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Monday, February 19, 2007

5 Reasons To Use Wordpress As Your Blog System

I have tried many blogging system to hold my blog. Starting from free blog systems like blogger.com
to open source blog programs.

It is not until I found Wordpress and settle down with it. There are 5 reasons for you to choose Wordpress as your blogging system, in the order of their importance.

1. Search Engine Optimization Built-in Feature

Wordpress is programmed with Search Engine Optimization(SEO) feature. What I am talking about is the function of converting your blog article to URLs pointing to your blog article. For example if you have a blog like http://www.YourBlog.com, you can find URLs in a format like this:

http://www.YourBlog.com/Article-Title-Here/

Just imagine when search engine listed those URLs to their system. When people search something about 'Article Title' or about 'Title Here', there are big possibilities they end up clicking those URLs above. Thus, you will get traffic to your blog.

This SEO feature can be activated with only a few simple steps. Most people who use Wordpress don't activate this feature after installing their Wordpress blog.

2. Ease Of Use

I'm sure you don't want to get headache when using your blogging system, and concentrate on the writing part. That's why Wordpress is the right system to use, since the control panel's user interface is beautifully built. Even if you are new to internet and blogging world, Wordpress user interface can be used by you intuitively.

3. Rich Arsenal Of Plug-ins

Wordpress ethusiast programmers are plenty. They are making good and great plug-ins you can use with your Wordpress. There are so many of them that there are more than one plug-ins available to serve a single purpose.

Searching and trying which plug-in works for you can be a risky, tedious and time-consuming task. Here's a tip: ask person whose blog you read and in his/her blog you find an interesting function at his/her Wordpress blog.

Also you can use service that provides wordpress tutorials.

4. Rich Arsenal Of Theme

Besides programmers, there are also many Wordpress enthusiast web designers. They created plenty Wordpress theme you can use for free. There are downsides if you use these free themes:

- You cannot modify them as you like
- You probably cannot find a theme that suits your need
- You look unprofessional since you are using a free theme.

Thing these risks when you are considering a free theme.

5. Familiar To Readers

Last but not the least, like they say, Wordpress look is very familiar to blog readers. It is since the are many people are using Wordpress as their blog system. Naturally, many readers became familiar with Wordpress look. So, if you use Wordpress, your readers can easily walk around your blog.

This is a great advantage that can keep your reader's visit duration. 'Visit Duration Rate' is very important to determine how successful your blog is.

As a conclusion, despite a few disadvantages mentioned above, Wordpress still your best choice of blog system. Wordpress definitely will stay at the internet for a long time, and it is time for you to join the community if you have not yet.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

5 Ways To Make Money With Blogs

There are hundreds of ways to make money on the internet, but most oversee the idea of making money with blogs. Blogs are a great way to promote articles, discuss various ideas, and promote your website itself. However, there are several ways you can make money with blogs as well. Here are 5 ways to make money with blogs.

1. Sell advertising
The most common way people make money with blogs is selling advertising. If you build a large blog you can sell advertising space for people to put their ads on your blog. However, a majority of people aren't capable of building a blog big enough to do this. That is where Google AdSense and BlogAds can help you. It is free and they pay you based on the number of people that click their ads for further information.

2. Sell your products
A blog is a great place to discuss advice and opinions on various subjects. It can also be a great place to promote your product and tell them how it can benefit them. Whether it's your blog or someone else's, look at it as an opportunity to fulfill peoples' needs, not that you are just selling your product.

3. Affiliate programs
This is a great way to make money with blogs that hardly anyone even considers. By mentioning the product, the affiliate program will provide you with a clickable link to hyperlink the word with. This way if people are interested in your blog post and click on the product word, they are directed to the affiliate program website where you make commission on all products they buy.

4. Sell your website
It may seem a cliche because everyone sells their own website and business through blogs. However, it is your approach that can mean the difference of you making money with blogs or not. If you spend the whole time talking you will seem uninterested in others' insight. If you incorporate others' thoughts and opinions and strike up a conversation with little bits and pieces about your business, you soon will have them reeled in. By talking about their business and showing interest you will find that more people are interested in your business in turn.

5. Consistency
The more you post the more chances people have to see you and your website link. It is vital that you make one post a day or at minimum a few a week. This way people become accustomed to seeing your posts and hearing your advice or questions. This is a great way to build relationships, which will help you sell your product, share ideas, and promote your website.

If you take the time to put in the effort in blogs you can easily make money with blogs. There are some people that make a living through making money with blogs. However it is commitment, consistency, and your approach that can either break your or make you money with blogs.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Considering an Internet Marketing Blog?

Blogs have become a favorite part of the Internet community. They have been used to help deliver opinions to people about current international and local news events, to help people let off steam on any subject they choose, or just as a plain online diary about personal experiences, events and observations.

Online sites like LiveJournal and most notably Myspace have encouraged people to develop blogs of their own, thus making them even more popular than before.

A large number of successful businesses have worked to create their blogs to help distribute news about recent events within the company to the public. It can be a valuable asset for your business, as it will help you to bring out news in a easy-to-use simple format. But the best part is that it's free and won't cost your business a penny to use.

Within your internet marketing blog you can enlighten your guests about important changes on your company's website. This includes new features and links on the site. You can also use it to talk about your views on things in the business you are involved with. It allows for discussion and prompts your guests to look into the subject matter you are discussing as well.

An internet marketing blog is normally archived for as long as the blog exists. Therefore, you can use a marketing blog to jot down your targets and objectives and keep a record of your progress in your entries. Your blog entries can also feature important tags and keywords that can be used for visitors to find important postings about certain topics and other things of interest or curiosity.

For example, in your internet marketing blog if your posting is mainly about your businesses quarterly profits you can put in the tag word "profits" so that it will be easier to locate in your blog in case people search for it.

Linking your internet marketing blog to other sites will also help. This will get your marketing blog to appear at the top spots on search engines, as it can be found on different blogs and sites. Having your marketing blog get an affiliation with another group will also be beneficial, as it will dramatically increase exposure to people who use other blogs. Also, you can earn some additional income from your writings with an affiliation.

Make sure, you leave your internet marketing blog open to receive ideas and comments from your visitors. People who write individual comments on your postings will help you to know where you are heading with your work and to possibly find links to other blogs that you can promote your business with.

There is a good chance that the people who leave ideas and suggestions on your business will also perhaps put your marketing blog on their favorite links pages on their own blogs. This will greatly help your exposure as a result.

The great thing when considering an Internet Marketing Blog is that it is very easy to start one up. There are various different groups that will host your marketing blog, including Myspace and LiveJournal. The group you sign up with will give you all of the necessary information and tools you need to get your marketing blog up and running.

An internet marketing blog can be a powerful tool to promote your business and bring massive exposure to your work. It is very cost efficient, as it is free to use, and it can also be linked to numerous other sites. An internet marketing blog is an essential way to make your business successful.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Why Blogs Can Increase Website Traffic

Very few websites today, if any, can say that they have all of the traffic they want. Instead, most of us want more than what we have. After all, how much is too much? One thing that has already proven to bring an increased number of visitors to your website is a blog. Here are some reasons why blogs can increase your website traffic.

SEARCH ENGINGINES LOVE BLOGS WITH CONTENT

If you are providing your readers with valuable information, it will draw a readership. Every blog is written for its readership to create an audience of like-minded people, and some are written just for the purpose of making money. It seems, as some put it, that the search engine spiders just love to spider fresh content. What that means is that with frequent visits from the spiders to your blog, and with continuous fresh content that you and others provide, that you will be able to gain a higher page ranking. This results in more visits, and higher traffic levels, and blog entries do not need to be long, just consistent.

BLOG DIRECTORIES DISPLAY NEW ENTRIES

By making submissions to the blog directories, you will soon gain an expanding readership. Making sure that your submission is to the right subject category, you will be able to target your potential audience effectively. Blog readers, in particular, will see that you have made updates to your blog and will check it out.

BLOGS CAN ANNOUNCE NEW DEVELOPMENTS ON YOUR WEBSITE

Keep your newly gained readers to your blog informed as to what is happening on your website. Give little insights of information from your new content, and tell them that they can find more on your website. You do not want to put all of the information on the blog, but rather use it as a tool for your website. You do, however, want to put enough good stuff there to be able to maintain your readership.

USING KEYWORDS REGULARLY KEEPS YOUR WEBSITE VISIBLE WITH THE SEARCH ENGINES

As you write content for your blog, you want to use appropriate keywords throughout. Remember that there are people that will find your blog through searches, and keywords will help them. This also holds true when you post other people's articles. Be sure that the article contains some keywords that are related to your topic.

AN "EMAIL NOW" BUTTON ENABLES PEOPLE TO QUICKLY NOTIFY OTHERS

If your blog host supplies you with an "Email Now" option, you need to activate it. This way, your visitors can easily email your content to a friend and the word about your blog gets passed around. Again, it will only happen if you provide good content, and use good English and proper punctuation.

LINKS TO OTHER BLOGS ENCOURAGES THEM TO LINK WITH YOU

By placing links to similar blogs, you honor them with your link. This will encourage them to do the same for you when they see that you have done it for them.

POSTING ON OTHER BLOGS DIRECTS TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG AND TO YOUR WEBSITE

This is an effective way to promote your blog website. Visit other blogs and make quality comments relating to the subject matter. When people see that you have some insight into the subject, they will want to visit your blog, or website. You do not want to simply leave your web address without good comments. That simply shows that your are being inconsiderate and rude.

Each of these thoughts shows why blogs can increase web traffic, and should enable you to have some ideas that you can use. Start with these ideas, and then find some more on the internet. New methods are constantly being developed.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Keeping it Honest as a Paid Blogger

With all the controversy around paid blogging, what can you do to keep your reputation yet accept payment for blog postings?

The main thing you need to do is quite simply keep it honest. If you can't be honest about your feelings about what you're being paid to blog about, just don't do it! Think of the payment as being for bringing something to your attention, rather than payment for your good opinion. Say what you mean so you don't feel embarrassed or want to delete the post later.

Yes, that does mean you can choose to criticize something you've been asked to review. Even if you hate a product or website I recommend keeping it professional. You can say you loathe something without ranting and raving, and you will sound more credible.

Be upfront about the fact that you do sometimes get paid for blogging. At the very least have a disclaimer easily found on your site. If you feel the need, just mention it every time you do a sponsored post.

Keep it relevant to what your readers come to your blog for. I personally blog for a couple different companies that pay me to post, and when an opportunity is not something that can be fit naturally into my blog, I skip it.

The biggest controversy has been over required positive reviews. Fortunately these are not as common as critics would have you believe. And the solution is so simple... if you don't honestly believe the site or product in question deserves a positive review, don't review it. Or if you feel strongly enough, do an unpaid negative review.

The other big problem is that there are some junk blogs out there accepted into pay for posting programs. Junk websites of all kinds are a chronic problem on the internet, and it is to be hoped that they each fail quickly. But sometimes really lousy paid posts are accepted, which does reflect negatively on those who put forth more of a genuine effort.

Yes, some people do blog sheerly for the love of sharing their thoughts. The rest do it in hopes of earning some money, maybe to make a name for themselves and similar reasons. But most do need to bring in some kind of money, whether through traditional ads on the site, affiliate programs or by accepting payment for posts. The problem isn't with earning money. The issue is whether or not you can maintain your integrity as you do so.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Website Vs. Blog: Pros and Cons Unveiled

You've been dying to get some solid online presence, yeah? But you're faced with the dilemma of going for a blog or a website. How do you solve your problem? Let's differentiate a website from a blog and see where it will get you.

A website is known as an Internet application that houses a combination of texts, images and flash messages or animation. A web log or a blog is a part of a website that is usually known as online journal.

Here is a simple dissection of the various points that will show the pros and cons of a website compared to a blog:

1. A website versus a blog in terms of navigation.

A website's navigation is often likened to that of a book. Its main index is the homepage where the key topics are referenced. A web log or a blog is usually navigated through links to previous or next entries shown either at the start or end of each blog post.

If those links can't be found, a blogs sidebar/s aid in navigating it. A common web log's sidebar has a segment entitled "Pages", which usually contains the "About" portion of the blog and other non-time-sensitive information. Other segments of a blogs sidebar include the "Archives" which are sets of posts in regards to the dates they were posted. A "Categories" segment is also a mainstay of the sidebar. Also, a blog roll or a list of external links may be included in the sidebar. The reverse chronological order of blog posts is the norm.

2. A website versus a blog in terms of update-ability.

A website presents static content. It could link to a news page if it wants to offer fresh info every now and then or even regularly. But with the advent of blog, the popularity of news pages has turned into being surmounted by blogs. Blogs are the more updated chronicles. This feature of blog is attributed to the content management system that blog applications come with.

With websites, nerve-wracking HTML tweaking with the use of a web editing application is required before you can update them. As with blogs, platforms that concentrate more on content get rid of the rigors of working out HTML codes before you can publish.

3. A website versus a blog in terms of web usability.

Web usability refers to how to increase the conversion rate with the user-friendliness of an application.

Usability-wise, a blog may not differ that much from a website. However, due to the ease of use of a blog and since it's also relatively easier to customize with all the ready templates, altering stuff to make it more helpful to visitors is also a lot less-taxing compared to a website that requires design skills and copywriting skills.

However, there are still some usability issues that bloggers need to address to be more effective in the field of blogging such as: hyper linking without the proper or identifying anchor links, not including an author's biography page or a well-stated "About Us/Me" page, not-so-great posts and post titles, no author photo, great posts buried, etc. If one wishes to become a well known or as a credible figure in the field he or she is blogging about, those aspects of an excellent blog need to be given proper attention.

4. A website versus a blog in terms of author-reader interaction.

Blogs have this commentary feature where readers can leave a comment to any post they want to react to. The author of the blog can easily interact by also leaving a comment that's directed the commenter. With that feature, a blog offers more for the author-reader dialog compared to a website. However, a website usually has a "Contact Us" page where an electronic mail can be sent to the webmaster or department concerned.

In conclusion, if you will be offering information that does not require regular updating, a website may just serve you well. But if you want more interaction going on and frequent updates without going over the fuss of HTML mess, a blog will work it out for you. But did you know that these two could also go hand in hand? Just do your homework and it will be an easy feat to work with either of these two applications.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Top 5 Secrets To Blogging

Blogging may be just words or a site to you. But to blog effectively here are the Top 5 Secrets To Blogging.

No. 1 Secret - CONTENT IS KING

Yesh, you hear me right. Content is the most important in creating any blog. Without good content, will readers actually bother to come back to read your site?

Not only must you have good content but it must be off quality content and do not be too concern about how your blog layout looks like! Anyway people come to your site is for the content not to see your nice graphics.

Be as honest as you get in your articles. Do not be afraid to share your ideas in your comments, in fact the more honest and open I was in my articles I realized there were more people sharing my information around the Internet.

No. 2 Secret - Find A Good Niche Topic

Before, you go out there setup your domain or blog. You first have to decide what topic you want your blog to talk about? Lets say you are good at playing soccer and you want to focus on writing about soccer related topics. Find a good niche market on the internet to find out what people like to know about soccer and create a blog or site based on soccer only!

Meaning those who visit your site often are the people that are generally interested to know about the topic you want to share!

Talk most of the time of topics related on Internet Marketing . Have you ever seen me write an article about dog food and soccer?

No. 3 Secret - Forums

Go to forums! Join communities that are related to your topics and share information in the forums to share put your signature link in the forums to get more information to your site.

No. 4 Secret - Install Feedburner

If you have a blog, and you are not getting index by Google. You must install FeedBurner to your site. FeedBurner will help you announce to search engines what you have posted on to your blog to allow RSS readers to subsruibe to your site and at the same time the search engine will index your entries on your site! More about Feedburner here

No. 5 Secret - Register with Technorati.com

Because my website is not only a site but it is also a blog, I can submit my site to Blog Search Engine. One very famous Blog search engine you must know is Technoarti.com. I got free traffic coming from Technoarti.com every time I post something up onto my blog. It is very useful

Monday, February 12, 2007

Using Blogs to Turn Your Web Site into a Traffic Powerhouse

If you use the internet on a regular basis, you are sure to have heard about blogs. Many people use blogs to write about personal topics, feelings, and opinions. But did you know that blogs are also used as a business marketing tool? The interactivity of blogs along with the ease of creation and maintenance makes them an attractive option for online marketing purposes. Developing a regular readership of your blog can help you to achieve several goals. You can build solid customer relationships, inform people about your products and services, and generate links for search engine optimization purposes. Take a look at the many ways that having a blog can benefit your business and you'll find ways to use blogs almost immediately in your marketing efforts.

Setting Up a Blog

Setting up a blog can be pretty simple if you have the patience and time to learn how to use one. You can choose to design your own blog format on your existing site or you can use a blog from Wordpress or www.blogger.com. Your marketing goals will help you to decide which type of blog to use. Blogs from www.blogger.com are free, but since they're not a direct component of your web site, you may have to optimize them differently than you would than if you had a blog integrated into your site. If you choose to use your own design and have it be a direct component of your site, you have more control over design and function and you may also be able to market your blog more easily.

Profiting from Blogs

Blogs help you to be profitable because they allow you to market your products and services without using overt sales messages that may cause prospects to stop visiting your site. Instead, you use blogs to communicate information and subtly promote your own products and services while you help others. This creates goodwill for you and your business. There are many opportunities for using blogs to turn a profit. Learning about each of them can help you decide which ones are right for your business.

Blog Articles

Blog articles are a great marketing tool because they allow you to showcase your expertise in your chosen field. You can publish articles on almost any topic related to your business and continue to provide information to your prospects and customers. Blog articles can also be optimized for the search engines by using specific keywords that help people find your web site. If you pick the right keywords, you can start seeing improved traffic results in as little as a few months. You can also integrate your blog with your viral marketing efforts by encouraging people to share your articles with other people.

Keyword-Optimized Blog Postings

One of the great things about blog postings is that they can be as short as 75-100 words and still help you accomplish your internet marketing goals. When you keyword-optimize your blogs, you are using specific keywords to help people find you when they do searches for information. The more specific your keywords are, the better your chances of being found by your target market. Another positive aspect of short blog postings is that they make it easier to maintain your blog from day to day. Instead of having to write 500 or 1000 words every day, you can take as little as a few minutes to dash off a 75 or 100-word paragraph that gives information or lets people know about new products and services.

Linking with Blogs

One-way links are one of the best search engine optimization tools available. One-way links are links that are placed on other web sites that point people to your web site. When you post articles and other items of interest, people may like them enough to post the link on their web sites. The more one-way links you can generate with your blog, the better your chances of improving your search engine rankings and driving more traffic to your web site.

Affiliate Marketing with Blogs

You can also participate in affiliate marketing by using your blog. When you sign up to be a member of an affiliate program, you'll want to do as much as you can to promote those products and services and generate commissions. Having a blog makes it easy for you to promote the products and services of other companies. You can write a short post about a new service or write reviews of helpful products and services and include your affiliate links. When people visit your blog and become interested in the products and services discussed in your postings, they may become interested enough to click on your affiliate links and make a purchase. As long as the products and services are appropriate for your target market, you can use a number of affiliate links so that you can make money in several different ways.

Creating a Buzz with Blogs

Blogs are part of a technique called buzz marketing. Buzz marketing is when you create a "buzz" about your company and turn prospects into loyal customers. Creating a buzz is simply putting your message in front of your target market and getting them excited about your products and services. There are several ways to create a positive buzz about your business using your blog. If you post interesting items, you'll generate interest in your blog and encourage people to link to your web site and share your blog with friends. Buzz marketing can also be accomplished by using your blog to promote products and services. The tone of your blog can make or break your buzz marketing efforts. Straightforward information and boring posts will probably turn people away from your site. If you make posts that convey your excitement, enthusiasm, and passion for your products and services, you'll start to create the same passion and enthusiasm among your prospects. Using this technique can help turn your blog from just another web page into a dynamite marketing tool that keeps visitors coming back again and again.

Google AdSense with Blogs

Google AdSense can also be used with blogs to earn extra money. Google AdSense is a simple and free way to earn income while you are also promoting your products and services with your blog. You can sign up with Google for free and go through a web site review. No obscenity or adult material is allowed in the AdSense program, but most other web sites will qualify. Once you have been approved, you keep posting to your blog. The AdSense program will give you advertisements based on the keywords used in your postings. If you write a post about recipes, you may get ads about cookbooks, restaurants, or food distributors. You can choose where the ads go on your page so your blog maintains its unique look. When people click on the links provided with the ads, you'll earn a small commission. You can earn even more extra money by putting a Google search box on your blog. When people use this search box, targeted ads will appear in their results. You will get a commission from each ad they click.

Blogads

Blogads is a service that was created to put advertisements on blogs. Advertisers develop their own advertisements, choose blogs to target, and select the amount of time they want their ads to appear. Bloggers can accept or refuse to put the ads on their blogs. The Blogads service gets a percentage of your commission earnings since they host the ads and act as the intermediary between advertisers and bloggers. The more people visit your blog, the better your chances of earning money with this program.

AdBrite

AdBrite is similar to Blogads as the company acts as an intermediary between bloggers and advertisers. With this program, you can place banners, text ads, and vertical ads on your blog. As the blogger, you choose what advertising opportunities are made available to your visitors. Businesses can visit your blog and purchase advertising directly from a link on your page. AdBrite manages the payment process and the relationship between advertisers and bloggers. Like Blogads, the company keeps a percentage of the money you earn for the work they do at moderating the advertising relationship.

Selling Customized Products

To further create a buzz and improve your brand identity, you can sell merchandise from your blog that is customized with your logo or color scheme. When you have a loyal following of readers, your chances of being able to sell this type of merchandise improve greatly. You don't need to go out and have items printed only to sit in your office unused. You can use one of many companies to print products on demand, as your customers order them. This eliminates the need for inventory and reduces your chances of wasting money on products that don't sell. You can find some of these companies by doing a search on your favorite search engine.

Whatever methods you choose, blogs can be a great way for you to develop your brand and create a community of loyal customers.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Make Blogging Your Main Internet Marketing Tool

Blogging is a concept that started in late 90s. It used to be a way to comment on an existing webpage, an opportunity for visitors and readers to react or voice out one's opinion on the said page. What started as a single-sentence commentary has evolved into pages of personal take on just about anything and everything under the sun. As it continues to move forward, online advertising has tapped into the Blog's potential. Here are 5 reasons why you should use Blogging as an Internet Marketing Tool.

1.Blogging is simple. The simplest way to get your piece on the net is by way of Blogging. No skills are necessary. An average grown-up can scan and sort, or at least click a mouse. It's like having a virtual page of paper and you just create your ideas, experiences, new products etc, and hope that the reality behind your articles comes out and lures your readers to also try your offering. If you have a PC and an Internet connection (who doesn't) then you can Blog and Advertise.

2. Blogging is authentic. In this day and age where advertising saturate our lives, we question the credibility of promoters' claims. However, in Blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid advertising. Reading Blogs about first-hand product use is like talking to people about their first-hand experience. You definitely want to buy a tried and tested product.

3. Blogging is unfettered. Because Blogging is yet to be proven as a mainstream online publishing media, a large amount of sites see it as something to augment present trafficking ideas and thus offer it for free. Any opening for free webtime is definitely a plus especially to businesses that are building up. Needless to say, paid Blog pages can generate more income for your seriously developing program.

4. Blogging builds credibility. As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own information needs. As such, you become an expert on it; as a consequence, more readers visit your site and more bloggers link to your Blogs. As Companies and Professional Organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon get in touch with you for advertising on your Blog page, or make you an affiliate, which pays for every referral generated from your Blog site.

5. Blogging builds your market. Unless you are a Hollywood Superstar, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts. Mom has a lot of friends, so she lets her business opportunity know how absorbing your Blog site is. But you need not depend on Mom to increase your readership base. observe into the related ways to build your market through Blogging:

-By using your e-mail. Right now, blogging is overcoming the e-mails reputation in rapidly and effectively reaching and expanding a market. In this age of impatience and fast access, logging in and downloading e-post is barely taking longer than clicking into a Blog page. Let them explore your pages by using a short e-post message as teaser to your Blog site. If your e-mail is on an entirely dissimilar theme, use your e-mail signature to offer a tie to the site.

-By using subscription. An effortless way to get your readers e-post is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your Blogsite. Keep some unique information for your subscribers to lure readers to subscribe and leave their e-post address. Just be responsible in using their e-mail address, as the final thing you want is a comment on your Blog that you are a spammer.

-By understanding your readers. Carry out a simple survey for your readers to understand their profile and publishing preferences. Ask consumers to provide you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a test that you shared. In this way, it is like interviewing your readers without the commitment and intrusion of a face-to-face interview.

-By joining a Blog complex. A network of Blogs may be an accumulation of Blog sites that share the identical business, interest, readership base, distribution mode, etc. Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one component to several real Bloggers about a single issue. Clearly, more Bloggers are more successful than one.

-By using RSS. RSS is the fastest evolving technology on the Internet today. As such, having RSS feeds to your Blog is positively another way of generating awareness for your readership database. Having a variety of feeds can add curiosity to your Blog site.

Give your business practise a boost by effectively using blogging as an Internet Marketing Tool.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Profitng And Benefiting From Wordpress Ella

The "Wordpress" developer team has successfully launched their latest version of Wordpress, called "Wordpress Ella". Numerically, the version number is called version 2.1

To the uninitiated, news like this seems like a normal announcement from software developers and are often passed on by. However, from the eyes of a trained mind and savvy businessman, the news of "Wordpress Ella" contain many benefits that online business owners can immediately tap into and profit from.

"Wordpress Ella" comes with the following enhancements which are a great resource for online business owners.

1. First on the list of enhancements from Wordpress Ella is an 'autosave' function that ensures you will never lose a post again. This is an invaluable tool especially at times when you have spent a lot of time in front of your computer screen, brainstorming on what to write to promote your business.

Imagine the horror or frustration especially in instances where the battery of your notebook died and you forgot to save. Or perhaps there was a blackout or you accidentally closed the browser window without saving your work.

"Wordpress Ella" autosave function is a real time saver and is an abosolute must for any online businesses.

2. Next in line on "Wordpress Ella" is the "Import" and "Export" functions. Let's talk about the import function first.

The latest release of "Wordpress Ella" has an import function that allows you to import your blog created from other popular blogging platforms such as 'Movable Type', 'Typepad', 'Livejournal', 'Blogger' and so on, into Wordpress itself.

This way, you don't have to lose any important data such as your blog posts and comments. This flexibility is another reason why Wordpress itself is so successful and continues to gain a huge following and user base.

Why would anyone want to transfer their blog from another platform to Wordpress? Well, one reason is because with most of these other blogging platforms, the user has to pay a monthly fee. Wordpress, as almost everyone knows is free, and you can easily install with a few clicks using Fantastico from within your hosting account's Cpanel.

Another reason to migrate or transfer the entire blog to Wordpress could be due to the limitation of some blogging platforms. Blogger, for example does not support the use of categories, which are critical when it comes to optimizing the blog to rank high for specific keywords related to the business.

Now, let's discuss about the "Export" function.

"Export" as the name implies, will export all the Wordpress posts and comments into a file (called XML). This file can then be imported into other Wordpress blogs. It's like a cross transferring of data between similar or related "Wordpress Blogs".

This is useful when one is starting a new blog and perhaps need to populate the blog with useful content instead of just displaying news feed. For example, if you have a blog on muscle building, and you started a new blog on weight loss, you can import the content (which are the posts and comments) from the muscle blog into the weight loss blog.

This way, when you drive traffic to your new weight loss blog, you can at least provide the reader with some useful content while you build up the content around weight loss. Naturally there is some correlation between these two topics. After all, if you want to build muscle, naturally you need to burn off the excess fats and turn them into muscles!

3. Another enhancement of "Wordpress Ella" is the new search engine privacy. What this means is that you can indicate whether you'd like your blog to be indexed or ping by search engines, especially Google, Yahoo or MSN, which are the three top search engines online.

Most experienced marketers know about the pinging power of blogs. Everytime when a post is published, Wordpress will ping or notify specific blog directories about updates to your blog, causing them to index or visit your blog, brining you that additional and much needed targeted traffic.

As crazy as it sounds, considering that most business owners would like to get their site listed in the search engines, there are also times when you might want to hide or mask your blog from the radar screen of search engines. This is true especially in cases where it's only meant for paid customers only. For example, you might be providing some sensitive information meant for paid customers and you don't want anyone doing a search on the search engines to stumble upon your blog and have access to the information.

4. Another powerful upgrade that "Wordpress Ella" brings is the ability to specify a static page as the front page for your site or blog.

Most savvy marketers employ the use of a mini site or a one page only sales letter when marketing their products or services. Normally such one page sites will also contain an opt-in box, where visitors and readers are enticed to provide their email address in exchange for a free gift, software, e-course etc.

When they do so, they will normally be enrolled in an autoresponder course that automatically does the follow-up with the said subscriber which either results in a sale or no sale.

With a blog, however, the main page or the front page will always a display of the latest chronological posts. You can create pages for a blog, however, in the past it was not that easy for the layman to do so.

With "Wordpress Ella", all you need to do if you want a static front page is to select this option in the Wordpress control panel. It can't get any easier than this.

These are just some of the enhancements that you can immediately benefit from "Wordpress Ella".

This article assumes you already have some basic knowledge about the marketing power of blogs in terms
of its syndication power, targeted traffic and search engine optimization capability for keywords.