Wealth Alliance Blog Tools

posted by W A Blog Tools on Dec 20

It is a myth that blogs fail for the following reasons:

* Bad content

* Bad grammar

* Posts are too long or too short

Sure, bad content doesn?t help. But can every blog author create a winning post everytime? Bad grammar can be distracting, and posts that are too long or too short can be as equally frustrating.

But, typically, the reason blogs fail is simple:

Consistency

Authoring a blog is hard work. It is hard work to consistently sit down and write, especially after a long day of doing exactly what you are writing about. But, that is what you must do. Pick a day, a time, a format, and write. I try to write one good substantive post a week. In between, when I have epiphanies and need to quickly convey some knowledge to my audience or reveal the latest gadget/cool thing online I will author a small, quick post.

And don?t fool yourself, authoring a blog only gets to be more work. After authoring my personal blog for over 3 months I have realized that as your audience grows they only (rightly) expect more.

Too often I have seen authors pumped in the beginning, authoring lots of healthy sized posts every single day only to burn out and, 6 months down the road, be publishing every couple of months. Don?t let this be you. Set a goal, a routine and stick to it. As your number of readers and subscribers grow, it will help motivate you, but remember the bigger your audience the more you will be expected to write, consistently.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Dec 19

If you use the internet regularly, you surely have seen an increase in internet journals known as blogs (web logs) over the last few years. Currently, there are millions of blogs on the Internet. There are many reasons for this and we can expect this trend to continue.

The popularity of blogs is continuing to grow. According to recent statistics from the blog-tracking site Technorati, the blogosphere has doubled every six months for the last three years. That’s 175,000 new blogs per day worldwide. Technorati added its fifty millionth blog on July 31, 2006.

Making personal homepages was the trend of the past. Today, we are seeing more people make their own personal blogs. Some blogs are personal diaries of sorts which record a person’s thoughts, activities and reactions and they can be made for any reason. Some make them to be a new form of a family news letter. And some make them to promote their personal hobbies.

Another popular use of blogs is to build on-line communities of people with similar interests. These can be like a fan site for sports teams, or for celebrities or even for politics. During the 2004 Presidential Campaign in the U.S., Gov. Howard Dean was the first presidential candidate to use blogs to promote their campaign.

One of the most popular kinds of blogs are blogs that are used as a news source. Many believe that this is a factor in the decline of the popularity of newspapers. The major news agencies have noticed this and all have news blogs of their own.

One of the fastest growing uses in blogs is by webmasters adding content to their sites. Blogs provide quality search engine optimization (SEO) power by their very design. The power of the blog lies in keyword rich content and in imbedded links.

It is also a great way for visitors of a site to communicate and leave feedback with the publishers of the website. Webmasters also can use blogs to test ideas or try and get feedback about new products from the sites visitors.

One thing seems to be for sure. Blogs are here and if you are not reading them or publishing one, you are soon going to be in the minority of people who use the internet.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Dec 18

It was once understood that the company or companies who controlled the distribution of media (in other words, the big magazines and newspapers who could distribute to the largest audience) would be the most successful. That is no longer true in the cyber age. These days, one?s ability to attract the best audience and to create relatable material is the measure of a successful media outlet. Blogging creates customized material designed to attract just the kind of audience that will find the material useful and compelling.

A one-person company can create a blog that will generate just as much important business to their blog as a large conglomerate can to theirs. The ability to distribute a magazine, for example, to a large audience no longer automatically translates into the most readers or better service to advertisers. Essentially, 10 bloggers will generate more communication connections than the same number of readers.

As far as advertising goes, it?s a win-win situation in the blog world. Advertisers give you money in exchange for ad space on your blog. In return, they get the exposure not only to your original set of readers, but also the exposure to those people who receive word of your blog through others, and so on. Advertisers realize the potential for this kind of exposure, and will likely be willing to buy those available spots on your blog site (as long as your content serves their objectives, too).

So, creating a blog is easy, effective, and will make you money. What have you got to lose?

posted by W A Blog Tools on Dec 17

The reasons why you have a blog can be many and varied. Some people have a blog to log their personal day to day happenings. This would be a very personal type of blog and would list the various events that have happened in your life including your opinions and views on a whole range of subjects. Other people might have a family blog ? a blog which describes your family and your life and which can keep a record of names, contact details, images, audio clips and video clips. People can then come and see your blog at any stage but usually these are limited to family members and close friends.

You may wish to have a blog about something that you are particularly interested in, for example, a hobby, sport or pastime. In this way, you may post details about your interests and people may leave replies in the form of comments after your entry. You may be able to develop a following or a community of people with like-minded interests and hobbies. You may even link to other blogs with the same sorts of interests or you may find that you develop a community of people all with similar interests.

Another reason for developing a blog is for commercial reasons. If you have a website, then a blog related to this topic or subject can be a valuable resource for your customers or users. A blog allows you to give your opinions and views on certain subjects and potential customers may come to your blog for interests and valued content before moving to your website to potentially buy something. You can even develop your blog in collaboration with somebody else. You can have a number of users or members posting regularly on your blog to increase the content and value for those that visit.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Dec 16

Blogs are a great form of information these days! People can post blogs about anything and readers will dash to them to read it. I use blogs as a way to interact and update friends and family.

It?s so much easier than sender email. However, using blogs as a from of SEO can be a creative and inventive way to generate traffic to your site. Many people and companies seek blog writers on millions of topics. Paying them to write anything they want about various topics only stimulation is that key words have to be placed throughout the blog a certain number of times and a specific way.

This is a great way to optimize a blog and provide links to your site. Hyper linking these optimized words puts readers a click away from your site. Allowing them the option to gain more information by clicking that word, not knowing where that word will take them, but not caring either.

Optimizing a blog is inventive. You almost have to click that word to gain more information. I know that I do! When reading a blog, I see a word hyperlink and I know that it will direct me to even more information. The Internet is such a HUGE galaxy of knowledge that I just can?t help myself. And then great goodness I have found a new site of possibilities.

Optimizing a blog is easy. As I have said, hyperlink various words that you know will grab the reader?s attention. It?s easier when its words that need a more define definition this presuavies the reader to learn more and in return you have optimized a blog and gained traffic to your web site. Easy enough!

posted by W A Blog Tools on Dec 15

Kathy Sierra’s story will frighten women bloggers world wide. Kathy has received a series of death threats which have forced her to cancel a public appearance at ETech in San Diego and suspend her blog. Besides the threats the campaign also included a post that featured a picture of her next to a noose. Kathy has been receiving death threats for four weeks now.

I have spent a while on her blog ‘Creating Passionate Users’ reading some of her recent posts. Her style is informative and friendly. There is not threatening tone or abusive comments against anybody. Even her post about the death threats and her decision to stop blogging and not to attend the conference is factual. I really cannot see anything that could have started somebody or a group of somebodies off on this hate campaign.

Of course what the web allows is just that. Somebodies. It is the ideal territory for stalking and anonymous threats. This is where the nasties come out to play. It must somehow provide vicarious pleasure, otherwise why do this to a really pleasant and friendly person who writes a blog? It must provide some form of satisfaction that they, the attackers, are able to frighten people to such an extent, they are unable to leave their home anymore.

A question has been asked and commented on, inspired by these incidents against Kathy Sierra and that is whether these attacks are predominantly targeted against women? Could this be considered a kind of cyber rape? If one reads the report on Kathy’s blog, some of the threats describe some explicit violent sexual acts which the authors are imagining they are inflicting.

I’m going to leave it at that. Don’t want to start some sort of nasty attack directed at me. A shame really that we feel we need to gag ourselves. Kathy, I am really sorry this happened to you. I hope they catch the people behind the threats and verbal attacks and that you may feel safe again sharing your invaluable opinions and expertise.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Dec 14

Have you heard other people talking on and on about their ?blogs? while all you could do was smile and nod?

Yes, ?blog? is a peculiar word, conjuring visions of mosquito-infested swamps, and you can?t imagine why people would be eager to get more visitors to theirs.

But eager they are. In spite of the rather unfortunate name, blogs are the hottest things in communication since cell phones. Blogs are websites on which almost anybody can post information on almost any topic as often as they like. Blogs can be devoted to a single factual topic, or they can be the equivalent of personal diaries in which people record their private thoughts and observations about the world. The contents of a blog are limited only by the imagination of the blog?s creator, or ?author?.

If you find the thought of your own blog appealing, and have an Internet-connected computer, here are some suggestions to help you both get a blog going and build an audience with whom you can share it:

First, choose a topic for your blog on which you will enjoy communicating, and prepare your material. You opinions on a subject are fine, as long as they are based on some underlying. There are always going to be those who know as much, about a topic as you, and if you want a credible blog, you need to be able to back up your statements.

Add some humor and personal experiences to your topic if you can. Writing a travel blog about places you have actually been, and about colorful locals whom you actually encountered, will make much better reading than just posting facts and figures picked up from travel sites and TV shows. Offer material which will appeal to both novice travelers–like how to avoid pickpockets–and more seasoned ones–like the best undiscovered attractions in a specific destination.

Don?t limit your blog to your own experiences. Keep it updated with news that might affect those interested in your subject. While your experiences can give people valuable insight, recognize that your opinions about what happened to you or about a specific product are, after all, just opinions. Give people factual information which they can weigh for themselves.

Keep you blog current. On the Internet, news can become old in a matter of hours, and what happened a month ago is ancient history. Telling people considering a trip to Thailand that Thailand experienced a coup last September will do nothing to help them decide about a trip next month. Updating them on the peaceful state of affairs in Thailand today, however, will.

Updating your blog will require a commitment from you. You?ll need to establish a regular time to search for and write about fresh news, and get it posted. There?ll be times when not much has happened, and there?ll be times when you can?t type fast enough. But two or three times a week are not too many to post something new. Even it it?s only to tell your readers that not much has been going on, share a few thoughts, and tell your readers when to next check in for your next entry, make an appearance. Your audience will keep coming back as long as they know you are.

Keep you blog as simple as you can, without sounding like you don?t have a complete grasp of your subject. You want to appeal to as many people as possible, and nothing will drive those newly interested in a subject away faster than lots of technical jargon and statistics. You can provide complex information, as long as you make the effort to put it in user-friendly terms.

Find a memorable name for your blog, and use your blog editing feature to post it in large, bold-face type. ?My Hiking Blog? will probably sound interesting only to Mom and Dad and only because you never write or call them while you?re out adventuring. ?Climbing through the Clouds? will appeal to those who either tackle the high places of the Earth, or want to.

Every so often, say, at the end of each month, archive your existing blog posts. Your blog editor will let you do this in a less than a minute. The entries will still be available for new blog readers who want to catch up, or those who want to reference your earlier writings. And list keywords for your archived work so that new traffic will be able to find its way to you.

Finally, make sure your blog is professionally presented. You have a spell checker, so use it. Proof-read your copy and correct any grammar or punctuation errors before you post your work. If you?re not sure whether you are using a word properly, get help from an online dictionary. Respect your readers as intelligent, well-informed people who could just as easily spend their time elsewhere.

These suggestions may make your entry into the world of blogging more successful, but it?s up to you to commit to building and keeping an audience.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Dec 13

Blogs have had such humble beginnings, but they are humble no longer. In the past, blogs merely helped pass the time. Blogs provided a convenient forum for airing issues and recording thoughts. Some people blog to gain some acknowledgment and recognition for their brilliant ideas. Some other bloggers wrote to find kindred spirits who shared their opinions and preferences. Now, blogs have become a new marketing medium.

Not all blogs are effective as marketing tools, though. It all depends on two things: the blog content and the blog style. For blogs that work, heed the following guidelines.

Blog Content

Content is definitely important. Think about a blog about nothing or a blog with nothing particularly interesting. Such a blog is unlikely to gain a following, and you certainly don,t want that. The essence of marketing is reaching and convincing as many as your target market as you possibly can. If your blog holds nothing to catch and hold your potential customers, attention, then you have blog in vain. Blog to snag people,s attention, and snag attention with an interesting subject.

Try writing anecdotes of experiences that people could imagine or to whom your readers could relate. Remember who your readers are in order to ascertain what they will find interesting. The antics of your dog, however funny the story or however well written the post, will perhaps not be very interesting to bankers or cat lovers. In short, keep your posts interesting to your target readers.

Blog Style

You are not going to catch an audience and a market with trite sentences that have no impact and no concern for grammar and syntax. Write active sentences whenever possible for more fast-paced and dynamic passages. Forgo the generic modifiers for specific ones so that your words can draw a picture in your readers, minds. For instance, instead of writing, I am mad, tell your readers that, I felt my blood pressure rise. I heard my pulse pound fast, and I saw a red haze in front of my eyes.

However, do not go over to the extreme side. Some posts have been written with no consideration to proper sentence structures. In some posts, you will see heaps and heaps of modifiers in one sentence; the result is a completely unbalanced and weak statement. Misplaced punctuations and modifiers, wrong prepositions and conjunctions are the things that make a blog totally incomprehensible and therefore utterly ineffective.

You should make sure that your grammar and writing skills are up to par, or find a competent writer who will ghost write for you. Remember that you are writing the blogs to attract interest, but mainly in a positive way. Fill your blogs with content that are riddled with grammar mistakes, and you will be leaving a very poor impression of yourself, your business and your site to your target market.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Dec 12

1. Always have an About You profile page or Featured Post.
People want to know who you are, that is the whole point of a blog. Anonymous blogs are much less successful from a sales/marketing point of view because people buy from people.

2. Make sure you have a good photo of yourself on your profile page/post.
Many people are visual people and will feel they ‘trust’ you more if they can see who it is that is writing.

3. Use categories & assign each post to one or more (but not all) categories.
This will help your readers choose what they want to read.

4. Keep the titles of your posts interesting & compelling.
Remember, if this is the first thing somebody is going to see, it needs to grab their attention. The more specific & targeted the better.

5. Write posts frequently.
At least 2-3 times a week if not more. This will ensure fresh content for your readers and give you a better chance of being more highly ranked in the search engines

6. Do not write about too many topics in one blog
The more focused & targeted your blog & its content, the more it will appeal to your readers (your target market) and keep them coming back. In contrast, if you post about multiple topics, people will lose interest and stop coming back.

7. Encourage your readers to interact with you by posting comments to your posts
Make sure you respond to comments on your blogs…it is good blog netiquette!

8. Convey as much of your personality in your blog posts as you can
The purpose of a blog is to help people get to know, like & trust you so make sure your posts really give readers a glimpse of you & your personality. Do not be afraid of writing some personal posts on your blog - this is much more preferable than writing mini adverts for each blog post.

9. Post comments on other blogs
This is a great way of getting links back to your blog (you usually have the option to include a url with a comment) and also help build up your own blogging community by linking to relevant blogs.

10. Make sure you reread & edit your blog posts before posting them.
One of the best things about blogging is also one of the worst?the immediacy factor. The fact that you cut out the editor. You are free to write & post whatever you want but that doesn?t mean you should. Reread and edit your post and make sure it is snappy, easy to read and makes sense. This does not mean it has to be short…just readable.

posted by W A Blog Tools on Dec 11

Do you have any idea how many blogs there are on the Internet? Statistics indicate that while you were reading that question and trying to figure out the answer, more than two dozen new blogs were started up.

There are literally millions of blogs online today. People are tripping over each other in their rush to start their own. Why? Money! The word is out that you can make money with a blog. Most people using the Internet began doing so because they heard that a lot of money could be made there. However, when they realized the amount of work and the expense involved in creating a website, they backed off. Then blogs came along. For quite a while, most people didn?t really understand them and had no idea just how profitable they could be.

Then new technology and development made it so that even a young child could create a blog and the race was on. Everyone wants one so that they can get in on the cash windfall.

However, after a few days of blogging the new blogger realizes that money isn?t pouring into their pocket. They also learn that blogging is work. They have to create entries of interesting information to get people to visit their blog, and that is work. They are spending much more time on their blog than they realized that they had to and still no money is flowing in. In fact they haven?t made a single penny yet, unless it was from a relative that felt sorry for them.

They have now discovered that it takes a lot of work to get people to visit their blog. It takes even more to convert that traffic into paying customers.

What they have discovered is that it takes about one-half hour to write, spell-check, edit and post a 400 to 500 word blog entry. Multiply that by one entry per day for a month and you have spent 15 hours of work with no monetary return. Fifteen hours of work at a fast food outlet would result in more than $100. Where is this windfall of money that should be flooding in?

Now reality starts to set in. At this point a lot of new bloggers will give up and abandon their blog. Many of them didn?t even write or post 30 entries in their first month and probably would never reach that many even if they continued with it. I don?t know if you are aware of it, but the Internet is cluttered with blogs that were started with good intentions and then abandoned like an orphan. Most fell victim to the “blogging is work syndrome.” Don?t let it get you too!

The blogs that keep going are those started by someone who will keep it up even if they never make any money at it. Their reason for starting a blog was that they had a passion to write about the topic they chose. They have interest and knowledge on the topic, and their expertise shows in the quality of their entries.

Their readers come back over and over just to see what the blogger will say next. They also pull out their credit card to buy the product(s) that the blogger recommends because they like the style of the blogger and trust him or her to provide quality products because they know that the information provided in the blog contains quality. They also click on interesting Google ads or subscribe to newsletters associated or recommended by “their” blogger.

Don?t be fooled by the fluff and rumors that blogging is easy. Blogging is a lot of work, but if you enjoy your chosen topic it doesn?t seem quite as arduous. It is also much easier and beneficial when the blog is kept up to date with useful information.