with the best solutions for future activities.

These above tips are vital or the stepping stones for any business, but in reality, companies need to incorporate multiple web channels for their business marketing plans. Below are popular web channels that business uses for their planning and strategies:

• Social Media Marketing: One of the most promising way of marketing in today's date. From LinkedIn to Facebook and from Twitter to Google+, companies use these platforms to target the right set of customers. From a survey by social media - 93% of marketers use social media for business.


• Mobile Marketing: Another most prompting way of marketing which is used in today's digital world. The acceptance of smartphones and tablets has helped to change the way companies used to target their customers earlier; these days they implement strategies that reach customers on their devices itself. From a survey via Our Mobile Planet, 89% of smartphone users notice mobile ads.


• Email Marketing: The marketing plan via email is quite an old one. It is an effective and popular way of promotion for many small business owners. Get the email data of your possible customers and send them your customize business emails to let them know what you are offering.


• Blog Marketing: Blogging is a big focus when it comes to content marketing. Blog provides a personal touch and advantage to your social media marketing too. Here you have a freedom or control over the product or service you are marketing for. Companies are hiring full-time bloggers for this job. Although, 62% of marketers blog or plan to blog in 2013, only 9% of US marketing companies employ a full-time blogger.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8042787

How to Use Facebook to Promote Your Website

Are you using Facebook to promote your business; if your not you're missing out on a potential gold mine? As of 2012 Facebook has grown to 845 million monthly active users making 100 billion connections on the web; that's a lot of potential customers. Facebook users upload 250 million photos daily to their pages and Like 2.7 billion times each day. There are 37 million pages with 10 Likes or more with an average time per visit of 20 minutes per page. How can you get some of those users to your website?

Theirs a two-step approach to using Facebook to promote your website. The first step is to get as many Fans as possible to visit your Like page and give it a Like. Second, as the number of Likes builds you start sending as many of those Fans as you can to your website. This whole process requires you to have a Facebook Like page; there are several articles on this topic so I won't be discussing it here.

50/50 Rule

The first method is called the 50/50 rule. You will spend 50% of your time on your own Like page filling it with quality content relative to your niche. The other 50% of your time will be spent on other Like pages that are in your niche; you'll need to spend at least 30 minutes each day on this method. Facebook is social so you need to interact with people, get involved in discussions and ask questions that encourage a response. Post videos, articles, pictures and links to your page and other pages. Do not sell on your Like page or any other Like pages; use your website for selling. You're trying to get Likes and earn credibility with your Fans in an attempt to get them to sign up to your e-mail list; then sell to your e-mail list.

Create a Welcome Page

A welcome page is an application that you create on the Facebook Developers site; it's basically another page added to your Like page, it's also known as a landing page. The welcome page can and should include your e-mail list opt-in form. If you use video this is a great place to include one about your site. The welcome page can be set to be the fist page a NEW visitor sees when visiting your Facebook Like page; this is a very powerful feature. While your visitor is on the welcome page you can encourage them to Like your page and even sign your opt-in form.

Edgerank

Did you know that not all of the content you post to your wall will get posted to your Fans News Feed? This is because Facebook wants quality, engaging content to ensure social interaction; edgerank is used to ensure that quality. Edgerank determines what content will appear in the News Feed. Edge refers to any content that appears in a News Feed. There are three factors to consider with edgerank:

1. The affinity score. Shows how often you and your Fans have interacted.

2. Weight. This shows whether your content has been Shared, Commented on, or Liked.

3. Time Decay. The older the content the less important it becomes.

To make sure your content always gets seen you need to post often; once a day and encourage people to respond to your content.

Add a Like Button

Adding a Like button to your website is another great method to promote your site. This small button will put the power of Facebook right on your website. Every time a visitor Likes your website all their Friends will get a notification saying that your site has been Liked; if the visitor has many Friends this process will compound resulting in hundreds or thousands of Likes.

The main point to remember about Facebook is you need to be interactive and engaging with other people. Post good quality and relevant content on a daily basis and Facebook will reward you with more traffic to your site than you thought possible. I have a few more methods that I could explain but this article is getting long; heck for more articles on this topic in the days to come.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6914610