posted by W A Blog Tools on Nov 9

How did Blogging get so popular so fast?

It does seem that blogging caught on like wildfire. Why is it so popular? Because it’s human nature to voice your 2 cents on a subject, whether good or bad. Not to mention, there are blogging sites popping up all over the place, the templates are nice looking and easy to use and best of all, they are FREE. What does this mean for domain companies? website provider and builders? Bloggers are pulling the rug out from underneath them.

How did Corporate America become involved with blogging?

The same way tv and radio became involved with them. Bloggers voice their opinions much like a stock analyst. When do you get this information from the analyst? When the television program airs or in a radio program. When does the public learn about bloggers’ opinions? At any moment on the internet. The internet is surely becoming bigger, faster and foremost in our world of information.

Corporate America and the Blogger

It only makes sense that businesses want to attach themselves to the most vocal and prominent bloggers. It is just another way of making themselves attractive to the wordsmiths rather than focusing on stock analysts. Bloggers have a reputation of being the new kid on the block that happens to be the underdog. This makes a perfect spoil for conglomerates to embrace the bloggers so that they can voice their opinions.

Bloggers are the new look of “every man”. Symbolically, the blogger has turned Wall Street on its’ collective ear as the “new every man” is suddenly being given new clout via a computer. It’s no wonder Corporate America has hired bloggers to blog on their behalf. This just isn’t a payoff, they are being analyzed just as the stock analysts have done in prior years.

It’s just that it’s nice to know that the “every man” has a voice in Corporate America.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Nov 8

The new Blogger Beta is a great free tool for an amateur or aspiring writer. Because it uses your Google account to maintain a login it is conveniently available whenever you are online. Generally, I usually write short articles, but the methodology I’ve described below is also useful for larger works. Simply adjust my advice to apply to larger chunks of work such as chapters.

Create A Private Blog
It is very easy to create a private blog. After creating a new blog use the settings tab to access the blog’s permission details. Select the option that makes your new blog visible only to blog authors. Voila! You now have a private blog available only to yourself. You may now consider your entire blog a scratch pad for draft writings.

Use Labels To Track Relevant Details
When you start a new writing project, whether it is an article for submission to directories or another type of work, simply create one or more blog entries for that project. You can start simply by writing a single sentence describing what you intend to write about. Then, apply your labels. Personally I like to use Work In Progress (WIP) as a label so that I can view all work in progress at a single click. I also like to add project subject labels as well as various other categorizations.

This strategy allows me to quickly get a list of all my articles, all of my historic work on a certain subject matter, or all of my completed work - assuming I change the work in progress label to another suitable value upon publishing. The power of simple lists for organization and productivity cannot be overstated!

Write Draft Material And Edit Anytime With One Click
Of course you are now reading the published version of this article, but for quite a while it was residing in my private blog. I’d write some content, publish it for my own review, and then make changes as I saw fit. When the article was nearing completion I simply left it alone for a while, to get a fresh viewpoint, and then read the article again looking for errors and sections that could be improved.

How convenient! If I spot a mistake or think of an enhancement I simply click on the pencil icon and I’m in the editor fixing up my work. After making that one simple change I save my efforts and then continue on about my day. Personally, I like to pace, or otherwise keep busy, while I think and then put small amounts of time into making a change or addition when inspiration strikes. Generally, I think most creatively while I’m not writing.

When Complete Then Publish And Track
Obviously, when your work is finalized, you will publish it somewhere. You can simply open up the blogger editor and copy entire documents to any other location you like. At this point you should change the WIP label to something more appropriate instead. Once your article is published I would also suggest no longer making changes to it. Create a new project and copy the original document when starting a derivative effort.

After publication, use the comment feature to keep track of any issues that arise. You can also track the places that you’ve submitted the article for publication. This will help you avoid sending it to the same place more than once in the event you are later able to reuse the article. Also, add a comment if you use the article in some way as the basis for another piece of work. When adding comments be sure to link to the locations, sites or projects you are discussing.

Security And Backups
No computer system should be relied upon for any serious project without considering both security and data backup. While the odds are very good that Blogger will do a better job at protecting your data than you, on your own home computer, don’t rely on it completely. I would suggest either downloading or emailing yourself your own articles from time to time. Preferably to a location that is not also managed by Google.

With respect to security, you must realize that convenience and security are competing ideas. If you do not sign out, staying perpetually logged in, to maintain access to your blogger account, then anyone using your computer will be able to act as you and view or edit your work. If this is not appropriate then you must remember to sign out after each work session. Personally, my home computer is used only by myself, so I love the convenience of never having to log in.

Summary
Using Blogger as a free writing tool makes a lot of sense. You can quickly and easily view or edit an entire catalog of work from any Internet accessible computer. Your data is professionally managed and relatively secure. Flexible tagging features allow you to organize large and small projects with ease. Comments can be used to store project related issues and to track actions taken after project completion. In short, if you haven’t tried the new Blogger Beta yet then you are missing out.

About the Author

Max is a contributor at iBlog uBlog. Drop by and read commentary, product reviews and perhaps personal notes.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Nov 7

Many folks are only just beginning to appreciate the power of blogs as marketing weapons and the key to unlocking it all has to be with articles rather than banners.

Why are blogs so powerful? Actually there are several reasons, the key one has to be the fact that blogs get read a lot and even where people do not visit them directly there are RSS feeds, which are widely popular. Then there are also many folks who opt to receive new pages of blog posts from their favorite blogs via email.

The fact is that you can hardly go wrong with a marketing plan that involves blogs.

Blog Articles Marketing Technique Number One: The Link Bait Strategy You will know that no serious online marketing strategy will work without links. The idea is to generate plenty of links pointing back to your site. That is how you build traffic, and that is how you optimize your site for search engines. Blogs have proved to be very effective here because somehow it is the most natural thing for one blog to quickly link to another.

It is fairly simple to get as many interesting articles written up about your site and then post those articles at a blog. To promote them and make them even more visible you can also post the same articles at a leading articles directory. The impact will amaze you. Within a very short time quite a number of sites will pick up the articles and re-post them at their sites and the deal is that they must retain your resource box which will have a link or two pointing back to your site.

From my experience, although this technique will improve your position and ranking with leading search engines gradually over time, the most immediate effect here is that your traffic will tend to rapidly grow in leaps and bounds.

If you are looking for massive traffic through search engine optimization then articles marketing technique number two will tend to be much more effective and will work much quicker.

Blog Articles Marketing Technique Number Two: Building Back Links From Thousands Of High Ranking Blogs This is no doubt the fastest way to boost your search rankings with back links. Use a certain respectable SEO organization to create buzz and links from thousands of leading blogs. The site simply distributes your press release amongst these blogs and they write about your site or offer in their own words and link back. Unlike banner ads that hardly get seen, these links in many high profile blogs have been known to build up immediate traffic at a tremendous rate. Over the long term the boost in search rankings increases the traffic directly from search engines, enormously.

All you have to do now is choose which article marketing technique suits you best and you will be ready to unleash the sheer power of blogs to work for you.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Nov 6

Dave, I see some sites with and some sites without a copyright line. Do you know if someone must follow an official process before adding this line? Such as (C) 2002-2004 by Dave Taylor, etc…

In general, copyright law is defined by the international Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, which covers written materials, photography, illustrations, sketches, etc., but doesn’t cover “news of the day or to miscellaneous facts having the character of mere items of press information”.

A few important points from the Berne Convention: Copyright lasts for the life of the author and fifty years after his or her death. There’s also Fair Use, which allows for (in typically vague legal wording) “quotations from a work which has already been lawfully made available to the public, providing that their making is compatible with fair practice”.

Here’s the most important paragraph in this long international agreement though: “In order that the author of a literary or artistic work protected by this Convention shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be regarded as such, and consequently be entitled to institute infringement proceedings in the countries of the Union, it shall be sufficient for his name to appear on the work in the usual manner.” [ref]

This means that you do not need to have an explicit copyright notice for you to have a legally enforceable copyright, as long as your name appears on the work as an author. Anonymous material is covered too, but you can read about that yourself if you’re interested.

The US Copyright Office clarifies how the Berne Convention applies to U.S. Copyright law: “The use of a copyright notice is no longer required under U.S. law, although it is often beneficial.”

Continuing to quote from the Copyright Office: “Use of the notice may be important because it informs the public that the work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner, and shows the year of first publication. Furthermore, in the event that a work is infringed, if the work carries a proper notice, the court will not give any weight to a defendant?s interposition of an innocent infringement defense?that is, that he or she did not realize that the work was protected. An innocent infringement defense may result in a reduction in damages that the copyright owner would otherwise receive.” [ref]

Finally, if you do decide to include a copyright notice - and I would certainly recommend it - then it must have three elements:

1. The symbol ? (the letter C in a circle) or the word “Copyright” or the abbreviation “Copr.”. Notice that the sequence of a parenthesized capital C (that is, (C)) is not a valid copyright symbol.
2. The year of first publication
3. The name of the owner of the copyright in the work, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized.

An example of a good copyright is ? 2005 Dave Taylor. (tip: you can get the copyright symbol in HTML by using the character entity ?)

Finally, Web sites that have extensive original content might find it valuable to register their copyrighted material with the U.S. Copyright Office, though it’s more of a legal formality and is not a condition of copyright protection under the law. If you do pursue this avenue, start by reading about Registering Literary Works, wherein you’ll find out that it costs a mere $30 per element for copyright registration.

Tip: If you want to register your entire Web site, print it all out in book form, then register the entire collection of articles as a book for a single $30 payment, rather than $30 per page or article. If it’s a Weblog, you might find that registering it under the aegis of Serials and Periodicals is your best strategy.

Finally, this is a lot of information to absorb, and even as a professional writer I get confused about things too, particularly about the vaguely worded “fair use” clauses in copyright law. Nonetheless, a bit of additional protection for your work seems like a smart strategy, so I’d recommend that you include a full, legal, copyright notice on all your published content.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Nov 5

Search engine optimization is a very detailed process that requires you to take advantage of every available opportunity to increase your web site traffic ranking and drive visitors to your web site. Many of the common search engine optimization methods include keyword-rich content development, link exchanges, and other technical methods that can help make your site more accessible to the search engines. One method that is now being used for SEO is relatively new but very popular in terms of generating traffic and getting exposure for your business. This SEO method is blogging.

Blogging Defined

Blog is the shortened form of ?web log.? Blogs can be personal or professional and have a variety of features that make them excellent SEO tools for many businesses. In addition to having posts that can promote your business, blogs are also the perfect place for links to your web site and gathering feedback from customers. If you?d like to use a blog to market your business and improve your SEO efforts, there are several aspects of blogging that can be helpful.

Blog Content

Just like your web content, blog posts can be optimized using keywords that you choose and analyze using keyword research tools. Once you have selected appropriate keywords, you can use them in each blog post that you make on your web site. Since blog posts are usually conversational in tone, you might have to work a little harder to incorporate the keywords naturally within the text of each post. If you can manage to do that, you?ll have an effective SEO component that can help drive traffic to your web site.

Links

Blogs are a great way to have many links to your web site. If you have a blog that is directly on your site, you will have many links that you can use to boost your search engine placement. If your blog is hosted off-site, you will have a perfect opportunity for placing one-way links to your site in each post that you make. While link exchanges can be beneficial, one-way links carry more weight in terms of search engine rankings. You can also use your keywords within your blog links for added impact on your SEO results.

User Interaction

One of the greatest things about using blogs as a marketing and SEO tool is that they allow for interaction with users. Visitors can often leave comments and ask questions that allow you to keep them coming back to your site for answers. If a visitor finds a particularly interesting post on your blog, he or she may link to your site from theirs, increasing your link popularity and contributing to your SEO efforts. Allowing users to interact with you is a great way to promote your business and it also lets you make adjustments to your web site and business policies when users let you know their opinions.

Professional SEO

The SEO Team is a professional SEO firm focused on getting you results. Please visit our web site to find out how we can help you with SEO consulting and SEO web site design.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Nov 4

Blogging gives you a great way to learn some extra cash. You can even turn blogging into a full-time career, or a new business. Getting started as a freelance blogger is simple. All you need to do is create a blog, make a few blog posts (these are your work samples), and then look for blogging gigs.

Create a blog If you don’t already have a blog, creating a blog is your first step. You can do this very quickly. Creating a new blog at blogger.com (which is owned by Google) only takes a minute or two. This is your “sample” blog. Think of this blog as your blogging portfolio.

Your blogging topic can be in any subject area that you choose, but give some thought to your potential clients - don’t make your blogging topic too personal. If you have expertise in a particular area like finance, technology or health, make this the subject area of your blog.

Write some blog posts Now your blog has been created, it’s time to make some blog posts. Your entries are published in reverse chronological order, with the most recent entry first. Your first entry can be a brief statement (no more than 100 words) about the general topic of your blog.

For example, if your blog is about dieting, you could summarize the areas (recipes, weight lost tips, health tips) you intend to cover. Or your first post could be an introduction: tell your readers who you are, and why the topic of the blog concerns you. Or you can skip the idea of an introductory post altogether, and just jump into your topic.

Look for blogging gigs Great - you’ve created two or more blog entries. Now it’s time to look for your first blog-job. Your first step is to write a blog post about your availability to blog. You can make this entry detailed, or extremely brief. If you wish, you can add a link to your online resume or CV.

Where do you find blogging jobs? You’ll find that several sites have already been set up to match bloggers with companies that want to hire them. Enter “blog jobs” into a search engine to find your initial leads.

You’ll also find companies looking for bloggers at out-sourcing venues like guru.com. However, be aware that on these sites, you’re competing against others for gigs - don’t be tempted to underbid others. Under-bidding is a bad idea because it’s terrible marketing. Once you set your price low, it’s hard to lift it. Have an awareness of what blogging is worth, and set your price appropriately. Companies which want bloggers don’t want the cheapest option - they want the best they can afford.

So there you have it: everything you need to know to get started as a freelance blogger today. Create a blog, make some entries, get a gig. Good luck with your blogging career. If you’re a born blogger, you can turn your freelance blogging into a full-time career.

Good luck, and happy blogging.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Nov 3

The birth of the blog has led to an explosion in content on the Internet. Many blogs are receiving millions of hits, adding hundreds of articles and getting unbelievable exposure every single day. The attention some of these blogs are receiving has led to many larger companies paying for and adding the blog content to their website. This idea of using someone else?s content for your own publishing purposes is referred to as Micro-publishing.

Yahoo Finance, the largest business site on the Web, on Tuesday began carrying content from SeekingAlpha.com, a financial blog aggregator started two years ago by an analyst who was laid off during the worst of the bear market.

The move illustrates how financial blogs are rapidly maturing into a business that’s starting to interest large media companies. More than 12 million people visit Yahoo Finance every month.

The founder of Seeking Alpha states, ?As the founder of Seeking Alpha, I want to provide some personal perspective on this event.?

“The impact of stock market blogs has only just begun,” said David Jackson, the former Morgan Stanley telecommunications analyst who founded SeekingAlpha. “Micro-publishing will fundamentally change the face of financial publishing.”

He then goes on to explain how micro-publishing will change the face of financial publishing, ?Stock market blogs have reached the point where traditional financial media companies can no longer ignore them. TheStreet.com, MarketWatch and even The Wall Street Journal now frequently link to blog posts from their websites. But the impact of stock market blogs has only just begun; micro-publishing will fundamentally change the face of financial publishing in two key ways:

1. Bloggers and direct submissions to Seeking Alpha will now provide analysis of thousands of stocks that were previously neglected.
2. Investors write differently than journalists.

Since its inception, SeekingAlpha has grown into a considerable operation that now publishes nearly 100 articles a day on a host of stock-market related matters, from the outlook for Chinese shares to whether Vonage will ever generate enough cash to survive. It also provides conference call transcripts and analysis of recent filings for initial public offerings, among other things. Many of the site’s 200 contributors are professional money managers who have their own blogs and want wider exposure for their views. SeekingAlpha employs a crew of approximately 10 editors to ensure the articles read well.

Financial terms of the deal were unavailable.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Nov 2

Making money with blogs can be hard to do. You will also have to spend a lot of time operating your blog. However, the payoff in the end is well worth it.

To make money with blogs, you have to sign up for a free blog. The most popular place for blogs is blogger.com. Once you set up a blog, you need to make sure you pick something you know about before you start blogging about it. Do research if you do not know about the subject. Let us say you want to make a blog about pizza, you want a few recipes, well research some recipes.

Once you do that, sign up for Google Adsense. Add the Adsense code to your blog and people will click on the ads if they like them. You will be making money in no time. There are other ways to make money with blogs also.

Here are some tips on great blog.

1. Stay on topic. Opinions are generally accepted but the content of the items in the blog should all relate to a general theme. Unless you have an uncanny knack for wit, humor, or cynicism, the majority of your readers will be interested in the content that relates to a specific defined theme or loosely defined area of interest. Most readers will not care that you eat Cheerios for breakfast. They may, however, be interested in the fact that vinegar takes out stains and that toilet paper rolls make great wreaths. Define a topic and stick to it. This will ensure that you create a loyal following of interested readers.

2. Stay informative. If you are attempting to create the impression that you are knowledgeable about a specific industry or sector, be sure that you stay current on news. If you are endorsing a product or voicing an opinion, be sure to check your facts; your reputation is at stake. If you are offering an opinion, be sure to qualify your post, making it clear that the content is intended as an editorial.

3. Old news is not news. While blogging every day can be a drain, it is important that the information presented is current and accurate, writing an article or blurb about something that happened 6 months ago, will not be of interest to many. Telling your audience that Martha Stewart was convicted and will be going to prison, after her sentence is completed will make people question the value of your columns. Stick to the fresh stuff and you will not have much problem when you try to make money blogging.

4. Adhere to a schedule. Create a schedule and stick to it. Realizing that blogging requires time and effort, do not create unrealistic expectations and be unable to deliver. An occasional lapse or holiday is generally understood but readers returning to find stale, out-dated content are going to find another blog with similar content. New blogs and RSS feeds are popping up on a daily basis. If you have worked hard to develop an audience and a community, you do not want to lose them due to lack of communication. 5. Clarity and simplicity. Keep your posts and blog entries clear and easy to understand. Remember, the web is global and expressions, idioms, and acronyms do not always translate. Sometimes a little explanation goes a long way.

6. Make blog keyword-rich. If the goal of your blog is to increase your visibility, include related keywords in the title of the blog. Use the title as a headline to attract interest. Each item post should have a title that will attract attention but still be relevant to the post. The title should be no longer than 10-12 words. Within your posts, refer to your keywords constantly: for example, with a blog such as this one, I refer to make money blogging often to draw attention to the words and for search engine traffic.

7. Quantity matters. In order to attract the attention of search engines, you will need to develop content and substance. A headline or simple sentence is not going to generate the interest of readers or help with search engine ranking. Be sure to archive old blog posts to develop a large portal of similarly themed content.

8. Frequency. If your blog content is updated frequently, search engines will tend to spider the pages at regular intervals.

9. Spell checking and proofreading. It only takes a few extra moments and can save you from having to make embarrassing explanations. Remember that whatever you publish on the Internet can be found and archived. Think carefully about what you post before doing so.

10. RSS. RSS will increase your blog’s reach. It is important that you include your blog’s content in an RSS feed to increase readership and distribution.

Making money with blogs can be hard to do. You will also have to spend a lot of time operating your blog. However, the payoff in the end is well worth it.

To make money with blogs, you have to sign up for a free blog. The most popular place for blogs is blogger.com. Once you set up a blog, you need to make sure you pick something you know about before you start blogging about it. Do research if you do not know about the subject. Let us say you want to make a blog about pizza, you want a few recipes, well research some recipes.

Once you do that, sign up for Google Adsense. Add the Adsense code to your blog and people will click on the ads if they like them. You will be making money in no time. There are other ways to make money with blogs also.

Here are some tips on great blog.

1. Stay on topic. Opinions are generally accepted but the content of the items in the blog should all relate to a general theme. Unless you have an uncanny knack for wit, humor, or cynicism, the majority of your readers will be interested in the content that relates to a specific defined theme or loosely defined area of interest. Most readers will not care that you eat Cheerios for breakfast. They may, however, be interested in the fact that vinegar takes out stains and that toilet paper rolls make great wreaths. Define a topic and stick to it. This will ensure that you create a loyal following of interested readers.

2. Stay informative. If you are attempting to create the impression that you are knowledgeable about a specific industry or sector, be sure that you stay current on news. If you are endorsing a product or voicing an opinion, be sure to check your facts; your reputation is at stake. If you are offering an opinion, be sure to qualify your post, making it clear that the content is intended as an editorial.

3. Old news is not news. While blogging every day can be a drain, it is important that the information presented is current and accurate, writing an article or blurb about something that happened 6 months ago, will not be of interest to many. Telling your audience that Martha Stewart was convicted and will be going to prison, after her sentence is completed will make people question the value of your columns. Stick to the fresh stuff and you will not have much problem when you try to make money blogging.

4. Adhere to a schedule. Create a schedule and stick to it. Realizing that blogging requires time and effort, do not create unrealistic expectations and be unable to deliver. An occasional lapse or holiday is generally understood but readers returning to find stale, out-dated content are going to find another blog with similar content. New blogs and RSS feeds are popping up on a daily basis. If you have worked hard to develop an audience and a community, you do not want to lose them due to lack of communication. 5. Clarity and simplicity. Keep your posts and blog entries clear and easy to understand. Remember, the web is global and expressions, idioms, and acronyms do not always translate. Sometimes a little explanation goes a long way.

6. Make blog keyword-rich. If the goal of your blog is to increase your visibility, include related keywords in the title of the blog. Use the title as a headline to attract interest. Each item post should have a title that will attract attention but still be relevant to the post. The title should be no longer than 10-12 words. Within your posts, refer to your keywords constantly: for example, with a blog such as this one, I refer to make money blogging often to draw attention to the words and for search engine traffic.

7. Quantity matters. In order to attract the attention of search engines, you will need to develop content and substance. A headline or simple sentence is not going to generate the interest of readers or help with search engine ranking. Be sure to archive old blog posts to develop a large portal of similarly themed content.

8. Frequency. If your blog content is updated frequently, search engines will tend to spider the pages at regular intervals.

9. Spell checking and proofreading. It only takes a few extra moments and can save you from having to make embarrassing explanations. Remember that whatever you publish on the Internet can be found and archived. Think carefully about what you post before doing so.

10. RSS. RSS will increase your blog’s reach. It is important that you include your blog’s content in an RSS feed to increase readership and distribution.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Nov 1

Blogs provide a very simple, quick and easy means to add fresh content to your website. As I?m sure you?ve heard many times over ?content is king? in the search engines eyes and if you can provide high quality, regularly updated content your website should benefit with regards to your search engine ranking.

By providing fresh, high quality relevant content you will gain an increase of both first time visitors and repeat visitors, they will come back to check out your new content. Providing it?s interesting, relevant and useful to them. You will begin to build relationships with your readers, increasing your credibility and building their trust in you.

When you blog, you’ll find plenty of search engines and directories that are willing to list you free of charge. For the most part you won’t need to link back - you’ll get a one-way link from site favored by search engines, often using text that you select yourself.

As blog software matures you can now categorize, and alphabetize your links, and with the ability to ping multiple sources as well as leave trackback links to other sites, you can send your readers through a ring of related, freshly updated information that ultimately leads back to you.

You?ve probably heard a thousand times that it is easier to sell repeatedly to an existing client than it is to find a new one. So how do you get that visitor to come back, and possibly buy again? A constant stream of new information on a particular topic work is enough to keep people buying a daily newspaper, subscribing to a magazine or viewing a television series.

A blog on your site is an easy way to keep your site updated on a regular basis. The upside is that visitors will come by more often. If they find your blog interesting and informative, they may bookmark your site. That means you have a much greater chance of making sales. And you have a ready-made audience for any new products you launch.

With a blog that focuses on a narrow, popular theme, you could be sitting on a gold mine and not even be aware of it. Whether your blog contains tips for newbies in your field, expert advice for veterans, or success strategies that build on each other, you could be in the position to supply a demand for needed information.