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What is a Blog? In Plain English Please
If you are fairly new to the Internet, you have probably heard the word "Blog" flying around. But what is a blog? How does it work? And how can I use it on my website? These are all good questions, which I hope to answer for you. What is a Blog? A blog, in simplest terms, is a daily journal of your thoughts that is maintained by a blogger (which would be you) on the web. When posting to a blog you will notice that it is arranged in chronological order ? with the most recent additions on top. You can choose to allow your readers to add their own comments/feedback to any issues you may have addressed on your blog. Or, you can add audio to your blog. Pretty neat, isn't it. What a great way to have contact with your customers. Can it be used on my website? Can it be used on my website? Definitely. It can be a great tool for you and your contacts. However, I personally feel that it would be a greater benefit to the established website that has a following. In other words, start with a newsletter first, to build your mailing list, than go for the blog. If you have a following, than go for it. Don't want to pay for it? That's okay, you can go to www.blogger.com, they have a great tutorial and the blog is free. What can it do for my website? I see many inventive uses for a website that is based on content. Such as: 1. Strong communication tool ? a form of contact with your customer. 2. Allow you to get to know your customers and their wants, as well as, allowing your customers to know you. 3. Can provide daily, quality content ? which will pull the search engines and thus, increase your traffic. 4. Use it to advertise your links. Taking a conservative approach, and blend it in to the topic. 5. Use it to answer inquiries that people may have. 6. Use it to inform. As you can see, the list can be endless. But I do see only one slight drawback for those who do not want to keep a constant vigil over their website ? and that is maintaining the blog. The blog should be maintained on a regular basis. Why? People get bored, and on the Internet, it's very easy to click their boredom away. Thus, keep yourself enlightened and it should keep them enlightened. If you find this small drawback inconsequential ? then go blogging. To your success. Vickie J. Scanlon ==================== Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and Marketing. She left the corporate world as an Reports Programmer, to begin her journey as an Internet marketer. Visit her site at: http://www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, articles, ebooks, and how to info.
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RELATED ARTICLES
Writing Good Blogs There's a lot of blogs out there on the Web, most of which don't entice one to go back regularly to read updates. What is missing from these on-line journals that would essentially make them 'good' blogs? Well, the answers in life usually come down to simplicities. So let's look at the problem like we were children. Children don't complicate life with miscellaneous information, and when they speak they tell you straight to the point exactly how they feel and think about a subject. First of all, we should ask the questions," Why do blogs exist? And what are they here for?" Well, in an ideal world 'good' blogs would help people connect, sharing knowledge and feelings about issues in life. As they are journals written by individuals we would hope that they'd be readable and open to comment by all other people, not just a select group of friends. The key is speaking in a way that is understandable by the masses, get rid of acronyms and local slang that only few will comprehend. Keep the sentences grammatically simple and generally short and concise. Try to write in your blog as often as possible because if people enjoy reading your thoughts and ideas they'll want to communicate or at least be filled in regularly on 'your world'. Ask questions, comment on other blogs of similar content, start communities with others you've never met, based on your interests. Keep focused; if your blog is about thoughts on war and peace, keep your thoughts on the latest movie and how hungry you are for somewhere else. The idea is to incite intelligent communication so that in time our collective stockpile of knowledge and wisdom will gradually grow like a tree in fertile soil. I think of most importance is the fact that you want this journal to be 'good' reading. Of course we all have ideas about what genres and styles we like, but writing from your heart and soul is imperative for the connection with others that you're looking for. Share yourself; don't hide behind walls of fear of ridicule and judgment. In real life relationships trust, respect, intimacy, and unity are all necessary for a bond to form. It's the same in the 'virtual' world; people want to hear from real people-not just one-sided, highly opinionated arguments from egos that don't want to hear the 'other side of the coin'. Now, in my last article I really tore apart most writers out there, and here I'm giving some pretty complex ideas on how to fix the problem of 'bad' writing. In my next article I'll attempt to go back to the simple basics of how to write for beginners. I hope I haven't come across as too judgmental, I just truly believe the 'blog world' could become a real asset to humanity, and at the moment it's missing the mark. 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Using this standard, web publishers provide updates, such as the latest news headlines, special announcements, press releases or weblog postings through their RSS content, which is also known as RSS "Feed". Article Marketing For Bloggers - 4 Tips To Build Traffic For Your Blog Bloggers blog. That's what they do. A blog is short for 'weblog' and it's really an online journal that can be updated easily and frequently without any knowledge of HTML code. RSS more effective than email Long have I been proclaiming the effectiveness of RSS as a communications channel for non personal communications over that of email. The protection and anonymity that RSS can offer over email means that it is fast becoming the preferred medium for many users. It seems visitors to your site now put more trust in RSS as they are five times more likely to subscribe to an RSS feed as they are to the equivalent information via email. Got Blog? In 1999 I asked my friends and colleagues if they blogged. The responses I received ranged from odd looks to questions about the blogging practice. The end results of my findings was "Blog" was a new term and not highly recognized. That was then, a half million blog users ago. NEWS FLASH! Article Directories JUMP-ON The RSS Syndication Band Wagon Quick question... do you publish 'Articles' on a regular basis? Google Does RSS Has Google finally embraced RSS with their new XML powered Sitemaps program? Well, sort of, but it seems more like a hug than a strong impassioned embrace! Why Would You Use Blogs Instead of a Web Site For Your Online Business? Why would you use Blogs instead of a web site for your online business? Will Spam-Blogging Be The Death Of Blogging? Technorati reports that 30,000 - 40,000 new blogs are being created each day. 12 Reasons Why You Need A Blog "Why Should I Blog? I Simply Don't Get It" Blogs: A Fool Proof Way to Attract Visitors Blogs might seem like an old hat at this time as by now really everyone has one him- and herself. But exactly this fact is what makes them such a valuable promotion tool even for long existing websites (that are no blog and don't have one yet): The wide and large userbase. There are thousands of bloggers around in every kind of niche that will visit every new blog they can find with great interest and thus making great new customers for your existing website. And the best thing is it doesn't even take much work to add your own blog to your website and promote it. This article will take you through the only three steps that are needed. RSS Can Keep You In The Loop When webmasters first hear about RSS they tend to concentrate on the promotional side of things. They want to know how it will bring more traffic to their site and get them higher rankings in the search engines. Webmasters always seem to ignore the fact that RSS can be used to keep up to date with your field of interest with little effort and saving you precious time. Time you could be spending promoting your site. RSS Feeds Have Revolutionized the Internet RSS feeds have revolutionized the Internet for one very good reason: they have provided and end to Spam. With RSS feeds, you can say good-bye to mass emails and distributions that do not meet your news needs and clog up your mailbox and hard drive. How using RSS will attract and maintain visitors There are nowhere near the amount of webmasters using RSS that there should be. There is more exposure about RSS than there has ever been but take up of RSS still seems to be slow. I think the main reason for this is the lack of understanding of how to implement an RSS feed.. Get the Internet on Your Own Terms RSS for the Rest of Us Blogs Explained It seems like Blogs are everywhere these days. 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As far as I'm concerned the state of blogs is one of chaos, confusion, and anti-interactivity. The other day I decided to do some research on the Web and try to connect to some blog writers out there that interested me. Let me tell you it was not an enjoyable task as I had envisioned. I spent four painful hours surfing through around a thousand on-line journals, and I found only a few that interested me. What are we doing out there people? Tips for a Better RSS Feed Like anything else, a little work can pay dividends. Well-written RSS feeds are more useful to readers and result in more website traffic for the publisher. Below are several tips for making your RSS feed more effective.
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